Racism in Black Boy Essay

In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.

Next, “There is a large debate regarding why Black males are overrepresented in categories associated with negative behavior. The experiment conducted on this negative stereotype explored the influences on environmental lack of economic resources, social and political aspects related to academic performance of black males. The environment and culture can help shape the male’s performance. Resolutions to the many issues listed above are a work in progress. Organizations which include educators, parent and youth service providers are combining their energy to diffuse and redirect the matter. “The Trouble with Black Boys: The Role and Influence of Environmental and Cultural Factors on the Academic Performance of African American Males”, (Noguera ,2015 p.1).In brief, on the

“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.” –Richard Wright, Black Boy. The author suffered and lived through an isolated society, where books were the only option for him to escape the reality of the world. Wright wrote this fictionalized book about his childhood and adulthood to portray the dark and cruel civilization and to illustrate the difficulties that blacks had, living in a world run by whites.

Black Boy is an autobiography of Richard Wright who grew up in the backwoods of Mississippi. He lived in poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and had rage towards those around him; at six he was a "drunkard," hanging about in taverns. He was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common people who were slaves or struggling.

Throughout the history of America, African-Americans have received unfair treatment in the form of racism. For example, Black people were not allowed to use the same restrooms as white people; they also couldn't drink from the same water fountains, and didn't get as many job opportunities, as whites. In 1957, the Little Rock Nine were denied permission by the governor of Arkansas to attend an integrated school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself had to come from his vacation home just to get the nine students into the school. Later that same day, the students had to leave at lunch because they were being harassed by white students who were calling them names. By the end of the school year only one of the nine were old enough to graduate;

African Americans have been burdened with the stigmas of racism for quite some time. It is indeed a fact that the media plays an extremely large role in maintaining a racial imbalance. These imbalances are executed through social media pathways, newspaper articles and television networks such as NBC & CBS. Another large tactic used to the detriment of African Americans is the inequality that is the judicial system. News outlets will often depict a false image of a black offender versus his white counterpart.

Richard Wright chooses the title “Black Boy” to describe how his life was when he was going up by his race of his color. To me he chooses the title black to get people action and to get the mind wondering an thinking why is this book named black boy. Back in the day when Richard was growing up there was a lot of racism going on. Black people was not getting treated right at all to the white man they just looked like pets to them. They looked like they weren’t worth nothing to them not even a dim to them. White men believe the we were made just to serve the white man and take care of the white man but that’s not true. Cause God made ever one in the world to be treated equally an the same no person is greater than the other person. So that’s why I think Richard has chose the title “Black Boy” to tell about his life struggle an what a black was meant to other people back in the day.

Richard had no control over the encounter he had with Ella Wright. The two of them meeting was made by faith. There was a very interesting reason why Ella Wright so happened to give birth to Richard Wright. Her strong beliefs and odd ways of caring for Richard actually helps Richard in the long run. No child ever fully understand why their mothers are so hard on them or why their mother’s make a huge deal out of every situation but there is always

Richard came from a middle-class family of five, with two older sisters. The family had two dogs and five cats, among other pets and appeared to be a normal family. However, his father was an angry man that took out his anger on the children physically and mentally. His mother was unable to cope with this and became depressed, withdrawn, and ignored the behavior of her husband. She became emotionally abusive to the children as well. Richard’s coping mechanism was to pretend he was not there.

Throughout the book Black Boy by Richard Wright sheds light on the interesting life of the writers personal memories. Richard is living in a community coming out of slavery as a first generation feeling freedom. His life starts off at a young age and spans through till his days as a successful writer. Many motifs throughout his life repeats in his writing topics. During his years fire is a common perspection expressed in many metaphorical ways and physical, this expression extends to his educational, religious, and psychological mindsets.

Richard had exploded of furiousness and told her to leave his office. She started crying in a way of please help me. The detective gave her one more chance to explain the problem and she said that she suspects that her sixteen year old daughter is having an affair with someone. This case was not really what Richard wanted to deal with. He thought the mom was exaggerating and was being overprotective.

The physical and verbal abusive tendencies of his relatives and absence of a sense stability in his life have stemmed into trust issues which contribute immensely to his anxiety. The internalized idea that nothing good will last has stuck with Richard: “But such simple unaffected trust flabbergasted me. It was impossible” (Wright 214). The amount of encounters Richard has had with true, genuine kindness and generosity is almost none. He does not let himself get emotionally attached in fear that it will soon be taken away from, much like how his aunt Maggi had become a second mother but left him soon after. A feeling of anxiety and confusion overwhelms him when he realizes that in a way, there is a place for him in Mrs. Moss and Bess’ home.

Richard did not know exactly what to think about this new turn of events. He had been unable to sleep going over and over the confrontation with Katherine. Confused that she had come in once again looking like she had been rolling around on the ground. Her hair all frazzled and her clothing crumpled. Just the night before he had checked on her and realized she no longer slept in her bed, at two in the morning. No girl needed to be out at two a.m. He had told her and told her that she could find herself in trouble or worse yet, hurt being out till all hours of the night. He had tried to be understanding since she had just lost her mother, nonetheless, that couldn't be the excuse for each contrived action, she began acting horribly quite a few

Due to Richard's hard upbringing, he struggles to trust people. It is startling to him to see how Mrs.Moss and Bess barely know him but wholeheartedly trusts him. Seeing Bess' home life evokes the painful memories of being shut out by his family. Due to the fact that Richard had a religious and unsupportive upbringing, it is quite shocking for him to see a totally different environment where everyone lives as well as thinks in simplicity or almost dullness. Besides from his mother, Richard has never really received such positive attention and love so it is overwhelming to him when Bettie continues to want to have an intimate relationship with

I didn’t learn about racism till I was in sixth grade. I never realized how much people thought about names. between elementary school and high school, i went to four diffrent schools. and every school i went always placed me into classes that were below me. however in middle school, i decided to take honor class since most of my friends from elementry school were enrolled in higher classes. i went to the counselor and told her that i passed the state test, and i had prefect score in elementry school. now i want to try honor classes. the counselor said to me “ those classes are meant for kids that are above average”. Again in seventh grade i had to move to a new middle school, this time they put me in an ESL classes for no reason. i don’t