In life, there are many things that a person cannot control about themselves. One’s race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status are all things someone is born into. Unfortunately, these traits tend to be the ones that cause judgement in our society. For C. Vivian Stringer, author of Standing Tall, she was born in the 1940’s. In many ways, it was a more difficult time than today, considering the social constructions. Stringer was an African-American woman who was born to an impoverished family in Edenborn, Pennsylvania. She was born during the civil rights movements, which made it difficult for African-Americans at the time. Being a minority was made even more difficult for Stringer, because she was a woman. At the time, women were …show more content…
Throughout the book, Vivian had fallen a victim of racial and sexual discrimination while defying the odds that most black women faced during this time. Stringer demonstrated dignity and passion when she discovered her husband’s death and her daughter’s diagnosis with meningitis. Stringer showed what it meant to recover from tragedy and managed to build something great such as her team and her own family, while battling her own bout with cancer, Stringer demonstrates an unholy amount of willpower and determination, even after being publicly shamed by sports broadcaster, Don Imus. The book, Standing Tall, demonstrates the will power required to overcome adversity as an African American woman along with personal issues such as the heartache of losing a loved one and being diagnosed with cancer. Despite all the hardships that Vivian faced being an underprivileged person in society, Vivian managed to become one of the great, most influential women’s basketball coaches in NCAA history, Vivian led through example to her players and taught them valuable lessons that they would carry throughout their lives, her goal was to positively impact them and teach them their worth as African American women in the NCAA. At the end, Vivian showed how living the American Dream was possible, no matter the circumstances of age, gender or social
In “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson, the three main characters that the story follows face a great deal of inequality and racial prejudice in both the Jim Crow south that they left and the north that they fled to. Through their stories, as well as the excerpts from Wilkerson that serve to dispel some of the common myths and to explain some of the inequalities that others faced, one is able to make many connections between the problems that Ida Mae, George Starling, and Richard Foster, among many others, faced in their time and the obstacles to equality that our society still to this day struggles to overcome. A large reason as to why these obstacles still exist is that many have preconceived ideas about African Americans and African American Communities. However, numerous obstacles still survive to this day as a result of certain racist ideas.
No matter where one is from or where one finds themselves today, we carry with us in some way or another a specific heritage. Certain events and circumstances can lead to someone trying to forget their heritage or doing everything in their power to preserve that heritage. Alice Walker’s “EveryDay Use” was published in 1973, not long after the civil rights movement, and reflects the struggles of dealing with a heritage that one might not want to remember (Shmoop). Alice Walker is well known as a civil rights and women’s rights activist. Like many of her other works she uses “Everyday Use” to express her feelings on a subject; in this case African American heritage. Through “Everyday Use” it can be seen that Alice Walker has negative feelings about how many African Americans were trying to remove themselves from parts of their African American culture during the time of the short story’s publishment. This idea that Walker was opposed to this “deracinating” of African Americans coming out of the civil rights
Students were assigned this essay as an inside look at oppression and racism from the last one hundred years, told by two elderly ladies in the book, Having Our Say. 100 Years of Degradation There are several books that have to be read in English 095. Having Our Say is one of them. My advice is to read this book while you are still in 090 or 094, just to get the advantage. These are some things that you will discover in this extraordinary biography. This book is tough to take as humorous, because it’s heart-wrenching to look at racism in America, but Having Our Say, manages to pull off the feat. Having Our Say really makes you think and tries to somehow reflect on the past as if you were actually there. As a white male, I am amazed at how these two African American sisters were able to live through over one hundred years of racism and discrimination, and then be able to write about their experience in a humorous, yet very interesting way. Having Our Say chronicles the lives of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two elderly colored sisters (they prefer the term colored to African-American, black, and negro), who are finally having their say. Now that everyone who ever kept them down is long dead, Sadie and Bessie tell the stories of their intriguing lives, from their Southern Methodist school upbringing to their involvement in the civil rights movement in New York City. Sadie is the older, 103 years old, and sweeter of the sisters. The first colored high school teacher in the New York Public School System, Sadie considers herself to be the Booker T. Washington of the sisters, always shying away from conflict and looking at both sides of the issue. Bessie is the younger sister, 101 years old, and is much more aggressive. A self-made dentist who was the only colored female at Columbia University when she attended dentistry school there, Bessie is the W.E.B. Dubois of the sisters, never backing down from any type of confrontation. As the sisters tell the stories of their ancestors and then of themselves, and how they have endured over 150 years of racism in America, they tend to focus mainly on the struggles that they encountered as colored women. Bessie brings laughter to the book with her honest, frank, and sometimes, confrontational take on life.
