Brothers and Keepers

“We are not makers of history, we are made by history,” once said by Martin Luther King Junior. Black history has impacted all of our lives, regardless of our race or the color of our skin. Therefore, it is imperative that we all explore black history. In modern society, most adolescents can’t even begin to fathom what it was like to live in the 1950s as an African American. Moreover, they don’t recognize the colossal sacrifices African Americans made in order to obtain equality. Many juveniles find it difficult to wrap their heads around what life was like prior to all of these pivotal icons that paved the way for our contemporary lifestyle. Icons much like Ineria Hudnell who revolutionized academia in Florida.

“Of the Coming of John” is the best example to show how whites and blacks took on their education pursuits. They each have journeys with different outcomes. There are two different Johns described in this story, a black John and a white John. The black John listens to everything his mother says, his mother wanted to send him off to school but people said it would ruin him. The white John was privileged: with a father as a judge he enrolled into Princeton. The black John however attended an unknown school with very little money. The black John went through a lot of difficulties during school. His behavior went downhill because he could not keep up with his work, almost having to leave for the remainder of the semester. John then decided he would

In “Delusions of Grandeur” by Henry Louis Gates Junior, Gates elaborates that Black youths should be given the opportunity to pursue a career that doesn’t involve being drafted into a professional sport. Gates brings to light the mishaps of the schools in the black communities that don 't push for scholarly students for chances at aspiring to go to college. He also speaks upon African Americans should not be seen just as athletes but are able to further in an education as a doctor, lawyer, engineer and much more. Today Black professional athletes should not be more respected than black professionals such as doctors, lawyers and educators.

The occasion was in the year 1996 in the gang-ridden streets of South Central, Los Angeles while California was on the ballot for affirmative action. Corwin, a newspaper reporter, was covering the shooting of a teenage boy. The victim turned out to be John Doe, a student from Crenshaw high school. In his pocket revealed an “A” paper on the French Revolution; he was a gifted student who had a bright future ahead of him. Before he knew it, Corwin realized that South Central isn’t just a place full of gang activity, but rather a place filled with hidden successes. This motivated the author to approach the high school the boy had attended to shine light on the students who shared a similar background story. Miles Corwin decided to set the location at a predominately black school such as Crenshaw because it would be an ideal place to set his book. Afterward, Corwin successfully explained how “affirmative action” put these gifted students at a disadvantage. Furthermore, he was able to describe the obstacles these students would have to deal with such as abuse, financial instability, and the poor education system. Thus, Corwin would set his tone as concerned and hopeless of the students who faced the impending, one-way trip they will be part of : graduation

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

The dominant white male of the story speaks the following statement, "Now I like the colored people, and sympathize with all this reasonable aspirations; but you and I both know, John, that in this country the Negro must remain subordinate and can never expect to be equal of white men" (373). This is a fundamental sentiment that white people in the American society during that time held on to. In this essay W.E.B DuBois shows how this black man, John, was treated in his hometown after returning home with a college education. Both blacks and whites reject his new views. However, to whites the black John represents a devaluing of the college education. If a black person can have a college degree, then having a college degree must not have value. After this reaction from society John started to think, "John Jones, you're a natural born fool" (369). This behavior from society kept the average black person stagnant, and unmotivated.

“The Black Studies Program: Strategy and Structure” was published Fall of 1972 in The Jounal of Negro Education. It’s contents are a relection on the years before when colleges and universitys were allowing African Americans to attend , but did not provide curriculum about or for African Americans.

Furthermore, this essay gives a perspective on what a Black man goes through. Brent wanted to enlighten his readers about daily life as an African American man. This meant explaining his view of the public from his perspective. By bringing these issues to light, he

The 1940s represent a decade of turmoil for the United States in general. Perhaps no group of people struggled more during that time period, however, than African Americans. With racial segregation prevalent, particularly in the South, opportunity was lacking for African-Americans. However, Ralph Ellison suggests in “Battle Royal” that due to the lack of racial unity among black men as well as a certain amount of naiveté, black men prevented themselves from succeeding more so than their white oppressors.

In this particular body of work, Woodson discusses many issues that arose and mistakes made (and appear to still be relevant) in the educating of people of color. One such issue and summary discussed, is the disdain the learned African American develops for his fellow less formally educated African American brother, for himself, and for life in general because “he has been estranged by a vision of ideals…he can not attain” (6). He must exist in a social body that he must not associate with socially, and yet has no alternative. The self-hate that is taught,

African American individuals still faced inhumane discrimination and were often not looked at as people, let alone cared for or acknowledged. To anyone else, their opinions did not matter and their lives were not valued. The 1930?s was also a time in which America was being rebuilt after the detrimental effects of the Great Depression. Furthermore, there was a greater presence of African Americans in northern states, which brought about racial tension from powerful white figures who did not want African Americans in what they believed to be ?their cities?. The struggle to find jobs was present all over, and African Americans found it even more difficult to support themselves. The narrator faced all these obstacles throughout the course of this novel.

Leroy Berry grew up in “Black Philadelphia”—a community where “structural inequalities and racism” creates “a unique Afro-American…subculture” (Lane 226). Growing up in “the streets” caused him to realize that he never wanted his kids to go through what he did, and he strived to get out. Due to the awful education system given to urban black youth, Leroy Berry realized he could not get out of the “hood” through his education alone and realized he had to excel in basketball to even attempt to leave. This migration up in society is a plight many black citizens face. “In the modern American economy…it has grown difficult, perhaps impossible, for any large block of citizens to move up as a group. And it is hard to predict whether all this will change in ways that improve the position of the nation’s impoverished blacks” (Lane 366). Leroy Berry didn’t believe he’d ever get out of the environment white America provided for black urban youth.

Education has always been valued in the African American community. During slavery freed slaves and those held captive, organized to educate themselves. After emancipation the value of education became even more important to ex-slaves, as it was their emblem of freedom and a means to full participation in American Society (Newby & Tyack, 1971). During this time many schools for African Americans were both founded and maintained by African Americans. African Americans continued to provide education throughout their own communities well into the 1930’s (Green, McIntosh, Cook-Morales, & Robinson-Zanartu, 2005). The atmosphere of these schools resembled a family. The

Sociology is an important part of science in that it tends to create a distinction between the different values and norms that people hold in the society. Theories in sociology have been depicted in books and movies. Brother’s Keeper is a 1992 movie by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The movie tends to reveal the characters of different members of the society. It creates a distinction between the different forms of social orders that exist in the society. The movie revolves around the lifestyle of The Ward brothers who live in Munnsville; New York.

black man fights against, constantly trying to identify himself. At the same time, black men have found approaches to detach from this narrow minded image that society has created for them including; sports, education and family. The black male struggles to gain his own identity because there is already a firm image created for them that the white man visualizes the black male and the expectations of the black male. However, it isn’t just the society that plays a role in the development of the black males identity, there is also the consideration of how black males are brought up or raised in their current lifestyle situations. For example, athletes,