CENTURY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SEEN FROM TROY MAXSON’S CONFLICTS IN AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES
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RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE 20 CENTURY UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA SEEN FROM TROY MAXSON’S
CONFLICTS IN AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
KARINA PRISDIANI
Student Number: 074214053
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
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RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE 20 CENTURY UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA SEEN FROM TROY MAXSON’S
CONFLICTS IN AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
KARINA PRISDIANI
Student Number: 074214053
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Karina Prisdiani
Nomor Mahasiswa : 074214053 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya meberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
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“RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE 20 CENTURY UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA SEEN FROM TROY MAXSON’S CONFLICTS IN
AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES”beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun meberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 26 Agustus 2011 Yang menyatakan
Karina Prisdiani
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank Allah Subhanahu wata’ala for the blessings, loves, cares and also the spirit and the way shown to me.
I would like to thank my Advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijarnaka, M. Hum., for giving me advice, guidance and help in writing this thesis. I express a great gratitude to him for spending many times in reading and correcting my thesis. I also thank to my co-Advisor, Pak Harris for giving me suggestion and also helping me to finish and improve this thesis. Besides, I want to thank him for his guidance given to me during my study here. Without their patience in helping and guiding me, I would not be able to finish this thesis.
My greatest gratitude goes to my parents, Widodo and Nani Hernawati, for the supports and prayers. You are my wonderful parents for me. Thanks to my little sister, Neyna Sezha Pramesthi, for the support to finish the thesis. Also thanks to my beloved mate, Helmy Fahada who has been so patient in supporting and encouraging me during thesis writing. I would like also to thank my best friends, Tina, Cicil, Grace, Mustika, Maria, Novi and Tata for the joy and laughter we have shared together during my study. I love you all.
Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone whose names are not mentioned here, who has helped and supported me during my study and thesis writing.
Karina Prisdiani
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………….. i
APPROVAL PAGE ...…………………………………………………. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………….. iii
MOTTO PAGE ………………………………………………………... iv
DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………… v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI………… vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………....... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………… viii
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………….... x
ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………… xi
2. Troy Maxson’s Conflict with Major Baseball League …... 29
2. The Reflection of Negro Baseball Players Seen through Troy Maxson’s Conflict with Major Baseball League ……….... 39
1. The Reflection of Black Workers Seen through Troy Maxson’s Conflict with His Employer, Mr. Rand …....... 36
Century United States of America Reflected in Troy Maxson’s Conflicts ………..…… 35
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B. Racial Discrimination in 20
3. Troy Maxson’s Conflict with His Son, Cory …………….. 31
1. Troy Maxson’s Conflict with His Employer, Mr. Rand …... 27
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………... 1
A. Background of the Study ……………………………………. 1 B. Problem Formulation ………………………………………… 4 C. Objectives of the Study …………………………………....... 5 D. Definition of Terms …………………………………………. 5CHAPTER II: THEORITICAL REVIEW ………………………….. 6
A. Review of Related Studies ………………………………….. 6 B. Review of Related Theories ……………………………….... 9
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………………………………….. 21
A. Object of the Study ………………………………………….. 21 B. Approach of the Study ………………………………………. 22 C. Method of the Study ………………………………………… 24CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS …………………………………………… 26
A. Troy Maxson’s Conflicts in August Wilson’s Fences ……….. 26D. Theoretical Framework ....…………………………………... 19
Century American Society ...................................................................... 13
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C. Review on the Racial Discrimination in the 20
2. Theories on Racial Discrimination …………………….... 11
1. Theories on Conflicts ………………………………….... 9
3. The Reflection of Negro Football Players Seen through Troy Maxson’s Conflict with His Son, Cory ……………. 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………………………………………... 45
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………...……. 47 APPENDICES Appendix 1 Summary of August Wilson’s Fences………………….. 50 Appendix 2 August Wilson’s Life…………………………………. 52
ABSTRACT
THKARINA PRISDIANI. Racial Discrimination in the 20 Century United
States of America Seen from Troy Maxson’s Conflicts in August Wilson’s
Fences.Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
In this thesis, the writer discusses one of August Wilson’s plays entitled
Fences (1957). This play addresses the issue of racism towards the Blacks
practiced by the Whites in American society. Fences tells the conflicts of African American man that has to deal with and fights against racism.
