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Racial discrimination in the 20th century
Racial discrimination in the 50's
Discrimination in america in the 1950s
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In 1959, American Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev came together at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, a “showcase of American consumer goods” (May 18), for “one of the most noted verbal sparring matches of the century,” aptly coined the “kitchen debate” (16). As Khrushchev applauded the Communist system and its hardworking women, Nixon “extolled the virtues of the American way of life” (16), emphasizing America’s “successful breadwinners supporting attractive homemakers in affluent suburban homes” (18). Although Nixon’s emphasis upon the suburban lifestyle may have successfully displayed America’s superiority in consumer goods, Nixon grossly “exaggerated the availability of the suburban home” (20). For many black Americans, despite postwar socioeconomic gains, the domestic suburban dream was difficult, if not impossible, to obtain because “race made them outcasts in the suburban housing market” (Wiese 99). If the model American home represented the “essence of American freedom,” clearly it was a freedom withheld from a significant portion of America’s population (May 16).
While Nixon articulated the “widely shared belief” that suburbia “offered a piece of the American dream for everyone,” in New York, Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, offered a very different perspective (20). Set in post World War II Southside Chicago, Hansberry’s drama explores the conflict that arises within an African American family when Mama, the family's matriarch, receives a $10,000 life insurance settlement and spends a portion of it to buy a home in the restricted white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. However, Hansberry’s play not only highlighted the issue of housing segregation, but also fores...
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...oviding a subtle clue that this dialogue is also a message from the playwright for her African American audience.
Works Cited
Carter, Steven R. “Hansberry, Lorraine Vivian.” American National Biography Online. 2000.
Oxford UP. Feb 2000. Web. 30 Sep 2011.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print.
May, Elaine Tyler. “Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth.” Homeward Bound:
American Families in the Cold War Era. By May. New York: BasicBooks, 1988. 16-36.
Print.
Nemiroff, Robert. Introduction. A Raisin in the Sun. By Lorraine Hansberry. New York: Vintage
Books, 1994. 5-14. Print.
Wiese, Andrew. “‘The House I Live In’: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams
in the Postwar United States.” Ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue. The New
Suburban History. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2006. 99-119. Print.
One of the first ideas mentioned in this play, A Raisin In the Sun, is about money. The Younger's end up with no money because of Walter's obsession with it. When Walter decides not to take the extra money he is offered it helps prove Hansberry's theme. Her theme is that money can't buy happiness. This can be seen in Walter's actions throughout the play.
The word irresponsible is adjective used to describe a person who lacks a sense of responsibility. There are various actions that lead to a person being portrayed as irresponsible. A person can be viewed as irresponsible for something as little as not completing their homework or something as big as leaving your front door opened. A lack of responsibility is a big factor in the book A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry as it reflects many characters. Walter Lee Younger, a father, and son is the most irresponsible character because he is immature, untrustworthy and selfish.
The play depicts the feelings and thoughts of the people of their time. Their feelings are different then what we see today in our lives. The family had to deal with poverty and racism. Not having enough money and always being put down because of the color of their skin held them back from having a lot of self-respect and dignity. I think that Mama was the one who had the most pride and held the family together.
The play A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about the Youngers, an African-American family, who receive a $10,000 life insurance check as a result of the death of Mama Younger’s husband. The play takes place in the 1950’s making race an important factor during the process of buying a house due to the "red lining system”. The red lining system was a way to define the value of a neighborhood after World War II based on the dominant race in an area; when the dominant race of the neighborhood was white, the value of the neighborhood went up and categorized as green lining. Whereas when the dominant race was black, the value of a neighborhood went down and was categorized as red lining. Generally the houses in the green lining neighborhoods were bigger and had more yard space, and the red lining neighborhoods had smaller yards and more cramped quarters. Mama’s aspiration is for her and her family to move into a green lining neighborhood in order to have a bigger house and yard in order to create more opportunities for her children and grandchildren. Mama’s plant symbolizes her dream of moving into a green lining neighborhood when Hansberry mentions that the plant does not get enough sunlight, Mama takes care of the plant each morning, and it is brought to the Youngers new house.
I. Conflicts in the Play - There are many types of conflict evident in this play. Some are as follows:
Then, in the play, Wilson looks at the unpleasant expense and widespread meanings of the violent urban environment in which numerous African Americans existed th...
