Gautreaux Vs Cha was a lawsuit that was made for public housing segregation. It was filed by Dorothy Gautreaux in 1969 through federal court and the case went on although she was dead. “The Chicago Housing Authority and HUD had violated the US constitution which states that everyone is equal.” The purpose was to develop a law that would help all race, the riches and the poor to integrate. HUD and CHA created a plan that specifically had African- Americans to mobilize in to the white areas surrounding the city. In order to relocate 7100 families, it took well over 20 years.
The experiences of the characters are based on years of history that African Americans have endured in America since the age of slavery. The painting titled, “Piano Lesson”, was Wilson’s primary source of inspiration. The painting was by Romare Bearden and the play is set in Pittsburgh in the year of 1936. The heritage that slavery has left behind is an open sore in the hearts of many African Americans and Wilson’s primary goal was to express this anguish within his writing. He was able to display the relationships that families of that era adorned on society during the Great Depression.
This was his first commercial success was Ma Rainey's Black Bottom which was developed at the Playwrights Center in 1983 and eventually moved to premier at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1984 and went on to Broadway where it enjoyed 275 performances and won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The premier at the Yale Repertory established a collaborative bond between Wilson and Lloyd Richards who was then dean of the Yale School of Drama. This play was partly inspired by the plays of Amiri Baraka who warned black writers to keep their characters faithful to the black experience Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the title of a song by Ma Rainey referring to black bottom dance. Each play dealt with a particular decade as illustrated in Ma Rainey's which represented a female blues singer who deals with the pressures of an abusive music business which victimized its black artists. The play was set in a movie studio and the character of Levee was played by Charles Dutton of television's Roc fame.
This can be seen in the play “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. For example, the Younger’s bought a house in a white neighborhood & they didn’t want them there so they tried to combine all their money and buy the house from them. They had to deal with racism and
This helped him gather many more ideas on the inequalities that blacks had to face because of whites. His brother Muhammad wrote to him, “The black prisoner symbolized white society’s crime of keeping black men oppressed and deprived and ignorant, and unable to get decent jobs, turning them into criminals” (Haley, 195). Which illustrates Malcolm X’s life perfectly, because he used to strive and care about school, but once he found out the true meaning of being black in American it twisted his character. Not being able to look forward to having a good job meant you could probably make more money on the streets hustling. With no ability to advance in society, he wondered if settling for a job like a janitor is really worth it.
He also revealed that real estate agents made enormous profits manipulating whites with the fears of integration. One of the major points that Colas brought was the fact that real estate agents limited blacks housing options by rarely offering them opportunities outside the ghetto; the real estate industry literally trapped the black family in the ghetto. He stated this was brought out in the play when explaining the discrepancies in housing cost within the black and white communities and their separate housing locations. We see that when Leana explains why she was unwilling to stay in the black community when looking for their new home, she
In the 1930s, the housing rates doubled, and banks would not lend to African Americans, and people could not re-sell their houses to African Americans if it was in a white neighborhood. If African Americans were able to buy a home in a white neighborhood, people would get scared that “black people” were moving in, so they would flee their homes. They would then re-sell their homes to an African American at a markup price. If they had one missed payment they would be evicted. Contract sellers would try everything to get them evicted and put the house back up on the market.
Millions of blacks had left southern farms for northern cities, where they hoped to find better jobs. They found instead crowded conditions in urban slums. Now, black servicemen returned home, intent on rejecting second-class citizenship, as other blacks began to argue that the time was ripe for racial equality Black-white inequality persisted in income, education, health, housing, technology access, and safe communities. There was racial profiling against the African Americans from the whites. In an age of nonviolence belligerence came to forefront.
Race - From a young age Barack became aware that being black meant he was different - Grew up mostly with his white mother and grandparents- in their white world - Race and its importance became the key force in his confusion regarding identity - The historical links including slavery, Civil Rights movement and current problems between black and white communities become paramount in Barack’s world and understanding of self - His mother was very influential in that she taught Barack all about injustice issues and leaders who made a difference – Martin Luther King etc. - Working within Chicago, Barack sees firsthand the hatred black people feel and if he wants do help them he needs
Upon completion a research that was done on my group as Black / African American, it was determine that we were immigrated to the United States for employment purposes. The receptionist that was given to us a immigrants in the country was not always friendly. We had always felt uneasy where ever we go and had been set aside because of our skin color. There were law restrictions against us, open bloodshed and almost 1/3 of immigrants and their children had to return to their home because of the uneasy feeling towards strangers. Coming from a black group we had faced a combination of segregation, racism and prejudice.