Gem Of The Ocean By August Wilson: Play Analysis

The play “Gem of the Ocean” written by August Wilson is a play that is accurately portraying the lives of former slaves. Wilson does a great job describing the struggles that African-Americans faced even after they were made legally free. Although the laws passed stating that African-Americans were made equal to whites, they were still considered “less worthy” than the whites. This was especially true in the workforce. During this time African- Americans were allowed to find and hold jobs just as the whites were entitled to do. The problem was that many jobs available required work within the steel mills. This was a problem because the rich mill owners would rather hire white women or children than to hire African-Americans. This was not only a problem for African-Americans but for the White people who were also being hired by the rich mill owners. They were being taken advantage of by being underpaid and working longer hours than should have been allowed. After some research I found that this inability for blacks to be successful in business lasted into the 20th century and did not change until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's with the help of Martin Luther King Jr (History.com).
When Wilson wrote the play, he portrayed events that actually took place during this time. This

One may think that to hold the title of Sheriff and being an African-American is a huge accomplishment. However, this is a great example of African- Americans being taken advantage of. Caesar takes his title and job very seriously. He is evicting renters for missing a single payment. He even goes as far as to arrest Aunt Ester for tampering evidence in a crime and kills Solly Two Kings. I think that Caesar was given this job, because the Whites believed that he would be able to enforce laws on the African-Americans without getting in trouble because he was African-American. The White men were using Caesar to do their dirty work against the