African American Economy Research Paper

Words: 1535
Pages: 7

African American Economy The African American economy has struggled since the beginning United States of America. African men and women were captured and brought to America, and forced to work for free. America grew and prospered from the free labor that the slaves were forced to perform. Slavery existed for countless decades, and for many years there was no African America economy. Once the slaves were freed, they were let go with no form of education or skills to enter into the workforce, many of the slaves were forced into the sharecropping system for their former slave masters. The former slaves that did not leave their slave masters received little in return for the work they performed. Sharecropping continued to keep countless African Americans impoverished, and widen the wealth gap …show more content…
There is still a great need for legislation such as affirmative action to insure that all races have a chance to achieve the American dream. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil rights act, which prohibited discrimination by employers on the basis of race, sex or national origin. However, there is still work to be done, Blacks were oppressed for over three hundred years, and it is impossible to regain what was lost in 30 years. Affirmative action has helped reverse the damage to the Black economy, many Blacks are white collar worker and Blacks are attending college at a greater rate. However the wealth gap between Whites and Blacks is still lagging. Based on the United States Census of 1995 “The median White families’ income was 65 percent more than the Blacks. The median wealth for Whites was $45,740 and for Blacks it was $4,418. The median income for Blacks compared to Whites is another example why more need to be done. Economic prosperity for African Americans have been impacted by Institutionalized racism and