Gregory Howard Williams Life on the Color Line Essay -- Williams Life

Gregory Howard Williams Life on the warp Line Life on the people of color Line is a powerful tale of a immature mans effort to reach adulthood, written by Gregory Howard Williams - one that emphasizes, by daily grapples with face-to-face turmoil, the absurdity of race as a kind invention. Williams describes in meat wrenching detail the privations he and his brother endured when they were forced to remove themselves from a life of White privilege in Virginia to one where survival in Muncie, Indiana meant learning quickly the cold hard facts of organism disastrous in skin that appeared to be White. This powerful memoir is a will to the potential love and determination that can be exhibited despite being on the cusp of a nations racial conflicts and confusions, one that lifts a young person above crushing social limitations and turns oppression into opportunity. Williams is defiantly a man of two worlds. In one world he had portend and comfort, in the other he lived in deprivat ion and repression where one had to contribute in inn to just survive. Williamss recollection of his ?life on the people of colour line? is a unique testimonial of the life of an individual who has walked in both the shoes of a White man and then those of a Black man. His story provides examples of real life experiences and events that can further the look for of social psychologists by offering insight into the understanding of many social psychological theories and concepts, such as modern racial discrimination, in-group favoritism and confirmation virgule just to name a few.From beginning to end the reader is bombarded with completely kinds of racism and discrimination described in horrific detail by the author. His move from Virginia to Indiana opened a door to endless threats of force play and ridicule directed towards him because of his racial background. For example, Williams encountered a grad of racism cognise as modern racism as a student at Garfield Elementary S chool. He was up to win an academic achievement prize, heretofore had no way of actually winning the award because ?The prize did not go to Negroes. Just like in Louisville, there were things and places for whites only? (Williams, 126). This form of prejudice is known as modern racism because the prejudice surfaces in a subtle, safe and socially acceptable way that is easy to rationalize. another(prenominal) form of racism experienced by the author is blatant racism whi... ...Williams had been White.Ingroup favoritism is the tendency to discriminate in support of an encampment over members of the outgroup. The author experienced ingroup favoritism when the coach of his hoops team decided to drop Williams from the varsity team in order to replace him with a white, B-team player who was not as well substantial a basketball player as Williams. Many of the stereotypes we encounter and bag today were formed because of events in the old, which were formed to rationalize and justify past social and political agendas. Many of the stereotypes that we now hold today were acquire long ago and have been passed from one generation to the next. This book has constantly inspired me to believe in the value of each child and reject racist attitudes wherever I encounter them. Gregory Howard Williams encountered many hurdles maturation up and successfully defeated them all. He could have easily corroborate the expectations of his negative peers and developed into a self-fulfilling prophecy, but instead he chose to dislike his stereotypes and triumph over incredible odds. Works CitedWilliams, Gregory Howard. Life on the Color Line. New York Plume Book, 1995.