Identity Crisis by https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6 Amy Couch, Andrew Failace, Jack Gerrity en-us 2017-03-22 02:42:07 UTC 2024-08-13 18:13:03 UTC hello@padlet.com Face Off couch2 https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6/wish/161700076 Even after the ending of slavery, African Americans still faced challenging race issues in their daily lives. This included a lot of hate from the people surrounding them. This idea of hatred from others drove the race towards self-hatred. It is no secret that many businesses that were black owned either barely scraped by monthly, or were shut down due to lack of funds. Sometimes even violence occurred that ruined not only people’s businesses, but their well being. African Americans came to a point where they would do anything they could to make sure that they could “fit in”. It drove a women to the point in which she tried bleaching her own skin. This occurrence was reported by the New York Times in 1893. A judge reportedly asked why her face had splotches of yellow and white all over it and she stated she was trying to lighten her skin. In the first paragraph of the newspaper clipping(below) it states how people preferred those with a lighter skin instead of a darker hue. When the women in the article was asked specifically why she bleached her skin, her response was simply, “Jes’ to make it white”.  This is a powerful message that shows how whites were still seen as the “better” race and that blacks felt inferiority and hatred to the point that they needed to change their physical appearance in order to be more accepted in society. The idea of hatred from others can be seen very clearly from a different example of a teacher in Virginia who was killed at a protest. The surrounding people assumed the color of her skin from a quick glance and shot her. Hatred for people with other colored skin was so intense that people that looked as though they were even close to a shade of black were getting killed.
 
The newspaper clipping provided most certainly shows this aspect of self-hatred from African Americans through this suppression from white peoples preferences being imposed on them. However, the newspaper also made sure to spotlight the legal aspect connected to this woman. She was being brought up on charges of stabbing a white women. A question can be brought up wondering whether she was doing this skin lightening in order to receive a lighter punishment since whites received different punishments for crimes. Especially with the harsh crime she may or may not have committed. The newspaper made sure to focus its ideas around her being in a court room and why she was in jail, rather than the extent she went in order to have a lighter skin. They may have focused more on the crime being committed than the idea of an African American changing their skin color to spotlight a more prevalent topic that would be concerning for whites at the time. It is more likely for a white to be nervous about colored people stabbing whites than a colored person trying to change their skin color. 
]]> 2017-03-22 02:42:29 UTC https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6/wish/161700076 Self Demoralization couch2 https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6/wish/162222259 http://personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Ayers.htm
This website is multiple summaries of one book in particular called Vengeance and Justice:  Crime and Punishment in the 19th-Century American South by Edward L. Ayers. This book is based around most obviously crime and punishment in the south, but also compares the two races in these aspects. The second summary/review is what I will focus on most. She explains in the fourth paragraph very well how in the South at that time blacks were brought in under tiny charges and misdemeanors while white crimes were pushed under the rug and did not get in trouble. Blacks were forced to complete tasks and work almost as though they were slaves. In the last paragraph for her summary, it says how white southern men are the reason for violence towards blacks. Both of these main ideas show how blacks were given different punishments than whites and this gave African Americans the right to be afraid of what would happen to them after they went to court. Especially if it was such a small crime. Furthermore, this violence from whites also drives home the idea of hatred coming from outside sources towards African Americans. Giving African Americans a sense of uneasiness leading to hatred towards themselves.]]> 2017-03-23 17:44:26 UTC https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6/wish/162222259 Taking a Shot In The Dark couch2 https://padlet.com/couch2/ibitbns250w6/wish/162310611 https://www.theodysseyonline.com/who-taught-black-people-hate-themselves

This source is titled Who Taught Black People to Hate Themsleves? And it was authored by a woman named Jericha White.  This article attempts to illustrate that point that black people in the United States have been taught that the beauty standard in this country is out of reach for them.  They are taught that black skin and nappy hair is ugly and that they need to change things like their hair to look more like a white woman, similar to the woman in our original article that bleached her face to look white.  The author attempted to prove that there is a negative stigma attached to the appearance of black women, especially women with darker skin.  She says that this attitude towards black people results in self-hatred and not being able to feel happy and confidant in your own skin.  Obviously traits like these could have an extremely negative impact on black society.  

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