Generational Poverty in the Black Community 1

Poverty in the Black Community and It’s Relation to Slavery

Julie B. Bernardez

Global Connections

Gregory Falls

Global Studies and World Languages Academy at Tallwood High School

December 2019
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 2

Table of Contents

T​able of Contents 2

Abstract 3

Introduction 4

Limitations 6

Literature Review 6

Discussion 8
The Beginning of Slavery 8
Social and Economical Differences 9
Generational Poverty and the Effects 11

Conclusion 13

References 14
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 3

Abstract

The study investigated focuses mainly on the effects of slavery in the African American

community throughout history resulting in generational poverty. Viewpoints are made from

mainly African American and how they personally felt in every part of history. Views from

white Americans are seen and shown all through this research to explain how and why they felt

black people were not worthy of an equal life. The readers will be able to see different quotes

based off of how America was founded to represent whites solely. In sub-categories, readers will

understand and view different ways slavery impacted African Americans throught the past two

decades. The researcher has a personal connection with this topic because although she stands

with her ethnic side as a first generation daughter of Honduran parents, her black race still affects

her educational advantages, job opportunities, and how she’s treated socially.
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 4

Introduction

Poverty has been defined as the lack of necessary needs and income to function

successfully in a household, while slavery has been defined as a state of being owned by another

human being, historically by White Americans. These two topics are global issues that the world

still faces today. The United Nations formed Sustainable Development Goals which were put in

place to enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. There are currently 17 goals and the United Nations

has stated that all 17 Sustainable Development Goal are intended to be integrated amongst each

other, because they all in fact affect each other. “No Poverty”, is the first Sustainable

Development Goal and was taken into consideration when studies had shown that large amounts

of people around the world were living under the international poverty line. Throughout the

world, poverty has been seen as the number one problem in LDCs (Less Developed Countries)

because these countries lack inadequate access to clean water and infrastructure. However,

developed countries like the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States, still have poverty

conflict within their countries. As stated before, the Sustainable Development Goals affect each

other and the researcher has found that Sustainable Development Goal 10, “ Reduce

Inequalities”affect the causes of poverty. The United Nations have seen that overtime, inequality

has prevented long term social and economical development. Stating that, “ we cannot achieve

sustainable development and make the planet better for all if people are excluded from

opportunities, services, and the chance for a better life.”(United Nations 2016) The perception

regarding African Americans after slavery led to laws and policies that resulted in educational

differences, limited job oppertunities, and most importantly generational poverty. Having said,
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 5

America faces and occasionally recgonizes the motive of racial inequality and proverty as an

outcome of slavery.

Limitations

In this research paper, the researcher focused mainly on the African American community

because they experienced a greater level of disadvantages in every part of America. This paper is

intended to inform readers on African American history. The researcher is limited to the amount

of knowledge needed to do this research because although she is black and has lived under the

poverty line, living in the 21st century has given opportunities and benefits to help African

Americans rather than in the 20th century, therefore the circumstances are the same, but very

much different. The researcher has limited the research of slavery to that of the African slave

trade’ focusing mainly on Africans only. This paper does not focus on the physical or mental

health of African Americans.

Literature Review

Many different resources were used throughout the research paper. In the first section of

the discussion, the researcher focuses on slavery and the reason for slavery.

The New York Times Magazine: The 1619 Project​ explicity explain slavery, stating

that,”In August of 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near Point Comfort, a coastal port in

theE nglish colony of Virginia.It carried more than 20 enslaved Africans, who were sold to the

colonists.No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 6

slavery that followed. In the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to tell our

story truthfully. This magazine shares with readers an abundant amount of views from African

American voices. It provides a concrete historical timeline of the beginnig of slavery and he

founding of this country. African American all around the “The 1619 Project is a major initiative

from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American

slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and

placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center

of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.”

History.com- Black History Milestones​ ​is an article that explains and shows a timeline of

the ups and downs of African Americans and the milestones they have accomplished and

suffered throughout the 19th and 20th century.

The reseacrher hs written the paper in

Discussion

The Beginning of Slavery

“The United States is a nation founded on both an ideal and a lie. Our Declaration of

Independence proclaims that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable rights, but the white men who wrote those words did not believe them to be true for

hundreds of black people”(Jones 2019). ​Slavery ended in 1865 but the apparent fundamental

reasons did not. Since the beginning of slavery, it had been defended through multiple accounts.

In one way, the idea of race. Race was origonally based around family inheritance but then
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 7

shifted to physical indicators due to the rise of global capitalizm that was backed by slavery,

Enlightenment reasoning and labor exploration. The Enlightenment Era was a period of

theroizaions in Europe, in which race was one. As race continued to evolve, it was proven to be

real after social structures of slavery were put into place, rather than before the Enlightenment.