Anne Moody's story is one of success filled with setbacks and depression. Her life had a great importance because without her, and many others, involvement in the civil rights movement it would have not occurred with such power and force. An issue that is suppressing so many people needs to be addressed with strength, dedication, and determination, all qualities that Anne Moody strived in. With her exhaustion illustrated at the end of her book, the reader understands her doubt of all of her hard work. Yet the reader has an outside perspective and knows that Anne tells a story of success. It is all her struggles and depression that makes her story that much more powerful and ending with the greatest results of Civil Rights and Voting Rights for her and all African Americans.
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
“On Being Black…” is an autobiographical essay discussing the black working class and how in order for black women to “have-it-all” they must have a career, home, and husband. But when Bonner refers to the younger generations, they find flaws with the working class’ expectations on becoming middle to upper class. The Young Black generation challenges the ideology of what it means to “have-it-all,” while dismantling institutional racism to create their own ideological racial uplift. In both works, she questions racial categorization and the divisions among class amongst African Americans, a reoccurring theme for her later
Anne Moody shares her testimony of growing up poor and black in the rural south. In doing so, the courage she had speaks through her words. For example, she showed true courage growing up poor as a child, and having to provide for herself and her siblings. Her bravery during the civil rights movement was even more courageous. In addition, her courage and determination went hand-in-hand. She was determined to do what she had to do to survive. She was determined to get blacks the equal opportunity they deserved; and that required a deal of courage, which she greatly possessed. Furthermore, she had the drive to survive. She had
Richelle Goodrich once said, “To encourage me is to believe in me, which gives me the power to defeat dragons.” In a world submerged in diversity, racism and prejudice it is hard for minorities to get ahead. The novel “The Other Wes Moore” is a depiction of the differences that encouragement and support can make in the life of a child. This novel is about two men, with the same name, from the same neighborhood, that endured very similar adversities in their lives, but their paths were vastly different. In the following paragraphs, their lives will be compared, and analyzed from a sociological perspective.
African-Americans aged 12 and up are the most victimized group in America. 41.7 over 1,000 of them are victims of violent crimes, compared with whites (36.3 over 1,000). This does not include murder. Back then during the era of the Jim Crow laws, it was even worse. However, during that time period when there were many oppressed blacks, there were many whites who courageously defied against the acts of racism, and proved that the color of your skin should not matter. This essay will compare and contrast two Caucasian characters by the names of Hiram Hillburn (The Mississippi Trial, 1955) and Celia Foote (The Help), who also went against the acts of prejudice.
In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she describes what it was like to grow up during the Jim Crow era of the Deep South in poverty in a household of five and constantly growing. As Moody developed into a woman she dealt with many hardships. She overcame the adversities of being a girl of color during this time. Moody’s education helped her understand the full effects of everything happening around her.
As Stephen Brookfield, a renowned scholar in adult education, once asserted, “Who we are and how we are seen by the world are substantially shaped by perceptions of our racial, class, and ethnic identities...” (Brookfield 3) Race, class and culture are inescapable aspects of one’s life that affect how others perceive, judge and interact with one. Sandra Cisneros’, “House on Mango Street”, Langston Hughes’, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s, “We Wear the Mask” reinforce this idea.
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi is a narrated autobiography depicting what it was like to grow up in the South as a poor African American female. Her autobiography takes us through her life journey beginning with her at the age of four all the way through to her adult years and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. The book is divided into four periods: Childhood, High School, College and The Movement. Each of these periods represents the process by which she “came of age” with each stage and its experiences having an effect on her enlightenment. She illustrates how important the Civil Rights Movement was by detailing the economic, social, and racial injustices against African Americans she experienced.
Glamour and money are not the only components surrounding sports; many athletes experience what can be considered the dark side of sports. In the article The Meaning of Serena Williams by Claudia Rankine, some not so glamorous aspects of her life are highlighted. One of the most prominent rough parts of her life includes the racism that constantly surrounded her as an athlete. Whether it be the name calling and humiliation, or being paid less compared to a white woman, Serena has endured it all through her career; it is how she handles such cases that promotes her positive character.
Throughout history, it is easy to recognize how African Americans have triumphed in sports. It is also enlightening and empowering to see and recognize the challenges that women faced in the past with achieving recognition in sports as compared to that of men.