Miseducation of the Negro
...rgeois” by their peers who come from working or lower class families. The contempt that is held amongst blacks is not only based on class and education, but can be found related to color and/or skin tone. Division among light skinned and dark skinned blacks dates back to slavery. On plantations the master used these skin categories to divide the house slaves and the field slaves. Since position inside of the house were easier and more comfortable , the slaves with lighter skin were envied by their darker peers who were given difficult outside jobs in the field. After slavery ended if your skin was light it made it easier for you to mix into white society. Many parents encouraged their light skinned children, especially daughters, to attempt to pass for white. Lighter skin gave you opportunities at better jobs, slightly fairer treatment, and if your were a woman it gave you a better chance of being courted by a respectable man. Lighter skin was a luxury, such a luxury that many families only married into other fair skin families in hopes that their children and future relatives would have the privilege of light skin. In the late 1800s and early 1900s skin tone became directly related to your class level. Since lighter skinned blacks generally landed better jobs, families of lighter complexion generally had higher incomes and were seen as more successful over darker skinned blacks. On black college campuses like Hampton and Howard the lighter skinned students formed elite cliques and organizations. The first black sorority founded in the early 1900s on the campus of Howard University was said to only accept members with fair skin or dark skinned girls who came from prominent families. One of the black fraternities, which was founded at a white institution has also been accused of only offering membership to male students with light skin and “good” hair. Professional and family organizations like Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and Links, Inc. are also said to have members of elite backgrounds and/or fairer skins. Although these groups were founded almost a hundred years ago, the concepts and elitist attitude that they were founded on still exist. Although there are prejudices that occur within the black community, discrimination towards blacks from out side groups is still a problem. Racism is one of the main topics from Woodson’s book that still has relevancy today. Racism has evolved since slavery and whites have found subtle and discrete ways to keep blacks as the inferior groups. Examples of passive racism are turning black families down for home loans, only giving acceptance to top universities and colleges to small numbers of blacks and allowing predominately black grade schools to provide inadequate education to their students. Many blacks are also discriminated when applying for jobs and promotions at large corporations. A black man in particular, may have a tough time when applying for high-level position although he has the credentials and experience needed. Woodson discusses this problem in The Miseducation of the Negro when he talks about there being no type of education or training that can guarantee blacks job opportunities. Although discrimination is apparent in the work place, some blacks are being hired at top levels in technology and business fields. Many companies have diversity departments that are used to recruit minorities. Many large corporations like Nationwide, Lockheed Martin and Johnson & Johnson recruit on HBCU campuses like Hampton and Howard. Pressure on large corporations from organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have caused these companies to attempt to find and hire African Americans for some of their top level positions. Although blacks are being hired in the field of technology, the community is lacking knowledge and resources in this area. The majority of white families have computers in their homes and are connected to the internet, while very few black families see the need to invest in these resources. Black families would rather purchase a big screen television than invest in a home computer. As far as technology is concerned, the majority of the black community is behind its white counterparts. However, there are some of us who have invested in the latest computers and devices. The majority of black college students have computers, scanners, cd writers, fax machines, palm pilots and of course cell phones. Unfortunately these technologically savvy group of blacks will most likely end up in the “sell out” group discussed earlier. It is likely that these college students will become successful business men and women, lawyers, doctors and even supreme court justices like Clarence Thomas. They will have prestigious job titles and it is possible that they will also have elite attitudes that will prevent them from reaching out to the communities in which they were born. Like Clarence Thomas, they will not...