racism Essay Examples

The Ultimate Guide of Writing an Essay on Racism

One of the most popular types of academic works that most professors and teachers give their students is the essay. Among all other writing assignments, essays are probably the only ones that can tackle nearly any possible subject. Whether the essay is for your English literature course, mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, arts or any other domain you study in school, this type of writing assignment can handle any subject. We are all aware of the amount of work students have and of all those tight deadlines. writing an essay on racism for instance might seem like an easy job, as you’re probably thinking that there are plenty of other articles available on the Internet where you can find inspiration. However, in most cases, these articles don’t provide you enough information and you’ll have to spend time searching for several articles that tackle different aspects on racism and combine them. One easy way to save a great deal of time and avoid all those sleepless nights that are waiting for you is to resort to best essay writing services, because this way you can benefit from high quality work within a specified period of time.

A few thoughts on writing a racism essay

Racism is probably the most long-lasting problem of humanity and from times of yore, it has affected millions of people from all countries around the world. For this reason, you have to be very careful on the way you choose to write the essay, in order not to cause any difficulties. There are high amounts of information available on the Internet, so make sure you make the right choice with respect to what to include in your own essay. For instance, you can talk about the history of racism, about important anti-racist movements that happened throughout the history or about the causes and effects of racism over people. Another suggestion is to take a country of your choice and study the way intolerance emerged in that country. Or, if the essay is for your English literature course for instance, you can choose a literature work and discuss the way the author perceives racism and has introduced it in the work. The main idea here is that you back up every argument with examples and true facts. Also, since the subject is so controversial, ensuring that your language is appropriate is a must. No one should feel offended by the language you use in your essay, so be careful to avoid any rude or offensive words.

Racism and discrimination – how to tackle these subjects in an essay

In case your essay has to tackle both racism and discrimination, one of the first things you have to consider is that even though, in most cases, they go hand in hand, they have to be treated differently. Give definitions for both of them from the very beginning in order to indicate the reader the differences between the two terms. Compared to racism, discrimination can be found between people with the same racial or ethnical origins, which makes it a much broader concept. Discrimination refers to treating people unequal even though they belong to the same group. You can also talk about institutional racism and the negative effects it has over the whole population, or about practices to prevent discrimination at workplace, where it most happens, or in any other environment. What can one do if they become victims of discrimination is another topic that should be included in your racism and discrimination essay. Talk about the rights one has in such unfortunate situations or what one should know before going to a job interview in order not to be discriminated in any way by the hirer. To support these statements, you can also give examples of social programs that were specifically created to help people who have been in such awful situations.

A range of essay types on racism to choose from

You have the main topic – racisms. But now you have to choose the right type of essay to write and considering that there’s a range of types of essays on racism, ensure you make the right choice. To make things easier, here are a few examples of types of essays you can opt for:

• Argumentative essay - guidelines

Argumentative essays are different from other types of essays in the sense that they cannot present the same idea that was already presented hundreds of times but using different words. If your teacher or professor asks you to write an argumentative essay, you should start searching for information on the subject as soon as possible. This type of essay is based on high amount of relevant information and good research. An argumentative essay on the presented topic – racism – has to be both consistent and logical and most importantly, it has to tackle a particular theme on racism in order to be efficient and of high quality. You have to provide arguments, examples and proofs that support one standpoint or another. One crucial aspect to consider when writing argumentative essays, regardless of the topic chosen, is that you should avoid presenting your own personal convictions and opinions on that particular subject, and refer instead on actual facts. For best results, it’s advisable to select a specific topic, such as racism in literature, racism in the past and nowadays or the effects racism can have over one’s self-esteem, or any other aspect of this subject that you find interesting and that matches your teacher or professor’s requirements.

• Short essay – a few tips and tricks

It may happen sometimes that professors or teachers assign their students with tasks such as “write a short essay on racism”. But, what does a short essay actually imply? Generally, short essays are no longer than five paragraphs and stick to certain guidelines. There’s a general structure that most people agree with when it comes to short essays and that one implies having one paragraph for introduction, two or three paragraphs for body / main content of the essay and one final paragraph for conclusion. But even so, having these guidelines to follow doesn’t mean that the essay can be less thought-provoking. You have to cover enough information within these paragraphs and to make the reader understand the viewpoint you presented there. For this reason, it’s recommended you opt for a less common topic on racism to discuss in your short essay.

Try avoiding general topics and go for more specific ones instead, because these topics that go more into details are going to stir reader’s attention and interest and generate discussions later on. One very good example of a topic to select for your short essay is the race card and the potential advantages or disadvantages it provides to racial minorities. You can also opt for expressing your own viewpoint with respect to the influence of the Internet on emergence of racism. It’s your choice. Keep in mind that being a short paper, grammar errors and typos are noticed a lot easier, which means that spending several minutes reading the essay carefully and editing it after you’ve finished it is a must. An interesting topic on racism and an error-free essay will definitely bring you a good grade.

