New York City Ghetto Of Harlem

Throughout the movie Precious, there are several times when the audience witnesses trauma and its effect on Precious’ life. These traumatizing events include sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. When people go through these events, their mind will find ways to cope with their situation. These

​Contrary to popular belief, the use of ghettos began long before Hitler came to power in the early 1930s. On March 29th, 1516, the Republic of Venice ordered the Jewish population to live in the confined area of Ghetto Nuova. Ghetto Nuova was a filthy, crowded island that confined the Jewish population by closing the island off at night and surrounding it with patrols. During this era, Jewish people also faced discrimination, as they were ordered to wear a sign of identification such as a yellow hat or badge (“The Ghetto”). Furthermore, this discrimination and persecution of the Jewish people dispersed to other areas. In 1555, Pope Paul IV established Cum nimis absurdum, a papal law, that led to the creation of the Roman Ghetto. In the

Assuaging poverty is one of the gist missions of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In the United States today, exceeding “13 million” children live in poverty. We understand that children, who experience the backlash of poverty, often live in an unpleasantly conditions, unstable homes, and are at a great distance less likely than other children to get a favorable education and/or sufficient health care. The exposure to life of poverty more often limits learning abilities; bringing about the inability of getting the best jobs and earning maximum income, making it impossible for them to live up to their full potential, which will more like result in imprisonment.

The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York between the conclusion of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During this period, Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. Many had come from the South, fleeing its oppressive caste system in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents; this became known as The Great Migration. Among those artists whose works achieved recognition were Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Arna Bontemps, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer. The Renaissance involved racial pride, fueled in part by the violence of the "New Negro" demanding civil and political rights. The Renaissance incorporated jazz and the blues, attracting whites to Harlem speakeasies, where interracial couples danced. However, the Renaissance had little impact on breaking down the rigid barriers of Jim Crow that separated the races; while it may have contributed to a certain slackening of racial attitudes among young whites, perhaps its greatest impact was to reinforce race pride among blacks. The importance of the social movement we refer to as the Harlem Renaissance cannot afford to be overlooked. Like the musicians of their day, Harlem Renaissance poets advocated for an equal society, and incorporated personal anecdotes and historical snippets into their compositions to make the

When Jeannette begins school in Welch, an African American girl Dinitia Hewitt and her friends harassed and beat up Jeannette for being scrawny and filthy. She is constantly made fun of because it is apparent that she lives in poverty. The other children do not accept other that aren’t like them and Jeannette is no exception. Her worn clothes and grimy hair are like a neon sign shouting about her life in poverty which makes Jeannette an easy target to bullies. Jeannette tries very hard to stand up for herself, however, the bullying only stops once other realize that living in poverty and being different was not Jeannette’s

Over a significant time frame, African Americans have been forced to endure numerous hardships – one of which being the negatives stigmas that unfairly generalize their people, culture and way of life. Therese stereotypes of a whole nationality label Blacks as, “superstitious, lazy, ignorant, dirty, unreliable, (and even) criminal,” (“Stereotypes”). Such generalizations are products of the public’s perception, which has been diluted by rooted historic and current prejudice as well as the media’s conveyance of a well-known African American cultural center: Harlem. Despite negative connotations associated with it, Harlem stands as a community that strives to flourish and maintain its strong cultural status. George Canada, the founder of the

Growing up in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s and 30’s, James Baldwin was a young Black man desperate for a place of acceptance. Surrounded by drugs and prostitution Baldwin saw a change in his neighborhood and his friends as they got older. With his friends beginning to drink and smoke Baldwin knew times were changing. He became very aware of the body development of the girls and the boys; and to his surprise he was even more enticed by the changes in the boys (Baldwin 17). During this time, Baldwin and his friends would begin to experience the racism that White America had to offer. No longer shielded by their age or naivety they had to face the fact that they were not accepted because of their skin color. With this realization, Baldwin would begin his search to be part of something bigger then him. During a similar time period, Abraham Maslow, a Psychologist and Professor at numerous universities over his career, including Brandeis and Columbia, published a theory called “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” (Boeree). In this theory, Maslow describes the four most important needs for a human to be self actualized. The self actualized person is not one of perfection but one who is on a search to understand and discover why their life is the way it is, from why “their feet hurt” to if “they do not like eggplant”. They take responsibility for their actions and try to be honest people on their search to figuring out their purpose in life. Surrounded by hate and anger, Baldwin is

