Racial Segregation In America

Entry 5

“Here are some typical comments by students and observations by fieldworkers. Black sophomore: ‘Tonya Johnson said the white people and the black people were very segregated and formed their own little groups… Courtyard No. 1 is mainly white people and Courtyard No. 2 is mainly black people.’ She said, ‘Black people don’t think they are too good to hang out with white people.’ She said she doesn’t understand why there is so much segregation because ‘everyone should be treated the same.’” (pgs 102- 103) This passage depicts how racial segregation is still present today. Segregation refers to the enforced separation of groups within an establishment, in this case the groups being the blacks and whites, and the setting being the courtyards within the high school. The continuation of blacks and whites being segregated in America dates back to the 1800’s when the school’s one attended, the bathrooms and restaurants one could use the facilities in, and the job options one had open to them was solely based on the color of their skin. This has greatly changed, as buildings in communities are now open to all, however people still segregate, as shown in this example. Whether this is due to traditional racial roles or if people simply associate better with those who look more like them is unknown, but it is clearly still present in high schools. Most teenagers segregate

Tonya, the student who commented that she believes there should be a decrease in segregation at her high school is most likely one