After the slaves were freed from the Southern states, African Americans truly believed in progress. During the 1870s to the 1930s, the government tried to integrate African Americans into society through the Reconstruction amendments. In response to these new opportunities, thousands of African Americans from the South moved to the North in the Great Migration. In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, Lymon, a twenty-nine year old African American, represents the optimism that African Americans from the South had while looking for freedom and equality in the North. Both Lymon and his father illustrate the potential, but an unfulfilled improvement in social status. Although some African Americans were not restricted by social discrimination, The
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While observing Tuskegee Institute and Booker T. Washington, T. Thomas Fortune praised the “splendid farm equipments, stock raising, fruit culture, laundry work, practical housekeeping in all its branches” (Fortune). African Americans took a step towards equality through equal opportunity of education. On the other hand, the education received by African and white Americans were unequal as African Americans were educated on physical labor and are not advancing socially or acquiring new knowledge. In addition, not all African Americans had access to education, as most were working under white landowners. In the play, Boy Willie witnesses how Lymon is unjustly under arrest for vagrancy and that the white men “rounded him up and put him in jail for not working” and “fined [him] a hundred dollars” (Wilson 37). The phrases “rounded up”, “put in jail”, and “fined” reveal the swift successive actions that occur immediately after Lymon’s arrest without due process. The violation of the 14th amendment reveals the inequality of the basic rights given to black and white Americans which contribute to the imbalance of the social status of the two races. Douglas A. Blackmon, a professor at the University of Virginia, …show more content…
Ray Stannard Baker, a muckraking journalist, noticed that “in the North, in spite of the complaint of discrimination, [he] found Negroes working and making a good living in all sorts of industries...[he] know[s] of several girls (all mulattoes) who occupy responsible positions in offices in New York and Chicago” (Color Line). African American women holding positions in office in the cities of New York and Chicago was a sign of social progress as they were moving up from being a worker to a manager. Despite of the success, in other cities, the number of African Americans that do not make progress outweighs the number of African Americans that do. After slavery was abolished, the landowners lost their source of free labor and looked to convicts, like Lymon’s father, to profit from.When Lymon’s father got in a small fight with a white fellow, Lymon’s mother needed to bail him out or else “the sheriff [is] going to turn him over to Parchman” and “it [would] be three years before anybody see him again” (Wilson 63). The distinct diction of “turn him over to Parchman” illustrates the authoritative tone of the white sheriff and the immediate action that was taken. The establishment of the Parchman Farm to target African Americans reveals a lack of social
While observing Tuskegee Institute and Booker T. Washington, T. Thomas Fortune praised the “splendid farm equipments, stock raising, fruit culture, laundry work, practical housekeeping in all its branches” (Fortune). African Americans took a step towards equality through equal opportunity of education. On the other hand, the education received by African and white Americans were unequal as African Americans were educated on physical labor and are not advancing socially or acquiring new knowledge. In addition, not all African Americans had access to education, as most were working under white landowners. In the play, Boy Willie witnesses how Lymon is unjustly under arrest for vagrancy and that the white men “rounded him up and put him in jail for not working” and “fined [him] a hundred dollars” (Wilson 37). The phrases “rounded up”, “put in jail”, and “fined” reveal the swift successive actions that occur immediately after Lymon’s arrest without due process. The violation of the 14th amendment reveals the inequality of the basic rights given to black and white Americans which contribute to the imbalance of the social status of the two races. Douglas A. Blackmon, a professor at the University of Virginia, …show more content…
Ray Stannard Baker, a muckraking journalist, noticed that “in the North, in spite of the complaint of discrimination, [he] found Negroes working and making a good living in all sorts of industries...[he] know[s] of several girls (all mulattoes) who occupy responsible positions in offices in New York and Chicago” (Color Line). African American women holding positions in office in the cities of New York and Chicago was a sign of social progress as they were moving up from being a worker to a manager. Despite of the success, in other cities, the number of African Americans that do not make progress outweighs the number of African Americans that do. After slavery was abolished, the landowners lost their source of free labor and looked to convicts, like Lymon’s father, to profit from.When Lymon’s father got in a small fight with a white fellow, Lymon’s mother needed to bail him out or else “the sheriff [is] going to turn him over to Parchman” and “it [would] be three years before anybody see him again” (Wilson 63). The distinct diction of “turn him over to Parchman” illustrates the authoritative tone of the white sheriff and the immediate action that was taken. The establishment of the Parchman Farm to target African Americans reveals a lack of social