Stranger In The Village Research Paper

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.” US Representative, John Lewis said this in his return to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he spoke on 54 years ago, during the March on Washington. Racism has been around since the beginning of time, but it is not human nature. Racism is something that is taught, and given the amount of time that has passed since To Kill A Mockingbird and the March on Washington, one would think that racism wouldn’t be a serious issue any more. Although race relations have improved along with other social issues from the time of To Kill Mockingbird, racism and discrimination are major problems in today’s society.

When we look at the issue of racism from a politically correct, nineties perspective, evidence of the oppression of black people may be obscured by the ways in which our society deals with the inequalities that still exist. There are no apparent laws that prohibit or limit opportunities for blacks in our society today, yet there is a sense that all things are not fair and equal. How can we acknowledge or just simply note how past ideologies are still perpetuated in our society today? We can examine conditions of the present day in consideration of events in the past, and draw correlations between old and modern modes of

In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town,” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. It shows that true freedom is about being accepted because of the way that the Duvitch family is placed in a community where they are not accepted at first but then do become accepted. Mr. Duvitch didn’t talk much to anyone because of lack of freedom to be who he was, Mrs. Duvitch didn’t have the freedom to also be who she was because people talked about her and the Duvitch children to were quiet ones who didn’t have freedom in the sense that they couldn’t just go out and play with the other kids.

In the essay, Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin talks about his experience as an African American visiting a small village in Switzerland who has never seen an African American before. In the small village Baldwin is seen as something magical and so unusual to them because of the color of his skin. Even after going back to the village several times he still feels like a stranger. To portray his experiences of racism Baldwin strongly uses pathos throughout his essay. He describes the sense of never belonging whether in America or in a small village of Switzerland. Baldwin uses pathos to argue that there is a way to stop racism in the village with the children but America and the adults in the village have too much history to have the same innocence as the children of the village.

African American racial tension has decreased drastically, since the fifties our country has leaps and bounds towards equality. James Baldwin wrote Stranger in the Village, and he wrote about his experience living in a small Swiss village and how he was able to evaluate the American society and its issues of race. Baldwin specifically focused on African American racial issues. Baldwin makes arguments about how race is treated much different in Europe, he also argued how there are still a lot of problems with American society that need to be changed. I agree with Baldwin's thoughts however this essay is outdated and isn't completely relevant to our society today; however some of the broader ideas are.

     I believe racism to be as apparent today if not more profound then in the past. A large portion of society believes that no man is still to this day denied any unalienable rights. I do not believe this statement to be true. We have adopted affirmative action programs and enforced strict equal opportunity employment laws to hinder discrimination. Although I believe it is still a very prevalent issue in today’s society. Despite laws, investigations and results show that twenty percent of African Americans interviewing for jobs were turned down due to the color of their skin (Omi and Winant 67-68). Indeed racism may be very subtle in most cases; it is not a thing of the past but rather a very serious problem in society that evolves

On July 2, 1964 a world altering act was passed by influencing figures in society. The passing of the civil rights act, which outlawed discrimination based upon things such as race, gender and religion, seems like it would have ended racism, right? Contrary to that statement, Racism has not ended since the Civil Rights Act has been put in place, although it might not be as apparent as it was back then. And it’s not just adults that are victims of such racism - it is the younger generation as well. People need to know that racism is often not seen or heard and often goes silent.

Though we Americans, in all of our efforts, feel as if the day of racism is coming to an end, I feel it is merely evolving into a much more subtle approach. Seeing life through the words of Anne Moody in her book entitled, "Coming of Age in Mississippi", shows that racism, even back then, is treated with remedies versus a cure. After the many anti-discrimination legislations passed as well as activist groups shedding light on all of the significant differences and injustices that African Americans face, one would think that by now racism would be far behind us here in America. After a close review of Anne Moody 's life, her growing up

James Baldwin is looked upon by many as the first of the great Black writers to have had a significant impact on the Civil Rights movement. James Baldwin work was very important to the civil rights movement and he was influenced by the civil rights movement. Born in 1924, Baldwin moved to Paris, France in his early twenties and it was from there that he did most of his important writing (Boyd). Baldwin began his writing career as a novelist and his personal goal was always to attain a status as a respected novelist but it was his contributions as an essayist that provided him with his greatest level of respect. Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing through the 60s, Baldwin wrote a series of essays that were not only critically acclaimed but were also considered to have significant impact on the Civil Rights movement in the United States.

I believe racism to be as apparent today if not more profound then in the past. A large portion of society believes that no man is still to this day denied any unalienable rights. I do not believe this statement to be true. We have adopted affirmative action programs and enforced strict equal opportunity employment laws to hinder discrimination. Although I believe it is still a very prevalent issue in today's society. Despite laws, investigations and results show that twenty percent of African Americans interviewing for jobs were turned down due to the color of their skin (Omi and Winant 67-68). Indeed racism may be very subtle in most cases; it is not a thing of the past but rather a very serious problem in society that evolves sociohistorically.

Another Country is a fiction book written by James Baldwin in 1962. James Baldwin was an essayist, playwright, and novelist with many popular writings. He is an iconic African American for his writings during the Civil Rights era in the United States focusing on racial and social issues. In Another Country, Baldwin’s characters go through interracial, homosexual, bisexual, and violent relationships. The main character, Rufus Scott, is an African American jazz drummer that commits suicide after the pressures of exploring his sexuality and race. He realizes he feels racial and masculine power when he has sexual encounters with white people due to the Civil Right era where as a black man he has no power. His friends and sister throughout the book feel guilty and try to unveil the reasons Rufus committed suicide, causing them themselves to explore their sexuality and identifying themselves within their race.

Today, racial discrimination still exists, but it’s not what it was decades ago. And even though racism still exits, I am euphoric that America has come to reduce racism. The Civil Rights Movement has brought the realization that racism exists to the worst to its extent has given others and I a deeper considerate in the struggle for equality and a different attitude on Civil Rights. Just like Griffin, researchers, John Dovidio, and Samuel Gaertner have found the following: When individuals associate themselves with interracial contact, their feelings about the African American community started to change. Understanding one another is the basis to bridging the gap between the whites and individuals of color skinned.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

James baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His essays were mostly of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, mostly in mid-20th-century America. Some of Baldwin's essays are book-length, for instance The Fire Next Time (1963), No Name in the Street (1972), and The Devil Finds Work (1976). An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded upon and adapted for cinema as the Academy Award-nominated documentary film I Am Not Your Negro. Writer and playwright James Baldwin was born August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York. One of the 20th century's greatest writers, Baldwin broke new literary ground with the exploration of racial and social issues in his many works. He was especially well known for his essays on the black experience in America.

As the 2008 presidential election proceeded to break racial barriers in America, many people have come to believe that racism in America no longer exists since we now have a Black president. However, This could not be anything further from the truth. When many people think of racism, they think of blunt discriminatory actions made against people of color. Thoughts of segregation and the Ku Klux Klan probably come to mind when people envision what racism may look like. Since many of this is now considered illegal or less evident in today’s society, many people may believe that racism is no longer a major issue. Racism in today’s society, however, is constructed differently. Robert M. Entman notes that American society has changed from “traditional to modern racism” (206). Modern racism is more complex within our political and social systems. So how does racism still exist you ask? Racism still exists in our society because minorities remain to be the largest group of people who are unemployed, disadvantaged in their ability to obtain a decent education, and misrepresented by the media.