The US, Barrack Obama and the history of

Afro-Americans

The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

sJay-Z - “My president is black” (Chorus) My president is black, my Maybach, tooAnd I'll be god damned if my diamonds ain't blueMy money's dark green and my Porsche is light grey(Hey) I'm headed to D.C., anybody feel me?

(Verse) My president is black / In factHe's half-white / So even in a racist mind, he's half-rightSo if you got a racist mind, you be aightMy president is black, but his house is all whiteRosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walkMartin Luther walked so Barack Obama could runBarack Obama ran so all the children could flySo I'ma spread my wings, you can meet me in the skyI already got my own clothes, already got my own shoesI was hot / Before BarackImagine what I'm gonna doHello, Miss America / Hey pretty lady,Red, white, and blue flag, wave for me, babyNever thought I'd say this shit / Baby, I'm goodYou can keep your puss / I don't want no more Bush (shit)No more war, no more Iraq / No more white lies, the president is black!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3k5GPiWRQ

The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Hawaii (US). His father was a black man born in Africa (Kenya) and his mother was a white woman born in Kansas (US). Obama's father and his mother divorced when Obama was 6 years old. His mother remarried an Indonesian. His family moved to Indonesia, where Obama lived until he was 10 years old. Obama studied political science in Los Angeles and New York as well as law in Boston. He then moved to Chicago where he worked as a social worker. In Chicago he also married Michelle Robinson, now Michelle Obama. They have two daughters together: Maila Ann (*1998) and Natasha (*2001).He started teaching law at university. In 1996 Obama was elected in his first political office; he became an US senator in 2004.In 2008 he was elected President of the USA. Nobody would have believed two years earlier that a colored person or an Afroamerican could become President of the USA.

The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

s

Could somebody of foreign heritage or with foreign

ancestors become chancellor/president in Austria?

heritage – Herkunftancestor - Vorfahreracism – Rassismus

prejudice - Vorurteil

The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWOutUXFw8

50 years ago it was impossible for an Afroamerican to become president. In fact, in many parts of the USA segregation was

everyday-routine. Segragation meant that Afroamericans were seperated from the white population and were treated like scum.

segregation – Rassentrennung population – Bevölkerungseperate – trennen scum - Abschaum

A short Afro-American history

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The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

A short Afro-American history (I) Africans didn`t come to the USA because they wanted to, they were brought to the US as slaves to work on giant farms, so called plantations.Slavery started in 1619. Dutch traders brought Africans to the US and traded them for food and other goods. By 1680, about 60,000 slaves were brought to the US each year and sold for a lot of money. The slaves had no rights at all. They were the same as chairs or chickens under the law.

In 1865 slavery ended in the United States. This didn’t mean that Afro-Americans and whites were now treated equally. Segregation was the new keyword, meaning that Afro-Americans were not allowed to use the same restaurants, buses, trains and schools as whites.

The US, Barack Obama and the history of Afro-Americans

A short Afro-American history (II) The tension between Afro-Americans and the whites could be felt especially in the south of the USA. In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. When asked, she refused to give her seat to a white person, as the law ordered it – and was arrested for it. This led to massive protests of Afro-Americans.

People who worked and fought for the rights of Afro-Americans called themselves civil rights movement.Martin Luther King was a famous leader of this movement. In 1963 he led a protest of 200 00 people to Washington D.C. . As a result of the protests,

discriminating laws were changed.