A shuttle bus was on its way with Chicago, Illinois as its final destination from Louisville, Kentucky. There were stops in various cities along the way; Bloomington, Indiana was one of them and was where I got on the shuttle. The shuttle was large: it had many compartments to store luggage on top of the seats as well as another compartment to store larger suitcases on the side of the vehicle. The bus was relatively crowded with most of its seats being occupied and had air conditioning blowing through its entirety. Although the bus was filled with passengers, the environment was mostly quiet because almost everyone on the bus were strangers. There were few conversations going on because people were listening to music, reading, or sleeping. Sitting towards the back on the bus, I sat directly behind a tall, African American man who appeared to be in his late 20s. From what I could see above the large bus seat, he was wearing a snapback hat over a black du-rag. Across the aisle from him sat a white male who appeared to be in his 50s. This man had gray and white hair on his head and beard, wrinkles on his face, and was wearing old, worn out jeans and a t-shirt. The older white man was sitting staring into space while eating a burger from White Castle when the young African American man politely asked to use the outlet by the man’s seat since his outlet was not functioning. He also reached his arm across the aisle to use his index finger to point out the location of the …show more content…
Then proceeded to take a nap by shifting his weight towards his windowside, rested his head and closed his eyes. On the other hand, the white man simply said “No problem”, returned the handshake, and shifted his weight to face in front of the bus. As the African American was napping, his cellphone continued to charge and was on the seat next to the white
Being chauffeured around in a white person’s car and being a Negro did not mix well. When the car took a bad turn and crashed, Ethel and one other girl were pinned inside the crashed car. Ethel had hoped that someone would stop, and she prayed and prayed, but deep down she knew what had happened to Negros, who was in a white man’s car – they wouldn’t make it. When two white folks walked past and saw Ethel, they laughed and called them “Nigger bitches”. Ethel defended herself, “I’m suffering”.
about to urinate all over the bus, but they decided it would just be another
This essay was written in the mindset of an African American male as he examines how his skin color affects how people react to him when he is in public spaces. He feels as if the sidewalks get narrower the closer he gets to others. He knows that the by passers fear him due to the stereotypical views society
Bill and I led the Negroes toward the door. As soon as he saw us, the driver blocked our way. Bill slipped under his arm and walked away.
This documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault’s book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice”. It was a radical idea organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that alarmed not only those who challenged the civil rights but also deliberately defied Jim Crows Law that were enacted between 1876 and 1965, by challenging the status quo by riding the interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups. This law segregated public services like public transportation, public places, public schools, restrooms, restaurants, and even drinking fountains for black and whites. Though these activists were faced by various bitter racism, mob violence and imprisonment, they were successful in desegregating the buses and bus facilities in the Deep South in September 22, 1961. They strove for nonviolent protest for justice and freedom of African Americans freedom.
In “Black Men in Public Spaces” the author talks about multiply situation where he was treated different for being an African American. Staples said,” I entered a jewelry store on the city’s affluent near North side. The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash” (161.) Then there is “Right Place, Wrong Face, which is focused on and African American man that is wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. White said, “I was searched, stripped of my backpack, put on my knees, handcuffed, and told to be quieted when I tried to ask questions” (229.) The two articles have many similarities. Both articles have two educated African America men who get treated different because of their race. Staples and White both have situations where they are being stereotyped by society because there black
Bobo, Lawrence. "Whites' Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, v45 n6 pp. 1196-1210.
On the second day of March in the year 1955, a young, black girl named Claudette Colvin waited for the bus. She was 15 years old and lived in Montgomery. Colvin had just finished school for the day and was heading home. The city bus came, and she sat down in the area reserved for “black” passengers. As the bus filled up, left standing was a young, white woman. The seats in the white area were full, but there was an available seat in the opposite row of Colvin. Because of Jim Crows law- a law that said that a white person could not sit opposite of a colored person, the white woman refused to sit there. The bus driver ordered Colvin to move to the back of the bus so that the white female could sit down. Colvin refused to move.
Blacks have long endured the brutality of criticism because of their skin color. The Freedom Riders took on abuse, and a burning bus, to test the Court’s ruling for equal transportation. Non-violent sit-ins were another step towards getting Blacks equal rights. Four African American college students walked up to a Whites-only lunch counter and asked to be served. When the service was refused, the students sat quietly. When the threats came, by the Whites, the students sat quietly and waited to be served. More than often the participants would be threatened by local customers. Sometimes, they would be pelted with food, and when an attack became physical, the student would curl up into a ball and take the punishment. “When the local police came to arrest
As the sit-in movement had relied on direct confrontation, so would the Freedom Riders. The group/s approach involved both blacks and whites—The white Freedom Riders would take seats in the back of buses, and black participants would sit in the front, a two-way violation of bus company policy. If ordered to move, both blacks and whites would keep their seats. At every bus stop, blacks would head for the whites-only waiting rooms and try to use the facilities. The strategy assumed that whites would respond violently and that such encounters could not be ignored by the federal government.
A local stationmaster was told the “attack” by the white hobos that had been thrown off of the train. This stationmaster wired ahead to the next stationmaster to let him know of the situation. As the train slowed down and came to a stop in Paint Rock, Alabama, those that were accused of the future crime had no telling what they were going to be up against. Once in Paint Rock, 9 black youths were rounded up, tied together and taken to prison in Scottsboro Al. Here the boys were placed in a jail cell awaiting their charges. Little did they know an additional charge was going to be added that never even crossed their minds.
One night several weeks ago, I was riding the 72X back to campus from downtown. It was a Saturday night around six o’clock in the evening, and as a result the bus was packed with people, young and old, of all races and dress. The commuter crowd in Seattle is extremely diverse; a collection of white collar business people, students, homeless people, and other various characters utilizing public transit. The bus-goers behaved typically of Seattle transit users – heads down, headphones in, eyes closed or glazed over from staring into the
According to the Webster’s New World Dictionary, the definition of style is “a characteristic manner of expression”(612). Usually words such as personal, individual, and unique also come to mind when we think of writing style. I have always associated writing style with belonging uniquely to one individual, meaning that everyone had his or her own style. After reading, “Style Toward Clarity and Grace” by Joseph Williams and “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White, I realized that style is not as unique as I thought. In fact, as I stated in my blog space, “writing has certain rules and elements that must be incorporated in to our writing in order to make our points clear to those we want to read it. Since these elements and rules are common to all writing, then style and good writing bring forth new meanings.”
As I was boarding the bus I looked up for a vacant seat. What I saw then
This old/new bus continued our route, and we all sat quietly, awaiting our stops. Everyone had a tired, almost forlorn look, as though they had been through much more than just switching buses. I did not have any concept of time as the bus chugged along, stopping occasionally to let people off, and all of a sudden I recognized that it was almost to my stop. I jerked out of the stupor I was in as the bus stopped in front of my apartment complex. As I gathered up my things to leave, I looked at my friends and said, "Well, this will make one interesting story at school tomorrow!"