A Raisin In The Sun Example #4 Essay Example

needs and maybe a bigger house where he will not have to share the bathroom with another family.

In summation, the Youngers are a family of blacks living in minimal conditions. They share bedrooms and a bathroom and have very little luxury, if any at all. Each member in his or her own way is searching for a way to make a dream a reality. Many blacks in the 1950s were facing the same situations. According to William J Collins of Vanderbilt University: Before the Civil Rights Movement, housing market discrimination was common and blatant, especially against African Americans…. readers should keep in the mind the pervasiveness of housing iscrimination around 1950.

By “discrimination,” I mean (as usual in economics) the differential treatment of market participants on the basis of their race or ethnicity -- for example, the refusal to rent an apartment to a black family that is willing and able to pay a rental price that would be acceptable if the family were white. (Collins) So, as Hansberry portrays the black family in her play, so can it be assumed that real colored families, such as the Myers, were facing this hardship when trying to improve their living conditions and environment.

There was redlining, "the slang term used to describe an illegal practice of discrimination against a particular racial group by real estate lenders or insurance companies"(Redlining), and blockbusting," a practice used mostly by real estate agents and developers to encourage property owners to sell by giving the impression that a neighborhood is changing. "(Blockbusting). These were common practices in the 1950s that attempted to stop migratin of African-Americans into suburbia and out of inner city

neighborhoods that were suffering urban decay. "Urban decay is a process by which a city, or a part of a city, falls into a state of disrepair.

It is characterized by depopulation, property abandonment, high unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate and unfriendly urban landscape. " (Urban_decay). So, the environment that the black families were "allowed" to reside in were low in standards. However, when these families attempted to move out to better settlements and communities, they were met with opposition from real estate agents and companies, banks that refused to lend them money, and neighborhood committees that rallied against their moving into the neighborhood.

"Around mid-century, many barriers inhibited African Americans’ residential mobility, including racially restrictive covenants among white property owners, biased lending practices of banks and government institutions, strong social norms against selling or renting property to blacks outside established black neighborhoods, and harassment of blacks seeking residence in otherwise white neighborhoods. "(Collins)

The Myers family faced all these obstacles, but still achieved the purchase of a home in a white community in Levittown, Pennsylvania. …William Myers, Jr. and his family became the first Negroes to attempt to live in the community (Levittown, PA). …Although Myers' appearance on the scene provoked initial violence and sustained resistance as of the present he has succeeded in enforcing his claim to tranquility. "(Bressler 126) The Myers were harassed immediately, even before taking residence in their newly purchased home, by a petition protesting the mixing of races in the "closed community".

Once they took residence, the other residents of the neighborhood circulated petitions against the family, picketed in front of their home, threw rocks at their windows, and

burned crosses on the front lawn. Governor George M. Leader, calling upon the Constitution of the United States in the Myers' defense, sent in the state police to protect the family. After only a few days, the protesters dispersed, the State Police withdrew, and the Myers' moved back into their home without incident.

It took a while before they were accepted, but eventually the peaceful integration turned into a safe residence that was even accepted by some of the community, and the family was able to make some friends. (Civil Rights and Integration) The main protest of the rallying residents was that a large number of African-Americans would follow the Myers and then their Levittown would decrease in property value and increase in crime rates. However, there was no such rush of other African-American families to move in to Levittown and the price of property did not decrease and the crime rate did not increase.

So, this proved the residents' fears unfounded and helped promote integration of colored families into other white communities. (Civil Rights and Integration) Just as the Myers were approached by a committee to stop their move to Levittown before they even took residence, so were the Youngers of A Raisin In the Sun approached by a representative of such a committee. Karl Lindner was chosen by the residents of Clybourne Park to reason with the Youngers. He tried to explain how the community wished to " be civil and caring" and to work out problems.

But the problem he spoke of was that the Youngers did not belong in Clybourne Park because they did not "share a common background" with the people living there

presently. (Hansberry 118) The residents of Clybourne Park went so far as to offer a price for the house that the Youngers had bought. They wanted to buy them out of their community. At first, the Youngers were insulted and understood the implications toward racial discrimination. Later, however, after suffering an enormous financial lost put down on a dream, Walter was willing to set aside racial pride and dignity to accept the buyout offer.

This was much to the dismay of his wife who was looking forward to a greater future in a home that they owned and could occupy with more privacy and space. Also outraged by Walter's decision and defeasance, was his mother who exclaimed,"…ain't nobody in my family never let nobody pay 'em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn't fit to walk the earth…. We ain't never been that –dead inside. " (Hansberry 143) Mama's words moved Walter to an inner source of pride. When Lindner showed up expecting to sign a contract with the Youngers, he was surprised to be told by Walter: …we are a very proud people…. And we have all thought about your offer — And we have decided to move into our house because my father – my father – he earned it for us brick by brick.

We don't want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that's all we got to say about that. (He looks the man absolutely in the eyes) We don't want your money. (Hansberry 148) A Raisin In the Sun portrays a definite discrimination of African-Americans in

the real estate market in the 1950s. The real life story of the Myers family is much like that of the Youngers in the play.

Historical evidence of protest and harassment supports the theory of racial discrimination in communities in the 1950s. Through redlining and blockbusting, discrimination was achieved in some communities. But the pride of the colored people and their right to Pursuit of Happiness by Our Constitution has squandered the objective of the all-white communities. Because the African- American families took up their pride and realized their dreams of better living and their civil rights to that better lifestyle, racial discrimination in the real estate market is illegal in the United States today.