According to anthropologist Josiah Clark Nott, blacks were subjucated to slavery by scientific

racism. ​Scientific racism is a pseudoscientific belief that supported racial discrimination

prominetly amongst African slaves(Wikipedia "Scientific racism" 2019).​ ​In order to maintain

this scientific idea brought by Europeans and anthropologist, more distinctions were formed

about the apparent differences amongst races, mainly the differences of blacks. In fact, former

President Thomas Jeffreson stated that, “ black slaves required less sleep than their European

counterparts” to justify long working hours(Bainbridge 2018). Implying that just because the

color of their skin was like his peers, there was some sort of disconnection in simply how much

sleep is needed for a human. Other influencers during the Enlightenment period also had idiotical

views such as physician Samuel Cartwright. Cartwright spent most of his life coining the idea of

drapetomania. Arguing that drapetomania was a mental defect that caused enslaved black people

to run away from slavery(Bainbridge 2018). Many philosiphers, believed that non-white racial

groups had no actual history. Consequentaly, the Civil War took place as a result of

uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national

government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states(McPherson 2018).

In short, the Civil war ended with the Union Army as the conqueres, resulting in the abolition of

slavery shortly after in 1865.

Generational Poverty in the Black Community 8

Social and Economical Differences

Still, the implications and beliefs of slavery stayed with the American society, leading to

new laws and policies beginning in the 19th century. During the Reconstruction Era, many

Southerners( prior slave owners) had a difficult time accepting the newly freed African

Americns. As a result, many state governments introduced laws called Black Codes. “Southern

laws called Black Codes were passed in the aftermath of emancipation in order to control the

newly freed black labor force. Typically they stipulated that freed people could rent land only in

rural areas--a means of keeping them on the plantations. The Black Codes also tried to regulate

sexual behavior and to force women who wished to be homemakers to return to the field (Foner

1991).Black Codes were just the beginning of inequality and discrimination for African

Americans, and although the Emmancipation Proclimation was an executive order set to end

slavery, it did not end the the inequality or the racist legacy that came with it. Life was

undesirably hard for African Americans considering that they were at a less advantage of basic

human rights. In the 1896 Supreme Court case, Plessy v Ferguson, the support by the U.S

Supreme court ruled in favor of segregated public facilities, as long as it was equal in standard.

Associate Justice Henry Billings Brown believed that the 14th amendment was only intended to

protect African Americans in legal equality, not socially. “By 1920 segregation regulated every

facet of life in the South. Blacks and whites could not eat at the same restaurants, stay in the

same hotels, use the same elevators, or visit the same beaches, swimming pools, or amusement

parks. Blacks and whites attended separate public schools, and in some states at the end of each

school year the school board had to store the books from black schools separately from the books

from white schools”(Patrick 2001). Not only did this decision affect African Americans socially,
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 9

it affected them economically and educationally. Hence building institutional barriers between

whites and blacks. The lack of adequate funding provided towards African Americans by the

government were at an all time low, taking into account that benefits, laws, and policies were put

into place to only better White Americans, and White Americans only. African Americans

attended separate schools from Whites, specifically schools that had an insufficient amount of

resources. These schools lacked basic classroom necessities like learning books, adequate desks

and chairs, and most importantly a beneficial educational curriculum. “Jim Crow

schools—which taught their students only those skills needed for agricultural work and domestic

service—fit the needs of the white economy and society”(Irons 2002). Black children spent years

of learning the basic reading and writing skills, but none of it was actually challenging or even

rigourous. For African Americans to vote, literacy tests were enacted by state governments. As

Congress knew African Americans lacked school funding and school textbooks therefore,

making it harder on African Americans to pass. “The largest chunk of the school budget in every

district goes to pay teachers; and the salaries of black teachers during the 1930s were far below

those of whites. Poorly paid teachers are not necessarily poorly trained or unable to educate their

students, but the meager wages of black teachers in the 1930s did not lure the most promising

college graduates into rural Jim Crow schools(Irons 2002). Their educational advantaged were

bounded by second-rate segregated schools. It wasn't until the end of 1954 in Supreme Court

Case, Brown v. Board of Education, where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated but

equal schools were unconstitutional. In actuality, the schools were not as equal as white schools

because American believed in equality opportunity under the law, but did not actually provide it.

As a result, less than 10 percent of African Americns held professional jobs. In the 2009 book
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 10

and 2011 film ​The Help,​ writer Kathryn Stockett focuses on true stories about the life of black

maids in the 1960s. Maids were getting paid 95 cents an hour, totaling up to 182 dollars a month.

African Americans were the targets of underpaying jobs. Having said, since all African

American children saw were black housekeepers, laundresses, and nursemaids, it was a

generational cycle amongst the black community and as a result, it pushed the economic gap

even farther between whites and blacks.

