The portrayal of African American families has changed drastically since the 1950s. The media’s wide representation of African American families has varied from television and literature. The families differ in economic classes, generational differences and their sense of cultural heritage. Literary works such as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Alice Walker’s Everyday Use depiction of families differs from television’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Blackish. Although they are all African American families, they each face different problems with society. They also face different stereotypes and family structures. The period in time that each piece of work was made had a considerable impact on them. During the 1950s and 60s when …show more content…
There were very little employment opportunities for African Americans that provided financial stability. In the story Walter Younger who was the head of the household was constantly trying to figure out a way that he could get rich quickly to be able to provide for family. He worked as a chauffeur for a white man and had no opportunities for career advancement. That led him to try to open a liquor store with the insurance money his family was going to receive from the death of his father. The Civil Rights Movement also influenced another character from the story Beneatha Younger. Beneatha was an intellectual young adult that was attending college. A Raisin in the Sun addressed many social issue of that time, the family dealt with racism and stereotypes. They faced racism when Mr. Linder came by to offer the family money to not move into the all white neighborhood. The economic stability of the Younger’s also affects their family structure. Their family consists of Walter Younger, his wife and son living together in a tenement apartment in Chicago with his sister and …show more content…
In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter keeps trying to look for a way for his family to be in a better financial position. In Everyday Use, Mama saved up her money so that Dee could go away for school, in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mr. Banks becomes a judge and is able to provide for his family. Finally in Blackish, Mr. Johnson becomes a advertising executive after a rough upbringing to provide a better life for his family. The historical impact of America influenced the writers of each story. The Pre-Civil Rights movement impacted A Raisin in the Sun, the Civil Rights Movement effected Everyday Use and the post Civil Rights Movement influenced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Blackish vastly. Each family had different opportunities in life because of the laws passed during or before their time. The educational opportunities each family provided their income. In A Raisin in the Sun and Everyday Use, the head member of the family received little to no education and that was why the families were so poor. So once the Civil Rights Movement started and more opportunities were provided for African Americans, literature and media started to depict this change. This is why the families from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Blackish are more successful, they were given more opportunities to
Daniel Moynihan’s controversial and needed report opened my and many others’ eyes to the societal issues that African American families face. He claims that the African American condition is caused by the fall of the family. In the Tangle of Pathology he addresses several concerns such as welfare dependence, crime, gaps in educational achievement, and children born to single-mothers as the effects of the demasculinization of Black men and the shift of the matriarchal household. Using historical context, sociology, and psychology he centers his thesis around that the matriarchy in Black families is the main issue compared to patriarchy in White households. In this report, Moynihan shed light on several studies that concluded him to assume
Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the African-American as a special bond of love and loyalty to the mother figure. Just as the role of motherhood in African-American culture is magnified and elevated, so is the role of the wife. The literature reflects this by showing the African-American man struggling to make a living for himself and his family with his wife either being emotionally or physically submissive. Understanding the role of women in the African-American community starts by examining the roles of women in African-American literature. Because literature is a reflection of the community from which it comes, the portrayal of women in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain (1952) is consistent with the roles mentioned above.
“Leave it to Beaver” was a popular sitcom about a traditional nuclear family played out through the perspective of an adolescent boy whose curiosity and antics often got him into trouble (TV.com). Despite the show promoting positive family values, it also inadvertently shed light on a historically dark period of time in American history. One such instance was the lack of diversity on the show. Nearly 100% of the show’s characters were white throughout the six-season, 234 episode series. In the single episode that depicted an African-American, the character was a servant, further a reflection of the times when African-Americans where predominantly seen and treated as second-class citizens (Leaveittobeaver.org). However, this 1950’s ideal serves as a reference point to what typical families looked like and how vastly different they look now.
Moynihan perceives the inclusive problem amongst the black family to be its structure. This is a product of disintegration of nativism in the black community. The “racist virus” still flowing through the veins of American society hinders, in virtually all aspects, the progression of the Negro family. Moynihan discusses the normativity of the American family as a reason that people overlook the problems that occur in Negro and nonwhite families. He emphasizes the significance of family structure by stating “The family is the basic social unit of American life; it is the basic socializing unit.” (Moynihan, II 4). This assertion implies that due to the instability within the black family, socially, the Negro family would be unable to prosper. Because Moynihan feels the largest overall issue in the black family is structure it’s structure, he believes that it will only continue to disintegrate. To further his idea, Moynihan highlights the subdivisions of this structure: matriarchy, failure of youth, economic differences, alienation etc. Each of these subdivisions of family structure contributes to the overall issue Moynihan within the Negro family.
