Introduction
The middle of the 20th century, especially it’s second half, was marked by the events which touched upon the life of every person, irrespective of age, gender, and ethnicity. This period saw remarkable changes in the world’s perception of women and African American people who experienced oppression and inequality and who did their utmost to fight with limitations of their rights. Looking back at the African Americans’ and women’s fight for their rights and independence, it would be fair to note that certain differences and similarities could be observed between them.
The goals which African Americans and women in post-WWII America pursued were similar because both of them wanted independence and equality with the former wishing to get free from slavery and oppression and the latter demanding equal educational and career opportunities; however, the main difference between the obstacles they faced was the extent of resistance on the part of their “enemies” which greatly affected the results of their fights and led to the ending of gender discrimination and continuation of the racial one even in the 21st century.
Main Text
To begin with, African Americans and women in post-WWII America had almost similar goals, namely, gaining independence and equality. The only difference consisted in the “enemies” they wanted to be independent of and equal with. Those were white people for African Americans and men for the women. Quite similar were the ways in which they were trying to reach their goals. Regardless the African Americans’ ardent fight, their protests were relatively peaceful, at least at the beginning.
Thus, for instance, Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) noted: “I wish you had condemned the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of the most inhuman provocation” (Fiero, 6.20, 132). By this he meant that African Americans, despite of all the oppression and obstacles they faced on the way to their independence, still wanted to solve the problem in a peaceful way. Another black leader, Malcolm Little, was convinced that “only by fighting for black nationalism would African-Americans ever gain power and self respect […]” (Fiero 6.20, 187).
Stating this, Malcolm truly believed that separation from the white community will make African Americans stronger. And still, black people did not follow this advice and chose to solve all the problems amicably. Women, in their turn, chose similar ways of reaching their goals with sit-in demonstrations being the most widespread forms of their protest. Therefore, African Americans and women of the second half of the 20th century had not only similar goals, but similar ways of attaining them.
However, African Americans and women in post-WWII America, though having approximately similar goals, met different resistance on the part of society. Ellison in his Invisible Man (1952) stated: “When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination – indeed, everything, anything except me” (Fiero 6.22, 8). By this statement Elliot was trying to express the idea that white people did not perceive the black ones as individuals; instead, they thought of them as of a whole and oppressed each African American as a part of this whole.
Elliot’s telling a story of how he attacked a white youngster who insulted him on the street testifies to the fact that the white community was never going to let black people assimilate into their society. The youngster insulted Elliot simply because he was black; merely the skin color was enough for a person to become an object of contempt. And even when Elliot was beating him, he still did not want to take his words back: “… and I yelled, “Apologize! Apologize!” But he continued to curse and struggle […]” (Fiero 6.22, 39). This means that resistance on the part of white community was extremely high and some of white people openly showed their hatred of the blacks.
The resistance which women faced when demanding equal rights with men was less strong. This does not mean that their fight was less ardent than that of African Americans. Women had to ground their demands and they were quite convincing in this. The main difference between their and the African Americans’ fight for equality lies in its results. In the 21st century there is hardly a nation (apart from some of the Eastern countries) where the rights of women are unequal with the rights of men.
However, the modern society still faces racial discrimination. A vivid example is lack of help to African Americans during the hurricane Katrina which took place in New Orleans on August 29, 2005; back then, federal government was accused of racial discrimination for feeling reluctant to evacuate African Americans before, during, and after the hurricane. In contrast, there is hardly a case when one hears about gender discrimination which the government failed to deal with. This difference in results of fighting with inequality allows considering that women met less resistance on the part of men during their fight.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the middle of the 20th century saw the fight of women and African Americans with inequality. Women were dissatisfied with the way the men treated them, while African Americans could no longer stand oppression on the part of white people.
Their fights were similar, but they also differed to a certain extent. African Americans and women were united by their goal, namely, to reach equality and independence, as well as by the ways in which they used to reach this goal, such as organizing sit-in demonstrations. The main difference was in obstacles they faced with women meeting less resistance on the part of society than African Americans. This difference in the extent of resistance resulted in different outcomes of their fights, with racial discrimination still taking place in the modern society.
Works Cited
Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition, Vol. 6, 5th edition. Boston: McGraw, 2002.