Segregation Depicted In Julian Houston's New Boy

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Julian Houston demonstrates a popular theme that specifically relates to segregation in her book New Boy. Julian Houston wanted to show her readers that you should stand up for something that is wrong or try to stop it but still realize you can’t change everything and accept that fact. Segregation or separation is enforced on people who are different based on their race, heritage, or opinion, which is viewed as correct to the people that are creating it and wrong to the people that it is truly affecting.

Rob, the main character, is forced to the center of this issue, being a young black boy that has to follow these segregational rules. Hoping to get away, Rob’s parents send him to a boarding school named Draper in Connecticut. Since Draper …show more content…

With Christmas Break on its way, Rob tries to make a plan to sneak out of the house and go to a meeting of the group. The group wanted to start a sit-in at a local restaurant in Virginia. They planned to sit there until they were served and if the college students sitting at the bar were arrested, new ones would come and take their place. High school students would only pass out flyers, though, just so they wouldn’t get in trouble with their parents if they were arrested. Rob requested a furlough for the weekend so he could visit his family and participate in the sit-in. The day of the sit-in, Rob noticed that there was a patrol car parked on the other side of the street. Surprisingly, the cops didn’t try to stop it, they just sat there and watched. Even though they never got served, they made great progress by getting more people involved. Later that night at dinner, Rob mentioned to his dad that there was no parents there or elder people, and he wondered why they weren’t supporting them. The second day of the sit-in went a little differently, Rob’s dad got together a handful of his co-workers and W.K. Evans, an activist for the “Civil Rights Movement,” to help serve lunch for all of the protestors. The protest ended that day because of a few white boys that beat up the

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