Danzer, Gerald A., Klor De Alva, Krieger, Wilson, and Woloch. "Chapter 25 - The United States in World War II." The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2007. 874-903. Print.
Playwright, author, and activist or maybe hardworking, dedicated, and passionate are all worthy to describe the phenomenal Lorraine Hansberry. Born on the south side of Chicago, Hansberry was introduced to racial segregation at a young age. Racially discriminated and treated unfairly, Lorraine Hansberry set out to make a difference in the world some day. Attending University of Wisconsin in Madison, it was there that Hansberry discovered her appreciation of writing. This newfound love opened up an entirely new world for Hansberry in theatrical playwright. Hansberry found that theater plays allowed her to express her feelings and thoughts about the multiple issues and events that were constantly occurring during the Civil Rights era. Lorraine Hansberry believed strongly in not only racial equality, but gender equality as well. She like many Civil Rights leaders during that time period believed that all human beings should be treated equally no matter their race, gender, or beliefs. These strong views on the African American society lead the writing of one of the most famous plays of all time, “A Raisin in the Sun”. The highlight of her success “A Raisin in the Sun” became a stepping stool for Hansberry that allowed her to send her own personal message to her readers about things that bothered her. Being an African American woman during the 1960's caused Lorraine Hansberry to be ridiculed and looked down upon, not only by whites but by her own race due to the fact that Hansberry did not follow the stereotype that was placed on African American women. Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" uniquely illustrates the gender stereotypes African Americans placed among themselves during the 1960's Civil Rights era.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!
The chasing of a mirage is a futile quest where an individual chases an imaginary image that he or she wants to capture. The goal of this impossible quest is in sight, but it is unattainable. Even with the knowledge that failure is inevitable, people still dream of catching a mirage. There is a fine line that separates those who are oblivious to this fact, and to those who are aware and accept this knowledge. The people who are oblivious represent those who are ignorant of the fact that their dream will be deferred. This denial is the core of the concept used in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The perception of the American Dream is one that is highly subjective, but every individual dream ends in its own deferment.
In Lorraine Hansberry “A Raisin in the Sun”, the issues of racial discrimination, the debate of heroism, and criticism is vividly displayed. The play, which was written in the late 1950’s presents itself in a realistic discerning matter that implicates the racial division among the black family and white America. The play insinuates Walters’s heroism as well because of the black family’s struggle not to become discouraged in trying to obtain the world riches and still maintaining human dignity. When Hansberry wrote “A Raisin in the Sun”, many critics questioned the motive behind her play because it showed the America the world wants to grow oblivious to. This presents the reality of racial discrimination and heroism for the black man among
Now adays symbols define a lot of our everyday objects, for example, gender symbols or company logos. Symbolism is the use of symbols to show ideas. One book that uses symbolism is the drama based play written by Lorraine Hansberry named “Raisin in The Sun”. This book is about a poor black family in South Chicago during the 50’s called the Youngers. The Younger Family gets a $10,000 dollar insurance settlement. Unfortunately $6,500 is lost to an investment with a man named Willy Haris, over a liquor store, but $3,500 is put into a down payment purchasing a house in clybourne park. Throughout the story the author uses symbolism in 3 different ways, the windows represented opportunities, the light represented hope and the plants represented dreams.
Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19,1930. She was the youngest child of four and died in 1964 at the age of 34 from pancreatic cancer. She was well known for writing her play A Raisin in the Sun.
Racial equality in Chicago has improved; there has been a rise in racial diversity in neighborhood migration. People of today’s generation move to where they choose. There is a desire to live in a place they seem to have the best sense of hope, and success for each individual. Racial residential segregation has declined over the years. Mainly in the last three decades (Krysan, Couper, Farley, & Forman, 2009) There was a time in the United States history where segregation was socially accepted and people only lived in areas based on the color of people's’ skin. A Raisin in the Sun takes place in the 1950’s when Chicago was discriminated about racial differences; racial tension mainly between the races of White and Black. Then versus now, the difference of race in residential migration is taken with very little consideration in the larger aspect of residentially moving locations. When the play the written racial difference was a main conflict in the story’s plot line; leading the main character of the play with racial discrimination when the plot takes them on a opportunity to a new house.