The American Dream is the desire that every American has to live a better life and to enjoy every minute of it without being discriminated on because of the color of their skin, their social status, their gender and even their religion. Martin Luther King had a desire for such a place for every African American. His desire was that there would be no racism in American and that everyone will co-exist regardless of their religion. We have seen progress being made where the forty-fourth president of the United States was and African American and today we see more of them participating in sports such as basketball without fear of being discriminated on.
Rao in his article believes the American Dream has been rewritten since The Civil War in the 1870s where the people believed if they go west as young men, and they are determined and hardworking, and then they have a possibility of making it just like everyone else. In the 1890s, the generation of Gilded Age believed if they worked harder, then they can make it in life and the generation of Gatsby believed that anyone can make it and realize their American Dream. The New Deal generation believed that we people come together they can make it in life in the 1930s while the GI Bill generation believed any American in the 1940s can make if only they fought hard enough. The Organization Men era in the 1950s believed that every American already has it, they just have to avoid messing it up in order to retain it. The Peace Corps generation in the 1960s argued that the “Americans already have it” and that they should share it with others. The Deregulation generation also believed that the Americans in the 1980s were losing the dream. They however believed that if one kept their head down and avoided the rabble then they might escape it.
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Nevertheless, the Net Generation believed that they were losing the American dream in the 1990s and they did not know what to do about it. Rao further states that the Next generation which represents the generations of today believes that if they went to the east and worked hard enough then they also have a chance to make it in life just like every other person. The American Dream has taking a lot of shapes over the years but today we still have people who are not able to live the American Dream. Today, in some communities, women are still not able to rise in the corporate ladder because of their gender and those who do receive a lot of criticisms on how they got to where they are even from their fellow women. We have certain parts of America and Europe where African Americans are still treated with contempt. Mexicans are not left far behind as well. This paper focuses on the challenges they face and how their skin color still affects them. It also focuses on why certain people are still not able to live the American dream when we all should. A reference of Hansberry, Loraine is used to bring the problems people face in pursuit of the American Dream.
Loraine’s book brought the problems African Americans face today to the light and facilitated the understanding of the cruelty and oppression that they faced in their day to day lives. She dedicated the book to her mother with the intention of displaying the intricacies of women’s lives as they live under devastating and challenging social situation (Beaulieu, Elizabeth). In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorrain identifies herself with Lena. She is hardworking and a risk taker. Lorrain writes about a family that was discriminated on based on their race. She witnessed more African Americans suffering oppression in the hands of the white man. According to Beaulieu in his article about Lorrain, she describes her experience as immediate, violent and brutal. She tells a story of a single mother in the story with her children which is reflective of her life after the death of her father. In the story Lena buys a house in an all-white neighborhood which mirrors how Lorrain went to an all-white school. Hansberry’s purpose of writing the story was so as to display the challenges the African American communities went through and perhaps still go through because of their race. The writing of this play led to massive activism for the African American population and the standing up of women to their rights. This shows how far the American Dream has come. Activism began even before Martin Luther Jr, and today we still see groups such as Black Lives Matter ensuring that the American Dream is accessible to all.
Langston Hughes was a play writer, novelist short-story writer, poet and columnist of African American origin. His works were also inspired by his life’s experiences just as A Raisin in the Sun was inspired by Lorrain’s life. The various artistic works that he did were focusing on the uplift of poor African Americans who faced racial discrimination in their lives as stated by Corby in his article. In his poem “Let American be America Again” he describes the oppression blacks went through and how they suffered in pain. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” poem also shows how far man has come. He mentions the Euphrates which in Biblical perspective was found in the Garden of Eden, he concludes with the Mississippi which is linked to Abraham Lincoln and the American slavery. Lorrain’s grandmother was one of the slaves in America. The Lena can relate to the poems written by Hughes because he witnessed racial discrimination first hand. Men and women alike face various challenges that can hinder them from achieving the American dream such as oppression described by Hughes.
In 1950s, The Organization Men believed that every American already has the American Dream, they just have to avoid messing it up in order to retain it. In this decade the American Dream for many was to experience equal rights. Many wanted the chance to be recognized and appreciated for the hard work they put in the society. Schwartz stated in his article that in the 1950s there was a lot of cold war and international politics in the world. Cold war included the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the cold war in the United States due to the conviction of Alger Hiss. During this time, there were people who stood up to defend the rights of the people. One of the beneficiaries of these activists was Hazel Scott who became the first black presenter to host her own network with a musical show. In the same year, Bunche Ralph became the first black person to win and Nobel Prize.
It was also later in the 1950s that the laws were passed to decree some of the laws that were fostering racial segregation as unconstitutional. There was also a case that was filed by NAACP against the school board in the county of Clarendon in South Carolina stating that the racial segregation that black children were forced to go through was causing psychological damage to them. The American Dream was slowly being realized by some of the African American and their rights were being fought for as well. The American dream has changed over time because blacks were awarded for their services to the people and the rights of the black children were fought for relentlessly.
Segregation is defined as the lawful separation of individuals based on their gender, race or ethnicity. It majorly occurs in the education sector and housing. Courts did not use separate but equal to uphold the segregation laws. Some of these laws restricted activities such as voting and they could not purchase house with white communities. Their children did not interact with white children in school. In the 1950s during the “Brown v Board of Education” that a decision was made to clearly distinguish between societal segregation and mandated segregation. However, the mandated segregation which was known as de jure segregation was outlawed by the congressional legislation and the Supreme Court. Restricted covenants in “Sweatt v Painter” were struck down in 1954. The outlaw of these laws permitted the black community to participate in activities they were previously prohibited from performing and also they would mingle with the white community as stated by Clouatre in his “Segregation” article. Jim Crow was a significant figure who insisted on division along racial lines in the communities and in the government.
Women in 1950s were considered housewives and were expected to take care of the house and the children. According the article “American Woman in the Post?”, Mitchell is quoted to have said that the job of a women was to be a “good wife, a homemaker, a mother”. In this period, domestic life was a period of prosperity and peace. Many women who had taken up jobs to take care of their families as their husbands were fighting in the war quitted their jobs and returned to domestic life and fulfilled the American Dream and also to create room for the men coming from the war. Some however remained at their places of work. They worked in industries such as Teflon. The women were allowed to go to school where they could better their lives and improve their families. Eisenhower advocated for the rights of women during the 1950s. Today however, women are able to work and build a name for them because of the struggle that was fought in order for them to achieve the American dream as well.
Cited Works
“American Women in the Post? World War II Economy.” Issues & Controversies in American History, Infobase, 2015. American History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=106192&itemid=WE52&articleId=1009404. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018.
Beaulieu, Elizabeth A. "Lorraine Hansberry." The American Mosaic: The African American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2018, africanamerican.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1405081. Accessed 10 Apr. 2018.
Clouatre, Douglas. “Segregation.” Encyclopedia of American Law and Criminal Justice, Revised Edition, Facts On File, 2012. American History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=106192&itemid=WE52&articleId=357234. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018.
Cobby, Rebecca L. K. "Langston Hughes." The American Mosaic: The African American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2018, africanamerican.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1477376. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018.
Schwartz, Richard A. “America Becomes the World's Policeman: 1950.” 1950s, Facts On File, 2002. American History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=106192&itemid=WE52&articleId=191799. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018.
RaoVenkatesh. The Evolution of the American Dream. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.ribbonfarm.com
