Prejudice in Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes Essay -- skin colo

Prejudice is a cancer that spreads hate among its perpetrators and victims alike. In 1930 Langston Hughes penned the novel, not Without Laughter. This respectable story, written from the perspective of an African-American boy named James Sandy Rodgers, begins in the early 1900s in the small town of Stanton, Kansas. Through the eyeball of young Sandy, we see the devastating impact of racism on his family and those they ar close to. We also see how the generations of abuse by whites caused a divorce at heart the black community. Among, and even within, black families there were several cordial cliquees that seemed to hinge on seeking equality finished gaining the approval of whites. The crystalise some peerless belonged to was determined by the color of their skin, the type of church one attended, their level of education, and where an individual was able to note work. From an early age it was have to Sandy that, the lighter a persons skin was, the h igh their social status. As the hardly young child in his household, he was exposed to many conversations among the adults around him that revolved around race. A ancient example of this was one of the conversations between his grandmother, Aunt Hager, and her friend, Sister Whiteside. Sandy and the two elder women sat at the kitchen table together to share a meal while the two women chatted. Sandy sat quietly and take up their talk of everything from assuming the white ancestry of a lighter-skinned child they knew, to the trouble of keeping colored chillens in school (13-15). Sandy not only learned through the conversations of the adults around him the importance of skin color, he witnessed a number of events that cemented the notion. Sandys somewhat wild Aunt, Har... ... porters and washwomen (188). Throughout Hughes non Without Laughter, we see the long-term effect of generations of diagonal and abuse against blacks. Over time, this prejudice manifested itself throu gh the development of several social classes within the black community. Hughes, through the eyes of young Sandy, shows us how the color of ones skin, the church they attend, the level of education an individual attained, and the type of employment someone could find impacted their standing within the community and dictated the social class they belonged to. Tragically, decades of slavery and abuse resulted in a class system within the black community that was not built around seeking joy or fulfillment but, equality through gaining the approval of whites. Works CitedHughes, L. (1930). Not Without Laughter. New York, NY, USA Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.