There are two objectives of the study. Firstly, the writer focuses on the conflicts that Troy Maxson has to deal with. Secondly, the writer focuses on how
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Troy Maxson’s conflicts reveal the racial discrimination in the 20 century United States of America. In analyzing the play, the writer applies socio-cultural historical approach. This approach helps the writer to get an understanding on social condition of African American people in the United States of America at that time.
The writer employs library research in this study. It means that all data are taken from written sources. This research uses August Wilson’s Fences that found in W. B. Worthen’s The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, Third Edition as the primary source. The secondary sources are taken from some books that contain of history of Blacks or African American and other information about the play. There are also some sources taken from the internet.
The writer finds out three conflicts that Troy Maxson has to deal with. They are conflict between Troy and his employer, Troy and major baseball league, and Troy and his son. By presenting the conflict between Troy and his employer, it can be seen that the blacks usually get lower job than the whites. The discrimination toward the blacks also can be seen from Troy’s condition in major baseball league. The result of Troy’s disappointment to baseball league can be seen through the conflict between Troy and his son. All of Troy’s conflicts as seen in August Wilson’s Fences may reveal the racial discrimination toward the blacks
th in 20 century United States of America.
ABSTRAK
THKARINA PRISDIANI. Racial Discrimination in the 20 Century United
States of America Seen from Troy Maxson’s Conflicts in August Wilson’s
Fences.Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Dalam skripsi ini, penulis membahas salah satu karya August Wilson yang berjudul Fences. Drama ini mengangkat topik permasalahan mengenai rasisme terhadap orang-orang berkulit hitam yang dipraktikkan oleh orang-orang berkulit putih di kalangan masyarakat Amerika. Fences membahas konflik-konflik yang harus dihadapi oleh seorang laki-laki berkulit hitam dan berjuang untuk melawan rasisme.
Ada dua pokok bahasan dalam skripsi ini. Pertama, penulis berfokus pada konflik-konflik yang dialami oleh Troy Maxson. Yang kedua, penulis berfokus pada bagaimana konflik-konflik Troy Maxson mengungkap diskriminasi ras di Amerika Serikat pada abad ke 20. Dalam menganalisis drama ini, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosial, kebudayaan dan sejarah. Pendekatan ini membantu penulis mengetahui kondisi sosial orang-orang berkulit hitam dalam drama ini.
Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka dalam menjawab permasalahan- permasalahan tersebut, yang artinya semua data diambil dari sumber-sumber tertulis. Sebagai sumber utama, penelitian ini menggunakan drama karangan August Wilson yang terdapat di The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, Third
Edition oleh W.B. Worthen. Sumber-sumber sekunder diambil dari beberapa buku
yang berisi sejarah mengenai orang-orang berkulit hitam atau Afrika Amerika serta informasi lain yang terkait dengan drama ini. Terdapat pula beberapa bahan yang diambil dari internet.
Penulis menemukan tiga konflik yang harus dihadapi oleh Troy Maxson. Konflik-konflik tersebut antara lain, konflik antara Troy dan majikannya, Troy dan major baseball league, dan antara Troy dengan anaknya. Dengan menyajikan konflik antara Troy dan majikannya, dapat dilihat bahwa orang-orang kulit hitam biasanya mendapatkan pekerjaan yang lebih rendah dibandingkan orang-orang kulit putih. Diskriminasi terhadap orang-orang kulit hitam juga dapat dilihat dari keadaan Troy di major baseball league. Hasil dari kekecewaan Troy pada
baseball league dapat dilihat melalui konflik antara Troy dan anaknya. Semua
konflik-konflik Troy yang ditampilkan pada drama Fences karangan August Wilson ini bisa mengungkap diskriminasi ras yang terjadi pada abad ke 20 di Amerika Serikat.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study One of the ways for human beings to express their ideas, experiences and
thoughts is through literature. Literary works help to connect the readers to the cultural context, to recognize and to learn more about human dreams and struggle in different situations and conditions. In Theory of Literature, Rene Wellek and Austin Warren state that the work of literature represents life as a reality. They also state that literature seems like “a mirror” of our real life because literary works contain the reality of human situations, problems and relationships (1956: 96). Besides, reading a literary work will bring people to an aesthetic experience and give the readers knowledge or new ideas. Many people have said that literature works give an entertainment toward the readers. Literature also conveys important messages of society. When there is a society, then there will be literary works. Literature and society are a unity. The readers’ knowledge about the history and social condition in the time when literary works are written may be enriched by reading literary works. The readers can learn what story happened in the past, what kind of human behavior and values exist in the society. Literary works can play the role as historical document that records social realities, which are artistically portrayed by the author (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 102).
