Life was hard for some African Americans in the 1930s. During the 1930s blacks and whites were separated. In schools black children and white children were separated. Water fountains, classrooms, and bathrooms were places that had segregation.
A combination of injuries that would leave anyone wishing for an end, except her. Instead of ending her life, she pushed forward and didn’t give up on herself and the doctors helping her. Though stuck in a hospital bed paralyzed, she still managed to fight the pain and pray for her own survival, “She had prayed that she would live through the fight” (80), “‘I never gave up faith I would be rescued, she said”’(114). She did not give up and try to take her own
By the same methods, the South kept Blacks from receiving proper housing. Segregation was mandatory and was ruled legaled so long as it was equal. This never occurred in the South. Several Blacks lived in the backwoods or at least out of cities and didn’t have proper facilities. Any movement towards better housing was pushed down by scare tactics or rioting.
The system of racial domination known as "Jim Crow" worked to oppress African Americans economically, socially, and politically through the use of the law and violence. Jim Crow was essentially a series of laws that went against African Americans, a system specifically made to keep blacks segregated in the United States. This almost made it impossible for black people to live peacefully with their newly found "freedom." African Americans were economically, socially and politically abused through the uses of sharecropping, racial segregation, and disenfranchisement in societies. To begin, sharecropping was a type of farming that allowed people to rent small plots of land from landowners in exchange for a portion of their crop during harvesting
People are tired, weak, and sick, and they need a strong young girl to help take care of them. She has proven her helpfulness in a lot of different events throughout the novel. For instance, she helped take care of her mother who fell ill early into the story. She took care of her the best she could, all by herself. Evidence in the text states,” I took two extra clothes press and hurried upstairs to watch over Mother...
Among the Americans left out of the prosperity were the farmers who experienced difficult economic times especially in the southern and western regions. In those regions, farmers worked as tenants and were paid minimum wage because of the sharecropping system. Both white and black tenant farmers in poverty since the owner mostly got all the money from the
She started helping around the house, but when she figured out that it wasn’t much, she got a job at the fields and even though she had no experience in it she still went ahead and did it. “Mama had been strong for her. Now it was her turn to be strong for Mama. She must show her that she didn’t need to worry anymore.”(p163) Based on this quote, I can tell that she knew she had to be strong and her Mom’s sickness didn’t make her more sad than she already was, it motivated her to be strong for her mom and whatever was coming up.
In the mid-nineteenth-century, the economic power switched in the South from the “upper South” to the “lower South,” which was expanding agriculturally. This switch resulted in the growth of a cotton-based economy. Economically, the change from cultivating tobacco and rice to cotton helped immensely. The high demand for cotton led to tremendous profits in the South and this drew the population to move to the prospering agricultural lands. The increase in cotton farming made African American slaves a necessity to the white males.
To keep this from happening farmers made the sharecroppers indebted to them keeping the sharecroppers from having any money to support themselves. As stated, sharecropping had drastic effects on the relationship between black people and white people. Examples of this are shown when the article states: “Well, I’ve had so much trouble with these black people, I’m going to employ white people” (Painter para. 13) Additionally, the overall actions between black and white people rose wages (Painter para.
The landowners took advantage of their tenants by overcharging for land and underpaying for the crops. The tenants began falling deeper into debt. They could not leave until they paid off their debt, which was nearly impossible. Although former slaves had been freed, they were still facing many struggles in free life. America’s plan for reconstruction had good intent, but did not give African Americans the equality they deserved.
In the document “A Sharecropping Contract” it begins to talk about all of the guidelines within one of the contracts. The former slaves were unable to get land in the should post civil war so many decided to turn towards sharecropping. “Most ended up as sharecroppers, working on white-owned land for a share of the crop at the end of the growing season.” Sharecropping was seen as a comprise between blacks desire for independence and freedom and whites still containing the control over them. The former slaves would work 10 hour days and at the end of each growing season they had to give 50% of the crop back to the landowners.
By the early 1870, sharecropping became the primary method for the poor to earn a living. Wealthy whites allowed blacks to work their lands in exchange
During the early 1800’s, President Thomas Jefferson effectively doubled the size of the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. This set the way for Westward expansion, alongside an increase in industrialism and overall economic growth. In fact, many citizens were able to thrive and make a better living in the agricultural business than anywhere else. All seemed to be going well in this new and ever expanding country, except for one underlying issue; slavery. Many African Americans were treated as the lowest of the classes, even indistinguishable from livestock.
Some people did not employ African Americans just because their race. Women were also treated unfairly during this time. Women are now allowed to vote during this time but they are thought to be housewives, mother and caregivers. It was hard for them to get decent jobs and were mostly rejected. Curley’s wife was treated very unfairly in this book.
After she got better she went back to being with customers again. She was with all different types of customers. Old, young, dirty, clean, tall, short, dark, white, bearded, smooth, fat, thin. They're all the same. Most are from the city, few are from the hills.