Alabaster: Community Analysis

Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois was significantly different from where I was born in Morristown, New Jersey. One of the most startling differences was apparent in the make-up of the student body. In Morristown, I attended an elementary school with a diverse student body; many of my schoolmates were African American and I remember even at a young age, students regardless of race interacting all-together without any sense of stigma attached to it. In that sense, while attending elementary school, since it was the norm to have friends of different races, I did not think very much of my race.

When struggling alongside people opposite than themselves, African-Americans felt a stronger need to cope with feelings that came along with integration and discrimination. Many residents within small African American communities in Gary,

No one approached us to say hello, not even the staff. Several people smiled and others stared at us trying to figure out who we were. “Ideology is the store of social information used to guide social relationships and interactions, whether they are between other people, the physical environment (DrVry, 2015).” As I looked around I remember feeling like an outsider and thinking what have I done moving my child to this school. It was a scary feeling that I was alone and did not fit into any group around me. It was a very foreign feeling to us. I could see the fear in her face and it broke my heart. According to Allen, Nearly all minority groups have experienced both prejudice and discrimination

Eight college students attending the University of Louisville were interviewed. Within this group, half were females and the other half were males. Among the females, two were biracial and the other were African American. Of the individuals who

Imagine living in a town that was once thriving with successful businesses to a community that barely exist. As you travel down the deserted roads of your community you are surrounded by boarded up memorable buildings, deteriorating homes, and empty storefronts. The water tower that stands tall for all to see is now covered by rust. While the streets in which you are traveling on show signs of frequent patchwork in an effort to salvage the road. As you pass by what once was your favorite mom and pop’s restaurant you began to reminisce on the time you spent there with loved ones. This has become the story of residents in Boley, Oklahoma; one of the first all black towns in the state.

A local civil engineer, Tom Tutwiler, stationed his headquarters a couple miles southwest of Sumner, MS. The town, Tutwiler, was founded and named after Mr. Tutwiler in 1899 (Gutenberg, 2015). As the railroads grew so did the town. After the railroads had become established in the small town, a two story building and roadways were then built. An older gentleman by the name Captain H.B. Fitch managed the first floor of the building as a store while his wife built a school house on the second floor (Gutenberg, 2015). The school only began with five scholars. By 1905, the town became combined and a man by the name of W.E. Fite was mayor (Gutenberg, 2015).

Where one grows up affects their lifestyle and character; one’s surroundings shape his or her outlook on the world. Many people always say when growing up in the city one will be used to a diverse, hasty going, and exhilarating life; while growing up in the country one will be used to a deliberate, steadier, and bucolic life. Although moving to Mississippi was a dramatic alteration, I can explicitly acknowledges the menaces–death, robberies, and fights–encountered growing up in the city. Therefore, moving to the south may have been a better alternative involving my physical well-being, regardless of the many emotional struggles. Moving down south to Mississippi from Illinois showed me the struggles of coping with racism and prejudice people,

According to the 2013 Census, there were 15,760 people residing in Hale County. Breakdown consist of 59.0% were African American, 39.8% Caucasian, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% of unknown race and 0.6% of mixed race 0.9% were Hispanic or Latino (www.archives.state.al.us). Census information from 2000 is higher, the population then was 17,185. The county is losing community members due to the lack of jobs. Many articles suggest jobs are the only thing causing people to leave Hale County. Research shows that many enjoy the communities, the schools and their neighbors. The thought of relying on neighbors is somewhat comforting but, a practice of the past. Many feel they should leave and seek higher goals.

My community, Lisle, is a small, predominantly Caucasian, middle-class town. I can walk down the hallway and recite the first name, last name, and a fun fact of about seventy percent of my peers. Because of its size, I have has the opportunity to get to know majority of my neighbors and become quite familiar with my environment. While the kindness is in abundance, many of the people I meet in town have a confined perception of society. Entering high school, it did not take long for me to notice how prominent labels and groups were and how I did not fit comfortably into any single category. I liked being on the math team, playing soccer, and spending time with friends. But the academics, athletes, and social crowds were distinct, and people seemed to only interact with those of the same race. Nonetheless, at Lisle High School, we have a common saying, “One Pride” which symbolizes both our school mascot, the lion, as well as the unity of the community. I chose to focus on unity, rather than disparities. Following this mentality has

Ozark, MO; Population: 18,348, Demographics: 90.9% White, 5.5% Hispanic, 2.6% Interracial, 0.4% African American, 0.4% Asian, and 0.2% American Indian, Median Income: $48,929. (1) Ozark, Missouri is the place where I lived for the first nineteen years of my life. I was raised in a middle class, interracial, family consisting of Irish and Mexican bloodlines. My mom and I are white, my step-dad is Hispanic, and my brother is White/Hispanic. The majority of my friend’s family’s socioeconomic status is in the $200,000 to $300,000 income bracket. Our town also includes the fourth largest Assembly of God church in the United States with an average attendance of 8, 850. (2) This is the society I grew up in and there are a lot of things I

Growing up in America, I have always been surrounded by many cultures and different ethnic groups. Many of those cultures differ from my own traditionally. For the first half of my life, I was raised in detroit, a predominantly black city - I had always assumed. My family eventually moved out of Detroit and we moved to Inkster. Inkster was a much smaller city, but it was also a predominantly black city. In 2011, my family moved from Inkster, Michigan to Canton, Michigan. Although the two cities are less than a half hour apart - the cultural and ethnic groups are extremely diverse. While attending my freshman year of high school in Canton I realized, I was a minority there. More than half of the student body, more than half of the community

Growing up, my first memories are from living in a small town called Topinabee in Michigan. With such a small population, it’s probably safe to say that every resident could be spotted at Ken’s Grocery Market at some point during a given week. Not until I returned to this town to visit family, did I notice something peculiar: a scarcity in black people. Although this detail didn’t really bother me, it got me thinking about the kind of life I might have had if I didn’t move to Joliet, Illinois before starting kindergarten. I most likely would have been sheltered from the diversity I am exposed to today. I like to think that I would be able to adapt just as easily now as I did when I was four, but that can’t be proven.

In America on average only 27% of African American Students’ class mates are Caucasian due to a divide between white and minority populations which has lasted for decades (Rivkin n.pag.). A system of racial division has evolved in the shadows and takes on many forms, most of which are fairly discrete. Racially separated communities have formed through a variety of mediums in a slow and persistent manner. However, the effects of a residential divide are direct, immediate, and numerous. A racist agenda within the development of American communities has further isolated the American people from each other by a means of systematic urban segregation.

The town of Maycomb, Alabama is very much like any southern town at this time. The citizens are racist and are mistrustful of blacks. Even those who were only partially black were thought of as being lesser than whites. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout asked Jem: ‘Well how do you know we ain’t Negroes?’(Lee, Harper 162). Whites would not associate themselves with half bloods because they were black and blacks would not associate themselves with them because they were white. Here, Lee shows that even