Today many people think of the Brown vs Board of Education decision by the supreme court as a savior to the black community suffering from segregation in the 1950’s. What some saw as a saving grace others saw as insulting to the very race it was meant to protect. Taking the “Indian position,” Zora Neale Hurston writes a frank letter to the editor entitled ‘Court Order Can’t Make the Races Mix’ criticizing the Brown decision. Hurston’s outspoken letter treats the Brown decision with an indignant tone. She argues that forcing whites to associate with blacks is insulting. She uses the example of the treatment of Indians. Indians aren’t forced to associate with whites because they have too much pride in their culture. She calls for the reform of black schools instead of the insulting forced integration; saying that forced integration “spurn[s] Negro teachers and self-association.” She says that black schools are on the rise thanks to the help of people like Dr. D.E. Williams. In her view, “enforcing the compulsory education provisions for Negros in the South as done for white children” would be a better use of the …show more content…
However, there is something to say about promoting pride within one’s community. There has been a trend in education to promote celebration and awareness instead of tolerance to combat racism. This aligns with what Hurston tries to argue. The traditional “color-blindness” model has proven not to work. At the same time, it can be argued that this is a redundant “fight fire with fire” tactic. Hurston conveniently ignores the many ways that blacks are treated less than whites within the united states at the time. Would blacks be better off if they were left to themselves in a constant situation of minority? This might have been a situation where pride was successfully sacrificed to promote give equal opportunity to all
...isely. This book has been extremely influential in the world of academia and the thinking on the subject of segregation and race relations in both the North and the South, but more importantly, it has influenced race relations in practice since it was first published. However, Woodward’s work is not all perfect. Although he does present his case thoroughly, he fails to mention the Negroes specifically as often as he might have. He more often relies on actions taken by whites as his main body of evidence, often totally leaving out the actions that may have been taken by the black community as a reaction to the whites’ segregationist policies.
“Simple Justice” was written by Richard Kluger and reviews the history of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation, and African America’s century-long struggle for equality under law. It began with the inequities of slavery to freedom bells to the forcing of integration in schools and the roots of laws with affect on African Americans. This story reveals the hate caused the disparagement of African Americans in America over three hundred years. I learned how African Americans were ultimately acknowledged by their simple justice. The American version of the holocaust was presented in the story. In 1954 the different between how segregation and slavery were not in fashion when compared with dishonesty of how educating African American are separate from Caucasian was justified by the various branches of government.
Although Hurston was a woman of color from the rural south and growing up in a racist, sexist and urban-centric society, her aim was to change the public’s perceptions of African Americans. Hurston’s purpose for her writings was not to integrate whites and blacks but instead to appreciate and celebrate race and culture diversity. Her writings focused on her passions for folk culture, wisdom, self-respect, and individuality.
Despite the mindset that most of her peers keep about the inequality of race, she maintains an open mind and declares to the reader that she finds everyone equal. Thus proving herself as a person ahead of her own time. What I feel is truly remarkable about this author is that despite all the scrutiny and anguish that she faces like most of her race at the time she does not take a negative attitude towards white people and she actually chooses to ignore the general racial segregation. Her charming wit and sense of humor despite all the hardship is what attracts the reader. Hurston does not let her social disadvantages stop her from trying to achieve her aspirations and dreams.
Carter G Woodson once said, “When controlling a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.” In the classic African American literature, The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson, highlights the African American experience after emancipation. The book displays the discrimination against the African American society by education, social class, and economic class. The book was written in the perspective of Dr. Woodson in the late 1800s. He was born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia. Growing up in the South in a poor family; options for his future was limited. As an African American he had to work twice as hard to earn half of the opportunities a white man would receive. Woodson attended some of the most all white prestigious colleges in America. He decided to devote his finances and energies to an association which would help to overcome the inadequacies of the system which promoted mis-education. His goal was to ultimately break the circling cycle of mis-education within the African American society. Throughout the book, Woodson expresses his views and experiences as an African American, ‘Negro’ in the late 1800s. In the book, The Mis-Education of the Negro, the author illustrates how brain-washed the Negro has become come into accepting the role of inferiority assigned by the superior race.
Brown v. Board of Education, which was the 1954 Supreme Court decision ordering America’s public schools to be desegregated, has become one of the most time-honored decisions in American constitutional law, and in American history as a whole. Brown has redefined the meaning of equality of opportunity, it established a principle that all children have a constitutional right to attend school without discrimination. With time, the principles of equality that were established, because of the Brown trial, extended beyond desegregation to disability, sexuality, bilingual education, gender, the children of undocumented immigrants, and related issues of civil equality.
