Group 1

Group 1: Meaghan Pickles, Giulia Russell, Negusu Hizkias, Gage Battles

In Stranger in the Village, the writer blatantly points out how blacks and whites see the world differently, while also accentuating the fact that we are all humans. Blacks have always been forced into the “inferior” mindset. Whereas, whites have always felt and viewed themselves as “better” because this is what was taught to them by their surroundings. Throughout this article it becomes apparent that racial issues have been embedded in our past and in our future. The mentality of the confines of race live as much in the past, as they do in the present, and as they will live in the minds of both whites and blacks in the future. People’s emotions towards others cannot be erased because it becomes something that innate within a person. This article states this by saying, “Joyce is right about history being a nightmare— but it may be a nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them” (163-164). No one can awaken from this “nightmare” because of how much society engrains certain ways of thinking. People will never be able to move forward if black people always see themselves as inferior and white people see themselves as the “superior” race. If humanity continues to stay trapped in the societal constructs of the past,  then history will continuously repeat itself into our future.

In Inside the Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides: Testimony of a Southern Student, Diane Nash illustrates the ways in which these nonviolent protests drew attention toward an intrinsic Southern segregation in which “the very fact that he [an African American] is forced to be separated obviously implies his inferiority”. Nash indicates her goals in the peaceful movement, in which black Americans quite literally “sit-in” at restaurants or ride whites-only buses, were to “bring about a climate in which all men are respected as men, in which there is appreciation of the dignity of man and in which each individual is free to grow and produce to his fullest capacity”. These demonstrations and protests bonded black Americans together in an overarching community while showing Southern whites their implicit dedication, strength, and civility.