In black boy Richard Wright was taught that white people were dominant to minorities, which further diminished any opportunity of succeeding in such a prejudice time period. In doing so he was affected by political, economic and social segregation. His curiosity with the relationship between superiors versus minorities leads to consequences in his community, whether it's his own family, friends, and employers. All of this segregation and racism centers from laws that are called Jim crow laws. Jim crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern unites states from 1880 to 1965(a). These laws crushed Richard’s dreams and took away all the confidence he had in life and made him only want to be average. His ambition of becoming a writer was thrown away by his desire to leave the south and head to the unsegregated north. Instead of being a sell out and just giving into the white man to get what he wanted he endured the struggle and kept his pride. …show more content…
For example, Richard writes that “Look, Dick, you’re throwing away your future here in Jackson. Go to the principal, talk to him, take his speech and say it. I’m saying the one he wrote. So why can’t you? What the hell? What can you lose?”(177) His principal has been influenced by the white man to deliver a more “educated speech” instead of richard's speech, which once again further brain washes Richard to believe that he is not good
Jim Crow Laws The Jim crow laws are laws that makes it so that the white and the blacks are separate from each other. One reason why i know it keeps the blacks and the whites separate is because in the springboard book on pg. 179 it says “ the schools for the white children and the negro children shall be conducted separately”.
One of the Jim Crow laws states that “A black male could not offer any part of his body to a White woman because he risked being accused of rape”(a). Tom Robinson would know of this rule and would not even shake hands with Mayella, let alone kiss her. He would know that if anyone saw him going into her house he could be accused of rape. However, if he didn’t enter her house when she asked, he would be accused of not showing “superiority to blacks in all important ways”, another Jim Crow law. Since, Tom knows of these rules he makes the decision to enter her house and show respect, but when he see’s Mr. Ewell approaching her house he runs in fear of being accused of rape.
(Wright 15) Richard is also seen as not worthy by his father because he's just a boy, with his dad telling him things like “Get out of my eyes before I smack you down”. (Wright 12) Also seen as not worthy by white people since he's black. This resulted in Richard being used by white people for entertainment in bars with Richard saying “I took a sip and coughed, the men and women laughed. The entire crowd in the saloon gathered about me.” (Wright 20)
These Jim Crow laws that are currently being passed are absurd and uncivil! No human is more important than any other human, meaning that we do not need special spacing for whites or blacks. All human beings should be treated equally TOGETHER and should be able to interact with each other without any hesitation. There is not one valid reason as to why humans should be separated by their race, color, religion or gender. These laws just create more anger throughout the country than there already is and at the moment, we need more peace within ourselves.
Slavery ended in 1865, not "300 years ago". Slavery was allowed and defended by the law up until that date. As soon as the war was over, Jim Crow laws and the KKK prevented black people from advancing economically. Redlining was legal. All of this legally protected economic explotiation of black people has resulted in centuries of theft of labor from people over their skin color.
Laws unbound, slavery became illegal in the United States in the 1800s. This did not stop the discrimination that people of color faced in the years afterward. The K.K.K, Brown v. Board of Education, and Jim Crow laws that followed after the law was abolished, or in one case, became more violent after the law-breaking. Black people’s lives faced death nearly daily after Jim Crow laws, and the K.K.K. However, the K.K.K. did not have laws for unjust violence.
From the time when he was almost abused to death by his mother and father at the age of four, to his young adult life where he was verbally and physically tormented by his white counterparts, Richard Wright fought through life, struggle by violent struggle. As an African American living in the South, struggle is a day to day battle. For Richard, one of the struggles is violence, and being that he was born and raised in the South, he doesn't know anything different. Violence, whether it be verbal or physical, is something that many southern African Americans faced. This struggle debilitated Richard throughout his adolescence, and it poisoned his views of white people, religion, and the South.
5th Hour Cause and Effect Essay Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were unfair and unjust to all African-Americans by making them unequal. The Jim Crow laws are laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. It used the term separate but equal, even though conditions for African Americans were always worst than their white counterparts. They could not eat at the same restaurant as white people, they could not used the same restrooms, and they couldn't even use the same drinking fountain.
Since they do not earn a decent wage, they don’t have the minimum amount of luxury in their lives. They are deprived of homes, food and other essential necessities. The effect of racial discrimination discloses on Wright in the guise of starvation. As a child, Richard could not grasp the concept of racism. But when he grows up, he acknowledges why he and his sibling need to feast upon the leftover sustenance of the white individuals.
, ” stated one of the men. The white men later made the comment that Richard was lucky he has said such a foolish remark to them because if it had been in the presence of another white man he would have probably been dead. Wright was slowly coming to terms with the fact that he was not regarded as an equal with the white
Richard Wright, being a young Black boy, is also forced to endure stifling experiences before finding success. While he is in school, before he is a proficient writer, Wright is asked to write his name on the blackboard; however, “[he] could remember nothing” (Wright 75). Despite his attempts to succeed, he finally gave up when “[he] realized how utterly [he] was failing” and his whole body “grew weak” (Wright 75). The words “nothing,” “failing,” and “weak” evoke a sense of defeat, and they prove how Wright was incapable of succeeding in this moment.
The Jim Crow laws claimed to be “Separate but equal”, they were anything but. The laws separated the blacks from the whites. They had separate stores, schools, and even drinking fountains. The Jim Crow laws separated the blacks from the whites, made life harder for the blacks, and when they were separated their stores, restaurants, and other things were not equal.
In Black Boy, Richard Wright leads a difficult life, yet he is able to persevere through it. Richard has an independent personality that protects him from getting betrayed, but his stubbornness causes him trouble to adapt to a better life. His superior intelligence gives him an advantage over others and makes him think about the future more than others, but they mistreat him for it. Because of his high intelligence, he shares a different moral of equality that makes him stand alone against the whites. The unique personality and beliefs of Richard Wright, like his stubbornness to change, lead to a life of isolation that caused his actions to deviate towards conflict pushing others away.
Racial segregation affected many lives in a negative way during the 1900s. Black children had it especially hard because growing up was difficult to adapting to whites and the way they want them to act. In Black Boy, Richard Wright shows his struggles with his own identity because discrimination strips him of being the man he wants to be. Richard undergoes many changes as an individual because of the experience he has growing up in the south and learning how to act around whites.
The novel Black Boy by Richard Wright exhibits the theme of race and violence. Wright goes beyond his life and digs deep in the existence of his very human being. Over the course of the vast drama of hatred, fear, and oppression, he experiences great fear of hunger and poverty. He reveals how he felt and acted in his eyes of a Negro in a white society. Throughout the work, Richard observes the deleterious effects of racism not only as it affects relations between whites and blacks, but also relations among blacks themselves.