Based on the reading below, and your own learning experiences, discuss the following:

Using a continuum from 0 to 100 (i.e., 0__10__20__30__40__50___60__70__80__90__100), where would you place a mark in order to answer the following question: Since the beginning of social work, what progress has been made around social justice issues for under-served and underrepresented populations?

Provide a rationale for your decision highlighting one example of historical significance using the experience of population, policy, and/or event in time.

Make sure to cite your information.

African Americans

The Civil War won emancipation from slavery for African Americans, but equal treatment proved a more elusive goal. The Freedmen's Bureau, set up in 1865 to assist the transition of freed slaves, was a rare early example of federal involvement in the provision of social welfare services. In its brief six-year life, it assisted many former slaves in finding employment or gaining access to education and health care. But more typical of the Reconstruction era was the founding, also in 1865, of the Ku Klux Klan. Its reign of terror in the South lasted almost 100 years, effectively denying many freedoms African Americans had supposedly gained. In the courts, rulings such as the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 upheld the separate-but-equal doctrine that in essence made discrimination a governmental policy. Trattner (1999) notes that although advocates for better social welfare programs achieved important gains in the first decades of the twentieth century, these often had a greater impact on poverty among White than among Black Americans.

For Blacks, victories in the U.S.-based Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s meant the rejection of segregationist practices that had prevailed since the Civil War. Efforts of Black leaders such as Whitney M. Young, Jr., who served as president of both the Urban League and the National Association of Social Workers, furthered these gains and helped spur electoral successes at both the national and local levels. The election of Barack Obama as president in 2008 and of Kamala Harris's election as vice president in 2020 are examples of the former, while one example of the latter is the fact that of the 100 largest U.S. cities, 39 have had a Black mayor (Black Demographics, 2021).

Concerns remain regarding the gap in economic well-being between African American families and others. In 2019, about 19percent of African Americans lived in poverty, as compared to a poverty rate of 10.5percent across all groups (Kaiser Family Foundation (2021a). A contributing factor is unemployment, which has been persistently higher among African Americans than among Whites. In late 2019, Black unemployment fell to a record low of 5.5percent, with a rate of 3.4percent for White workers, but by the following April, the effect of COVID-19 sent these rates to 16.7and 14.2percent, respectively (Isidore, 2019; Williams, 2020). This helped perpetuate a longstanding pay gap, with African American workers earning a median of $35,000 annually in 2020, compared to $50,000 for White workers (DQYDJ, 2021).

Poverty among African American children is even more widespread, affecting almost one in three (Children's Defense Fund, 2020). Also, poverty and other historical disadvantages have had disruptive effects on the structure of Black families, and in 2019, 64percent of Black children lived in a single-parent household, compared to 34percent across all racial/ethnic groups (Kids Count Data Center, 2021).

Perhaps the most glaring indicators of African Americans' struggle to overcome past oppression and its consequences are in the area of health. Infant mortality rates are much higher among Blacks than in any other racial/ethnic group, and they have the highest incidence of cancer death rates and the highest percentage of group members who describe their health as only "fair" or "poor" (Carratala & Maxwell, 2020). Also striking are statistics regarding mortality risks. These indicate that in 2019, Black Americans suffered a death rate of 871 per 100,000, compared to 715 per 100,000 across all groups (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2021c). In 2020, due to COVID-19, the death rate among African Americans grew to 1,105 per 100,000, which was the largest increase in any group (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). Finally, older data from the Centers for Disease Control (2010) indicate that as of 2006, African Americans' annual mortality rate from all causes was more than double that of the healthiest racial/ethnic group (Asian Americans). The gravest threats were heart and cardiovascular diseases and cancer or cancer-related illnesses, but because low income and lack of mobility often meant living in dangerous neighborhoods, African Americans in that year had a death rate from homicide that was eight times higher than that of Whites.

It is important to point out that there are strengths among African Americans that typically receive little attention. African American women succeeded against terrible opposition to create schools for formerly enslaved children and to develop some of the earliest organizations serving Black communities (Edghill-Walden, Boston, & Palmer, 2018). Compared to other historically disadvantaged groups, for example, African Americans have a low proportion (about one in five) of persons age 16 to 65 who lack at least a high school education (National Center on Educational Statistics, 2021b). Perhaps even more noteworthy is the fact that, corrosive stereotypes to the contrary, rates of illegal drug use among Black adults is slightly lower than among Whites, but Black adults are more than twice as likely to be arrested for drug use or sales, and roughly four times more likely to be incarcerated (The Hamilton Project, 2021). Also, as of 2013, African Americans were almost 40percent less likely to engage in heavy use of alcohol than Whites were (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014).

Efforts continue within the African American community to confront problems and consolidate gains. An ongoing emphasis on strengthening basic institutions such as churches, families, and neighborhoods is one example of this, as are efforts to highlight the unique African American heritage through holiday celebrations such as Kwanzaa. Particular attention is being given to ensuring strong electoral representation, and between 1970 and 2002 the number of Black elected officials nationwide grew more than sixfold to 9,430 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2011). Also, as of 2021, the number of African Americans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives grew to a record high of 57, but only three U.S. senators are Black, and there are no African American state governors (Pew Research Center, 2021b). Closer to home, Briggs and colleagues (2018) found that Blacks are underrepresented as subjects in studies published in social work journals and in leadership positions within these journals