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MacKay Brown
Honors English, p. 4B
Final Compare/Contrast Paper
January 14, 2014
The Strife For Freedom
Black Boy and Warriors Don’t Cry
The girl walked quickly down the hall filled with white students most of which hated her and
those like her. She couldn't get from one class to another without getting books thrown at her or someone
threatening to kill her. In the autobiographies, Warriors Don’t Cry, written by Melba Patillo Beals and
Black Boy, written by Richard Wright the writers share their stories of the trials they faced growing up
and living in the U.S during the 1900s. Melba was born, December 7, 1941. She earned a bachelor's
degree at San Francisco State University. Later she earned her masters degree in journalism from
Columbia University. Richard Wright was born, September 4, 1908 and died, November 28, 1960. He
wrote Black Boy in 1945, however, it wasn't published until 1977. In comparing and contrasting the two
books, readers will be able to see the differences and similarities of setting, lifestyle, and authors' writing
styles.
Black Boy begins in 1912. At this time Richard Wright is 4 years old and is living in Roxie,
Mississippi. Richard and his family are forced to move a lot because of the economy and racism.
"Inability to pay rent forced us to move into a house perched atop high logs in a section of the town where
flood waters came"(Wright 84). Richard moved a lot and was forced to live in old rundown houses
because that is all his family could afford. In 1912 they move to Natchez to live with their grandparents.
In 1913 they move to Memphis. While living in Memphis Richard's mother falls seriously ill and Richard
and his brother are forced to move to Elaine, Arkansas with his grandparents. In 1917 they move to West
Helena, Arkansas. In 1919 Richard moves back to Jackson to stay with his sick mom. In 1925 Richard
moves to Memphis Tennessee to find work. In1933 Richard moves to Chicago, Illinois where he joins
the John Reed Club. He lives in Chicago until he dies in 1960. Some national events during his lifetime
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were the Great Depression, Jim Crow Laws in the South and the organization of the Ku Klux Klan. The
economy was bad since the early 1900s but the depression didn't officially start until 1929. After the U.S
decided to enter World War II, it allowed the unemployed to join the military bringing us out of the
depression. Though the Depression ended in 1939 it was still hard to find and hold a job especially for a
black. There was racial tension across the whole United States, mainly in the South. Although blacks
were free, they were still treated like animals and didn't have many rights. In the South, Jim Crow Laws
prevented blacks from having the same rights as whites. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization of whites
that tried to prevent segregation using violence.
In contrast to Black Boy, Warriors Don't Cry begins in 1941, the year Melba is born. In 1957,
Melba turns 16 and becomes the one of nine to be the first black students to attend public school in Little
Rock, Arkansas. Melba lives in Little Rock until 1962, when she moves to California to attend San
Francisco State University: this is when the book ends. In the book, the only other place Melba goes is on
vacation to Chicago. Like Richard, she wanted to live there to escape the racial prejudice in the South.
Local events during this time were the Little Rock Nine and Brown vs. Board of Education. Melba was
one of the Little Rock Nine. They were nine students chosen to integrate Central High School in Little
Rock. The Governor of Little Rock at that time, Faubu,. refused to let them integrate so the President
Eisenhower sent troops to make sure the nine made it safely into the school. "The daily papers were full
of news about the Brown v. Board of Education case. I couldn't imagine they would ever change their
minds and allow their children to go to school with me, no matter what laws those men on the Supreme
Court made"(Beals 19). Brown vs. the Board of Education was a huge national event during this time, in
which the plaintiff Oliver Brown brought the case to the supreme court saying his daughter had to walk
too far to attend a private, all black school and that she has every right to go to the nearby public school.
After five Supreme Court cases it was decided, May 17, 1954, that all blacks could attend any public
school. Similar to Black Boy, this was during the time of Jim Crow Laws in the South and the Great
Depression. Blacks struggled most of all to find jobs because of the racial tensions across the U.S. Jim
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Crow Laws were made to prevent blacks from having rights such as freedom of speech and freedom to
vote.
Richard Wright did not like his family. His parents and even aunts, uncles and grandparents
joined in on beating him whenever they had the chance. " I was lashed so hard and long hard I lost
consciousness. I was beaten out of my senses and later I found myself in bed screaming, determined to
run away" (Wright 7). Richard often thought of running away because of the way he was beaten. His
grandmother was very religious and would force him to go to church, though he didn't want to. Richard
would turn to reading as to escape to a different world, one where he could think and do what he wanted.