Claireece who identify herself as Precious is a 16-year-old African American female who is the only child of her parents. Precious was raised in a dysfunctional family that is built on violence, aggression and abuse. Precious suffers from emotional, psychological, sexual and physical abuse from her family and is forced to take the parental responsibilities at home. Precious was sexually molested by her father at age three (3) as a result of incest, she conceived two children and

Parents are the kid’s first teacher. Through their direct interactions or the example they set as a role models, they highly influence all their kids’ development stages from infancy to adulthood. However, parenting is not an easy duty. It is, actually, challenging and can even be overwhelming for single

In the 1990s, they were changes that were important in the gentrification of cities in the United States. Corporate developers of the restructuring of the real estate industry initiated the process. Since the

Claireece “Precious” Jones has been abused by the Department of Education. An evident example of this is when Precious speaks of her education history in the beginning of the novel: “I had got left back in the second grade, when I was seven, ‘cause I couldn’t read […] I should be in the eleventh grade, getting ready to go into the twelf’ grade so I can be gone ‘n graduate. But I’m not. I’m in the ninfe grade. I got suspended from school cause I’m pregnant which I don’t think is fair. I ain’t do nothin’!” (3). Precious falling behind in second grade could have been prevented by her teacher if she had told the students to stop harassing Ms. Jones. Along with her teacher evaluating her

When Harlem was In Vogue The year was 1919 and the men of Fifteenth Regiment of New York National Guard marched home to Harlem. Thirteen hundred were black men. They faced many problems upon arrival due to still being treated as underprivileged individuals after they had fought a war with whites. Before the war these Afro American troops were trained separately at segregated camps in Maines, Iowa, that did not necessarily have the same training courses as the white camps. It was also a rule that black officers would not command white troops. White victims of postwar started taking out their rage on blacks. This wrongful treatment led to many riots. The Red Summer was numerous race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities in the United

Between the years of 1910 and 1930, the United States underwent what is now known as the Great African American Migration. Hundreds of thousands of blacks were fleeing their oppressed lives in post-Civil War South, where Jim Crow laws had ruled their lives for nearly fifty years. Meanwhile, black orators and scholars such as W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey were working to diminish black suppression through persuasive intellectual writing and speeches. Their work inspired the black people of America, which heavily contributed to their migration North, and more specifically, to the cities. In Harlem, the most northern Manhattan sector in New York City, the population was mainly of color, making it a destination point for

The middle echelon in the late 1800s of New York had no idea about some issues of the poor and unfortunate faced. Riis attempt of exposing the unbearable events happening to innocent, beautiful, heaven-made waifs was successful. Jacobs Riis divulged the actions of mothers that saw nowhere to turn to with a baby they couldn’t or did not want to fend for. The document “reveals the bitter consequences of desperate poverty for mothers and children,” (p.67) consequences being the many young lives that were cut short, due to a decision that they had no say in and guilt, hatred, and depression the mother faced after “having to” abandon a being they brought into this world.

The purpose for writing this essay is to demonstrate how gentrification is shaping the Culture and identity for Halrmites from the socio-economic perspective. Harlem has changed dramatically over the last two decades due to improvement in housing stock and outside investments into the community. However, in my essay, I articulated my ideas toward the economic aspect of gentrification because gentrification is driven by class, not race. My audience would be the lower income Harlem residents who have been displaced or on the verge of displacement because their wealth is not contributing to the economy. The people who have been preserving the cultural identity of Harlem for decades now forced to leave the community. I tried my best to connect a broader audience by explaining the deteriorated housing condition of Harlem and how it led to gentrification. This will help reader