Essie Mae Research Paper

Looking through the eyes of Essie Mae, growing up as an African-American in the south was anything but easy. Within her household, she was relied on heavily from a very young age to contribute, as her father wasn’t the bread winning type. Essie Mae started to notice that she was viewed differently because of the color of her early in her life. It was very apparent that white people held control purely because they were white and could hold the fear of death over the heads of African-Americans. As Essie Mae grew up she learned to despise white people because of the way they treated her and her family. She also looked down on her “fellow blacks” because she felt they were letting white people kill them. Essie Mae was deeply affected by the racism she was surrounded by and was able to learn from the many mistakes of others.
In the very beginning, Essie paints a vivid picture of what her living quarters looked like when she was young. At the time, she lived with her mother, Toosweet, and her father, Diddly on a plantation owned by Mr. Carter, where other slaves farmed. She described her house as resembling more of a “shack” lacking electricity and plumbing. Although Essie’s parents tried their best to make it livable, the shack was still dilapidated. The other slaves lived in similar …show more content…
Housing was often run-down and lacked things we’d consider essentials. Although people were starting to fight for African-American rights, they were still struggling with racists especially in the south. The fear of dying kept African-Americans on their toes. Essie saw this as surrendering instead of fighting for their right to be human. She became conscious of the race war that surrounded her and was intrigued. She was a bright young woman with a lot of potential and she knew she didn’t want to waste it. Essie Mae is an inspiration for