Reginald Hammond

Tuesday and Thursday SWC

08/05/09
Racism in the North: How Much Better are the Conditions Compared to those in the South

Racial discrimination was very prevalent in America from 1949 to 1955. The Jim Crow

laws and the Board of Education limited the rights, the freedom and overall quality of life for

African Americans in the America. The general consensus during that time was that the living

conditions in the South were worse than those in the North. Contrary to that belief, African

Americans in the North had to live with many of the same inequalities that were dealt with in the

South. African Americans in the North were discriminated against great housing neighborhoods

and in employment opportunities which limited their potential for success no matter where they

lived in the America.

African Americans assumed that the North was the land of possibility, but DeCarava’s

photograph and a man in The Best of Simple says otherwise. In the Sweetfly Paper of Life

photograph, DeCarava highlights the struggle of an African American, in the North. The girl in

the photograph has made it to the north, yet she is caught walking alone looking at a automobile

poster. The photographer may have purposely done this to demonstrate how the conditions in the

North are not as good as they were perceived to be. If the possibilities were as good as they were

assumed, the woman would be riding in a car as opposed to walking alone looking at a car

poster. Normally when people are going to an important event they would ride in a car. She must

not be able to afford the transportation to get where she needs to be. There is a woman in the

picture is also dressed nicely in a white dress. But she seems as if she is walking without a

purpose. It is nice that she has a nice dress, but it is almost pointless if she has to risk getting it

dirty when she wears it. The girl is also seems really cautious. She is holding her dress up while
checking her surroundings as if she is not comfortable where she is. The woman in the picture

seems out of place. She is dressed nicely in a terrible neighborhood. She has a dress on as if she

is going somewhere important. She is also walking alone. There is also a huge contrast of the

lighting in the picture. The girl is currently standing on the lighter side of the picture walking

into darkness. The photographer does this to demonstrate how even though there are some

positive aspects for African Americans in the north, there are still many flaws. African

Americans are making progress in moving to the north, but they still are far from reaching

equality. DeCarava proposes the idea of how much possibility is in the North with this

photograph. This same idea is proposed in The Best of Simple. This same idea is mentioned in

The Best of Simple when a man gives F.D. a ticket to the North. When the man offered his ticket

he told F.D., “I do not want it. Use it, sell it, tear it up, or give it away. I don’t care” (Hughes

136). The man not only wanted to give the ticket away to someone else, but he just does not care

for it all together. He recommends that he tears it up as an alternative which really shows a lack

of interest. Later he responds, “I been up North. They comes and they goes” (Hughes 136). The

man downplays the quality of the north as if it is not anything special. He reluctantly gives it up

as though he has seen all he needs to see. According to the New York Times the conditions are

not much better.

It was hard for African Americans to find employment in the South as well as in the

North. Working conditions in the South were not fair for African Americans. “White collar

employment for Negroes in the South is almost non-existent” (Negro Job Status Improving). Part

of the reason is because “employer and union practices discourage ambitious and capable

Negroes who want to move forward in their jobs” (Negro Job Status Improving). So in the South,

“the vast majority of [African Americans were] restricted to poorly paying, unskilled jobs”

(Negro Job Status Improving). In the North, African Americans were given the opportunities to
pursue things, but their opportunities were not equal to those of the whites. There was still

segregation in many schools and jobs. “The worst aspect of segregation in education is

increasing in the North rather than in the South” (F. H. A. to Support Minortiy Housing). The

students in the white schools must have been taught better than those in the African American

schools for the citizens to stress segregation. The lesser quality of education channeled the

success of an African American person in the workplace and hindered them from making a lot of

money. Blacks barely ever obtained jobs that we would consider successful today. In 1949, “only

3 per cent of the … graduating classes in approved medical school were Negros” (Negro Seen

Denied Even Skimpy Care). As a result, “income differential many sections of the North was

relatively less than the South” (Negro Job Status Improving). There is an obvious disadvantage

for African Americans to get nice jobs. “The Negro worker generally has to get along on much

less money income than his white neighbor in both the North and the South” (Negro Job Status

Improving). Blacks had to settle for the bad job opportunities, which set a bad foundation for

human growth and survival compared to the whites.