Drama is one of the works of literature. It gives moral enrichment such as self-consciousness and satisfaction to the readers. It can deepen and also broaden
2 people’s understanding of life. In Courtney’s Teaching Drama, it is stated that “reading a literature piece such as drama does not only give us pleasure but also deepens and broadens our vision and experience of living” (1965: 100).
Meanwhile in Perrine’s Literature: Sound and Sense, the aim of writing literature is to be understood and enjoyed. Life will be less tedious by literature and one will feel that time passes quickly. One can broaden and sharpen his awareness of life and its problem (1978: 3).
Sometimes the result of reading a literary work may provoke readers or audiences to be more aware of the situations around them. There are many works of literature which concern the conflicts of human beings such as the conflict that happened in the United States, that was the issue of slavery. “All men are created equal”, was the sentence stated in the Declaration of Independence which was meaningless for the black people who were slaves. This issue had led America to the civil war, the war between North America and South America. The North wanted to abolish slavery, while the South wanted to maintain it. The civil war ended in 1865 and was won by the North. The slavery was abolished but the practice of racial discrimination continued in different forms in the United States of America.
One of the plays that reflects the black’s experience of racial discrimination in America is Fences which was written by August Wilson. It is the story about an African American man, Troy Maxson, who works as a garbage collector and who iss an ex-baseball player. He struggles for his right to have a proper job as a truck driver and also to make his family live better. Besides to
3 make his family live better, he also wants to help the blacks to have the same opportunities and treatments.
A tragic character helps cover the way for other blacks to have the opportunities under conditions they were never free to experience, but never reap from their own sacrifice and talents themselves (sparknotes.com, 2010).
Troy’s bad experience related to sport affects his son, Cory, because he does not want Cory to have the same experience: always in the backseat while the whites always become the players.
A responsible yet otherwise flawed black garbage collector in pre-Civil Rights America who, in August Wilson's hands, rises to the level of an epic hero. Deemed a generational play, it mirrors the classic struggle of status quo, tradition, and age, versus change, innovation, and youth (greenwood.com, 2010).
Then he builds fences which symbolize his protection over Cory and also all of his family. In Milly S. Barrenger’s Understanding Plays, it is stated that The fence is tangible (“real” wood for the fence is sawed and hammered), but it is also Wilson’s metaphor for the cultural situation of African-Americans in the late fifties (1994: 545).
Fences, which was written in the year of 1957 but later developed from
1983-1987 in United States, is about the life of an African American family. It is set just before the start of the civil rights movement, in 1957 in Pittsburgh, PA.
The play takes place at a time when organized baseball has finally become integrated, but when racial discrimination remains widespread (findarticles.com, 2011). The main issue here is racism and the huge barrier between black and white people and its effect on the Maxson family, especially Troy.
Troy is a Negro League baseball player who turns to a garbage man. He has taken a great pride in keeping his family together and providing a good living
4 for them. The struggle of Troy Maxson againsts the white and struggles from the conflict that happened at that time can be seen in the play. In the review written by Wade Bradford entitled Character and Setting Analysis, it is stated that
The protagonist, Troy Maxson is a restless trash-collector and former baseball athlete. Though deeply flawed, he represents the struggle for justice and fair treatment during the 1950s. Troy also represents human nature’s reluctance to recognize and accept social change (plays.about.com, 2011). In the writer’s perspective, this book conveys the real conditions and situations of a society and portrays the live of African American since the author lives in Fences was set, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fences still deals with Jim Crow Laws practices that was started in 1887, in Florida.
