American Dream Picture final

There is an image by Constance B. Schultz that portrays an elderly woman and a American flag in the background. The elderly woman is holding a broom and a mop as well. The reason I chose this image is because this shows the American Dream not being carried out or not being a possibility for this elderly woman. She has had to live her whole life as a second class citizen in a nation which preaches eqaulity for all but does not put those words into implementation. All the woman life she has had to be a servant to the white man not having any rights herself. The American flag behind her symbolizes the interdependence of our states working with the federal government to provide the freedoms we so charish as a people. That is what it should represent but in actuality it does not. Up until that point it represented equality for whites not blacks. The picture was taken four years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But it was taken six years after the famous Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education which gave black students the right to attend the same school as white students. There had been progress made when the picture was taken but not enough for African Americans to have full rights as American citizens. African Americans were relegated to only certain jobs of servitude. They could not own their own business or work independently for themselves. It was always working for the white man. In class we watched videos showing blacks as servants such as Aunt Gemima who was a heavy set black woman always serving the white family by cooking and cleaning.
Since the founding of our country we have considered our country to be the greatest on earth. with freedoms and liberties expressed in our constitution. We see the United States as the land of opportunity for everyone no matter their race, color, creed. That sadly is not the case. The Founding Fathers discriminated against minority groups. They put African Americans into slavery, they deceived Native Americans and took their land through unfair treaties. Many of our political leaders owned slaves including Thomas Jefferson. So the American flag symbolized that you can be free and have opportunity only if you are a white man and own land.
This photograph is a reminder of the past indiscretions we have made as a country. The woman in the picture never experienced freedom eventhough she lived around freedom. Future generations of African Americans would get to experience freedom because of the hardwork and dedication that many black leaders showed in past generations. In the past many white people had contempt for black people because they were seen as unclean and could not be educated. Scientists of that day even would say the white man brain is better than the black man. The picture illustrates how African Americans are close or hovered around freedom and wanted it so bad but were unable to receive it because of the color of their skin.
I found this image at www.content.answers.com
I believe my performance on this blog was good. What I tried to do was take what I learned in the Eyes on the Prize video. I learned about that time period which included the Civil Rights marches and the killing of several black leaders. It gave me a better perspective on the time period.