My life living here in Harlem, New York has been a struggle for the past ten years. As an African-American merchant, it has been very difficult to earn any profit and be able to provide for my family. Finding work has been tough to do and ever since I opened my own store a few years ago, sales have not been good. I believe a major factor contributing to this is the racial segregation here in New York. The racial tension between the whites and the blacks here in Harlem can often build up. The African Americans here in Harlem have struggled and been living very difficult lives. However, I also think that things will soon change and life of an African-American merchant, like me, will improve as we move into the 1930s. Despite the racial discrimination
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Most of the cars on Seventh Street are driven by white people. The streets of Harlem were very busy and filled with a lot of people on the sidewalks. However, there was little to no interaction between people of different races. All the jobs in Harlem were occupied by white people. Many of the stores had white owners and jobs such as taxi drivers, delivery men, and ice sellers were also done by white workers. Emergency services such as the police, firefighters, and hospital workers had very few black people working in it, despite two-thirds of their patients being African-American. The Government in New York has very little black influence represented. In addition, Harlem schools have 80% white teachers, even though only two thousand out of fifteen thousand students are white. The very few stores that were owned by black people, including mine, are only found on small streets. When you walk down Seventh Avenue, which is the major streets in Harlem, you can only find stores owned by white people. However, these stores owned by blacks were either on land owned by white people or run on loans from white banks. Many …show more content…
However, I think that the future will be brighter for us. Recently, the idea of the Harlem Renaissance has come up in the black community a lot. This is a movement to create a black cultural identity through literature and the arts. The goal of this movement is to promote cultural pluralism and have whites and blacks as equal contributors to the identity of American culture. Initially, black writers had difficulties to get their work published. Eventually, white magazines began to publish writings by black authors because it was a new concept that offered another perspective. This helped make black culture a part of American culture. In addition to the Harlem Renaissance, everyday life in Harlem is beginning to improve. More black people are finding work they used to not be allowed to do. The number of black people working in the hospital is slowly increasing in the last few years. When it comes to nightlife, theatres realized that they will need to allow black people in to increase income and therefore, allowed them in. Also, Nightclubs began allowing black people to perform and there are more nightclubs owned by African-Americans. Although relationships between white people and black people are still somewhat tense with very little interaction, the slow and gradual changes in society could be signs that life for African-Americans in Harlem will one day be a lot better than it was a few years
Most of the cars on Seventh Street are driven by white people. The streets of Harlem were very busy and filled with a lot of people on the sidewalks. However, there was little to no interaction between people of different races. All the jobs in Harlem were occupied by white people. Many of the stores had white owners and jobs such as taxi drivers, delivery men, and ice sellers were also done by white workers. Emergency services such as the police, firefighters, and hospital workers had very few black people working in it, despite two-thirds of their patients being African-American. The Government in New York has very little black influence represented. In addition, Harlem schools have 80% white teachers, even though only two thousand out of fifteen thousand students are white. The very few stores that were owned by black people, including mine, are only found on small streets. When you walk down Seventh Avenue, which is the major streets in Harlem, you can only find stores owned by white people. However, these stores owned by blacks were either on land owned by white people or run on loans from white banks. Many …show more content…
However, I think that the future will be brighter for us. Recently, the idea of the Harlem Renaissance has come up in the black community a lot. This is a movement to create a black cultural identity through literature and the arts. The goal of this movement is to promote cultural pluralism and have whites and blacks as equal contributors to the identity of American culture. Initially, black writers had difficulties to get their work published. Eventually, white magazines began to publish writings by black authors because it was a new concept that offered another perspective. This helped make black culture a part of American culture. In addition to the Harlem Renaissance, everyday life in Harlem is beginning to improve. More black people are finding work they used to not be allowed to do. The number of black people working in the hospital is slowly increasing in the last few years. When it comes to nightlife, theatres realized that they will need to allow black people in to increase income and therefore, allowed them in. Also, Nightclubs began allowing black people to perform and there are more nightclubs owned by African-Americans. Although relationships between white people and black people are still somewhat tense with very little interaction, the slow and gradual changes in society could be signs that life for African-Americans in Harlem will one day be a lot better than it was a few years