To understand the portrait of the racial discrimination experienced by the black Americans in the twentieth century through literary works, Fences is a good start for research. It is interesting to observe the experience or conflict of the main character in facing the racial discrimination. The play is the representation of the black people at that time who got the racial practices from the white.
B. Problem Formulation
To analyze the topic of this study, the writer has formulated two questions to be examined. They are presented as follows:
1. What conflicts do Troy Maxson deal with in August Wilson’s Fences?
2. How do Troy Maxson’s conflicts reveal the racial discrimination in
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the 20 century in the United States of America?
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C. Objective of the Study
There are two objectives of this thesis. Firstly, the study will observe the main character’s (Troy) conflicts. Secondly, the study tries to explain the racial discrimination in the twentieth century United States of America that can be revealed through the conflicts experienced by Troy Maxson.
D. Definition of Terms
In this study, the writer needs to define two terms in order to avoid misunderstanding on August Wilson’s Fences.
The first term is racial discrimination. Based on Feagin’s Racial and
Ethnic Relations, discrimination is “actions carried out by members of dominant
groups, which have a differential and harmful impact on members of subordinates groups” (1978: 14-15).
The second term is conflict. William Harmon and Hugh Holman in A
Handbook to Literature state that “conflict is the struggle that grows out of the
interplay of two opposing forces” (2009: 107-108).CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies There are some criticisms arise along with the presence of literary work. Agreement, deep examination, judgment and comment are the example forms of
criticism. In this thesis, the writer will analyze August Wilson’s play Fences. This part contains the related studies that deal with August Wilson’s Fences because August Wilson and also his work got many critics’ attention. Several criticisms will be presented in order to enrich the writer’s knowledge in understanding the play.
August Wilson records the experience of African-American people in the
20
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century in a series of plays that will stand as a landmark in the history of black American culture, of American literature. The review about August Wilson that found in courttheatre.org, entitled Study Guide for Court Theatre’s
Production of August Wilson’ s Fences by Ben Calvert states that
In his work, Mr. Wilson depicted the struggles of black Americans with uncommon lyrical richness, theatrical density and emotional heft, in plays that gave vivid voices to people on the frayed margins of life: cabdrivers and maids, garbage men and side men and petty criminals (courttheatre.org, 2010). Still, in the same source, according to Ben Calvert, In bringing to the popular American stage the gritty specific of the lives of his poor, trouble plagued and sometimes powerfully embittered black characters, Mr. Wilson also described universal truths about the struggle for dignity, love, security and happiness in the face of often overwhelming obstacles (courttheatre.org, 2010).
7 According to Milly S. Barrenger in her book entitled Understanding
Plays in Fences, “Wilson uses the well-made play model to examine the
inheritance of patriarchy in the father-son conflict between fifty-year-old Troy Maxson and his teenage son, Cory.” The conflict that happens in this African- American family develops to a crisis that hinges on the disclosure of crucial and traumatic incidents in the father’s past and then in the present (1994: 544).
In August Wilson’s “Fences” Character and Setting Analysis, Wade Bradford states that Fences explores the life and relationships of Troy Maxson, an activist-minded trash-collector and former baseball hero. The protagonist represents the struggle for justice and fair treatment during the 1950s (plays.about.com, 2011). There are many conflicts happened in the Troy’s family, between the member of his family either the people around him.
According to Linda Sullivan Baity in her review, Wilson Play Like
Listening to the Blues in South Coast Repertory: Playgoer’s Guide to Fences,
Troy Maxson has spent his entire life trapped behind fences he cannot scale. He is a man at once proud and humiliated, hopeful and disillusioned passionate and yet powerless to surmount the obstacles of racial prejudice, prison bars, family obligations and self-imposed emotional walls that block his way at every turn (scr.org, 2010). The quotation above shows that the black people have to deal with racial prejudice. Wilson used his character’s conflict to give us the condition of African
Americans in the 1950's in the United States. He focused on their inequality in the society. Throughout the play, the writer can see the effects of racism existed in the time of Troy Maxson which in the historical context mirrored the societies of the United States in the 1950's. Racism produces inequality among society. Some
8 examples of the effects on Wilson's conflict that the inequality has on them such as Troy's frustration with the discrimination he endures when he recounts a conversation he has with his boss concerning the issue.