• Four-page essays

Generally, four-page essays should be assigned to students who have more experience on writing essays, such as college or university students, but from time to time, it might happen for high school students to receive such homework as well. When this happens, you need to know exactly what a four-page essay should look like. Worth mentioning is that this type of essay is similar to the short essay type to some point. Instead of having four paragraphs, the essay has four pages, but the guidelines remain basically the same. Thus, you can have a half-page of introduction or even one full page if you have enough things to say, then reserve at least two full pages for the body, and the final page leave it for conclusions and final thoughts. In order to write this essay well, the first thing you need to do is a detailed research on the topic you chose and find enough examples and facts to support your ideas and viewpoints. If with short essays the main aspect to consider was finding a specific topic, with four-page essays things change a bit. If the topic you select is too specific, you might encounter difficulties in finding enough sources and information for your essay, which is why it’s advisable to go for a much broader topic, something that allows you to discuss more on it and present different perspectives. One good example in this case would be environmental racism. This topic gives you the liberty to tackle several specific aspects surrounding this area, starting from what exactly environmental racism is, and going on to who suffers from it, what the causes and effects are, what the differences between environmental racism and environmental injustice are and so on. You can even choose to compare two terms – prejudice and ethnocentrism – and come up with relevant examples on both of them. Another great topic that will definitely impress your teacher, or at least stir their attention and curiosity is to discuss about the potential improvements the election of Barack Obama as president of the US had over the country on the long-term.

The structure of an essay

In order to obtain a good grade on your essay on racism, it’s essential that you follow a simple, yet highly important structure.

Some essay outlines

The outline of the essay is the first thing you have to do before you actually start putting all your thoughts, ideas and information you found on paper. Create a blueprint of your essay, because this will help you a lot in the process of writing so that you don’t miss any detail and lose your train of ideas and thoughts. Start with a quick draft on how the essay should look like, thinking about the headings and subheadings, some sentences, arguments and anything you feel worthy to introduce in your essay. Also, ensure that your outline has a well written introduction, which contains at least two of the main supporting ideas described in one paragraph each later on. Include facts, arguments and examples to support your ideas. Ultimately, add a conclusion or a summary. For instance, an essay on structural racism in America should have an outline that starts with describing the term “structural racism” and explaining what it means, and going on to exposing the thesis statement and the background of the topic you chose. The following paragraphs should contain the main idea and supported with relevant arguments and facts. The conclusion of your outline should restate what you said in the thesis and should summarize briefly what was discussed in the essay.

Thesis statement

All essays should have a thesis statement, as this is probably the most important sentence of the entire work. It presents the main idea of the essay and in most cases, it is located at the end of the introductory part. In order to have a good thesis statement, it’s important to ensure it’s specific and it exposes clearly your main idea or thought on the topic. Also, it should stir the reader’s attention and make them more interested in reading the rest of your essay too, as this is actually the main objective of the thesis statement. One important aspect to consider is that the thesis statement is prone to change throughout the process of writing paper and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Your viewpoint may change due to the researches you find and to the new interesting things you discover during the process. However, this shouldn’t be seen in your essay as well, so make sure that in case you change your point of view on the process, you also revise the thesis statement of your essay. In the end, ensure that your thesis doesn’t contradict itself with whatever is written in the following paragraphs of your essay.

Introduction

A good essay can be easily noticed from only reading the very first sentences. This is the reason why it’s crucial you write the introductory part of your essay as good as possible, without, obviously, neglecting the rest of the essay either. A stellar essay has a strong introduction where the main ideas are clearly expressed and that it also leaves enough room for these ideas to be debated in the body of the essay. Make sure that your first sentence is a catchy one, something that catches the reader’s attention right away and that makes them want to go on with reading the essay. It can be an inspiring quote, something from the book you are writing your racism essay on or something someone famous once said. It’s your choice. Keep in mind that a plain and simple statement such as “racism is still one of the most burning issues today” might just not do the magic. Think about a specific story related to your topic and present it in the beginning of your essay.

End the introduction with the thesis statement, which, as it what previously discussed, is the most important part of the essay and which should present the main idea of the paper.

Conclusion

Any essay is composed of three main parts: the introduction, where the reader is introduced in the story, the body, where the main ideas are discussed in detail, and the conclusion, where the main idea is restated once more. Even though the conclusion is located at the ending of the essay, it doesn’t mean you have to give less importance to it, but on the contrary. The conclusion helps the reader exit the story and leave them with a general idea over the topic that has been discussed. Generally, there are several aspects that need to be considered when writing the conclusion. First, you have to summarize the entire content of your essay in only a few sentences. In order to do this best, it’s recommended you make reference to what you have written in the thesis statement. However, try avoiding plainly rewriting it. Underline the importance of providing objective ideas to the reader. In some cases, it’s a good idea to link the summary of the essay to some other issues, much wider or general ones, by mentioning other topics related to the one discussed by you in your essay. In the end, don’t forget to express your own viewpoint on the discussed subject.

