riminatory actions. Other observers have focused on individual racists and have seen the problem as the individual motivated by hatred of a given "outgroup." Still others consider the issue in terms of patterns of segregation and community practices (Feagin and Feagin, 1986, 1).
Racism in the United States has been related to the issue of slavery, since the blacks in American society are nearly all descended from slaves brought to this country beginning at the end of the seventeenth century and only freed from slavery at the end of the nineteenth century. Racism involves more than relations between Blacks and Whites, but that is probably the form that is most common in this society. Many Americans probably believe that the problem of racism has been virtually eliminated from American life, though there is ample evidence to the contrary. These people think back to the overt racism of the past, and they see society today as being quite different. This is true, but the change is not complete. The Civil Rights Movement has made great changes in American society, but it has not eliminated racism. It has pushed it underground for the most part, but many of the attitudes remain powerful. In addition, there are institutional forms of racism that continue unabated.
American racism in terms of black Americans started with the institution of slavery and continued in a new and virulent form once slavery was abolished. Great strides have been made in changing this situation over the last four decades, and it is this fact of change that makes many Americans believe racism is an issue of the past. There were several forces at work in the early 1950s and into the 1960s that caused the Civil Rights Movement to develop. By executive order, the armed forces were in the process of integrating beginning in 1948, a process expected to take 10 years. This change taking place in the military influenced thinking in the private sector, and...