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Annotated Bibliography

Has racism improved overtime in America?

Emily Goff

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

16 October 2018
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Annotated Bibliography

Carter, Evelyn R., and Mary C. Murphy. “Group-Based Differences in Perceptions of Racism:
What Counts, to Whom, and Why?” Social & Personality Psychology Compass, vol. 9, no. 6,
June 2015, pp. 269–280. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/spc3.12181. Accessed 22 Oct 2018

The authors of the academic journal, Evelyn Carter and Mary Murphy are affiliated with Indiana

University. They have written other articles associated with prejudice, inequality, and different

perceptions of racism. They start off the journal by giving a scenario possibly involving racism.

The scenario explained how a white male chose to stand on a bus instead of sitting at the only

available seat next to a black male. They also explained the different reasoning’s as to why the

white man chose to stand. The reasons they included in this scenario were: the white man was

having a bad day and didn’t want to be around others, he was only on the bus for a few stops and

decided to stand, and the last reason was just being racist towards another ethnicity. This just

shows that people might think white americans are being racist, but maybe they’re not. They

further explain about how most white americans are “blind” to the fact that this country isn’t as

equal as they make think. An example for this explanation from the authors would be: “For

example, 53% of Blacks report that discrimination against minority groups is a critical issue in

America today, yet only 17% of the Whites agree” as stated in this article. Evelyn Carter and

Mary Murphy also provide more examples that could lead to misunderstanding between races.

The article also talks about how people in different ethnic groups have opposite views based on

the information that was given to them. Even though blatant racism has decreased over time,

they still believe that blatant racism and subtle racism causes people to act out in different ways

toward minorities. This article gives reliable and real-life situations that can be used to help me
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understand the different perceptions of racism. It raises questions that I think of myself when I

believe someone could be racist towards another person.

Chang, Jeff. “About Race Forward.” Race Forward, 14 Aug. 2017, www.raceforward.org/about.

Accessed 19 Oct 2018

The website, “Race Forward” was first introduced in August 2017. Jeff Chang is a well known

author and journalist who is the vice president of this website. Chang was also the Executive

Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Standford University as stated on the website.

He also has many other accomplishments that makes him a credible source for Race Forward.

The main focus of Race Forward is to provide information about racial justice and experiences

from people of different nationalities who suffer from the racism issue in America. Race

Forward also has seven core values to that they believe will make this world a better place. Their

core values are: people of color, justice, transformation, bridging, expression, adaptability, and

delight. These core values all merge together to show that everyone is equal. Most of Race

Forwards information comes from research, involving the media, and practicing what they

believe in. Their research helps them to understand how and why racism is a problem in America

and what they can do to fix it. Race Forward uses the media on several websites, one of the well-

known ones being “Colorlines”. Colorlines is award-wining news website where people come

together and talk about Racial injustice going on in America. They think the most important way

to show racism in America is by letting other people tell their stories. People telling their own

personal stories with racism is a huge impact on how Colorlines is so well-known. Race

Forwards last main source is standing up for what they believe in. This means that the people

who run the organization talk to public audiences, provide workshops for leadership
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opportunities, and participate in campaigns. They also have a link to where people can donate to

show that you care for equality as much as they do.

Thernstrom, Abigail, and Stephan Thernstrom. “Black Progress: How Far We've Come, and
How Far We Have to Go.” The Brookings Review, vol. 16, no. 2, 1 Mar. 1998, p. 12.,
doi:10.2307/20080776. Accessed 20 Oct 2018

This in-depth article was provided on the Brookings Institution webpage. The authors of this

article are Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom. They are well-known from their past experiences.

Stephan Thernstrom got his PhD from Harvard University as well as Abigail Therstrom. They

both focus on racial issues in America. They also wrote another book together, “No Excuses:

Closing the Racial Gap in Learning” as stated on Wikipedia. They’ve had many other

accomplishments dealing with race and earning awards by several organizations. In this article,

they focused on how America has improved over the years and how America can continue to

improve. The authors started out the article by comparing numbers. These numbers showed the

significant difference in how African Americans have achieved equality since the 1940’s. One

example they used was 18 and 86 percent. This showed that beginning in 1964, only 18 percent

of whites said they had a friend who was African American, but after the Civil Rights Act was

passed in 1964, 86 percent of whites said they have a friend who is African American. Abigail

and Stephan Therstrom also explain how African Americans have moved up in housing, their

social economic status, and job status. All of these areas of living have increased in a positive

way for African Americans. The authors also state that the progression in equality has delayed.

Some examples they used to show the delay is education equality and thirty percent of African

Americans still live under the poverty line. Since this article was published in 1998, it shows the

progression since the 1940’s until early 2000’s. Since then, most African Americans get the same

education as other nationalities. At the end of this article, the authors explain their hypothesis on
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how equality can continue to rise in America. The authors also state that many well-known

people are now losing hope for true equality, but they believe the optimism will rise again.