Richard Wright (1908-1960) "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" (1937)

"Weel about and turn about      And do jis so,  Eb'ry time I weel about    And jump Jim Crow" See the Jim Crow Museum Web Site

• To what does "Jim Crow" refer? 

• Who are the Naturalists? 

• How do cropped lawns become a "symbol of fear"?
• Explain:  "She finished by telling me that I ought to be thankful to God as long as I lived that they didn't kill me" (319).
• How does Richard alienate the White men at the optical factory, Pease and Morrie?

Why do Blacks in the South dread being caught alone upon the streets in white neighborhoods after sunset?

In the hotel, why do the white prostitutes not care about being naked in front of the black bellboys?

• Explain the "joke" about the white cow.  What has really happened?
• What happens to the black bellboy who patronizes a white prostitute? Why is he "lucky"?

• Explain the final quote.  Is this a predominant view among southern Blacks at this time?

• How does the discussion in "Ethics" compare to that found in Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?

• What are cinders?
• Why does Richard's mother hit him after he tells her the story of the broken bottle?

• Exactly why, according to his mom, should he not fight with White folks?

• How do Morrie and Pease convince him to quit?
• What is "the worst insult that a Negro can utter to a southern white man" (320)?

• Why do the folks at home call Richard a fool after this incident?
• Why do Richard's next boss and his son beat an old Black woman?
• Why do Richard's friends call her a "lucky bitch"?  What does this choice of words suggest?
• Why do white boys offer Richard a ride?

• Why do they hit him with a bottle?
• Why do they call him a "lucky bastard"? Is this choice of words comparable to the "lucky bitch" expression used before?

• What is bastardy?
• What previous writer mentions a situation such as the one involving the bell-boy who patronizes the prostitute?  Explain.
• Why do the maids, hall-boys, and bellboys "have to be" "all smiles" (323)?

• What is the difference between a "brutally cruel" and a "subtly cruel"education?
• How does Richard secure books to read?
• Explain the hat/elevator/packages scenario.