Abigail Watson Professor Anne Dobbs English 101 November 21, 2017 Surrounded by Anger and Ignorance It is commonly said that a photo is worth a thousand words. This is where visual analysis comes in. Visual analysis is the consideration of the features in the photo to find its central message. The purpose of visual analysis is to understand why the artist of the photo chooses certain elements to convey the central message. A photo taken in 1957, during the Civil Rights Movement, of Elizabeth Eckford, an African American student, arriving to a previous all whites school after segregation laws were removed includes many significant elements that convey a central message. In the photo, she is surrounded by white students. Some are yelling at the …show more content…
Altogether, the elements of historical context, facial features and body language of the subjects in the photo, and the relevancy of this issue continuing in today’s society conveys that the anger and resistance of the white students is the issue, not the young African American student now legally attending an integrated school. The historical context conveys why the students in this time were treating Eckford this way. First, Elizabeth Eckford arrived to Central High, a previously all whites school in Little Rock, Arkansas , in the fall of 1957. According to Facing History.org, she and other eight students were told to report to Central High after integration of black and white students in public schools was passed. The other eight were told by Arkansas National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Daisy Bates to come as a group. Eckford did not hear …show more content…
After this photo was taken and the Civil Rights Movement, the harsh treatment of blacks slowed down, but never stopped. Even though United States has improved by prohibiting segregated public facilities and schools, there is still an issue with blacks receiving unfair, harsh treatment from police. Blacks still continue to face police brutality in fatal shootings. According to Snopes.com, the breakdown of fatal shootings conclude that “white people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49 percent of those who are killed by police officers. African Americans, however, account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed by the police despite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population.” For blacks being a minority, they are shot and killed by police almost as much as whites, who make up the majority of the U.S. population. Since the photo of Eckford was taken in 1957, United States has erased some anger and resistance of whites by prohibiting segregated public facilities and schools, and giving blacks civil rights. However, police brutality of blacks has not stopped. Therefore, anger and resistance of whites in treating blacks has not completely dissolved. There are individuals who still hold the same views that blacks are inferior to them like the angry student Helen Bryan Murray had when the 1957 photo was
There she excelled, but she wanted a greater opportunity for a better education, so she applied to Central High School because of the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Without her family knowing that she applied, she was chosen to be one of the nine Black students who would attend and integrate Little Rock Central High School. On their first day at Central High School, Beals and the other eight Black students were waited on by crowds of white people who wanted to keep them out of the school. They were greeted with violent acts and hateful language. Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, had sent soldiers from the National Guard to disrupt the integration, temporarily prevented the students from entering the school, and did not protect them.
However, research demonstrates that often times men of color are treated harshly which leads to negative perceptions of police officers. Police brutality is a crime that is has been surfacing in the news recently. Some people are just starting to realize that these injustices against the black community really occur, while others are well aware. The recent shootings, different run-ins with officers being filmed while doing such harmful actions against African American men is an example of police brutality and, that reminds us that as a society work needs to be done to improve police and community relations. A black male cannot even walk down the street on a cold night because he might be a suspect from something or he may be of danger to the people around.
In 1957 it was very hard for African-American students to achieve their dream. In the text “Warriors Don’t Cry” there is a ton of evidence for this statement. Some examples of the previous statement is, Melba’s house was shot at, The people in the mob were being violent, and Elizabeth Eckford had experienced denial of the opportunity that she had deserved to enter her school. They had faced a ton of discrimination; they continued to try to get into the school. Though at one point they had gotten into the school, everything wasn’t all perfect.