Some tips to consider

Essays don’t have to be boring. In fact, the best essays are not only excellent written and error-free, but also have a personal touch of the author. One good trick you can use in writing an essay, regardless of the topic you choose, is to utilize different hooks. “What exactly is a hook?” you may ask yourself. A hook is nothing but a sentence in your essay, but the thing about it is that it magically attracts the reader’s attention and makes them part of your essay. Hooks are a good way to start an essay and they can be some real-life stories or various situations you or someone you know encountered and that determined you to write an essay on that topic. Hooks can also be some references to certain popular cultures. You probably agree that the reader’s attention is easier to catch if you make references to some popular movies or TV series in your essay on racism. You can even relate to some popular songs such as “Ebony and Ivory” for example, by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. Moreover, the essay will be even more interesting if you present a suggestion that, in your opinion, can solve the issue of racism at least to some extent.

Topics on racism you can choose for an essay

Racism alone is a too wide topic to handle in one essay, considering that most essays are only a few pages long. For this reason, it’s best to choose one more specific topic to tackle in the essay and here are some very good examples:

• “Is racism still a major social issue today?”

Obviously, the most essential aspect to take into account when you choose to write an essay on the theme “Is racism still a major social issue today?” is to ensure you have enough evidence and information to help you support your point of view with respect to this issue. In case your answer to the question in the title of your essay is “yes”, start browsing the Internet for studies that prove that racial segregation is still a major issue today. For instance, there are studies that state that people of darker skin color are more likely to be killed or arrested by police officers than people of lighter skin color. One research study that reaffirmed once again this statement was conducted by Joshua Correll, who is a reputable researcher and works at the University of Colorado Boulder. He conducted a study based on a video game in which more than 400 people, police officers and civilians participated. The video game simulated several confrontations between people of different races, while some of them were armed and the others were unarmed. Each person had to try himself as an officer. The results of the study illustrated that regardless of the race, people didn’t think twice when they had to kill black people, but when they have to decide on killing white people, they first hesitated. You can also mention situations when racism has occurred in the educational system for instance and give examples of professors who tend to favor certain students (mostly those of lighter skin color) over others. Also, students who are looking for mentors for instance, will experience less pleasant situations and receive less positive feedbacks if their names sound or appear less white. Consider doing thorough research not only on the Internet, but also in psychology books and manuals, as the number of studies on racism is incredibly high, so you’ll have enough information to complete this paper.

• The effects of racism in the workplace

One of the most common places where racism is at its peak is the workplace. It’s a good theme for an essay, but you’ll have to ensure that you’ve tackled every important aspect if you want your essay to bring you the perfect A. first of all, it’s recommended you mention the types of prejudice that exist in the workplace and give relevant examples. For instance, give examples of workers who faced denials from various employers just because of their skin color, race, gender, age or origin. Usually, women become victims of gender discrimination in the workplace, but also do people of other ethnical origins. The issue arose due to the idea some have that the white people are more superior in intelligence and skills compared to the black people for example, who are considered more appropriate for performing primarily physical work. Another example of situation in which people fail in obtaining a good job is the fact that they don’t speak English at a proficiency level or don’t have a native accent. If you give such examples, you should also discuss about the laws that help people in such situations, as it is the case of the Civil Rights Act emitted in 1964 in the US, which was meant to protect workers or potential employees from any sort of unfair treatment in the workplace.

• The effects of racism in schools

Racism in the workplace happens in various forms and the effects it has on the victim are more than negative, as these effects can seriously affect the victim’s day to day life. Even so, specialists believe that racism in schools is even more dangerous. Here, rampant racism can be experienced in a variety of forms, starting with call-naming and teasing and continuing with verbal or sometimes physical abuse. Children who become victims of racism suffer a lot and there are high chances for this suffering to affect their entire life. Due to these more and more aggressive acts of racism, many parents resort to home-school their children.

In your essay on this topic, you can discuss about the high percentage of white teachers in schools in the US, which is up to 85%. The number of black-skinned parents who accuse their children’s teachers that they are being critical, offensive and unresponsive to their children is increasing by the year. Starting from these aspects, you can definitely write an excellent essay on racism in schools.

• Anti-racism movements – can they bring any change?

