The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

Richard Wright’s The Ethics of Living Jim Crow is a piece of literature that provides an inside look at the true horrors that African Americans had to endure during the years when the Jim Crow system went unchecked. The story provides shocking details and drives home how much courage civil rights leaders and workers showed in the years both during and surrounding the movement. I often wondered as I read this what role I would have taken were I in Wright’s shoes during his childhood and young adulthood. As the story developed, I realized what that path would have been.

Richard Wright recalls some very vivid details from his past. The story opens up on him getting hit by a broken milk bottle during a cinder fight. Rather than showing sympathy, his mother scolds him and beats him. She wants him to take the submissive route and succumb to the Jim Crow laws.
This made Richard angry, but later he realized that his mother only wanted him to be safe once he left the house. Years later, his mother’s advice proved itself to be wise. He was l stopped by police and white citizens alike and harassed. They tried to make him submit and keep Jim Crow alive. Sometimes they even held him at gunpoint. “They climbed out of the car, guns drawn, faces set, and advanced slowly.” Wright’s details capture the essence and the terror felt by all African Americans during the Jim Crow years.

Reading this story really made me think about what I would have done if I had been an African American growing up during this time period. Immediately I though that I would have kept my head down, been submissive, and avoided danger and conflict as much as possible. However, as I read more, I realized that this would only add fuel to the Jim Crow fire.

The whole goal of the oppressive southern society was to make the African Americans feel like they were inferior to the white people. The white people bullied them and harassed them. The African Americans were discriminated against in the workplace and often couldn’t find jobs. At night, the KKK terrorized them, harassing them and even lynching them sometimes.

I think that if I were alive during this time, I would have joined the Civil Rights Movement. I would have placed articles in newspapers and tried to speak up for my own rights. I realize that this would be the most dangerous path, but it is also the one that made the most difference and eventually caused the Jim Crow society to collapse. I admire the bravery of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. They helped promote non-violent resistance and helped eventually make the difference they wanted to. I would want to be like them.