“Brown Girl Dreaming” is a stirring narrative written by Jacqueline Woodson, talking about how a girl, Jacqueline, navigated the struggles of the Black Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws, and other racial equity actions. This narrative presents Jacqueline’s childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Civil Rights Movement touched her lives more and more. This narrative engages readers in Jacqueline’s first-hand experience growing up as an African American girl in both South and North of the United States. Specifically, Jacqueline was born in Columbus, Ohio. She was third in a family of Woodsons, not far from where her great grandparents had lived. However, her father, Jack, and her Mama, Mary Ann, had a fight very often and each went their own ways. Mama then took all of the children, including Jacqueline, to her grandparents in South Carolina. They liked to interact with their grandfather, Gunnar, seeing him as “Daddy”. Gunnar worked at a printing press, and nobody really respected him at the press because of his skin color. Jacqueline depicts the warm and strong family bond as well as the harshness of segregation, leading readers to understand the history from a child’s perspective. Afterward, Her family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Jacqueline navigated new challenges. Finally, she has tapped into her potential as a writer and decides to be one. Let’s discuss this book in detail in terms of three issues, including Segregation, Desegregation, and South and North Belonging.
Segregation is a deeply entrenched reality for African Americans because of their colored skin and it creates the cycle of inequality, injustice and harm that affects every aspect of their lives. Segregation robs the fundamental rights and opportunities of African Americans just because of their skin color, making an unjust society that fails to recognize the dignity and worth of every colored person. There are many instances of unfair practice of segregation due to racism, such as when Jacqueline’s mother still sits at the back of the bus, even when the Jim Crow Laws were no longer implemented. She wanted to avoid violence because many people still had racism toward African Americans. Also, Jacqueline's grandma must go back to work as housekeeper for white families, the only job available to her as a black woman, which is hard work that is not underpaid. In South Carolina, young Jacqueline encounters racial separation firsthand, seeing “white only” signs and experiencing the limitations imposed on African Americans. Jacqueline vividly describes from separate drinking fountains, schools, restrooms, restaurants, black people sitting in the back of the bus, to even services. This enforced separation is not just a backdrop. It is indeed a force shaping the identity and opportunity of African Americans. Segregation is an unfair act to African American people, as it is not fair for some groups of people to be better received than others, for no apparent reason. Segregation can also lower a person's self esteem, especially if the person is the racism’s targeted race. Racial prejudice constantly seeps into Jacqueline’s life and the lives of the people she loves. It determines the space she and her family can occupy in stores and restaurants. It decides what streets she lives on and what parts of town she is not welcome in. It affects aspects of Jacqueline’s self-image. Even after the success of the Civil Rights Movement and the fall of legalized segregation, racism still persists. Segregation is an unfair practice of discrimination and prejudice against African Americans profoundly because certain groups are welcomed more than others, unfairly and without any discernible reason.
The social movement toward desegregation is the slow march toward change, merging as hope for African Americans to emphasize the need in recognizing the historical and on-going struggles African Americans have encountered in pursuing justice and equality. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.and Malcolm X spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement not only awakening African Americans’ awareness of racial identity and civil rights but also motivating them to fight for their identity and rights, helping African Americans redefine themselves and their position in society. Some individuals will not risk their own life in order for the equality of Black people, like Jacqueline’s Mom, but others, are willing to risk their life. An example of people who aren’t willing to risk their lives is Gunnar and Georgiana’s neighbor, Ms. Bell, hosts secret meetings in her house and wants to do more for the cause, but fears losing her job. The fall of Jim Crow Laws also made Blacks allowed in places that only whites were allowed in. Desegregation acts as a legal and political promise aiming at knocking down the institutional barriers of racism for African Americans. The Civil Rights Movements, with its landmark victories like Brown v. Board of Education, seek to end the era of “separate but equal”. Jacqueline witnesses the historical milestone and holds an optimistic attitude toward desegregation. For African Americans like Jacqueline, desegregation symbolizes hope for fair opportunity and justice, trying to integrate into predominantly white society. Integrated schools and more diverse neighborhoods explain progress and new opportunities. Jacqueline found out that she can finally interact with other children that were not her race, such as whites, and people of other countries. Yet in reality the challenges of desegregation still exist. Jacqueline depicts the ambivalence and resistance that come with desegregation. She describes the subtle and overt forms of racism that persist in desegregated spaces. In her book, Jacqueline skillfully captures the balance between hop for change and the reality of deep-rooted systemic issues. Desegregation is more a work-in-progress than a completed achievement, remaining a pivotal chapter in America’s ongoing journey toward civil rights.
Segregation and Racism can leave people in a complex relationship between their southern heritage and northern freedom. Some people due to their heritage, may belong, or have a sense of belonging in the south, but are in the north due to economical reasons. This makes people torn between the South and North, not knowing where they belong. Jacqueline feels that she doesn’t belong in New York, she longs to go to South Carolina, because she feels at home there. During Jacqueline’s first few years in Brooklyn, the city feels gray, cold, and lifeless to her. She misses the red dirt under her feet, which has been replaced by pavement and broken glass. However, racism in the south is prevalent, and the north is a bit more hospitable for Blacks to survive. For Jacqueline, the South comes to connote a sense of belonging, comfort, and love. She likes having all her family members there. The North, as Jacqueline describes it, lacks the sense of warmth and home that Jacqueline finds in the South. She doesn’t like being in the city, where everything is different. Jacqueline longs for the dirt to be under her feet. However, Jacqueline and her family have more possibility for upward social mobility in Brooklyn than in South Carolina, as they suffer less from overt racism and its corresponding economic effects. Racism can leave people torn between the north and south.
Brown Girl Dreaming examines and closes in on the impact of Black Power Movements, and how it affected the black people at the time. Through three themes, we can see that racism is an unfair act, how people are combating segregation, and how racism can leave people torn between the north and the south. Racism was deeply rooted in the United States, and also segregation made it impossible to have Whites and Blacks have the same treatment. It impacted Jacqueline’s life in a negative way, as they weren’t allowed onto certain trains and cars, while others had to sit at the back. Although leaders are willing to combat it, not everyone was extreme as the leader. While the leaders showed their faces, oftentimes people held secret meetings, because they were not going to risk being caught. Racism can also make people in a dilemma because they feel at home in the south, but need to go to the north for other reasons.
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