First things first, anti-racism refers to a set of movements, policies, as well as beliefs that appeared as a response to the numerous cases of racism that have affected people from all over the world. One of the main purposes of anti-racism is to set the foundations of a society in which everyone benefits of equal rights and no one is “more equal” than the other. There are plenty of articles and books written on anti-racism movements, so there’s no need to worry you won’t find enough information to include in your essay. Numerous anti-racism activists, as well as anti-apartheid movements have made history, and one of the most important anti-racism activists is Nelson Mandela. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t forget about Walter Max Ulyate Sisuly and Desmond Tutu either, as these two also brought significant changes to society and courageously fought against racism. Another interesting topic you can tackle in this anti-racism essay is related to anti-racism movements in science. You can talk about how scientists tried to destroy the myth of correctness of the social Darwinism paradigm or the paradigm of cultural evolution. For this example, consider mentioning Friedrich Tiedemann’s doctrines, the first researcher who decided to utilize brain measurements of people of different races and who had different skin colors. The results of his research demonstrated that brain size is the same in both black and white people, which means that no one is inferior to other from this point of view.

• Racism cases in media

If you opt for writing an essay on media and racism, one good way to start the essay is to talk about the different means of communication and media sources people have access to in the 21st century. Mention here the television, the press and, the most influential and powerful of all, the Internet. According to various studies, the Internet is considered the main stirrer of racism acts throughout the world. In order to have a top-quality essay, it’s best to look for various examples in each of these media sources. Recent studies have stated that Americans spent an average of up to 4 hours a day in front of the TV, which means that this media source has an immense influence on them. Furthermore, in many movies and TV series, the ones playing the roles of drug dealers or criminals are African Americans. On the other hand, students of Asian origins are portrayed on the TV screen as nerdy individuals with zero or insignificant social skills. These things can be observed especially in primitive shows aired on the TV, where the major roles are played by the white, whereas people of other skin colors only appear occasionally in those shows and have insignificant roles. Discussing about the way racism influences the media in a negative and positive way should not be missed. The only thing to remember is to support each idea with real and relevant examples.

• Racism cases in advertising

Advertising is an indispensable part of people’s lives and it influences them a lot in making decisions regarding what product to buy and why. Even so, there are situations in which advertising can have negative effects over people and there have been many cases in which people became victims of racism in advertising. There are even several surveys proving that when it comes to people of different skin colors other than white are highly underrepresented in various ads, whether they are TV commercials or ads in newspapers, magazines and so on. It’s true that more than 60% of Americans are of white color skin, while the rest of people living in the US are of other skin colors, but this shouldn’t make any difference when it comes to advertisements. Even so, the unequal ratio here is more than obvious, not to mention that less than 10% of ads show black people. As far as people of other minorities are concerned, the number of ads involving them is even lesser. This can be a great topic for an essay on racism in advertising and you can find plenty of examples to support your arguments.

• Causes and effects of racism

The truth is, regardless of your choice on the topic of your racism essay, you’ll have to be very careful and take a lot of things into account when writing it as everyone who has been a victim of such prejudice might feel offended. It is a delicate subject due to that it makes reference to the skin color. This is the main reason why people started to develop their own points of view and bring up their own arguments on this subject. Sure thing, there are many causes that lead to appearance of racism and some of the most common of them are the need of protection and fear. People feel fear whenever they encounter something new, something they aren’t familiar with, or when they feel that what they love the most (such as their family, their culture, their identity etc.) is being threatened in any way. Another very popular cause that can engender racism is ignorance. This can make people who aren’t educated or aware of certain things to condone prejudices. Among the effects that racism can have on someone are mental disorders, destroyed or very low self-esteem, angry attitude towards other people, especially to the same category of people who also assaulted the victim before, and many more. In order to write an excellent essay on causes and effects of racism, you have to find a lot of information and also very good examples to nail everything down.

• Racism and slavery

“Racism and slavery” is a generous topic and many aspects can be discussed from here. One very interesting aspect to tackle in an essay on this topic would be answering the question “Which one came first? Racism or slavery?”. This can definitely generate a lot of discussions. Some might argue that slavery was the thing that triggered racism, as slavery has dated since times of yore and is deeply rooted in humanity, while others might not share the same opinion. The truth is that some nations decided to enslave others in order to benefit from cheap workforce or simply to feel more powerful and dominant over others, without any racial implications at first. It’s important to state that both the white and the black were enslaved at some point and this cannot be denied.

On the other hand, there are people who believe that racism was the main cause of emergence of slavery, as there is evidence that proves the existence of racism way before people started trading black people in the New World. You can also discuss about the studies that were performed in this direction. For example, one of the latest researches in this field, which was performed by Henry Louis Gates, a black Harvardian scholar indicates that free black people came to the New World (to Florida, to be more precise) in the 1500s, which is one century before slavery officially started in America. What is more, the black people were even aware of the existence of Christianity back then, before they were even enslaved. In your essay, you can also discuss about what other recent studies discovered: the fact that more than 4000 black families owned their own slaves and according to those studies, this happened before WWI.