This middle-aged African-American garbage collector and legendary ex- player in the Negro baseball league is the beating heart of August Wilson’s master work, Fences (scr.org, 2010). As the drama’s compelling central character, Troy Maxson (a character loosely based on the playwright’s own stepfather) also embodies the inequalities and injustices confronting black American throughout the painful course of modern history (scr.org, 2010).
This quotation implies the experience of the black American in 1950’s which portrayed by the conflict felt by the character of Troy Maxson. Troy’s character, who is the main character in this play, reveals the situation and condition that is faced by black people and also the treatment of the whites to the black.
In the thesis written by Christina Lina Yuliati entitled The Effect of
Troy’s Unpleasant Experiences in His Past Present Life in August Wilson’s
Fences , it says thatTroy’s unpleasant experiences in his past and present life are: the broken relation between him and his father, the murder that put him in the penitentiary, his unfulfilled dream to become a professional baseball player, his incapability in buying his own house, his unsuccessfulness in fighting the same position in the society, and his powerlessness as a father toward his elder son (1999: 62).
The quotation above shows about the unpleasant experiences of Troy Maxson in his past life that affects his present life.
9 The thesis entitled August Wilson’s Fences: The African-American
Women’s Pursuit of Dreams Seen From the Perspective of Rose Maxson by
Nandy Intan Kurnia shows about Wilson’s perspective toward the African American women in pursuit their dreams, in this case is Rose Maxson. It states that
However, the situation gradually changes when women have enabled themselves to be independent, like the one done by Rose Maxson. She starts her journey as an independent woman when decided to leave her husband, Troy, as a “womanless man” and beginning to set her new goals, which are to be a religious person and a good mother for her children. She shows that she has the freedom enables her to reach her dreams (staff.uny.ac.id, 2011). These reviews will help the writer in collecting the information about the issues that appears in the play and the conflict inside the play. In answering the questions in problem formulation and analyzing the conflict in Fences and the main topic of this thesis the writer is supported and helped by these reviews to reveal the racial discrimination in Fences.
In this thesis, the writer wants to analyze August Wilson’s Fences which
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focuses on the racial prejudice toward the black people in the 20 century United States of America. This topic will be revealed through the conflicts of the major character which have not been analyzed yet.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theories of Conflict
According to Abrams, “many plots deal with conflict.” There are conflict between individual, conflict of a protagonist against fate, or against circumstances that stand between him and a goal he has set himself, and in some
10 works, the conflict is between opposing desires or values in a character’s in a character’s of own mind (1981: 128).
In Stantons’s Introduction to Fiction, there are two kinds of conflict, internal and external conflict (1965: 16):
1. Internal Conflict This kind of conflict is identified by term Man vs. Himself. It takes place inside the protagonist, meaning that he or she arguing with him or herself. He spends the entire story arguing with himself about what to do before something finally happens that forces him to make decision.
2. External Conflict This conflict is happens when the protagonist has trouble and conflicts against the other characters. The protagonist is opposed by another character. Frequently he fights with a single person or more than one.
In Handbook of Literature, Harmon and Holman state that conflict is “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces. Conflict provides interest, suspense and tension.” They also state that the struggles occur may be the struggles against nature, against another person, against society, and struggle for mastery by two elements (1986: 107).
Conflict has important role in literary work because it always deals with the plot. It appears from central character’s action deals with other forces. Central character has a responsibility to solve the conflicts. Conflicts end when central character succeeds or fails in overcoming the other forces. Sometimes the protagonist gives up when the struggle is too difficult or worthless. As stated in A
Second Book of Plays,
The struggle between two opposing forces, ideas, or beliefs, which its the basis of the plot. In most plays the conflict is resolved when one force – usually the protagonist – succeeds or fails in overcoming the opposing force. Sometimes, the protagonist gives up the struggle as too difficult or not worthwhile. The inner conflict refers to struggle within the heart and
11 mind of protagonist. The term external conflict refers to a struggle between the protagonist and outside force (Redman, 1964: 363).
