Friday, September 16, 2011

Segregation in American



This image is of a African American man drinking out of a water fountain that is labeled "colored". As you can see, the water fountain is in much worse condition that the water fountain labeled "white", but the man doesn't seem to be phased by this at all.

The 1960s was a time of hope for believers, a time of fun for the free spirits, and a time of pop culture for the hipsters. But it's was also a time of segregation for America. African Americans were treated poorly just because of the color of their skin. They weren't allowed to go in the same places as whites and many racial slurs were used freely. It's difficult to imagine a time like that.

Recently, producers of films and television shows have taken us back in time, not necessarily showing us the graphic scenes of what happened on the streets, but some show us the fear that African Americans faced. In The Help, we are taken into the lives of women who help in white households. Some are yelled at by their employers, some are actually treated well. But there is one scene that is implanted into my mind. Aibileen is riding the bus home from where she works, all of a sudden the bus driver tells her and another African American man to get off the bus because "some negro was shot". She proceeded home on foot, running, scared to death, not knowing what her fate would be.

It's difficult to imagine times if segregation in life today, it's something that I really don't want to imagine. We still see segregation, but nit necessarily in that sense. We see it more with cliques and the separation of sexes, rather than of race. So the idea of segregation hasn't gone away completely, just changed it's meaning a little.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.