Examples of racism found in literature and art

There are numerous cases of racism in the American and international literature, but such examples can also be found in other areas, such as cartoons, movies or other forms of art. Here are some examples you can also discuss about in your essay on racism:

• Disney films

There’s hardly a person who can say they didn’t see at least one of the many Disney movies. Since these movies were produced in a different period, long time ago, the idea that they had subtle or sometimes obvious racist references probably didn’t bother too many people back then. However, things are not the same today and at a quick analysis of some of the most popular Disney movies, these racist references are easy to spot. The first movie produced by Walt Disney was the magnificent story of the “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs”, in 1937. One movie some people find offensive today is “Jungle Book”. If you didn’t pay attention when you first saw the movie, you should know that gorillas that appear in this film speak in black vernacular. On the other hand, the “Lady and the Trump” movie also makes a racial reference, with the cat-villains that speak in Asian accent and have slanted eyes. In “Peter Pan” for example, Native Americans are embodied as a group of gamblers whose skin is of red color and who can barely understand and speak English. Also, Aladdin, which is the eponym and main character of the movie has a more European appearance, compared to Jafar for example, who is portrayed more exotic. Are all these mere coincidences? Did Walt Disney choose to portray these characters the way he did on purpose? Or are these examples obvious evidence that racism was at its peak back then? Whatever the answer to these questions, one thing is for sure – positive characters appear to be more like white people with specific features, whereas negative or figurative characters are portrayed with extraordinary appearance, and have skin colors other than white. In an essay on this topic, you can underline the idea that the main audience of these Disney movies are children and that if they see examples of racism, be these examples subtle or not, these movies will automatically influence children’s perception and opinion on life and the negative way people of other ethnical origins are treated, instead of being treated all as equals. Shakespeare’s “Othello” Speaking about examples of racism in literature, most students’ first choice when it comes to write an essay on this topic is William Shakespeare’s “Othello”. At the time when this masterpiece was written, black people were only known as servants and slaves, while white people represented the majority. Racial discrimination was something ordinary and Shakespeare did nothing but to transpose the reality into his writings. Even so, the writer didn’t escape criticism for approaching this topic in what was going to be one of the most famous plays of all times. Othello was portrayed as a black individual and for this reason, the other characters, such as Emilia, Lago, Roderigo and Brabantio, showed disrespect towards the main character. Throughout the play, it can be seen that Othello was given numerous humiliating nicknames by the other characters and some such examples are “an old black ram”, “thick lips” or “Barbary horse”. Furthermore, he was also intensely insulted for getting married to Desdemona, a beautiful white Venetian girl. The marriage was even considered to be “against all rules of nature”. Thus, Shakespeare’s “Othello” can be a great topic for an essay on racism.

• “To Kill a Mockingbird”

If there’s a work of literature that brings up a range of social issues, including racism, that is “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This novel written by Harper Lee exposes the great problem of racism that was present in the Southern USA back in the 1930s. The main idea of the novel is the conviction and death sentence that was given to Tom Robinson, a black man, by a white jury. Tom was accused of raping a white girl called Mayella Ewell and even though he had the courage to stand before the jury and pledge for his innocence, especially since he was in fact innocent, the jury ultimately found Tom guilty and sentenced him to death. Still, some other characters such as Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch were convinced that Tom was in fact innocent and supported him, especially since the three found it unfair and unethical to judge someone by their skin color. For this reason, Atticus and his daughter and son were called by the others “nigger-lovers”. In their defense, Atticus claimed that they make no difference between people solely based on the color of their skin, but rather on other things, such as their traits and attitude. Atticus didn’t pay any attention to none of these insults and maintained his opinion till the very end. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a great novel that manages to expose the way society thought and acted in the past century, where the words of a black individual were worth nothing. As a result, it can make for a perfect choice on an essay on racism and skin color discrimination.

• “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a novel everyone read in their childhood. It was written by Mark Twain and over the years, it has caused numerous debates regarding the use of black vernacular accent in the case of certain characters in the novel, as well as the use of numerous offensive and racist words, such as “nigger”, which appeared more than 200 times in the novel. Due to these aspects, many people argued whether or not to include this work of literature into the school program. While some believe that this novel is an offence brought to African American students and that it depicts plainly racism and discrimination, thus stirring up enmity in students, others don’t share the same opinion. Others believe that this novel is a great example and it can be used to make students understand the historical background of their country during the time the novel was written, when there was an equal sign between the words “nigger” and “slave”.

Writing an essay on racism based on “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a great choice, especially because you have numerous aspects you can discussed and you can also express your own viewpoint on whether this novel is appropriate for high school students to read it or it should be removed from the school program.