2. Theory on Racial Discrimination
Racial discrimination is a different treatment based on physical and social condition. The theory found in The New Encyclopedia Britannica states that Racial is the idea that there is a casual link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture and combined with it. The notion that some races are inherently superior to others under the racism, a race is defined socially but based on physical characteristics. Such physical characteristics have no inherent significance, but only such significance as is socially attributed to them in a given society (1983: 360). In International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Joan Ferrante’s Sociology: A
Global Perspective (1992), discrimination is “the unequal treatment, whether
intentional or unintentional, of individuals or groups on the basis of group membership that is unrelated to merit, ability, or past performance” (1995: 232).
There are two types of discrimination. They are legal discrimination and institutional discrimination. Legal discrimination is “unequal treatment that is sustained by law”. Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton’s Black Power in
International Encyclopedia of Ethics, say that:
Institutional discrimination is a subtle form of unequal treatment based on race that is entrenched in social custom (that is, social institutions). Institutional discrimination may include segregated housing patterns, redlining by financial institutions, and the practice of minority group members being forced continually into low-paying jobs. (1995: 232). Then, Roth’s International Encyclopedia of Ethics states that: The most pernicious acts of prejudice and discrimination in the United States have been directed against racial minorities. The history of race relations in the United States demonstrates that differential treatment has been accorded to all minority groups (1995: 232).
12 According to Farley in his book Sociology in International Encyclopedia
of Ethics , he states that “a minority group is any group in a disadvantaged or
subordinate position (in this sense, a minority may actually constitute a numerical majority: for example, blacks in South Africa)” (1995: 232).
In United States of America, there is such a caste-like system towards the Blacks practiced by the Whites and the Blacks treat like the second class citizen.
“African Americans have operated in a caste-like racial structure in the United States that has relegated them to inferior status, relative powerlessness, material deprivation, and socio-psychic resentment” (1995: 233).
Discrimination is used as mechanisms of a racial category for life, “Segregation and discrimination have been used as mechanisms for maintaining the sociopolitical structure (status quo)” (1995: 233). This structure makes the African Americans fell like ‘restricted’ from their life:
Within this structure, African Americans are members of a racial category for life; they are generally consigned to marry within their group; they are often avoided, both as ritual and as custom; and they experience limited opportunities (1995: 233).
It can be said that discrimination continues to be embedded in social, political, and economic fabric of the United States.
According to Ellis Cashmore, racial discrimination is known as racialism. It is “the active behavioral expression of racism and is aimed at denying members of certain groups equal access to scarce and valued resources” (2004: 345). It contains negative beliefs about groups. “It operates on a group basis: it works on the perceived attributes and deficiencies of groups, not individualized characteristics” (2004: 345). Racial discrimination is addressed to a group which
13 different in physical or social condition. “Members of groups are denied opportunities or rewards for reasons unrelated to their capabilities, industry, and general merit: they are judged solely on their membership of an identifiable group, which is erroneously thought to have a racial basis” (2004: 345).
th C.
Century American Society Review on the Racial Discrimination in the 20
The story of African Americans dealing with racism during the 1950's and 60's is not a story unheard by anyone. It is a common story that we hear early in life. It is a real life event that many African Americans have to deal with for many years. This is no way for anyone to live, and African Americans know it is time for them to be treated like human beings. Many of them try to struggle in their condition to oppose the racial discrimination.
Between 1700’s and early 1900’s the United States of America gained control of large parts of Asia and Africa. This colonialists justified domination on the ground that the black, brown, yellow-skinned people had to be civilized by the superior, the white-skinned people. From 1600’s to the mid 1800’s, many whites in the United States of America employed the black as the slaves. As we know, slavery is the major cause of the American Civil War in 1861 until 1865. It was the war between the Southern and Northern part of America. The South supported slavery but the North abolished slavery and the North asked England for support because England had abolished slavery in 1833. Slavery was abolished and freed in 1865, in 1868 the slaves became citizens and in 1870, they were given the right to vote. Although the slaves had been the part of the citizens, the segregation and
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discrimination against the black people continued in the early 20 century. The
14 racial problems which began with slavery and were fostered by the discrimination and segregation continue to south of the United States of America. They passed the anti-African American legislation.