Generational Poverty and the Effects

As time passed, institutional barriers thickened. Low paying jobs and educational

disadvantages pushed African Americans below the poverty line. The Home Owners Loan

Corporation that “helped” homeowners during the Great Depression gave African American

neighborhoods the lowest rating, ensuring that they defaulted at greater rates than White

Americans. “ In the 1950s have a black families lived in poverty. When they were able to get

union union jobs , Black workers had less seniority than their white counterparts so their

employment was less stable(Green 2013). African Americans were paid less than whites,

because society refused to see blacks live a better life. It was deemed unfit and unjust for the

white American society. African American homes were far worse than those of whites since the

government made it so that black people could only afford an impoverished life. Former

President John. F Kennedys passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964

prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, and religion in several important

arenas, including public accommodations, education, and employment(Mankiller 1998). It took

time for America and it’s society to all get on one accord, and although discrimination has

descreased sinced the 1900s, we still deal with economical racism. When there are wide
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 11

economic gaps by race, as we have in the U.S., exclusionary land-use policies based on families’

economic circumstances entrench racial segregation(Matthew 2016). In today's age , there is a

higher rate of blacks living in low-income neighborhoods because there is a difference of income

being brought in to a black household, than in any other household. African Americans continue

to obtain worse outcomes across a range of social and economic measures because they still are

subjected to areas with higher rates of poverty. At the same time, public transit investments often

fail to connect minority communities to opportunities for education and employment(Matthew

2016). When the criminal justice system was created, African Americans were considered

property and although times have changed the system that was never created for the benefit of

black people continue to oppress them. In the 1980s, a devastating epidemic affected African

Americans like nothing had before. The crack epidemic had particularly devastating effects

within the African American communities of the inner cities by causing the increase of

addictions, deaths, and drug-related crimes. Although white Americans were committing the

same crimes and using the same crack, black Americans were held accountable and the amount

of incarceration rates for African Americans disproportionately increased because of the crack

epidemic. Black men and women are more likely to be arrested, charged, and convicted of

crimes than whites who commit the same crimes. Once convicted, black men receive prison

sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer than white men for similar crimes(Matthew 2016).

The process of reverting back into society is extremely difficult for those with a criminal record.

For example, they lose their right to vote, their choices of jobs are more selective, and they also

cannot financial aid through the government.

Generational Poverty in the Black Community 12

In the 21st century, certain parts of the world are still dealing with slavery. In the

continent of Africa, Sudan is still experiencing slave trade today. “For Arab traders "the nation of

the blacks," or Bilad Al-Sudan, has traditionally been the source of slaves. When the slave trade

developed into corporate enterprise in the nineteenth century in Sudan, the slave-takers

articulated distinctions based on race, ethnicity, and religion that marked the black, infidel

southerners as indisputably inferior and therefore "natural" slaves. Such distinctions have

survived for decades and have fueled various forms of oppression of the black south. When it is

authorized, as it is today, slavery then becomes the extreme form of this systemic

oppression”(Jok 2001). The Arabs from the North of Sudan are capturing blacks from the South

of Suden.The Northern Arabs may be people of color, but they are enslaving black Christian

Sudanese; making them inferior to slavery and the rest of the country just as white Americans

did African Americans.. Slavery continues to persist today because people of the African

American history worldwide.The researches states that African Americans contine to be

systematiclly oppressed by society and every other race. For that reason, Africans and African

Americans are susceptible to living in poverty and under the poverty line in a cycle that is

continuous because the lack of resources and not given and accessible because even though the

black community has progressed economically, socially and educationally, they still continue to

be there highest race and ethnicity living under the poverty line. (Barnes 2001)

Conclusion

The researcher can conclude that slavery has been a historical and modern problem

amongst the African and African American community. Generational poverty has linked back to

slavery through multiple accounts, including the perception of African Americans throughout
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 13

society, economical gaps and social differences through law and policies, and limited job and

educational opertunities. Because America occasionally recgonizes the motive of racial

inequality and proverty as an outcome of slavery, poverty has become a generational cycle in

every part of the world.

References

Bainbridge, D. (2018, April 3). Origin of Everything. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxAlmAPHec.

Coates, S. by T.-N. (2019, September 24). The Case for Reparations. Retrieved from

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/.

Coates, T.-N. (2011, June 1). In Defense of Slavery. Retrieved from

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/in-defense-of-slavery/239719/

Green, J. (2013, November 21). Civil Rights and the 1950s: Crash Course US History #39.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64zRnnn4Po&t=96s.

History.com Editors. (2009, October 14). Black History Milestones. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-milestones.

Irons, P. (2014, August 8). Jim Crow's Schools. Retrieved from

https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/summer-2004/jim-crows-schools.
Generational Poverty in the Black Community 14

Jox, J. M. (2001, April 18). War and Slavery in Sudan. Retrieved December 9, 2019, from

https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/13478.html.

Matthew, D. B., Rodrigue, E., & Reeves, R. V. (2018, March 6). Time for justice: Tackling

race inequalities in health and housing. Retrieved from

https://www.brookings.edu/research/time-for-justice-tackling-race-inequalities-in-health-a

nd-housing/.

Meatto, K. (2019, May 2). Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation

and Educational Inequality. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/learning/lesson-plans/still-separate-still-unequal-tea

ching-about-school-segregation-and-educational-inequality.html.

MsPherson, J. (2018, October 16). A Brief Overview of the American Civil War. Retrieved

from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-american-civil-war.

The 1619 Project. (2019, August 14). Retrieved December 9, 2019, from

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html.