• “The Great Gatsby”

One of the American literature masterpieces of all times is Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. It exposes various social issues (and not only) that people had to face during that period, including racial intolerance. However, this was not one of the main problems people confronted with at the beginning of the 20th century, as back then, racism was an ordinary thing. Black people were still considered inferior to the white. The character that shows the most racist attitude is Tom Buchanan, who even claimed that in his opinion, the white race is high superior to any other colored races. Nick was also another character that had racist thoughts and the best moment that one can depict this trait of Nick is when he sees a horse-drawn carriage with three black people in it and with a white chauffeur. Nick called those black people “bucks”, because in his opinion, even though they were in the carriage, he still saw them as slaves. Of course, there are many other examples of racism in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. You can use them to support your ideas and opinions in your essay on racism and also comment on these examples. They are great for exposing that during that time, wealthy white people considered themselves superior and looked down upon people of other skin colors, as equality between races was definitely not a thing back then.

• “Deadly Unna”

“Deadly Unna” is written by Philip Gwynne and it’s his debut novel. A work of teenage fiction, this novel depicts the story of a white fourteen-year-old boy, Gary Black, who is better known as Blacky, and the friendship that forms between her and Dumby Red, who is an aboriginal. It can be easily deduced from here that this friendship was a contradiction to all racial prejudices that existed in that town. The town was split in two main parts: the Port, where the Goonyas lived, who were white, and the Point, which was inhabited by the Nungas, who were aboriginals. The two communities have never spoken or interacted with each other, and they even hated each other. At the beginning of the novel, we see Blacky as no different from other members of his community. Worth mentioning is that the novel is written from Blacky’s perspective. At first, he had the same racial prejudices as his townspeople. However, things start to change when he meets and befriends with Dumby Red. At some point, Blacky admits that Dumby is a gifted and very talented football player. That is the moment when Blacky becomes more and more aware of the injustice he and his townspeople make towards people that are different from them by the skin color only. If you choose this novel to write your racism essay on, you can discuss the reasons why people from Blacky’s part of the town don’t share his opinions and be friendlier towards aboriginals, or you can talk about the reasons why Blacky and his siblings went to the shed of the jetty and chose to paint over graffiti containing offensive messages towards aboriginals.

• “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

According to Abraham Lincoln, the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher was one of the aspects that influenced people back then and determined them to start the American Civil War. The novel has a narrative style that some say it’s highly influential and exaggerated at the same time, which caused the appearance of a strong and rapid anti-slavery opinion. The thing that people find most controversial regarding Beecher’s novel is that she often contradicts herself, claiming on the one hand that black and white people are equal, and on the other hand that black people are more childlike and emotional, as well as inferior, compared to the Anglo-Saxon race. Worth mentioning is that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was meant to be an anti-slavery novel. For this reason, some people accused her of portraying Uncle Tom, Eva and Topsy, who were all black people, as simple-hearted individuals who lack education and these were all stereotypical convictions. Considering these elements, it’s understandable why “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a novel worth writing a racism essay on. It’s a thoughtful and provoking work of literature that provides various matters for discussion. You can talk about the relevance of the novel in today’s times, about the effects the book had on the South and the North of America or about the main reasons why Beecher decided to write this novel in the first place. You can find plenty of information on these on the Internet and in specialty books.

Examples of racism in the sports world

You should know that racism didn’t solely occur in works of literature, as it is also present in day to day life and the sports world is one of the best examples where these acts of prejudice are present. Everyone agrees that sports are part of people’s lives. While some choose to actually practice it, others enjoy it by simply watching others play that particular sport. In either case, you have experienced at least once a racial discrimination act in this world. It happened many times for people of darker skin color to be discriminated on the field. This racism issue is as old as times, but it remains hotly disputed even today and this happens despite the fact that numerous African Americans sportspeople have already proved their talent and succeeded in a range of sports. Look at these examples below and think which one would best match with the topic of your essay:

• Soccer

Soccer is one of the most played sports in the US and worldwide as well. Unfortunately, though, racism and soccer go hand in hand most of the times. For this reason, choosing racial bias in soccer as a topic for your essay won’t bring you up any difficulties, because there are plenty of examples you can find on the Internet. One of them is from 2012, during the Euro Championship, which was hosted back then by Ukraine and Poland. The event was more than overflowed with acts of rampant racism, which resulted in a number of federations from different countries being fined for their racist behavior during the event. German fans for instance, even exposed neo-Nazi symbols several times whenever the team played against Denmark and won the game.