In 1887 in Florida, there was a rule called Jim Crow Laws. It was included the laws for the discrimination to the African Americans with the using of facilities such as the segregation in seating in trains, restaurants, hotels, theaters and public toilets, and concerning to the public schools’ attendance. Then in the 1890s, a fully segregated society happened in the South. The black Americans got a ‘separate but equal’ treatment but the fact they treated with inferior private and public facilities. The White’s points of view toward the Blacks are found in Eric Hass’s book entitled Socialism: World Without Race-Prejudice for Online
Edition. The Blacks got racial treatments from the Whites such as: The Negro is unemployed – therefore he is indolent.
The Negro is forced to arduous, menial jobs – therefore, he hasn’t the capacity to perform operations requiring intelligence and skill. The Negro is compelled to live in black ghettos – therefore he brings down poverty values. The Negro’s life is shortened by malnutrition and extreme poverty – therefore he succumbs more readily to disease and is dangerous to be around. And so on (slp.org, 2011). And there are some examples of unequal treatment of the Whites toward the Negroes in some areas in the South America. In Alabama, for the white female nurses will be not required in rooms in hospital which the Negroes are placed. Then, there must be a separated waiting room and also ticket windows for the white and the colored people in bus station. In the restaurant, it is unlawful for the
15 whites and the blacks to be served in the same room. The use of the toilets has the same law with the other public facilities (sju.edu, 2011).
In Florida, the marriages between a white person and an Afro American, or between a white person and a person of Afro American descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are prohibited. For education, the schools for the whites and also the blacks must be separated. In Georgia, there are colored barbers shall not serve as a barber to white girls. For amateur Negro baseball team, they shall not play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of playground to the white race (sju.edu, 2011).
The prisons for the white convicts shall be separated for sleeping and eating from the Negro convicts in Mississippi. For the militia in North Carolina, organization of Negro troops shall not be permitted where white troops are available. Still in the North Carolina, there shall be a separated place for the colored people who may come to the library to read books that has been maintained by the state librarian (sju.edu, 2011).
A Montgomery, Alabama, ordinance compelled black residents to take seats apart from whites on municipal buses. At the time, the "separate but equal" standard applied, but the actual separation practiced by the Montgomery City Lines was hardly equal. Montgomery bus operators were supposed to separate their coaches into two sections: whites up front and blacks in back. As more whites boarded, the white section was assumed to extend toward the back. On paper, the bus company's policy was that the middle of the bus became the limit if all the seats farther back were occupied. Nevertheless, that was not the everyday reality. During the early 1950s, a white person never had to stand on a Montgomery bus. In addition, it frequently occurred that blacks boarding the bus were forced to stand in the back if all seats were taken there, even if seats were available in the white section (u-s-history.com, 2011).
16 The action above led the member of National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People in Montgomery, Alabama and also a seamstress, Rosa Parks did not want to give up her seat on the city bus to a white man. She challenged Jim Crow Laws and she was arrested. Then it turned to pastor at Montgomery’s Dexter Street Baptist Church, Martin Luther King. Jr. He suggested that Montgomery’s bus system was boycotted until it was integrated.
The black community walked to work and formed carpools. It made the bus company bankrupt and the loss of business in downtown stores. But in November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was illegal.
Then, sports in America also have institutional racism and individual racism as the fundamental component, like what stated in encyclopedia.jrank.org, “The playing fields of America were slowly integrated in the twentieth century, and in the twenty-first century the struggle has shifted to equity in off-the-field opportunities” (encyclopedia.jrank.org, 2011).
During the mid-nineteenth century and after the Civil War, the growth of sport in America began to grow. But this growth was affected by race and racism that started in 1887, based on Jim Crow Laws. Baseball began to spread out to other places in large cities in the United States after the Civil War in 1861-1865.
During this period, race and ethnicity segregated the different clubs and leagues. In 1871, the "colored" members had decided by the National Association of Baseball Players to not include from their clubs. Therefore, African Americans were forced to join, stay, and play in The Negro leagues, an exclusive all black baseball leagues (liu.edu, 2011).