A first time for everything
Who ist the main subject of this article?
>> Black people who have been the first persons with their skin color in their professions
What details, anecdotes and accounts from other people illustrate the subject's personality?
>> The subject's personality, which in this case are the personalities of the black people mentioned in the article presents itself to me like this: These people were really brave, in the first moment I even had to laugh when I read that Eugene King was the first black milk delivery man - because it just sounds so absurd that there has been a time where there have been only white milk-delivery men, and that it has been a big step in the segregation's developement that there has been this first black one then. I think these people had very strong personalities and a lot of faith in the good in the world, a never ending hope that they can change somthing - otherwise they probably wouldn't have dared to apply for these jobs, as it was just unusual for black people to be seen in these professions. They never knew what they would have to deal with: Racism, discrimination, unequal treatment...but in the end they made it and changed our world through this.
What overall impression do you have of the person from the article? What gives you that impression?
>> As presented in the previous question I think of these people as very brave persons with a strong character. It's not only about fearing the discrimination they might have to face coming from coworkers or customers, but also the awareness of being "the first one". As it says in the article they we're highly aware that they were making history by accepting these jobs. And as this might not seem as a problem on the first sight, it could also frighten a person in my opinion: Do I want to be the one, the first one? Am I strong enough to take all the burdens this brings to me? Do I want to take the responsibilty to be the first one representing my race in this field?
I think these people should have had a lot of doubts and thoughts like this in their minds while applying for these jobs, but eitherway they did it - and for this, I take my hat off to them.
Why do you think this article was published in The New York Times?
>> I think even in our times racial segregation still has a big role in society. Even in these times where black people are mostly as integrated as white ones, have the same jobs, live in the same districts (disregarding ghettos with only African-Americans), apartheid is still part of our history that we have to deal with. We have to remember what happened to understand what happens now and to prevent our society from doing the same mistakes again. We already take it for granted that there is no difference made between black and white people, that we share our every day life with people of other races, but we have to be aware that this has not always been the case, that black people fouht a long fight to get where they are today. Furthermore there are unfortunately still people who don't accept people of other races, who discriminate them and in the worst case even use violence against them. Most of the time these people don't even know enough about black people, their culture, their history in this country and just blindly follow someone who drums these racist thoughts into their minds. To counter this, we have to create more awareness, which might be one of the reaons why The New York Times published this article in their series "The Lives They Lived"
If you were to write a more in-depth profile or obituary for the person which details from this article would you include? What additional information would you need to find out? Which people do you think you would interview to get this information?
>> What I think is really interesting about the article are the individual stories behind the persons. One of the last paragraphs of the article talks about Dorothy Allan, an African-American woman from Michigan who has been the first probation officer in her country. It is said that she had a sociology degree and heard of an opnening so that she decided to apply. She and her husband didn't really expect her to land the job, as he acceptance in a job was more about personal preference and your status in society than about skills and qualifications. Only this is already so striking to me, because today, even if you have a lot more opportunities if you have good contacts, you basically can be sure to succeed in your carreer when you have the right qualifications. But for Dorothy Allan this wasn't an insurance for her getting the job, it was probably more luck that made her succeed. Stories like this make the article more lively, they let you get emotionally involved and give you a better sense of what must have been going on in these peoples' minds.
To find out about more stories like this I would try to interview relatives of the deceased, maybe there are still wifes and husbands who can tell about their partners' lifes and how they got to become part of history. Maybe there are children, neighbors or old friends, jsut some people who can talk about the persons' situations, characters and how there life went on.
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