There was once a time when African Americans felt that they had the inability to be superior to white people. They viewed their selves as being inferior to the white race, and were under achievers. They were slaves, and socially, emotionally, and physically abused by the white race. However, as the years went by, things begin to change for the better.

In the era of the 1920s, African Americans in the city of Harlem, felt that they were free to do whatever their hearts desired. In Harlem, social forces, cultural pride, and creative passion collided; African Americans sought to change their role. This collision developed in the outpouring of such African-American writers, artists, and musicians as Zora Neale Hurston (writer), Langston Hughes (writer), Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, Jr. (musician), Palmer Hayden (painter), and Countee Cullen (writer). These individuals helped to show the possibility of African Americans succeeding in America.

As the years progressed, African Americans in the south were not viewed as being equal to the white race. Therefore in the mid to late 1950's, such individuals as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson, struggled for the freedom of African Americans. They risked their lives and fought to have the same rights as whites.

These two groups of individuals have helped the African American race of people to be viewed as the successful, talented, and intellectual race of people as they are.

African Americans are striving for higher education in their prospective fields of work. They're attempting to make a change for their selves in more ways than one. They are showing that they are capable of being of equal social status of those of the white race. As a race of people, African Americans have come a long way, and are continuing to go farther. Without a struggle, there is no progress..