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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

1344 Words6 Pages

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin In The Sun,” the characters deal with a death in the family. The death of the father cause the family to get his money, which they have no idea what to with. The daughter Beneatha wants to use some of the money for college. Beneatha’s brother Walter, wants to use that money for a business. Lastly, momma wants to use that money to get out of the place they live and move to a white neighborhood. Beneatha and Mama are happy about getting a new house and a better area to live. On the other hand, Walter is not excited whats so ever. Walter says to Mama “you butchered up a dream of mine--you--who always talking ‘bout your children’s dreams..” (344). The dream Walter is referring to is to start up his own liquor …show more content…

Everything was segregated schools, bathrooms and even drinking fountains. People always justified segregation as equal. In reality blacks always got the short end of the stick. Housing was one of the biggest ways blacks were segregated from whites. During the late 1950’s most blacks lived in the southside of Chicago. They were forced to live in over prices, overcrowded and poorly maintained homes. Blacks would pay more to have less. Which is why the youngers took the chance of moving to an all white neighborhood, in search of a better life. Most of the blacks wanted to get out of the ghetto more than anything. Blacks would have to pay more for the housing in ghetto, which would make it hard to save up and move from the ghetto. Ruth says “we’ve put enough in this rat trap to pay four houses by now” (342) she’s not only expressing how high the price of the house they live in, but how terrible the conditions of the home are. Another way society segregated african americans was jim crow laws. Jim crow laws had a major influence Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin In the Sun.” Hasberry talks about how she thinks blacks are happier in their own communities. Hasberry’s reasoning behind this is because blacks are more acceptant of eachother. Whites were constantly segregating blacks and treating them different. Whites would also threaten blacks if they were to move to their neighborhood. They were afraid the cost values of their homes would form if blacks lived in the

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For example, the blacks were highly segregated in public places such as schools, health care centers, residential areas and bus stations as well as in the buses and trains. This indicates that there were specific areas set for the blacks and they were not allowed to interact freely with the white people. This shows a high level of discrimination and was in total violation of the civil rights and rights of black

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858 Words | 4 Pages

By the same methods, the South kept Blacks from receiving proper housing. Segregation was mandatory and was ruled legaled so long as it was equal. This never occurred in the South. Several Blacks lived in the backwoods or at least out of cities and didn’t have proper facilities. Any movement towards better housing was pushed down by scare tactics or rioting.

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Throughout 1865-1900, the African American community had to deal with numerous social limitations. They were often attending different schools from white people. When they were attending the same school which was quite scarce, they were given shabby and already worn out supplies. They were indeed segregated, such as being forced to use different bathrooms or being forced to use different water fountains from white people. Throughout 1865-1900, there were many occurrences of public lynching.

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African-Americans were treated with respect, but they had to always sit in places far away from white families. They had no control over bus and car seats(Doc 7). Black people were always seated far away from white families because the people arranging them on the buses didn't want the African Americans to begin to think that they weren't more important than the whites. The suburban areas similar to Levittown didn't allow people of color to live in those places in the late 1950s(Doc 2). People of color weren't promoted to live in the suburbs in the late 1950s because others thought it wouldn't be suitable for the colored society to move in.

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They made laws that segregated blacks and whites, this was known as Jim Crow Laws (Source 1). With

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In the Early 20s education for blacks were lagging behind white Americans. Until the Brown vs. Board Of Education had an impact on the civil rights movement. In the early 1950’s racial segregation has been going around for the longest time separating what the whites do from the colored. Like colored couldn’t go to the same school as whites people or do the same thing as them have nice things like they do, drink out of the same water fountain as them.

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White people went so far as to label drinking fountains: “White Only” and “Colored Only.” White people did not want to be in the same area as blacks causing black citizens to feel disempowered. African Americans were forced to work at minimum wage jobs since all of the higher paying jobs were specifically for whites, which placed African Americans in the lower class by making them laborers that could only “clean, cook, stock shelves, and load trucks.” All of which were labor that white people would never do because they thought that they were far superior than black people. “Strict racial segregation” was the result of the ex-Confederates regaining

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For example, if you were a colored person and you wanted to find a store to buy a drink, you’d have very limited options. Most stores had signs that read, “We Serve Whites Only!”. Racial segregation during the Jim Crow Era was very deeply rooted. Most whites didn’t mind the Jim Crow laws at all, and most whites just hated african americans.

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Blacks could not enter any reserved places for the whites. Thee rules were so strict that blacks couldn't even seek help in white hospitals (Anderson 9). By the 1890’s all eleven of the southern states were trying to adopt laws that would keep the blacks segregated from all the whites. Blacks always grew up with the fear of being lynched. Lynched meant to get attacked by whites and hung, the whites lynched the blacks based on what they heard, they didn't care if the blacks were innocent, they lynched them anyways (Fireside 29).

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Their schools and buildings were severely underfunded and not properly maintained. Blacks could not socialize with white people in public or they risked being arrested. “A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it

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This explains that the system of segregation known as Jim Crow dominated almost every aspect of Black life in the Southern United States. This meant that Black people were subjected to worse healthcare and education, and were treated as second-class citizens in their daily lives. This included being served last in stores and having to give way to white people on public sidewalks. These laws made it legal to treat people unfairly because of their race, which went

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809 Words | 4 Pages

Being the man of the household, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and plans on using Lena’s money to do so. Walter is always after money and believes that the only way to succeed in life is with money. For example, when Walter is talking about the check, he says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking about things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” (992).This shows how Walter wanted something more out of life and not just be a poor black man. Everyone in this family had dreams but no one supported each other dreams.

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Trains and buses were also segregated and in many states marriage between whites and African American people was banned. ’This quote has been taken years later and is an interpretation so may be less reliable however there has been first hand accounts and photographic evidence which strongly supports this statement. The law meant that black Americans were seen as inferior and got everything second best. By enforcing segregation in the south it created a large feeling of white supremacy and increased the tensions between black and white people, as they weren’t being allowed to mix which put a strain on the relationship and tolerance on the two races. Black people would see they were at a noticeable disadvantage getting the worst cinemas and public baths while in some states only being able to walk into other black owned shops, which there were very few of.

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In the 1970’s, Asian flying carp was brought over to the United States to filter waterways of unnecessary algae and bacteria. Since their introduction, these carp have spread across the country, and are currently wreaking havoc on the environment: outcompeting all native fish species due to their aggressiveness and adaptability. They have also been know to cause damages to property and fatally injure fishermen. This fish was originally imported for a good cause, to benefit the environment; the aftermath was unseen and unexpected. People often get involved in situations not pertaining to them because they believe they are able to resolve the issues, and the baleful impacts left behind from these conflicts are generally not deliberate.

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The new laws that the government had set in place made lives for black people very difficult at the time. When this law was put in place, the differences between blacks and whites were very clear. Whites got preferential treatment, just for being white whereas blacks had to struggle with daily

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