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How Did Segregation Effect Black People In The Usa
Effects of racial segregation
Effects of racial segregation
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Lorraine Hansberry in her play, “Raisin in the Sun”, attempted to explain the feelings of the average African American Male in the 1940s. This persona, which is portrayed in the character Walter, had experienced a severe feeling of depression and hopelessness. In order to understand this source of grievance, one must relate back to the Great Migration and the dreams it promised and the reasons why many African Americans sought to move to the North. A desire to achieve freedom from racial injustices and poverty was the prime factor that encouraged Blacks to abandon the south. However, these dreams where soon crushed as African American noticed that Northern whites had still maintained unequal segregation and where as stumbling block to Black advancement. The consequences of a “dream deferred”, as Langston Hughes called it, was dependency on others, alcohol addiction, as well as dysfunctional families. The Great Migration, which lasted from 1910 to 1930, was the first mass movement of African Americans from the South to the North. There was one main factor that led to new job opportunities which attracted many African Americans to industrialized cites in the North. The occurrence of World War I in Europe had increased U.S. factories and factory productions as European nations, involved in the war, depended on the United States to replenish their supplies. Likewise, the war decreased laborers in the United States as it abridged the migration of many European immigrants to the U.S. as well as toke many citizens as soldiers which caused a massive vacancy in the work field. Philip Bonner, from the University of the Witwatersrand, explained this phenomena as he said, “It was only the outbreak of the first World War cutting off the flo... ... middle of paper ... ...hol abuse worked as a catalyst to further ruin African Americans and destroyed their families. A black mark in America History was the persecution and discrimination of African Americans. The dreams of freedom from racial discrimination and hopes of attaining promising job opportunities were futile and the Great Migration was just the relocation of Blacks to further segregation and racial injustices. Limitations of good paying jobs as well as excessive rent prices compelled most African Americans to abandon all hope of raising their financial and social status. Walter Younger was a true depiction of a defeated Black man who unsatisfied with his life sought redemption through consuming alcohol. Depression and lack of hope were the two ingredients that led to the failure of African American marriages and the conversion of optimistic men into vagabonds.
Poverty doesn't have to effect the people's personalities that I consumes like most of the Youngers. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha did not let being poor make them envy any one who had money. Walter on the other hand was sick of the way he and his family had to live. He was fed-up and was desperate to make money any way he could think of for his family.
The intense racism of the white society on the African Americans has caused Bigger to act immorally and irrationally as a result of fear. The immoral and irrational behavior that is caused by racism is best shown by “His crime felt natural; he felt that all of his life had been leading to something like this. It was no longer a matter of dumb wonder as to what would happen to him and his black skin; he knew now. The hidden meaning of life - a meaning which others did not see and which he had always tried to hide - had spilled out.” (Wright 106).
My objective for writing this essay on the black family was to examine and interrogate a myriad of stereotypes surrounding this family structure. Slavery and its inception need to be explored because it enables one to acquire a better understanding of the modern day black family. It is my hope that once we achieve this level of understanding, if not acceptance, that we may be able to start the healing process that is so necessary.
Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry are known as two of the greatest African American writers during the 1950s. Facing racial discrimination, both projected this into their work, along with the theme of black empowerment. Meeting in Harlem, these authors became best friends and inspired each other’s writings. Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is trying to answer the question from Hughes’s Dream Deferred. Through the characters in her play, Hansberry explains what happens to a dream when is is put aside and the consequences that come with it. For example, Mama pushed away her dreams for her family, Walter ruined his dream of a liquor store, and Beneatha abandoned her hopes of becoming a doctor. In her
Both the 1961 and 1989 film versions of “A Raisin in the Sun” had their highs and lows, but the 1961 version, I believe, was the worst of the two. The 1989 version of the film followed the play almost word for word, while the 1961 version either adds or leaves things out from the play. For example, in the 1961 version of the play they added humor, such as in the scene in which Walter ran to use the bathroom before Mr. Johnson could (Petrie). The play version of the scene reads, “Daddy, come on!” (Hansberry 28). Another issue with the film was that Ruth was downright awful in scenes where her character felt great emotion. In act two, when Travis finally came home Ruth did not look or sound mad. In the book, however, she made it sounds like she
“Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller tells the story of a white family in the United States and how Willy, the protagonist of this story, anxiously pursues the idea of a better life. Likewise, “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry tells the story of a colored family in the same country and their difficulties in fulfilling their goals. Although it may seem that the plays are entirely different, they share a specific theme: the staging of the American dream as an unattainable goal for a large segment of the American population. Therefore, analyzing the meaning of this dream for each of the families of these plays will allow readers to understand the criticism made by the authors of these plays to the idea that the United States is a land of
“Nobody in this house is ever going to understand me,” (Hansberry 929) exclaimed Walter Lee Younger. In Lorraine Hansberry's play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” she tells the story of an African American family, more specifically a man by the name Walter Lee Younger. Walter believed that no one understood the way that he viewed the world, that he knew the way of the world better than anyone else. Walter thought that becoming a man started with being rich; he was wrong. What he had yet to learn is that becoming a man meant hard work, dedication, and the understanding of things other than fortune and wealth. Walter put strong faith into achieving his dreams, but he wrongly pursued them due to his selfishness and jealousy of the rich white man.
Everyone wants their dreams to become a reality; however, the unfortunate reality is that more often than not, dreams are not achieved and become deferred. Langston Hughes let this theme ring throughout his poetic masterpiece “Harlem,” in which he posed many questions about what happens to these dreams. In “A Raisin In the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry draws so many indisputable parallels from “Harlem.” Hansberry consistently uses the dreams of Mama Younger, Big Walter, and Walter Lee to allude to Hughes poem. The intensity of the dreams coupled with the selfishness of some characters eventually adds an abundant amount of emotional strain to the family, once again demonstrating Hansberry’s dedication to Hughes poem.
The Great Migration was not only the movement of African Americans from rural-South to other urban areas of United States, but it also lead to the transformation of their thoughts. They arrived with their hopes and their dreams of a new and different life, seeking relief from labor exploitation and white violence. During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting economic, political and social challenges and creating a new black urban culture. The New Negro Renaissance is the most widely discussed period of African-American literary history not only because of ongoing scholarly debates over its origins, beginning, and end, but also because of its fundamental importance
In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.
Beginning in the 1919 and lasting through about 1926 thousands of Blacks began to migrate from the southern United States to the North; an estimated 1 million people participated in what has come to be called the Great Migration.[1] The reasons for this mass movement are complicated and numerous, but they include search for better work, which was fueled by a new demand for labor in the North (particularly from the railroad industry) and the destruction of many cotton harvests by the infectious boll weevil ...
The Great Migration, a significant event in the history of the Black people of the country began in the first quarter of the 20th century, and lasted for nearly two quarters, ending in 1970s. This event is generally referred to the mass exodus of the Black people from the rural regions of the South to the urban regions of the North, West and Midwest. This event not only had a significant impact on the urban life of the country, but also forever altered the dynamics between the racially different populations in the American cities. This exodus was partly influenced by the discriminatory practices of the rural South, and the large scale requirement of industrial workers during the First World War. This led to a series of events, especially concerning
The setting in which human beings find themselves can cause a lasting affect on the way they live. The ply "A Raisin in the sun" exemplifies how cultural and geographical elements in one's surroundings can physiologically or morally drive their motivations.
The late 1950s was filled with racial discriminations. There was still sections living as well as public signs of Colored and Whites. Blacks and Whites were not for any change or at least not yet. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, tells a story of a black family that is struggling to gain a middle class acceptance in Chicago. The family of five, one child and four adults live in a tiny apartment that is located in a very poor area. Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals is two key parts played out throughout the whole play. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends met to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have help the family and not only himself, if he would have thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to setup for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand 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.
In Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, the author reveals a hard-working, honest African-American family struggling to make their dreams come true. Langston Hughes' poem, "Harlem," illustrates what could happen if those dreams never came to fruition. Together, both Hansberry and Hughes show the effects on human beings when a long-awaited dream is thwarted by economic and social hardships.