Before the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, many people accepted school segregation and, in most of the southern states, required segregation. Schools during this time were supposed to uphold the “separate but equal” standard set during the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson; however, most, if not all, of the “black” schools were not comparable to the “white” schools. The resources the “white” schools had available definitely exceed the resources given to “black” schools not only in quantity, but also in quality. Brown v. Board of Education was not the first case that assaulted the public school segregation in the south. The title of the case was shortened from Oliver Brown ET. Al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. The official titled included reference to the other twelve cases that were started in the early 1950’s that came from South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The case carried Oliver Brown’s name because he was the only male parent fighting for integration. The case of Brown v. Board o...
Hurston does not concern herself with the actions of whites. Instead, she concerns herself with the self-perceptions and actions of blacks. Whites become almost irrelevant, certainly negative, but in no way absolute influences on her
In 1928 when Zora Neale Hurston wrote “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” it was not very common for a person to freely speak about how racial discrimination was not bothersome to African Americans and it certainly did not reflect the way most had felt towards racial discrimination. Hurston spoke of when she was growing up in Eatonville, Florida and how, “white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there” (Hurston, par. 4). In this essay she explains how she does not let all of these injustices continue to be bothersome to her whether they happened in her past or in the present, she does not let these injustices keep her from living a virtuous life.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a prime example of Woodson’s argument on “miseducated” blacks. Although Thomas benefitted from programs like affirmative action, once he reached the high point in his career he supported legislature to end such programs. Hampton University and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities must take it upon themselves to teach their students the importance of contributing to their communities once they graduate and enter into the business world. Colleges like Hampton, Howard, Spelman and Morehouse have the opportunity to produce professionals that can restructure and save the black community. Students who graduate from these institutions have the resources and knowledge that are needed to revive the African American community and their economy. Black colleges must educate their students on the need for black businesses, role models and the importance of staying connected to their culture and community.
The Supreme Court is perhaps most well known for the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. By declaring that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, Kevern Verney says a ‘direct reversal of the Plessy … ruling’1 58 years earlier was affected. It was Plessy which gave southern states the authority to continue persecuting African-Americans for the next sixty years. The first positive aspect of Brown was was the actual integration of white and black students in schools. Unfortunately, this was not carried out to a suitable degree, with many local authorities feeling no obligation to change the status quo. The Supreme Court did issue a second ruling, the so called Brown 2, in 1955. This forwarded the idea that integration should proceed 'with all deliberate speed', but James T. Patterson tells us even by 1964 ‘only an estimated 1.2% of black children ... attended public schools with white children’2. This demonstrates that, although the Supreme Court was working for Civil Rights, it was still unable to force change. Rathbone agrees, saying the Supreme Court ‘did not do enough to ensure compliance’3. However, Patterson goes on to say that ‘the case did have some impact’4. He explains how the ruling, although often ignored, acted ‘relatively quickly in most of the boarder s...
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
Carter G. Woodson was born shortly after the end of slavery. He was an educational expert and the 2nd African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. He wrote the Miseducation of the Negro in 1933 to investigate how efficient the current education structure was for African Americans based upon his expertise in the education and history fields. The book was written during the Harlem Renaissance movement that represented the flowering of a distinctive African Americans expressions. He wrote this book to make the negroes realize that they too can do anything that a white man can do. He states that white people are the oppressor of the negroes. As teachers, they continued to expand on the
...izes that there are still great differences between them and she sees them in a positive way. She feels while he only hears. Hurston handles the topic of race relations with no shame for herself or the African American community. She is proud of the differences. She feels life more fully.
“The Conscience of the Court” written by Zora Neale Hurston explores the life of a courtroom in the late nineteenth century. Laura Lee Kimble is a strong, loyal, and humble African American woman. Laura has a close connection with Mrs. Clairborne, her close friend and employer, and is loyal to their friendship. This friendship and loyalty is so strong that Laura refused to leave Mrs. Clairborne three times even when her husband asked if they could live somewhere with more money. Clement Beasley, the plaintiff, claims that Mrs. Clairborne borrowed money from him to purchase furnishings for her house; however, when the payment for this money was owed Mrs. Clairborne did not pay him back. Mr. Beasley decides to show up at the house to take away all of Mrs. Clairborne’s furnishings that, he claims, the money was supposed to be used for. Laura shares with the court that the furnishings actually are family heirlooms that have been passed down from Mrs. Clairborne’s parents and husband’s family. Mr. Beasley also claims that Laura assaulted him up to try and stop him from gathering Mrs. Clairborne’s furnishings; however, Laura claims that she assaulted him because he was rude and trying to force himself into the house to steal Mrs. Clairborne’s furnishings. The judge of the court struggles with what his conscience is telling him is right even when the facts were against Laura. The judge calls for a note that was signed by Mrs. Clairborne, stating she had borrowed money and for what purpose, to be brought as evidence to the court; however, it is explained that the note was not taken as evidence due to the belief that the note was a waste of evidence. The judge then asks that the note be picked up and brought into the courtroom to be placed...