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Racism In The 1960's

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First of all, today, racial prejudice still exists, but it’s not what it was decades ago; Racism has since declined (Observer). Racism spikes concern to many Americans than it did decades ago (Agiesta, 2015). Researchers, John Dovidio and Samuel Gaertner, have researched today’s racism. From decades of surveying many White Americans, John Dovidio & Samuel Gaertner study found the following: When individuals associate themselves with interracial contact, their feelings about the African American community started to change (Observer). A good example of this notion is seen in young White Americans; the news article titled, Race and Reality in America: Five key findings mentions, mentions that “Younger whites are about as likely as older whites …show more content…

The 1960s was filled with discrimination based on skin color, which lead to poverty, “colored signs”, no equal job opportunities and no rights to an education and many more. Just ask John Howard Griffin; Griffin, a specialist in race issues decided to become a “Negro”, an African American to experience life situations, also known as “the real problem,” discrimination; discrimination is a dangerous or otherwise unfortunate situation every African American faced in the 60s (Griffin, 1961). Griffin’s (1961) experiment main purpose: Bridge the gap between the whites and individuals of color skinned. Griffin’s (1961) experiment involved only changed his skin pigmentation and not his name for purposes to find out how others would treat and judge him. Would the “whites” treat him nicely because his name is associates with a “first class citizen” occupation or treat him as a shadow, also known as a “ as a nameless negro because he is colored” (Griffin , 1961). His published book, journal entries to his experiences as a “Negro” opened the eyes of many people, especially the “Whites”. I deduct that Griffins experience may be one of the events that started the “freedom rides”, which in turn may have affected the change in racial prejudice and racial anger in the present time. When people think back to the racial issues in the 1960s, they

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