Manchild In the Promised Land: A New Perspective into the Post World War II Era

The novel, Manchild In the Promised Land, by Claude Brown, fictionalizes his

life during the Civil Rights Movement. This novel explores the themes of racism,

poverty and the movement for blacks to gain respect as a demographic. While many of us

know the ins and outs of the ideals of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and The Black

Panthers. We’re unfamiliar with the life of the average people who wanted to fight to

gain respect but the process of just trying to stay alive hindered them from doing so.

Brown gives and insightful look into the less known world of what it was really like for

the average person growing up during the Civil Rights Movement.

Sonny, the main character for the novel is growing up in impoverished Harlem.

He lives with the average family and his parents are working less than mediocre jobs to

make ends meet. By the age of nine Sonny has been in and out of many reforms schools.

He spends his time hanging with friends and selling drugs; Sonny lived a life of crime.

While Sonny knows that as a race his people aren’t respected and have no rights in

society, he is too busy to do anything or mind it. Unfortunately, Sonny’s brother also

lives the same criminal life he does too.

In Out of Many, our class text, there is a wealth of knowledge on the ideals of

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm x taught the ideals of black supremacy

and how we blacks and whites ought to be separated. He fought directly against some of

the ideas that leaders like Dr. King presented, but in the end he was fighting for the

upmost respect of African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that civil

disobedience and fighting with kindness was the...

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...e he is surrounded by

negativity. He also wasn’t going to be successful in a world where he relied on groups

such as the Islamic Faith, SCLC, or black power movement.

From the documents, text, and novel read it becomes semi-clear to me that Claude

Brown most likely would have identified with Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights

movement. Brown, to me, believed that being violent and demanding things to happen for

you would not have been successful. Although, people were angry that they weren’t

respected, they still need their white counterparts to help them function in America.

Although, I believe he agreed with the ideals Dr. King presented I think he wasn’t really

focused on rallying and boycotting but, he thought that the way to gain respect was to

work on yourself as a person and be the best individual you can be.