Racial Tensions In Countee Cullen's Incident

Cullen is hopeful to get to a place where people of different races will be able to look at others without prejudice and discrimination. However, the poem “Incident” is of a less positive tone. She expresses her experience in a shocked manner, saying, a boy stuck his “tongue out and, called, [her] ‘Nigger’,” (Cullen 8). She was so shocked that “From May until December; .../… of all the things that happened... /… that’s all [she could remember” in Baltimore (Cullen 10-12). At the young age that she was at, it is surprising and upsetting to her to be discriminated against for no reason.

Jim Crow Laws were local or state laws that segregated African Americans from whites. These rules were applied to almost every aspect of African Americans in the South. “They applied to public schools, parks, commercial spaces, hotels, restaurants, streetcars, trains, sports stadiums and movie theaters” (Henretta 527). These laws would restrict African Americans for many years to come. Jim Crow laws did create conflict in the sense that many started to fight for equal rights for all African Americans. Following the end of Jim Crow laws, further violence occurred. “In 1955 a young African American boy by the name of Till was killed by two white men. The court having an all-white jury released them of all charges. That same year, many African Americans started taking a stand through the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Greensboro Sit-ins, Freedom Rides and the Battle of Birmingham” (Henretta 799-808). These occurrences created not only racial conflict but also gained African Americans equal rights. How was racial conflict in the West compared to the South?

Jim Crow was a man who created laws, that affected many peoples lives during the 1960s. These laws made it much harder for blacks mainly in the South, but then it started to move upward in the United States. There were many purposes leading to creating these laws. During this era, blacks were excluded from many things and opportunities. These laws made many changes and changed how the things were after these laws were taken away. The Jim Crow Laws affected, harmed, excluded, and ruined many blacks and in some cases white peoples lives.

The Jim Crow Laws was a law that was made, proposing that there was going to be segregation between African Americans and white people. This law took place in the southern United States, and included African Americans and Southern whites from the 1877 to the 1950’s. I believe that the main cause of the Jim Crow Laws was because many southern white people didn’t think African Americans deserved equal rights as them. According to the cause of the conflict, I don't believe that this conflict could have been avoided because it was a person's point of view, it was the way that they saw this situation. You can't change the way a person thinks. Many of these conflicts can begin over two people who disagree on a certain point of view on something, but for this conflict it involved large groups of whites vs blacks.

During the civil rights movement there was a set of laws called the Jim Crows. These were a set of laws which enforced segregation between the white and the blacks. The term Jim Crow was a derogatory term used to describe the African-American people. The laws affected both whites and blacks but the laws affected the blacks more negatively than the whites, the blacks were mainly affected in very unpleasant ways. In the South of America the Jim Crow laws were more strongly enforced than in the Northern part of America. African-Americans travelled North to gain a better life but with travelling bought danger and risk. In the constitution equal rights were stated, but they were not followed white people thought that the African-American race was placed on the Earth to work and that they did not deserve any respect. They thought that the black people were thought as workers, animals and slaves even after slavery was abolished.

The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. “The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.”(1) A vast majority of the Southern States agreed upon the Jim Crow Laws, which were slave states. That left some of the Northern States free states which didn’t pass the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws prevented African Americans from doing a lot of things that white americans could do.

The Jim Crow laws were established to create segregation between racial groups in the south. They segregated African Americans from other racial groups in schools, restaurants, and public transportation, and backtracked towards slavery. The results of the Jim Crow Laws would be in effect of years to

There are many different abilities in jim crows laws, causing many different riots and many different wars between different families. Due to the Jim Crow laws many people followed different beliefs at the time, for example many of the different laws being followed changed many different people's opinions towards african americans at the time, thinking they were no friends to each other. In the north many Plantations had choices they could follow Jim Crows laws or not, but in the south it really wasn't that much of a choice for them. Many of the African Americans who did not follow the law got into the most trouble, which is penalized to losing most of their citizenship rights. Being African American if you did follow the laws you were given

When Jim Crows law was brought in it brought with it a new fight for the blacks of that time by making the segregation laws. But in 1954 that law was seen as unconstitutional and was struck down by

The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. This set of rules to show the dominance of the white race were absolutely appalling. They were mainly operated in the southern portion of the United States, but not exclusively. The Jim Crow laws “were in place from the late 1870’s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950’s” (“Jim Crow Laws”). Blacks and whites could not use the same drinking fountains, restrooms, or attend the same restaurants, churches, and schools. It was considered rape or an unwanted advance for a black man to offer his hand to a white woman. Another law was that african-american couples could not show affection towards each other in a public area because it “offended whites” (Pilgrim) along with countless more. There

Discrimination was the main cause of the Jim Crow Law. Jim Crow Laws were established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the Caucasian people from the African-Americans and Mexicans in the South. The Caucasian people felt as though the African-Americans and Mexicans did not deserve the same rights because they were not equal to them. The passing of this law affected the African-Americans and Mexicans in ways such as: African-Americans were not given the right to vote, no person of color could obtain certain jobs unless they received a license from the judge of the district court which could cost $100 or more and African-Americans could not attend the same schools as Caucasian people. Unfortunately, black people did not have much power at that

In the “Incident” by Countee Cullen, the theme of this poem is about an eight year old who experiences a moment of racism. Which in this case is called the “Incident”; this all happens when the child visits old Baltimore. At first she is seen excited and full of glee, due to the new environment. The child then begins to lose those current feelings, when the eight year old come across the man of Baltimore. Who keeps gazing at the young child, until the kid breaks the silence by making a simple smile.

The poem “Incident,” by Countee Cullen, was written in the 1920s where racism towards African Americans was extremely prevalent. Jim Crow Laws were heavily enacted in the South, and the mandate of “separate but equal,” was spread across the U.S. This segregated schools, public places, and public transportation, where African American facilities were almost always inferior. Though northern America was thought to be much more progressive, there was still an incredible inequality between blacks and whites. Alvin Ailey said that “one of the worst things about racism is what it does to young people,” and this idea is depicted through the speakers’ childhood memory where he recounts being called “N****r” by another child. The poem presents the power that words have, and how divisive they can be. Through the imagery, diction, syntax, and tone in “Incident,” Cullen powerfully depicts racism and the lasting impact that words have. Furthermore, this poem presents how racism has no boundaries and affects everyone even an innocent child.

It is apparent that after the first read through of the poem that on the surface Cullen tells the story of an adult African American male speaker recounting an experience he had as a child. Cullen plays with the lightness of childhood innocence in the first quatrain. The reader can feel the past version of the speaker’s juvenile excitement as he was riding in Baltimore, particularly when Cullen writes “...heart-filled, head-filled with glee,” (Cullen, Ln 2). But this is quickly stifled as he is confronted with the adult issue of racism when another child “...poked out his tongue and called me, “Nigger”” (Cullen Ln 7-8).

Incident In the poem “Incident” by Countee Cullen from the book Sound and Sense, Mathis recalls an incident of racial prejudice he had faced in his life after the first World War. Of all the terrible tragedies that happened in Baltimore during the early 1900's, this specific incident is what really hit the author. In the first stanza, the author is young and full of happiness as he arriveg to Baltimore when he is described as "heart-filled" and "head-filled with glee.