Thursday, February 27, 2014

To begin my search, I intended to compare the health statistics between average African American populations in the Civil Rights Era to African Americans living now. I theorized that since Black persecution and racism was at remarkably high and overt levels in the civil rights era compared to present day, health issues such as infant mortality and heart diseases should be observably decreasing from the 1940's until now. I thought that infant mortality rates would naturally decrease as obvious racism was seemingly decreasing in the American public, and African American's and White citizens were slowly becoming assimilated. However, an article on the LCRM Project went into extensive detail on the growing disparity between White and African American communities. As time has progressed since the Civil Rights Era, Whites and Blacks have actually steadily grown more separate as communities and in residencies. For the first time in history all African American communities have formed, and predominately African American communities have since enjoyed little of the equivalent health care opportunities that White Americans are privileged to. Social isolation has historically shown a strong correlation with health and mental issues in communities experiencing this lack of contact. The isolation of African American communities proves that in some parts of the country very little progress is being made in combating racism and prejudice in the minds of both White and Non White Americans. Similarly, there is a noticeable gap widening between the health wellness of Blacks and White in America. Black infant mortality is at a strikingly high level, more than doubling that of Non Hispanic Whites. The racism and the prejudice experienced by these communities attributes strongly to the pyschosocial theory discussed in class. The stresses of constantly being discriminated against as a race has a notable adverse effect on the health of individuals, and this isolation felt by a huge majority of African American's from the rest of the population of America can only encourage the prejudice and internalized negative feelings forced on this population by society.

 https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/voice/works/w/immigration-segregation-and-health/s/1

http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/content.aspx?ID=3021

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