Racial Prejudice in the Jim Crow South - Essay Example

? Racial prejudice in the Jim Crow South Racial prejudice in the Jim Crow South In Black Boy, Richard Wright explores the questions of power, authority and freedom in the twentieth century America. He also explores the issues social, historical and cultural aspects that were existent at that time. The issues of racism were so widespread especially in the southern part of America. The white settlers had taken blacks to be their workers in the plantations. In Black Boy, Wright writes eloquently and passionately about what it feels like to suffer when one is oppressed and exploited. Wright brought into picture the sufferings he himself passed through as a black. In the book, Wright expresses racial prejudice in Jim Crow’s South, how the blacks were affected and how they coped with the racial prejudice. When the Jim Crow era started during the 1880s, the whites who lived in the southern area of the United States did anything it would take to oppose any form of education for the black children. They felt that education would spoil the good field hands. They felt that the education would destroy their labor force for the future and discouraged it at all costs. For the whites education would make blacks too pretentious. By the end of the nineteenth century, two thirds of all black children could not go to school because the whites had restricted them not to attend school. The black children had no teachers and did not have any building that they could use as classes. The whites burned down schools attended by blacks and killed or chased away people who worked as teachers for black children. Despite these discouragements, the blacks did not give up. The black community build and supported their own schools. The local churches were also of help because they provided education via Sabbath schools. Over seventy percent of all black children went to private schools. In order to get education, blacks decided to start schools that would teach vocational education so that they could get support from the whites. However, these schools did not just train hands on education but also trained the minds of black children (Wright, 1937). The African Americans who lived in the south during that time lived a Jim Crow way of life. The laws developed by Jim Crow were segregative in nature in the sense that they segregated trains, schools, parks, streetcars, bathrooms, hotels, restaurants, cemeteries and other things. Black people were restricted to seek medical care from many hospitals. In addition to this, the facilities meant for African Americans were inferior in terms of staffing and resources as compared to the facilities build for the whites. In employment, black earned much less compared to whites. In addition, in many instances, the blacks were denied employment. The issues of segregation were so intense to the extent that the blacks even usd a different type of bible when they took oaths in a court of law. Discrimination had become a part of their daily lives. For instance, during the 1890s, there was about 187 lynchings of blacks every year. Out of the 187, 80 percent happened in the southern part. Lynchings were done because the victims were purported to have committed crimes or had violated the station or position of a white person. The main purpose that the lynchings served was to show that the whites were in control of the black Americans. Therefore, they ruled with terror and intimidation in order to scare blacks and make them do whatever the whites wanted them to do. The terror and intimidation were meant to contain any rebellious activity that could have been planned by the blacks. Therefore, the black suffered a great deal from the way the whites treated them (Wright, 1937). In the 1920s, the Africans responded to the segregation, mistreatment and intimidation from the whites through a social and Cultural Revolution understood as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance occurred particularly in New York City. Later this was described as the action of a new generation of black intellectuals who had established an artistic life based on their African roots. Richard Wright himself was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. In the North, the blacks received a rather better treatment than in the south. The blacks experienced lesser discrimination, intimidation and violence in the north (Wright, 1937). From the end of the civil war towards the reconstruction into the Jim Crow time, blacks continued to rise and contain the mistreatment they experienced from whites. Wright himself became a president of a back. Despite the fact that whites tried to thwart any progress that the blacks made, they failed because of the actions that the blacks. The blacks who became business people believed that, through economic progress they would bring racial solidarity and loyalty to America. For instance, Booker T. Washington encouraged blacks to prove their worth by ensuring that they succeed economically. This saw the rise in black businesses that catered for the needs of the whites, during the 1880. However, this faced a setback because as the Jim Crow era grew, the business entities run by blacks served only the black community. Despite the many obstacles and setbacks that the blacks suffered, the black middle class provided leadership for the black community. When the black soldiers returned from the First World War, they aggravated determination to secure a promise for democracy in both the North and South U.S. This nurtured a cultural, music and literary creativity that was reflected in the Harlem renaissance. The start of the civil rights movement was also a way that blacks used to counter issues of racism, bigotry, intimidation, mistreatment and unfairness to the black population. To thwart the discriminative Jim Crow era, blacks started new organizations, tactics and leaders in the 1950s and fought for their rights (Wright, 1937). In conclusion, in Black Boy, Richard Wright expresses the suffering that blacks experienced in the hands of the whites especially in the Jim Crow era. The blacks were discriminated, intimidated and mistreated by whites and were also denied quality medical care and education. However, blacks managed to cope with this through several means. For instance, they established their own schools and did not relent even when whites burned them. They also established businesses and organizations that would help them fight for their rights. The Harlem renaissance is one of the most notable ways through which the blacks fought for their rights. Reference Wright, R (1937). Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth. New York: Harper & Row. Read More