BackgroundDuring the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans suffered from unemployment. Government programs, such as the unemployment insurance available today, did not yet exist to help people get through the tough times. Although many Americans suffered, African Americans were particularly hard hit. In an age of racial segregation and prejudice, black people generally had fewer job opportunities and experienced higher unemployment rates.
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"Respect for Education
Eugenia Collier grew up in the segregated part of Baltimore, Maryland, the city where she still lives today. From her parents, a doctor and a teacher, Collier learned the value of education at a young age. This led her to graduate with high honors from Howard University. She then received a master of arts from Columbia University. Award-Winning Teacher and Writer After working for five years as a caseworker for the Baltimore Department of Public Welfare, Collier became a college professor and started her writing career. She credits her African-American heritage as her inspiration. “The fact of my blackness is the core and center of my creativity.” “Marigolds,” one of her first stories, won the Gwendolyn Brooks Award for fiction in 1969. Since then, her stories, poems, and essays have appeared in many anthologies and magazines. She was selected as an outstanding educator from 1972–75 and won a Distinguished Writers Award in 1984." ~Unit 4: theme and symbol |
Key Vocabulary
nostalgia- ( n.) bittersweet longing for things from the past
futile- (adj.) having no useful result poignantly- (adv.) in a profoundly moving manner ostensibly- (adv.) seemingly; to all outward appearances retribution- (n.) something given in repayment, usually as a punishment stoicism- (n.) indifference to pleasure or pain; a lack of visible emotion perverse- (adj.) stubbornly contrary; wrong; harmful bravado- (n.) a false show of courage or defiance impotent- (adj.) powerless; lacking strength or vigor exuberance- (n.) condition of unrestrained joy degradation- (n.) condition of being brought to a lower level; humiliation squalor- (n.) a filthy, shabby, and wretched condition, as from poverty |