Structural Racism In African American Society

African Americans have systematically been deprived of equal opportunities and fundamental rights in America since the establishment of slavery. Although the Civil Rights Act banned the implementation of segregation and racial inequality over 40 years ago, the overall concept of racial and cultural hierarchy still lingers at the forefront of today’s society. White America’s history of racially oppressing, isolating, and segregating African Americans have led to present-day issues surrounding the political and economic forces that intentionally limits Blacks access to and opportunity from social, economic, educational, and political advancement through the institution of structural racism. Structural racism within America’s governments and

White and Black students do not attend the same schools, African Americans do not always have access to the same services as Whites, and a vast majority of the Black population is ultimately restricted to limited housing options in stipulated locations, commonly referred to as the “projects” or the “ghetto”. It is through structural racism that the Black community is redlined and confined, basically ghettoized into a prescribed area of a city. Most studies and accounts of structural racism and geographic containment within Black Belt territories have been dedicated only to the trends of division within America’s metropolitan cities. For example, Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, establishes the relationship between environmental deprivation and cultural oppression through the portrayal of White forces restricting the spatial aspects of African Americans, thus resulting in racially divided communities, schools, and political systems as represented through Chicago’s inner city Black

Gadsden County was established in 1823, and quickly attracted plantation owners and farmers because of its agricultural potential. Shortly after their arrival, Quincy flourished into a prosperous community, living off of the successes of the locally grown tobacco. Slavery rapidly became a principal cornerstone of fortune in Gadsden County due to the demanding labor required in order to maintain a steady supply and demand for the outgoing tobacco. As a result of the need for slaves and free labor, “Gadsden became one of the five black belt counties (Jackson, Leon, Jefferson, and Madison) in North Florida in which slaves accounted for half or more of the population” (Hobbs, 33). With this in mind it is critical to point out that it is at this time when the establishment of structural racism and geographical containment begins in the city of Quincy. The wealth associated with the triumphs of the agricultural market produced Quincy’s first generation of elite White citizens, setting the stage for a long history in which white privilege would benefit from economic and political control of Gadsden