Charleley Hunter Gault's In My Place

From the 1880’s into the 1960’s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through Jim Crow laws. In her story, “In My Place,” Charlayne Hunter Gault recounts an experience of hers that describe the horrifying governing principles that people had to follow and live with on a day to day basis. The ending of these principles was a task that required courageous and cunning characteristics as well as a dedicated soul. Throughout her experiences, Ms. Hunter unknowingly began the generation of a movement that would soon lead to the latter years of segregation as well as the Jim Crow laws. Although Charlayne Hunter Gault's experiences were wearisome and problematic, Hunter dramatizes her audiences experience by addressing her “caged bird”

Hunter and the caged bird have an external figure that holds them from accomplishing their goals as well as keeping them from their freedom. However, the audience can also envision Ms. Hunter relating to a free bird because of the fact that she steps out of her comfort zones which only true free birds are able to accomplish. This allows the reader to develop a valuable lesson that allows them to realise that one should always aim for their highest and if one is to fail, you can hit a bigger, more impactful objective! Both Ms. Hunter and the caged bird are put into a position where their true intent, their progress, and their sake of advancement is tested based upon their ability to go above and beyond: to reach for the stars. “I know what the caged bird feels.../ when the sun is bright on the upland slopes; /… and the river flows like a stream of glass; / when the first bird sings and the first bus opes, /…[and] I know why the caged bird beats his wing / Till it’s blood red on the creek bars; / For he must fly back to his perch and cling/ when he fain would be on. The cough a swing; / And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars / and they pulse again with a keener sting” (Dunbar 1-2, 4-5, 8-13). “I walked onto the campus at the University of Georgia… I was not socially, intellectually, or morally undesirable. I was black. And no Black student had ever been admitted to the University of Georgia in its 176-year history… Hamilton Holmes and I were making one of the first major tests of the court's ruling in Georgia, and no one was sure just how hard it would be to challenge nearly two hundred years of excessive white privilege. It would take two and a half years of fighting our way through the system and the courts…” (Hunter 19). It is here that the audience realizes that both Ms. Hunter and the caged bird will fight no matter what the consequences, for they will condone any offense as long as