Sociology 3701: Worksheet--"Race: the Power of an Illusion. Part III: The House We Live In."

1. What groups were included in the original "America as a melting pot" metaphor?

2. What was the historic connection in the United States between race and citizenship? How was that changed in the aftermath of the civil war?

3. What critieria did the Supreme Court use to decide whether people qualified as "white," and what were the consequences of those decisions?

4. What was the role of real estate practices after World War II in creating segregated housing?

5. What was the role of the federal government and its agencies?

6. How does all of this affect the discrepancy in wealth between black and white Americans, and what are the consequences of that wealth discrepancy?

Sociology 3701: Groups--"Race: the Power of an Illusion. Part III: The House We Live In."

1. Why do you suppose that race became such a central concept in the stratification system of the United States? Go back to what you know of the colonial period and the kind of economies that characterized the colonies?

2. As late as World War II, the U.S. army was segregated, and in that same period of time, a majority of white Americans told pollsters they believed whites had a right to live in neighborhoods that did not include blacks. In fact, housing segregation in the United States continued to worsen throughout the first 3/4 of the 20th century. Why did white Americans continue to have such strong racial prejudice 75 or more years after the Emancipation Proclamation?

3. What finally changed the system of legal segregation in the United States?

4. What do you think of in relation to the term, "affirmative action"? Why do you suppose many minority Americans continue to believe in the need for affirmative action, while a majority of whites are skeptical?

Socio