BACKGROUND In 1943, Dr. Elijah Anderson was born in the Mississippi Delta in the middle of World War II. In his family of five, Dr. Anderson was the middle child. His grandmother resided with them, serving as the midwife. During this time, his parents were southern sharecroppers that picked and chopped cotton for a living. However, his father, Leighton, also drove a truck in the Army Infantry during World War II. With only a fourth grade education, Dr. Anderson’s father was able to get a job in the Industrial Midwest were two of Dr. Anderson’s uncles lived. In this time of racial segregation, his family participated in the Great Migration movement, relocating to South Blend, Indiana. Here his father had a well-paid job at the foundry of the …show more content…
Anderson was very active. He played football, basketball, and also ran track. His curiosity and independence lead him to falling in love with the streets located on his side of town. At the age of 10, Dr. Anderson curiosity lead him to finding his first job. At 10 years old, he began selling newspapers on downtown street corners. When he turned 11, he found a job that allowed him to set pins at a downtown bowling alley. When he turned 12, he convinced himself that it was time for a real job. Desperately, Dr. Anderson went door to door to every merchant in the downtown of South Blend, Indiana asking for a job. To his luck, an owner of a local typewriter company by the name of Marion Forbes hired him. Determined to do what the other boys in the company were able to do, Dr. Anderson made it his business to do better than whatever they did. His determination allowed him to work everyday after school including Saturday’s for 50 cents per hour. At Forbes typewriter, his duties consisted of emptying baskets, washing windows, and doing handyman work. His apprenticeship later allowed him to clean and repair typewriters in the shop. While working at Forbes Typewriter, Mr. Forbes gave Dr. Alexander time off so that he could participate in extracurricular activities such as basketball, track, football, and other activities. Inspired by his peers, he developed a sudden interest in higher education due to athletic scholarships. Because of this he began to look forward to …show more content…
Elijah Anderson is the William K. Lanman professor of Sociology at Yale University with special interests in urban inequality, ethnography, special deviance, cultural sociology, race relations, and theory. He has held many leadership roles such as being one of the top leading urban ethnographers and social theorists in the United States. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. His other leadership roles include being the vice president of the American Sociological Association; editor for professional journals and publications such as Qualitative Sociology, Ethnography, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, City and Community, Annals of the Society of Political and Social Science, and the International Journal of Urban and regional Research; and consultant to the White House, U.S. Congress, National Academy of Science, and the National Science
1. Summarize Ernest Gaines’ life in 5-7 sentences. Ernest James Gaines was conceived on the Stream Lake Manor close to the little villa of Oscar, in Pointe Coupee Area, Louisiana. His progenitors had lived on the same ranch since bondage, staying after liberation to work the area as tenant farmers. Gaines and his crew lived in the houses, tremendously extended, that had once served as slave quarters.
He walked into town as greeted the doctor with “doctor here is enough business for you”. The doctor, Edward Higginson Williams, managed to save him. He returned to his parent’s farm three months later. He could not return to his old job but he traveled the world lecturing and doing a few jobs. In his later years he resided with his family
In 1937 he moved to Alabama on a plantation with his wife. He then purchased two newspapers. He owned slaves, but after an altercation with his neighbor, the slaves were poisoned. With no work force he had to sell his plantation. His only income was from a newspaper Cahawba, which was not very profitable.
As a child Davis would suffer with a stuttering problem which held him back a little in the classroom and with making friends. Davis originally grew up with his grandparents but up until he was 12 he would finally move in with his mother in Elmira, New York ("Ernie Davis Biography”). Davis right away set out to join the pee wee football team. Every since then Davis excelled at the game of football.
As he got older, he was inspired by the black church services that would later serve as an influence to his dance choreographies. In 1942, when he was twelve, him and his mother moved to Los Angeles California, where his interest in athletics such as gymnastics and football were sparked. He fostered an admiration for Gene Kelly and Fred
Working many unskilled jobs, he was given an opportunity to write. He joined the John Reed Club in Chicago,
When he was 14 he attended the City College of New York and started to sell children’s stories and humor pieces to magazines. He graduated in 1897 and enrolled at Columbia University and wrote novels to support his studies. He completed his schooling at the age of 20 and decided to become a serious novelist and a freelance journalist to support himself. In 1900 he marries Meta Fuller and had a son, David, in 1901. He wrote his first novel, Springtime and Harvest in 1901 but it was rejected.
By the age of six he was working, dusting cotton of the Brannon Mill floor. At the age of three the family moved to West Greenville where he grew
Overtime all things change and develop into new forms, this is even true for racism. Mark Lamont Hill’s “Nobody” takes us through the history of black Americans in the U.S in relation to state. Moreover, he reveals the storyline within the nation that has consistently marked majority of minorities as expendable, products and as nobodies. Being that the book is only around 200 pages, we only get at the surface of what Mr. Hill is analysing. Nonetheless, he expertly maneuvers through the U.S’s muddy history to display the role of the State in keeping this “nobody” identity on black Americans.
In Brown’s Book Boys In The Boat Joe Rantz is a young man who symbolizes success and continues to grow through out his life into a fine man. Although, Joe has been brought up in a very difficult childhood by many tragedies he continues to find the best of the situations and carry on with a positive attitude. Later throughout Joe’s life he starts to thrive in school and he gets multiple jobs that pay well. With the money earned Joe again decided to take advantage of his naturally good attributes he attained which lead to the successful life to come. The reason why Joe becomes the successful man is by his good qualities that help him take advantage of luck.
The Rise of Daniel Hale Williams Daniel Hale Williams III was an extraordinary African American surgeon. Dr. Williams, the son of a barber, was a free African American born during the 1800s to Daniel Hale Williams II and Sarah Williams. Dr. Williams’ family was heavily impacted by the ongoing history at the time. Furthermore, Dr. Williams’ ancestors were slaves. Daniel’s ancestors on both sides were a mixture of European, Native American, and African American.
Anderson begins the section by explaining that there are two separate cultures in inner-city neighborhoods. The first are the “decent” this group is defined by commitment to “middle-class values,” (101). However, they are not mainstream in that they
Garrett Morgan was a well-known African-American inventor, entrepreneur and pioneer for the black community, America and the whole world who made his mark on the society through his invention of a sewing machine enhancement, primitive gas mask, and traffic lights. In addition, he did have other inventions that did not have as much impact, but most people would say inventing is very hard, so that in its self is a feat. Mr. Morgan’s life did start out a little treacherous, but was nowhere close to the life of his ancestors, parents and some of his siblings. He was one of eleven children and got his work cut down. Respectfully, Garretts early life was full of lack of opportunity and eventually went looking for more opportunity in Ohio, which he
He was the youngest born of 5 children. He ended up only living there for a short amount of time because his father left them. Then he moved to Pasadena, California. His family was very poor. They lived in a under average house in a neighborhood.
When he became older, he took a job as an elevator operator as he was unable to attend college due to money troubles. Dunbar self-published Oak and Ivy in 1893 and to pay for the publishing expenses sold the book for a dollar to passengers in the elevator (“Paul Laurence Dunbar”). Dunbar went on to write 11 more poetry books and a couple of short stories and novels. Although he was a successful and published author, Dunbar dealt with racism almost all of his life. He struggled to find a job after being rejected from multiple businesses because of his race.