America has been full of contractions. America has euphemized the actual events that occurred during its conquest. Through the past centuries, the conquistadors resulted in the attempt to eliminate the peoples from “their” new, unoccupied, and virgin land. America has always been known as the “Land of the Free”; few do know however, at what price this “freedom” came with. Equality is the biggest slogan for The United States. When in reality, a few hundred years back and even still today, we see many folks get deprived of opportunities based on their gender, skin tone and ethnic background. With authors such as Angela Y. Davis, W.E.B Du Bois, David E. Stannard, and Laura E. Gomez we are able to reveal facts of what America’s conquest really consisted of. America was built by racial chattel slavery, the belief of white supremacy. The difference between other slavery events was that in America slavery was based on the color of your skin, and you were not considered a person. Rather you were considered property and just a Meir 3/5th of a person. Our founding fathers resulted in the practice of cultural warfare. We seemed to complete ignore the fact that there were Indian people living in these “virgin, unoccupied” land. In the novel “American Holocaust”, Mr. David E. Stannard writes a book that tells the historic resettlement in the new world from a very different side. It presents a vivid images of the European conquest of the Americas and focuses attention on how the often celebrated conquest resulted in nothing less than a holocaust for the Indigenous peoples of the America. He goes through great detail to demonstrate to what extent the conquistadors went to exterminate these people, compete genocide. The novel consist of very graphic reconstruction of how the colonization of the Americas took place. Stannard writes of the true horror and brutality of the European invasion with no actual reason. One can still notice the differences between how races are treated, as well as the difference between men and women. During my discussion, my TA gave a fact that there are more black men in jail than any other race. The number is ridiculous. Why is this? Our society feels as if you are walking down the street late at night and an African American was walking towards you, one feels threaten and frighten, as opposed to a Caucasian. Many colored people are deprived of opportunities. However, women feel their pain. Our society holds women to a “beauty standard.” Our country is a very macho region. Many believe that women should stay home and take home of the kids, or cook dinner or clean. Women are supposed to be beautiful and be supported by their husbands. Angela Y. Davis presents facts of how women were oppressed and denied varies rights during the 1800’s, in her brilliant novel “Women, Race & Class.” In her novel she is able to go into depth and explain to us a women’s role in that time period. She explains how women just belonged to their men, almost as if they were property as well. Though white, many woman did not have many rights. Davis presents a side of the first wave of feminism that many people have never been aware of; the conflict between women's rights and African American rights. Davis then compares the first wave of feminism with the second wave of feminism in the 1960-70's to show the connection between the two movements. However, the fight for African American rights took priority over the rights of women. While during the first fight of feminism, black women were ignored by the suffragettes. In comparison to the second wave of feminism, black women had to choose between supporting in a women's movement that, once again, did not really include them. Or on the other hand, support the rights of African Americans as a race. Davis clearly explains the failings of the both waves of feminism to demonstrate how necessary it was for women, regardless of race, to work together. Many Americans still believe today that the
