Clark's Racial Identity

At the school she attended, her white friends tried to rub off her blackness. That one sentences when I read it, I was in shock! How could they do that to her? I continued reading and read she tried out for the football team. Eventually, as she grew older, and the years went by, she became a mother of two children named Alberta Stewart and Norma Holt, and a grandmother of five grandchildren Crystal, Alyssa, Michael, and Drew Stewart, and Sabrina Holt. Even though she had children and grandchildren’s, she felt her identity, as a Black Deaf woman was not defined, it was not until later in life where she found her

So as growing up “colored” life was very difficult for these two women to grow up and lead a problem free life despite how hard they tried. Though they were very high status colored people and they had a lot of white people they were still judged as blacks so even though they moved to the north to get rid of some racism they could never actually get away from

Beverly Tatum 's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"and Ann DuCille 's Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference demonstrate what it means to be an African American adolescent in today 's time. One of the obstacles that African American adolescents face is the expectations of others. Often a single comment is all that is needed to imply to a student how another feels about their potential. For example, Tatum describes the experience of Malcolm X. Although Malcolm X was separated from his family and living in a foster home, he was a star athlete, a class president, and an A student. Despite his success as an adolescent, he was told by a respected teacher that his goal of becoming a lawyer was "no realistic goal for a nigger." (Tatum 379) As the result of this single comment, Malcolm stopped participating in class, thereby hindering any current educational opportunities. This expectation from Malcolm 's teacher changed his educational experience making him adhere to his racial

In her early years, Shirley Chisholm was separated from her parents and lived in the Barbados. Through this experience, she was able to prove her willpower by being a studious student in school despite the hardship she faced of being away from her parents. This determination benefited her when she came back home to the racist and misogynistic United States at ten years old. Her exceptional grade statuses helped her graduate at the top of her class and earn a scholarship to college so that she could pursue her dream as a school teacher. After she became a teacher, she was content with her position; but after observing lower wages, verbal assaults such as a woman being asked, “Do you type?” when given an interview, and many other discrepancies that blacks and women endured, she became more alert in the brutal society around her and turned to politics.

And so, rather than try to reason with those who thought she was a lesser being, Brown appealed to their egos. She would create stories of helpless uneducated slaves and their white “protectors,” dismissing her heritage to appease whites. By acting “white”, and twisting the beliefs of white supremacists to her benefit, Brown rose to a prominent education position. To gain respect she was forced to give up part of her identity. She rebranded herself as a New Englander to distance herself from slavery. When taking students into the city, they “…did not mingle with Greensboro’s African Americans…” Brown taught her students the ideals she practiced, in hopes that they too might find a reputable place in the Jim Crow South.

Before laws were passed for equality, African-Americans had a difficult time coping with being undermined by whites. This led them to build their own communities and remain among their own. The story “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston was written in 1928, about her moving from a community of her own kind to neighbors who discriminated against her and her family. Though a person’s environment can affect how they see himself/herself or how others might perceive him/her, difficult times does not exactly mean that a person will become bitter or vengeful about it.

of the differences in how Blacks are treated with in their race how light skinned were treated

Mamie Phipps Clark was born on April 18, 1917 in Hot Spring, Arkansas. Mrs. Clark was brought up knowing a professional lifestyle. Her father Harold H. Phipps was an African American, who was a physician and was more than able to support his family of four rather easily. Her mother Katy Florence Phipps, was a homemaker who was very involved in her husband's medical practice. Mamie had explained that being an African American in the early 1930’s and living in the South was far from easy, even for the middle class family that she came from. “My father was a well-respected black person, and it was a phenomenon that is not really unusual in the South, that even in the highly segregated situations, you will have a few blacks that are

     Growing up in the north, and being white, we were taught in school what the conditions were in the south and all over America for blacks. I never really thought much of it, like many kids my age, because it never affected me. I’ve been told by teachers, speakers, and whoever else my school would bring in to tell us about what it was like for blacks back in the 1940’s and the 1950’s. After I read the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, I realized what it was really like

She explores the black experience in education, rape of women, and African American actors in film. The theme of discrimination does lie within these subjects but the overall theme of the story is the black experience in Southern California. Coleman has different tones when she touches on these subjects. For example, when she describes her surroundings and the places she has been, there is no certain emotion she conveys. Yes, she does paint a picture when she describes her surroundings like “i remember chili Fritos interminable concrete blocks traversed on my way to and from Fremont and Washington…” (pg. 688). Even with this type of description, the tone is unclear. Then later in the story, tone is detected when she says “ain’t this America? ain’t this democracy? ain’t this a city of angels? the entertainment capitol of the world?” (pg. 689). Before this quote, Coleman was talking about how when a black boy gets beaten they are denied equal opportunity and white people don't want them living in their neighborhood. Coleman questions America and how great it’s supposed to be. In other words, she proposed the question: if America is supposed to be such a great place, why are African Americans being discriminated

discussed. One can sense her urgency for the unity of black people and how her past experiences

By the end of Wallace Thurman’s novel, “The Blacker the Berry,” the main character Emma Lou has a revelation about herself. Her whole life she thought her dark skin color prevented her from good opportunities. She was hyper-sensitive towards her color and tried to make up for it by fitting in with the right type of people. She has economic freedom and have fit in with the right type of people. Emma was desperate to fit in with type of people that treated her inferiorly, but once she came to terms with the strength of her African American background, she is able to identify with who she is, a black woman.

This article is Angela Davis’s own story. She writes about her experience moving into a new neighborhood. Her and her family did not feel welcomed at all to their new home; the white families created a borderline between them and the Davis’s, which should never be crossed. White families eventually started moving out and black familes were moving in. Bombs started to go off and the neighborhood was then known as Dynamite Hill. Her mother was a great influence on her as she kept trying to make Angela think about equality and peace rather than hatred and being confused. When the majority of families on the hill were black, she made new friends, and discovered racism.

Racial identity is an important concept that everyone must deal with in their life. It is an individual’s sense of having their identity be defined by belonging to a race and or ethnic group. How strong the identity is depending on how much the individual has processed and internalized the sociological, political, and other factors within the group. In some instances, people do not identify with their race and they will “pass” as another. Nella Larsen, an African American writer and prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance movement, she explores the consequences of “passing”. Larsen’s Passing is a novel that challenges the concept of ethnicity, race and gender while revolutionizing the idea of what we describe as identity. The novel explores the issue of race through vivid plotting that depicts a mentally touching story of affecting boundaries in the early American society. The novel also explores the effects of racial construction on a person through multiple levels. Through Larsen’s characterization and setting she is able to bring out the social construction of race in an enjoyable and educated format in which race, class distinction and identity themes are intertwined. Larsen herself often struggles with identity, as she grew up being raised by an all-white household after her father, a black West Indian, disappeared from her life. Larsen depicts the theme of racial identity by using two women characters, both of which are attractive, and are “light” enough to be able

Once Rosa was 11 years old she attended industrial schools in Montgomery. At school she was not bullied because she stood up for herself. Rosa’s childhood was influenced by Jim Crow Laws which segregated white  people from black people. For years Rosa’s mom saved every penny possible so Rosa could get the proper education she never was able to have. When Rosa completed