This blog post will be divided into three segments. First off, I will be discussing the issue of racial equality in the beginning of the history of the United States. Racial inequality has been prevalent in the U.S. since the foundation of the country. The U.S. was built off of slave labor since the 1700s in which over 10 million slaves were transported from African countries until the banning of slave labor in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Even after the announcement of the freeing of slaves, were African Americans really free in U.S. society? Many African Americans would actually end up working for their previous plantation owner for slightly better wages. Most African Americans at the time were not educated and struggled to get hired elsewhere. In addition, considering that African Americans did not get the full right to vote until 1966, it was clear that much more than the Emancipation Proclamation was needed in U.S. society.

(Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln)

Fast forward to the current year in 2021, how much has improved? American society has made leaps with respect to racial equality, however, there is still much room to improve. This is evident in that there are thousands of Americans who lived through school segregation, sports segregation, and much more are still alive today. It is important that newer generations of Millennials and Gen-Z Americans do not forget this. Ideals of racism are still passed around from generation to generation. For example, an older generation racist grandparent who lived through segregation laws likely passed some of their ideals down to their children, and today’s children have those ideals passed down to them. While these ideals may not be as radical as they were 60 years ago, they have not disappeared. This can be evident in areas of employment percentage with respect to African Americans and white Americans, and the percentage of professional employment of African Americans.

(Employment Ratio)

(Professional Employment Chart)

The last segment of this post will be about how racial equality in the U.S. can improve in the future. This issue is closely related to gender equality in that neither gender or racial equality can be solved overnight. For example, it will likely take years before African American and white professional employment levels will be the same. The slow integration of African Americans into this environment will take place as older generations retire and newer more diverse generations gradually take over the professional work force. This could be aided with the election of Joe Biden who has been known to support affirmative action policies. Reversing the prohibition on affirmative action has not yet been discussed at a federal level however, the public is fairly confident the Biden administration will pass policies to help close the professional employment and unemployment gaps between African Americans and whites.