The lack of job opportunities limited how much they could afford and it affected them

sometimes to the extent that they could not afford what they needed. In the North, African

Americans were allowed access to things that they still could not obtain. “A research

organization that made a study of Negro health looking toward a program of national health

insurance reported … that low economic status would prevent “even inadequate care in view of

the high cost of privately financed medical services” (Negro Seen Denied Even Skimpy Care

Care). So it is fortunate that African Americans are able to have access to medical services, but at

the same time it is not too helpful because they cannot afford it. “The Negro is poorer, less well

fed and housed, more crowed and ignorant than the general housing population” (Negro Seen

Denied Even Skimpy Care Care). Due to the lack of education and poor foundation, the quality
of life for blacks was worse than whites. Blacks had to deal with discrimination along with the

restrictions that were put on them during their childhood. “There is only one hospital bed for

each 2000 Negroes against 2.3 beds for each 1,000 white persons” (Negro Seen Denied Even

Skimpy Care). It is not fair for blacks not to get the health care services needed because of the

environment they were forced into. “The poor, uneducated Negro had not been helped by clinical

care in proportion to need” (Negro Seen Denied Even Skimpy Care). In the picture from The

Sweetfly Paper of Life, this same idea is illustrated. This same idea is mentioned at the beginning

of Income Tax. Simple starts of complaining about his expenses and how he could not afford all

of his taxes. Even when he tried to get support “[notoriety republicans] charged him so much that

[Simple] got discouraged” (Hughes, Income Tax 65). African Americans had a disadvantage due

to the low income that they received.

Housing was not as accessible in the North as it was in the South. Blacks were limited to

what they could buy because they did not receive high income. Along with the disadvantages that

were placed on blacks by the North community, African Americans also were discriminated

against for housing. It is assumed that segregation was worse in the South. However, “many

northern cities enforce housing segregation more rigorously than the South does” (Housing Race

Bias Evident In North). It is harder to find housing in the North than it is in the South. “The

waiting list for admittance to Negro public housing projects is much longer than that of whites”

(Bomb Shattered Racial Harmony). Even in the rare cases when blacks were fortunate to live in a

nicer neighborhood they were still discriminated against. “An explosion on June 27 shattered the

wall of a house belonging to Andrew E. Wade 4th. His was the only Negro family in the block”

(Bomb Shattered Racial Harmony). Just as the Jim Crow laws make blacks uncomfortable in the

South, the laws along with discrimination limited how content blacks were in the North. “White

neighborhoods have made no secret of their anger at what they considered an “invasion” of their
all-white neighborhood” (Bomb Shattered Racial Harmony). African Americans simply were not

welcomed by white people.

In the Sweetfly Paper of Life photograph, Decarava questions how much better the

conditions really are in the North compared to in the South. As proven by the New York Times,

the conditions are not much better. Contrary to popular belief, many of the conditions were the

nearly the same and it was not comfortable living as an African American anywhere between

1949 and 1955.

Works Cited

DeCarava, Roy, and Langston Hughes. The Sweet Flypaper of Life. 1955.
Illison, Murray. “Negro Job Status Improving” New York Times (1851-2006) June 27, 1954. Page
31
“F. H. A. to Support Minority Housing; Pledges Aid to Builders in Future -- School Bias in North
Found Rising” New York Times (1857-2006). May 22, 1954. p. 18
“Housing Race Bias Evident In North; Segregation More Strict in Many Large Cities Than in
South, Survey Finds Why the Situation Exists Danger in Detroit Pointed Out Housing Authority
Commended” New York Times (1857-2006). Apr 15, 1951. p. 60

“ Negro Seen Denied Even Skimpy Care; Private Medical Treatment Held Too Costly, National
Health Plan Favored” New York Times (1857-2006). Jun 28, 1949. p. 29

“Bomb Shattered Racial Harmony; Louisville Stirred by Fight Over Negro in White Area -- Red
Plot Charged” New York Times (1857-2006). Oct 10, 1954. p. 56

“Income Tax”. Hughes, Langston. The Best of Simple. New York: Hill and Wang, 1990. 64-69.