Example research essay topic: Booker T Washington Separate But Equal - 1,047 words

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Affirmative Action? Affirmative Action has been frivolously debated throughout the past 135 years. Citizens of the United States question whether the government should grant certain advantages to races that have endured bigotry in the past. This plan goes by the name of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is a federally subsidized program that encourages universities and other educational institutions, to accept a greater number of minority students.

Throughout the years, Affirmative Action and the different advocates have changed, but racial inequality remains stagnant. Affirmative action has various proponents and opponents, both of whom seek the eventual goal of an integrated, educated middle class society. The opponents of Affirmative Action argue that it is not the responsibility of the current majority to make up for prior actions; and imposing these types of programs would be a form of so-called, reverse discrimination. The proponents argue that it is everybody's responsibility to create a society, which gives everybody an equal opportunity regardless of race, and the only way to ascertain this goal is through Affirmative-Action programs.

How can this nation come together and disregard the color of a persons skin? Will we reach this goal by subsidizing programs that assist minorities, or shall we sit and wait for time to establish equal opportunity for all? The history of Affirmative Action dates back to the days when the nation attempted to rebuild its society after the civil war. Reconstruction attempted to establish virtuous relations between the white Europeans and black Africans that made up a large part of the American society. The nation was torn on how to establish these relations. Many call Reconstruction the low point of race relations in the United States.

This era included the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, defining national citizenship so as to include blacks. This Amendment passed Congress in June 1866 and was ratified, despite rejection by most Southern states (July 28, 1868). In response to the newfound freedom of African Americans, whites incited numerous accounts of violence. White hatred of the black race created an era that experienced the most lynchings in the history of the United States. Whites also began using contemporary forms of labor exploitation to maintain control of their socio-economic advantage.

Something needed to be done so that the nation would not split at its seams. One side argued that time was the only solution to racial problems. Creating government programs would make African's dependent and give them an unfair advantage. "They were said to be fat state subsidies that unfairly penalized innocent whites and taught blacks self-destructive habits of indolence and independence. " This argument was sustained by the Democratic Party who expressed their thinking by publicizing material, which endorsed their belief. One such example is a cartoon that was created in 1866, which pokes fun of "The Freedman's Bureau." This highly publicized illustration showed a black man sitting under a tree, while a white man labored intensely. Along with public advertising, many prominent individuals came out and spoke vehemently against the establishment of compensatory laws.

One of the principal objectors of compensatory laws was Booker T. Washington. Washington believed the best interests of black people would be attained through education in the crafts, industrial skills and cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise, and thrift. He urged his fellow blacks, most of whom were impoverished and illiterate farm laborers, to temporarily abandon their efforts to win full civil rights and political power and instead to cultivate their industrial and farming skills, so as to attain economic security.

Blacks would thus accept segregation and discrimination, but their eventual acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win them the respect and acceptance of the white community. This would break down the divisions between the two races and lead to equal citizenship for blacks in the end. Such rhetoric infuriated many black and white liberals, who were in favor of such programs. For behind reformers clamor against class legislation and the belief that the new freedmen must work out their own destiny, they were refusing to acknowledge blacks unique historical experience. To black and white liberals these beliefs demonstrated a cruel indifference to the African American fate. One such program, which was fervently debated, was the aforementioned Freedmen's Bureau.

The Freedmen's Bureau was established in 1865 by Congress to provide practical aid to 4, 000, 000 newly freed black Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom. Headed by Major General Oliver O. Howard, the Freedmen's bureau might be termed the first federal welfare agency. Despite handicaps of inadequate funds and poorly trained personnel, the bureau built hospitals and gave direct medical assistance to more than 1, 000, 000 freedmen. Its greatest accomplishments came in education: more than 1, 000 black schools were built and over $ 400, 000 spent to establish teacher-training institutions.

All major black colleges were either founded by, or received aid from, the bureau. The radical William Whipper told liberals opposing the Freedman's bureau and other special efforts on behalf of the former slaves: "the white race has had the benefit of class legislation ever since the foundation of our government. " Another liberal who acknowledged the need for such programs was W. E. B. Dubois.

Although Du Bois had originally believed that social science could provide the knowledge to solve the race problem, he gradually came to the conclusion that this was not possible. In a climate of virulent racism, disfranchisement, Jim Crow segregation laws, and race riots, social change can only be accomplished through protest and reform programs facilitating black education. "The system of education must strengthen the Negro's character, increase his knowledge and teach him to earn a living." In this view, he clashed with the most influential black leader of the period, Booker T. Washington. Constant debates on the necessity of federally subsidized programs culminated in the Supreme Court case, Please vs. Ferguson (1896). The decision established that states have the authority to segregate the races into separate but equal.

Separate but equal signified that public institutions could be separated by race, but facilities must be equally funded. This decision initially benefited those whom argued that the government did not have the responsibility to improve the social capabilities of African American's. Although the decision was an initial victory for conservatives, it also came wi...

Research essay sample on Booker T Washington Separate But Equal