RACE RELATIONS
Race Relations Race relations in the South during the early 1900’s varied from person to person, but Lanterns on the Levee, A Childhood, and Black Boy provide three typical patterns of race relations during this period. ... William Alexander Percy begins his chapter on race relations by saying, “A superabundance of sympathy has always been expended on the Negro…(298). ... The notion that blacks need both the sympathy and the parental supervision stems from the fact that most whites felt that they were inherently superior to black race. ... The very fact that Percy feels he can decide what to do with the “Negroes” during the flood shows his dominant feelings over the black race. Percy goes on to imply that living as a black person isn’t really worth living, calling Ford, “the tragedy of himself and of his race (297). ... As a child, Crews’ had no idea how race relations stood in the South. ... In Lanterns on the Levee and A Childhood, the reader is only able to see the perspective of the white race. ... Race relations in Richard Wright’s world are a constant struggle for the black race to survive. Throughout the entire novel, Richard pays close attention to race. ... Percy develops a sense of supremacy and feels that he must have sympathy for the black race, but he must also control them like children. ... He is succumbed to the stinging injustices he must endure as a member of the black race in a white world. All three of these men are exemplary of the status of race relations in the early 19th century.