Thanks to the results in the Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) trial, which ruled segregation in American schools as unconstitutional and the Cooper vs. Aaron (1958) trail which ruled that Arkansas could not pass legislation that blocked the ruling of Brown vs. the Board Education, nine African American students were able to attend a white High School in Little Rock Arkansas. In the image above Elizabeth Eckford is walking to Central High School with the protection of the U.S National Guard soldiers while a group of angry white protestors follow her. Elizabeth is shown to be unfazed by the white protestors and continues to walk to school because she wanted the right to an equal education. Even though Elizabeth Eckford was protected, she still
When looking at a picture of such controversy it brings emotions of sadness and anger. When the nine black students tried to attend an all-white school on September 4, 1957, although they had the right, they were denied. Not only were they denied the right from the students but from adults and people of political influence in Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were part of a major part of the Civil Rights movement. Although we have come a long way we are still faced with some of the same hatred that was shown back
The school system was not always the way it is now. It was not schools that were mixed with every race under one building sitting next to each other getting the same education. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for schools to be segregated, in the case of Brown v Board of Education. This paper will argue that the Little Rock nine played a pivotal moment in history by leading to desegregation and bringing into light the social injustices during that time for African American students. Terry Barrett describes that there are six categories that photographs can fall in that describes their external context.
The Little Rock Nine were going to be the first African-American students in the Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas in the 1950s. The school planned for gradual integration, starting with nine students. It had previously been segregated, but after the Brown v. Board of Education statement, this changed. The nine students were highschoolers Elizabeth Eckford, Minnijean Brown,
Melba Beals was one of the first nine black students to attend a white school. White people, angry segregationist mobs, and even the Arkansas governor tried to keep her and the other students from going to a white school. They expressed their resentment by being very rude and trying to block them from going in. But she didn’t yell back or get angry because she knew that it wouldn’t help her case of going to school. Beals says, “Some of the white people looked totally horrified, while others raised their fists to us.”
In the 1930’s, education differed greatly from today’s education system in terms of segregated schools, the Brown v. Board of Education case, and women’s rights. Segregated schools between African Americans and whites affected the education system as a whole. In the South, African American students saw, interacted, and experienced only with African Americans. Common in the South, segregation in schools prevented Africans Americans from socializing with white children. The residential segregation,
When nine young African American students volunteered to enroll they were met by the Arkansas national guard soldiers who blocked their way. Along with the national guard these nine students were surrounded by an angry white mob who were screaming harsh comments about this situation. On this day not one of nine African American students gained entrance to the school that day. Along with came a later situation where a Air Force veteran named James Meredith sought to enroll in the all-white University of Mississippi known as “Ole Miss” where he was promptly sent away. However in the September of 1962 with the help of the NAACP Meredith won a federal court case that ordered the university to desegregate.
Throughout history, the failure of the government to protect black people from ruthless enforcement officers, forced blacks to act in their own interests. During the 1930s, the National Negro Congress organized massive rallies against police brutality, the Black Panther was created to stem the tide of police abuse, and in the 1970s the Congress of African Peoples sponsored the “Stop Killer Cops” Campaigns (Fitzgerald, 2007). The list goes on and on of groups and campaigns that African Americans formed to protect themselves from white supremacy and most importantly police brutality. Although some observers claim that racial profiling doesn’t exist, there are an abundance of stories and statistics that document the
When president Obama was elected in 2008, there was an increase in the number of anti-Black crimes. We have no idea the amount of Black people that have been killed by the police. There is a question that Manning Marable, who is an American professor, had reflected on and that is the question of
According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.
On September 25th, 1957, in Little Rock, Arkansas, nine courageous African American students entered not only through the doors of Central High, but the doors leading to change. They were strong enough to do this and knew what they were doing and understood it’s worth. The integration of Little Rock Central High was a milestone in the civil rights movement, and it was known across the country and through the world. Though there were likely many different reasons battling in the nine’s head about why or why not to go, they chose to go to the school.
An occurrence observed by the population of Los Angeles, California conveys the existence of racism and police brutality. According to The Polls-Trends: Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward the Police, “…three quarters of blacks, but only 38 percent of whites, continued to view police brutality as a common occurrence” (Tuch and Weitzer