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
Both the Younger family and the Johnson family are similar because both share their ambition in wanting to achieve the Black American Dream. However, only the Younger family is able to achieve it because they have goals, working adults, money, and support. They have the freedom to move into their new home in Clybourne Park, despite White supremacy, stereotype, and greed standing in the way. Unfortunately, despite meritocracy, not all Blacks have money and support to transcend themselves into upward mobility. The Johnson family is not able to achieve the Black American Dream because there is no goal set, only one working adult, and no money and support involved in their lives to offer them freedom. It is a lot harder to have upward mobility with no family support especially when society is against the individual. The Johnson family’s unsuccessful attempt to achieve the Black American Dream illustrates that it is not meant for all Blacks living in America. Perhaps it is impossible for all Blacks to excel in America because not all Blacks are privileged to have what other Blacks
The Raisin in the Sun is a prime example of two barriers that the Younger family has to deal with. The family deals with economic and social barriers that make it hard for them to accomplish their american dream. Walter can’t achieve his american dream because of economic barriers with him getting a well paying job. Walter won’t get hired like all the young white men who sit outside having lunch doing million dollar deals because of his skin color (
During the 1960s, the African-American people were in racial situations due to their “lowered status”. They had no control over the strong beliefs in segregation, which “is characterized by a mixture of hope and despair.” (Nordholt) African-Americans, like normal people, had strived to achieve set goals. Unfortunately, their ethnicity was what inhibited them from accomplishing their dreams. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the author conveys the theme of the seemingly trivial efforts of the African-American people in their individual pursuits for a satisfactory life lead each person down a road of self-discovery that reveals an indefinite amount of truths, which transform their promising hopes into unachievable fantasies. By using powerful characterization, Hansberry creates characters with contrasting personalities dividing their familial hopes into different dreams. With the use of symbolism, each character’s road is shown to inevitably end in a state where dreams are deferred.
In America, every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although each person is given these rights, it is how each person uses them that defines how successful they will be in America. There are several obstacles that some Americans face on their pursuit of happiness. In this country’s past, Americans lived by a very specific set of beliefs that valued the importance of hard work, faith, and family. As time progressed and America began to evolve as a nation, this capitalistic society no longer devoted itself to family and faith but rather success, and the pursuit of prosperity. The shift from dependence on tradition towards a society that values success and how people struggle to b successful when society makes it difficult marks a common theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Two of the main characters in this story Lena Younger (Mama) and her son Walter Lee directly reflect the shift from tradition to a focus on success and capital and the struggles they face in regards to racism. Mama and Walter Lee’s contrasting values about the American dream and the way in which they pursue their own dreams while facing racism exemplifies the shift from valuing tradition like in previous generations in America, to valuing success and prosperity like in more current generations.
A Raisin in the Sun is a set in 1950s after the Second World War which was an age of great racism and materialistic in America. It is about a black family living in south side of Chicago and struggling through family and economic hardships, facing the issues of racism, discrimination, and prejudice. The family consists of Lena Younger known as Mama; Walter Lee Younger who is an intense man, Ruth Younger who is wife of Walter Lee, Travis Younger who is son of Ruth and Walter, and Beneatha Younger who is Walter’s younger sister. The whole family lives in a two bed room apartment and don’t have money to live a better life. youngers are tired from their struggle to ...
Family is a basic unit in every society. However, the makeup of a family is more complex to define. There are so many types of families that it is impossible to have one distinct definition in trying to explain how a true family is defined. For example, there are married couples with or without children, single-parent families, and even families headed by gay men or lesbians. These may not have been considered families not too long ago, but now must be recognized because we live in such a diverse society. What I want to focus on is the African-American family, in terms of what they had to go through before, during, and after slavery. As well as, where they are now and where it’s going in the future.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a modern tragedy in which the protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, is unable to find the fulfilling life he wants so badly. A contrasting view of the quest for that fulfilling life is offered in the character of Beneatha (whose name seems a play on her socioeconomic status, i.e. she-who-is-beneath), who serves as a foil against which the character of Walter is defined. Both Walter and Beneatha, representing the new generation of blacks coming of age after World War Two, are in conflict with Mama, who represents the previous generation and its traditions. The character of George Murchison is also opposed to both Beneatha and Walter, since he symbolizes assimilation on the white man's terms. Walter and Beneatha are also in conflict with their environment, a society where they are marginalized and subject to daily humiliation because of what is called their race (not, in fact, a biological distinction but a cultural construct).
Have you ever found money coming between you and your family and disrupting love and life? Money can destroy families and change them for the worse. In the Raisin in the Sun, the author Lorraine Hansberry, uses events of her life to relate and explain how the Younger family, of Chicago's South side, struggles and improves throughout the book. One main cause for their family's problems is because of money and how it causes anger to control the family. The play deals with situations in which the family is dealing with unhappiness from money. Walter, the man of the house in the Younger family, tries impressing Travis, his son, too much with money instead of teaching him the more important lessons of life. Walter also dreams to invest in a liquor store and make a lot of money and becomes overwhelmed and badly caught up in his dream. Lastly, the Younger family is much too dependent on the check their Mama is receiving. The family has lost the fact that their mama tries to tell them, before, freedom was life but now money seems to have the controlling factor in life. When money becomes an obsession for a family, problems occur.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play set in the south side of Chicago during the 1950s. During this time the civil rights movement was happening and racial tension was at a high. Many African
Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals are two key parts played out throughout the whole process. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends meet to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have helped the family and not only himself, if he had thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to set up for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand the history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.