• Football

Football is another widely spread sport throughout the entire world, and at the same time, it’s among cads and rough-necks’ most favorite sport as well. For this reason, incidents of racial bias have happened on the field many times now and in the great majority of occasions these acts occurred because of the football fans, who thought it might be a “good” moment to expose their racial attitude. One outrageous such act occurred in 2011, Luis Suarez, who played as a striker for Liverpool, abused Patrice Evra, who played for Manchester United and this happened during the game! As a result of his behavior, Suarez was fined and suspended for up to eight matches. Even so, some people believed that the punishment was too light for him.

• Hockey

An essay of racism in hockey is a great choice and you’ll have plenty of things to write about it. For instance, you can start by mentioning that the great majority of professional hockey players consists of white people. It’s true that over the past years the NHL league has been trying hard to change this and to increase the number of people of different ethnical origins who play hockey on a professional level, but this still remains a current issue. You should also mention in your essay the damnable incident that Wayne Simmonds experienced in 2011 during a game. It’s worth mentioning that he is one of the very few African American hockey players in the NHL league. While he was making a memorable shot during that game, one spectator decided to throw a banana at him. Despite the shock of what was actually happening, the player managed to keep calm and take the game to the very end. After the game, he commented on this aspect and he claimed that as a black man who plays a white men’s sport, one should expect for such things to happen, even though they are not pleasant at all.

How is racism seen in different countries around the globe?

One important thing to mention about racism is that it doesn’t happen exclusively in America, but in other countries around the globe too. If you want to focus the main theme of your essay on racism in a specific country, here are some excellent examples you can choose from:

• Australia

Since 1945 until now, Australia has significantly increased its population with more than 6 million people and this number is still growing. This country (which is also a continent) is known as a culturally and ethnically diverse one and little is known about any cases of inequality or discrimination up until the present day. The arrival of a massive number of people in Australia over the past few decades has had not only a positive impact over the country, but also a negative one, especially to the aboriginal people. The population of this country consisted of over 500 different tribal groups and these people were stamped out by the incoming people who settled here and who brought with them their traditions and cultures. This has led to the extinction and assimilation of the culture and traditions of the aboriginals. It’s important to mention that the ones who become victims of racism in Australia the most are the ones who don’t speak English at all or have a very bad pronunciation. In their case, chances for these people to obtain a better paid job are significantly lower compared to those who possess good English skills. Arabs or African Australians are only two examples of people who are highly subjected to this issue.

• Pakistan

An essay on Pakistan and racial intolerance there is definitely a good source of generating discussions. The first thing to start your essay with is the long-lasting animosity that exists between two neighboring countries: India and Pakistan. No less than three wars were generated between the two countries for the region of Kashmir, not to mention the indirect war that was generated for the independency of Bangladesh. All these situations, as well as other things that happened between India and Pakistan during the past decades have led to racial intolerance. One major difference between these two South Asian countries is related to their regime. India for instance is governed under communalism, whereas Pakistan people are usually set against the dominant power in their country. This happens because there are numerous regions in Pakistan that are very diverse due to aspects such as religion, language or even ethnicity and that aim to obtain their independency. One interesting aspect about Pakistan that it’s also recommended to be mentioned in the essay is related to the inequality and racial discrimination with respect to language, which is even greater than regional discrimination.

• Canada

Even though at first you might think that there’s no connection between Canada and racism, it’s sufficient to say that even this country has faced racial issues at some point. It’s true that among all countries in the world, Canada seems to be a loyal society that is ready to welcome every race and ethos, especially since only around 5 out of 36 million people actually identify themselves as being true Canadians. But even so, the country that everyone wants to live in has had major discrimination problems at some point. The Canadian government, as well as Canadians themselves are incredibly hospitable to both migrants and foreigners, but the same doesn’t apply to the First Nations people. For a very long period, the Canadian government has been doing everything they could to control every possible sphere of aboriginal people’s lives and to change the way they think, talk and act. Thus, the language of the aboriginals was outlawed, they had no right to vote, fish, hunt or claiming land, their children were highly educated and many other similar actions were taken. The reason? The government tried to assimilate aboriginals and to make them part of the Canadian culture by making them more similar to the Canadians. First Nation women were the ones that underwent some of the most intense and severe assaults and persecutions, which led to an increase rate of homicides in the country. The fact that they have physical appearance different from the ones of Canadians is the main reason why racism exists in Canada.

• The United States

There’s no secret that racism is at a high rate in the US. It has been lasting here from the very beginning up until the present day, and color discrimination is the most common form of racism. Native Americans experienced numerous prejudices from behalf of colonizers coming from Europe and this has resulted in slavery, numerous wars and segregation.

In your essay on racism in the US, you should also discuss about the second wave of immense racial discrimination, which emerged with the introduction of African slavery in the country. Even though Martin Luther King Jr tried so hard to eliminate racial bias last century, around 1950s, this issue is still a major concern today in the US. Not even the election of an African American president didn’t stop racism and discrimination of black people. One of the many reasons why this issue is not extinct yet is that children are often taught and sometimes even imposed various stereotypes on people that have different skin color than them. in order to help reducing racism, various educational programs where children are taught about ethnical diversity have been introduced to all levels.

