The Jim Crow Laws In August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

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Black people were slaves for many generations. They were never treated the same as white people. Once freed from being slaves the whites still hated blacks and kept their differences by establishing a color code. This allowed whites to go where they could see a sign pointing to where they are suppose to go, same on the other side. Although many people thought it was fair blacks were treated poorly. The government pushed a law called the Jim Crow Law allowing blacks to have the same rights as whites. Jim Crow law has been in news and in many stories. They use this to talk about the impacts of this law to people. Authors use writing to express people 's feeling for racism. This social issue is shown in “The Piano Lesson”, “A Black Man Talks of …show more content…
The main character’s in the play are Boy Willie and Berniece. They are brother and sister. In the past Boy Willie and his sister Berniece come from a family of slaves. When the slaves were banished they had trouble with a piano. It was rightfully theirs, but their owner took it as his own. It was unfair because it had Boy Willie and Bernice 's families backstory carved all over it. From there, a fight went on to fight against who should kept the piano. To get what was rightfully theirs the blacks had to steal the piano back(Pg 42-43). “I’m talking to the man...play on the piano.” This quote talks about the background behind the piano and why it is so important to Bernice. She saw it as something her mother cared for. She didn’t want to let her down. On the other hand Boy Willie thought of something different for the piano. In the quote “You stay!... I want to live it” (pg 46). In this quote Boy Willie talks about being free. He is sick being a slave. Once he sells that piano and buy the land he will finally be free. He won’t think he’s a slave anymore. This piano is causing him to think he is still a slave. Once Boy Willie sells the piano and gets the land the life of being a slave is over. The piano is what is left of his family 's …show more content…
The blacks get separated from the whites and when that happens nothing is fair. The blacks get kicked to the sidelines and the whites get all of the glory. Even though in the article isn’t really talking about blacks. It talks about how racism is getting worse. Even though people worked it out so no one would get accused their are those who still believe in racism. It’s getting worse and worse throughout the years. Both the story and article talk about the blacks not liking racism. People are getting treated differently and blacks hate it. Even since the past racism has caused lots of problems like in the story “The Piano Lesson”. Boy Willie and his family in the past have been fighting to get back what was rightfully theirs. The owner took it because it was in his possession when they were slaves. The article shows racism. The people in this article were treated badly. Over the years racism hasn’t gotten better. In this article it is told in third person. The writer believes that their needs to be a change in what people think. This person wants people to think even if people are different colors doesn’t mean you have to treat them horribly. Christopher the author of this article is trustworthy because it is true, many people look at others who are different color and automatically think that that person is racist. It also goes with shows as well.

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