Aside from his family life Richard experienced many other hardships and trials. Richard had troubles
keeping a job, not only because he was black but because he didn't like the way his co-workers and bosses
treated him. Richard would often get fired or quit because he didn't agree with his boss. "While working
as a porter in a clothing store he saw the way the whites treated the other black workers: pushing ,
kicking or slapping them. Richard could never get use to it. One morning the boss and his son nearly hit a
black women in their car, when they got out they beat and kicked her into the store. People looked on but
none did anything. After a while the patrol wagon came and took them away."(Wright 179- 180) At this
point Richard knew he couldn't work for them and soon quit. Richard was very emotional and violent
when he was threatened. While he was a kid Aunt Addie threatened to beat him, so to avoid getting
beaten he fended her off with a kitchen knife. He had very strict values, if himself or blacks around him
were not being treated correctly he would leave or stand up for them. He thought that everyone should be
treated the same no matter their skin color. Richard's attitude towards life was pretty negative. He disliked
his family and all he wanted to do was get away. As he grew up and moved, he realized that his actions
wouldn't change anything. So he then started publishing articles and short stories about racism and he
found that this had a much bigger impact. Some of Richard's biggest successes were publishing Black Boy
as well as many other books about racism. Aside from his writing, he was the leader of the John Reed
Club and part of the Democratic party.
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In contrast to Richard, Melba was really close with her family. Aside from her father who was
divorced and did not live with them, her family loved and supported her. Melba's mother had to work
multiple jobs to support the family so she wasn't around as much. Melba's granny was always there for
Melba when she needed advice or help. One day when Melba gets back from school she begins to cry.
Grandma India comes in and begins to comfort her. "God's warriors don't cry"(Beals 96). Grandma India
told Melba that she needs to be strong and not show fear or weakness. Melba's biggest hardship was going
to High School. Melba and eight others were chosen to integrate Central High. The whites did not want
blacks going to their high schools so they did everything they could to stop them. She was constantly
getting phone calls saying if she went to school they would kill her and her family. At school she was
constantly getting books and other things thrown at her. In class the teachers would often join in the
bullying. Similar to Richard, Melba had special attributes that allowed her to go through this every day
for the entire school year. It was very trying physically and emotionally for them both. Unlike Richard,
Melba was able to withstand fighting back and did not let herself show weakness. Melba was forced to
stay inside all day to stay safe and if she went out she would have to wear a disguise. She did not always
have a good attitude but she knew that she could make a change so she tried to stay as positive as she
could. Some of her successes were that she successfully integrated and completed High School at Central
High. She also went on to college at San Francisco State University then went on to get her masters at
Columbia University.
Both Black Boy and Warriors Don't Cry were written for all to read. They were, however, mainly
written to criticize and expose racism in the U.S and to prevent future racism not only toward blacks but
toward other nationalities or groups. They also wrote to make people aware of racism and that it was
happening and how it was bad. Melba and Richard, however, have very different writing styles. Richard's
diction is more formal and professional. "The days of my past, of my youth, were receding from me like a
rolling tide,. leaving me alone upon high dry ground, leaving me with a quieter and deeper
consciousness"(Wright 382). From this quote and throughout the book we are able to see his extensive
vocabulary and use of similes or metaphors in his writing . Melba's diction, differs from Richard's in that
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her writing is more simple. She uses easy to understand vocabulary and her syntax or sentence structure
is much easier to follow. They both have similar tone or attitude towards the subject of racism. They both
are very biased in their writing to help convey the inequality and racism.
I think that anyone who reads these books would enjoy them. Those who are white, Caucasians, I
think, would feel more sympathetic because of the way their ancestors treated blacks. Those who are
African Americans would be proud of the good black men of the past that fought for equality. I would
not, however, recommend this book to younger children because they may not be able to understand
what is going on or what most of the words mean. Males may be able to connect better with Richard:
females might connect more with Melba. The girl in the introduction is Melba. She had to go through so
much but because she stayed strong and kept with it, she made a major impact for those after her. Though
Richard and Melba lived in different time periods, we can see they experienced many similar things and
though they were tried and had a lot of adversity they were able to get through it make a difference in the
end.