• South Africa

Some may say that racism has only one direction: from the white people towards people of other skin colors, especially black. However, it’s important to note that racism acts can be performed by black people towards white ones as well. This is one of the reasons why an essay on racism in South Africa (because that’s the country where there is a high rate of racism on white people) would be a great success for a student who aims to obtain a great grade. In many countries, works of literatures, movies and so on, black people are portrayed as uneducated, as well as politically and economically powerless. However, things are completely different in South Africa. Black people living in South Africa have manifested hatred towards people of all other ethnic origins many times throughout the past decades. For instance, over the last ten years only, many white farmers (up to 3000 actually) have been killed in this country and the cruelty with which these acts were committed is absolutely shocking. On the other hand, white people living in this country have their own ways of keeping black people at a distance, such as preventing them from entering restaurants.

• Lebanon

Lebanon is known as one of the very few (if not the only one) liberal countries in the Arabic World. Females here have more rights and enjoy more freedom compared to what happens in other Arabic countries. Lebanon attracts millions of visitors each year due to their amazing archeological remnants, incredibly delicious food and great weather. Even so, the country has a high level of racism towards workers coming from foreign countries such as Sri Lanka, Ethiopia or Nepal. Most of these workers are females and they come to work as either nannies or maids in the houses of wealthy Lebanese families. Foreign black-skinned workers are subjected to vicious racism and in most cases, they are treated very badly by their employers and are banned from doing regular things such as going to swimming pools or beaches. Probably the ones that experience the most blatant racism are Palestinian people, as they are banned from working in nearly every possible job. The main reason why rates of racism are so high in Lebanon is because the inhabitants see these migrants as cheap labor only. What is more, the government in the country hasn’t taken one single measure yet in order to eliminate racism.

• New Zeeland

The past 15 years have brought many significant changes in New Zeeland and they were all for the better. At least this is what some studies show. New Zeeland is among the many multicultural countries in the world, with the dominant ethnic groups being Europeans, Asians, Pacific people and Maoris. Also, it’s regarded as a society that is constitutionally bicultural. And this is actually the main root of the racial conflicts in the country, which lie between the Pakeha people, which are known to have European descendance, and the Maori people, which are the indigenous inhabitants of the country. Pakeha are considered superior to Maori, who have no medical insurance, no learning opportunities and no access to well and fair paid jobs. This can make for a great essay topic. Another great topic would be to find out whether or not New Zealanders can actually be recognized as the current population. You can also discuss about the opinions some have with respect that the cultural identity of Maori people is threatened to be destroyed by these New Zealanders.

• Russia

The Federation of Russia is the biggest country in the whole wide world and it extends its territory over two continents – Europe and Asia. It consists of a range of different ethnic groups, but this didn’t stop racist acts from occurring. Several such acts have happened in 2013, when more than 170 were injured and over 20 people were killed due to neo-Nazi and racist attacks that occurred in Moscow. Most of those injured and killed were from the Caucasus region or from Central Asia, Chinese and people of dark skin color. For this reason, the number of people of ethnical origins other than European are often advised or even warned from coming to visit this country or study here. You can also talk in your essay about the fact that Russia didn’t agree to shelter Syrian refugees and even accused countries from the Western Europe several times of accepting the refugees in their countries. One thing is for sure – Putin has some very strict and well delimited principles and politics with respect to people from other countries, which is why racial prejudice will continue to exist in this country for a very long period.

• Puerto Rico

Among the earliest historic records of Puerto Rico date from the beginning of the 16th century, when the region was first colonized by the Europeans. Over the course of the following four centuries, Puerto Rico was governed by the Spanish, which is why the country has a mix-race population today, with descendants of Native Tainos being the prevalent race. More than 80% of the population in this country identifies itself as white, whereas blacks represent only 8% of Puerto Ricans, the rest of the population consisting of people of other ethnical origins. The ones that experienced intense racial discrimination are Native Americans, Africans, as well as their posterities. Some examples here are that no black-skinned person was ever elected as senator or governor, despite the fact that this has already happen in the US, with the election of Barack Obama as president of the US. Furthermore, black people have lower chances to obtain better-paid jobs, regardless of the industry, as these job positions are usually “reserved” for the white people. Although Puerto Ricans say loud and clear that their country is not subjected to any prejudice, these examples obviously contradict their sayings.

Final thoughts

In the end, it goes without saying that if you follow the tips and tricks mentioned above and if you spend enough time searching for valuable and relevant information, examples and facts to support your idea, you’ll end up writing an excellent essay on racism.