Discrimination In The Civil Rights Movement

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The historic origin of racial discrimination goes back to the colonial era. This was greatly influenced by the existence of slavery of African-Americans. Yet, even if slavery helped build the economic foundations of the United States, the unequal treatment of African-Americans was considered as social norm at the time. However, racial discrimination reached its height in the 1960s. African-Americans felt the injustice and they felt deprived from their natural rights. This has led to the occurrence of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement was a success, which has caused many changes for African-Americans such as having the right to vote and the ban of desegregation. However, racial discrimination still existed in the 1970s and has occurred…show more content…
New York is one of the early locations where African-Americans had settled. And the formation of African-American neighborhoods in New York was closely connected to the history of segregation, as it was a product of social norms (Burrows & Wallace, 1998). However, the shift caused by the movement seemed to accomplish very little as communities of African-Americans still lived in segregated Northern urban poverty (O’Toole). In “The Lesson”, Miss Moore and the children is described to be living in a slum area in New York. And living in such poverty, the children had developed a slangy dialect and a tough sense of selves as they lacked proper education and proper moral conduct. A define illustration of such character is Sylvia, the story’s narrator. In the literature, Sylvia is described as a young angry African-American child with an attitude. She is easily involved in any mischiefs. Such instance is the time that “[she] and sugar crashed into the Catholic church on a dare… which was for [her] to run up to the altar and do a tap dance while Sugar played the nose flute and messed around the holy water” (Bambara, 150). For Sylvia, having a wild sense of self serves as her defense mechanism to survive the cruel world around her. She fears no one and doesn’t seem to care of the consequences that might come from her…show more content…
Having a college education, she felt that “it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young one’s education, and she not even related by marriage or blood” (146). Yet, what makes Miss Moore interesting is the fact that she educates the children with life lessons instead of academic lessons. It is evident that she makes an effort to broaden the minds of the children by taking them out to try new experiences. She is hopeful that the children would still have the chance to have a great future despite growing up in the slums. She took the children out to F.A.O. Schwarz, a toy store in Manhattan. She believes that by taking the children there, she would help the children see the opportunities that are available outside of their community. She merely wants to point out to the kids that if an opportunity comes, they should grab it as it would help
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