It Ll All Come Out In The Wash By Joanne Crutchfield

1205 Words3 Pages

Strong, self-contained, Independent, mild-mannered, and courageous are all words that come to my mind when I think about my grandmothers. These are also words that I think of when I look at other black women throughout history. Over the duration of this course I have learned about the tenacity and strength of African American Women. There are many hardships that come along with being an African American female. The trails that African American women have faced molded us into the strong people that we are today. It’ll All Come Out In The Wash by Joanne Crutchfield is an emotional retelling of a young girls experiences growing up in one of the ugliest times in history. Joanne Crutchfield writes” We are the products of our environment. A combination …show more content…

The stories that the author told were very insightful to what life was like for an African American living in the south during this time period. First the author pointed out how differently blacks and whites lived. She stated “They owned the whole damn town. The majority of whites had it made in the shade. Living on easy street, they inhabited grand houses ranging from turn-of-the-century clapboards to historics”(pg 35). The blacks in the town didn’t live in these grand homes, they worked in them. Even in today’s time I can drive around, and look at the differences between the living conditions in the areas that are dominated by whites, and the areas that are dominated by blacks. Racial inequalities are still very prevalent In today’s society. One story that the Author told that really struck a chord with me was when she went to the diner and was yelled at for just standing in front of the diner. You hear stories from like this from the past often, but it gives it a different perspective when it’s a young girl. If I was put in this situation, I would personally have a breakdown. I would want to lash out in anger and frustration, but the consequences of lashing out against a white person during this time period were very large. I have lived in predominantly white areas for most of my life, and I have not experienced any overt racism like the author …show more content…

The book was very inspiring and I think it covered a lot of great information. Something that Joanne Crutchfield managed to do very well was paint vivid pictures with her words. Everything was so detailed and descriptive, I was really drawn in by that. The use of imagery made the topics more relatable in a sense. I also liked how the book touched on the topic of mental health. Mental health issues affect everyone however, in the black community those health issues go unnoticed or unattended to. The Author shared her story of depression and how she dealt with it. I thought that aspect of the memoir was great, I think that it was wonderful that she shed a light on mental health. On the other hand the book was a little difficult to follow with the way the chapters were set up. Other than that I thought the book was good and I really

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