caleb moss august 6, 2009 draft #1 extraordinary-people in the

8/14/2019 Caleb Moss August 6, 2009 Draft #1 Extraordinary-People in The

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Caleb Moss

August 6, 2009

Draft #1

Extraordinary-People

In The Sweet Flypaper of Life by Langston Hughes and Roy DeCarava

there is a collection of photographs that illustrate not only the aftermath of

the Great Depression and World War II but it shows how African Americans

broke the stereotype of mainstream America- having a servile profession or

a job at all. African Americans rapidly moved into Harlem, New York- in

search of equal employment opportunities (rather than the southern states

because of the Jim Crow Laws), and equality. The text surrounding the

photographs show that the narrator feels there are not only fine people in

her family but in her race as well (African-American). Following this

statement are photographs with all types of different people: music- making

people, picture-painting people, theater-acting people, and subway making

people, there was one group of people that werent mentioned

Extraordinary people. With those photographs and the supporting text

Hughes and DeCarava changed how African-Americans were viewed.

Hughes and DeCarava are successful by showing the opposing view-

where African Americans were finding good jobs during this time. African

Americans seemed to take heed to the artist/ people of the Harlem

Renaissance. Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial

pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through


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intellect and production of literature, art, and music could challenge the

pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics,

and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would

serve to "uplift" the race (New Negro Movement). The stereotypical Negro

was now dead and the New Negro was the phoenix that rose from the ashes.

In classical movies African Americans were portrayed just as the media and

Whites viewed them. Driving Miss Daisy (1989), an old White woman living in

Atlanta, Georgia, in 1948, had a Black housemaid as well as a Black

chauffeur. In film, black people are also shown in a stereotypical manner

that promotes notions of moral inferiority. In terms of female movie

characters shown by race (Stereotypes). TV networks countered that trend

by airing the prefifties movies with their full complements of female

Blacks (The Fifties). Hughes and DeCarava made it evident that African

Americans were making progress in the work field, despite the poor economy

the United States was in at the time.

Hughes and DeCarava showed how significant it was to have a job at

this time (1949- 1955) especially as an African American. According to an

article in Time Magazine, New York Negroes are hard put to find jobs in

stores where they are welcome buyers (Time). In this article: RACES:

Equality by Law, the author leans more towards the hardship of finding a

job as an African American in New York. The market crash marked the

beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits,

deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic


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growth and personal advancement (Great Depression). Structural walls

were lowered dramatically during the war, especially informal policies

against hiring women, minorities, and workers over 45 or under 18 (U.S.

Economy). After the Great Depression the United States got to the point

when there was no other choice but to hire African-Americans in any

position that was needed- so the servile era was over. During this time,

Harlem was slowly becoming the Mecca for Negroes; the percentage of

Harlem that was black peaked in 1950, at 98.2% (Poverty and Politics in

Harlem). With so many African Americans in Harlem and with not many

job opportunities they began making jobs for themselves.

The huge increase in migration was fueled by their desire to leave

behind the Jim Crow South, seek better jobs and education for their

children, and escape a culture of lynching violence. During World War I,

expanding industries recruited black laborers to fill new jobs, thinly

staffed after the draft began to take young men (The Making of Harlem).

Migration from the south, was to get an equal opportunity for jobs,

education, and overall living. Independence and initiative was a big part

of African American success at this time, whether it meant riding the bus

or walking to work. If you had a job during this time, hard work was more

than necessary- fighting through the tough racism, crime, as well as

poverty.


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The collection of photos that Hughes and DeCarava combined on pg.

17 successfully illustrates the creative jobs that African Americans made

for themselves. All of types of people were successful during this,

Intellectuals and creative types (writers and artists), entertainers, social activists, religious figures,

business people, ordinary folk and even gangsters. For example, many religious figures, political

activists, business and professional people became high profile Harlemites. Popular entertainers

(musicians, dancers, etc.) also had important roles in making Harlem a hotbed of culture and

entertainment (kurahulanda.com).

What Hughes and DeCarava did was make another group of people while describing the ones in

collection- the extraordinary people. The extraordinary people were those who fought through the

rough, those who travelled through the Jim Crow states in order to have a beneficial future for

themselves and their families. Those who took the initiative to destroy the barriers for African

Americans during this time (1949-1955). Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, to James

Weldon Johnson, Romare Bearden, to Dizzy Gillepsie. These individuals class African Americans to

become prosperous; and allowing Whites to discover the charms of Black intellectual and social life

(kurahulanda.com). African Americans had overcome the stereotypical servile role in society, now

Negroes were taking initiative in their communities using their skill and talents.

Work Cited

DeCarava, Roy, and Langston Hughes. The Sweet Flypaper ofLife. 1955.

Robert M. Entman; Andrew Rojecki (2000). The Black Image inthe White Mind. The University of Chicago Press.

Great Depression in the United States.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States#cite_note-22


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"The Making of Harlem," James Weldon Johnson, The SurveyGraphic, March 1925

Douglas T. Miller, Marion Nowak. The Fifties. May 1977. KnopfDoubleday Publishing Group

New NegroMovement.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Negro_Movement

Alphonso Pinkney & Roger Woock. Poverty and Politics in Harlem,College & University Press Services, Inc., 1970, p.27

Race: Equality by Law. Time Magazine. Monday, Feb. 05, 1940.

Stereotypes of AfricanAmericans.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_African_A

mericans

Temporary: HarlemRenaissance.http://www.kurahulanda.com/temporary-harlem-renaissance.

Harold G. Vester. The U.S. Economy in World War III (1988)

caleb moss august 6, 2009 draft #1 extraordinary-people in the

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