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 powerful 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 eyes of young Sandy, we see the devastating impact of racism on his family and those they are close to. We also see how the generations of abuse by whites caused a divide within the ghastly community. Among, and even within, moody families there were several(prenominal) loving classes that seemed to hinge on seeking equality through gaining the approval of whites. The class some unity belonged to was determined by the color of their skin, the type of church unrivaled attended, their level of education, and where an individual was able to bugger off work. From an early age it was clear to Sandy that, the lighter a persons skin was, the higher their social status. As the only young child in his household, he was exposed to many conversations among the adults around him that revolved around race. A primary example of this was one of the conversations between his grandmother, Aunt Hager, and her friend, Sister Whiteside. Sandy and the both elder women sat at the kitchen table together to share a meal while the two women chatted. Sandy sat quietly and absorbed their talk of everything from assuming the white ancestry of a lighter-skinned child they knew, to the difficulty of keeping colored chillens in schooltime (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 antic Aunt, Har... ... porters and washwomen (188). Throughout Hughes Not Without Laughter, we see the long-term effect of generations of prejudice and abuse against blacks. Over time, this prejudice manifested its elf through 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 happiness or fulfillment but, equality through gaining the approval of whites. Works CitedHughes, L. (1930). Not Without Laughter. New York, NY, regular army Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.