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The short story “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes is about a young African American girl, Nancy Lee, who recently moved to the north with her parents so they may provide her with a better life and schooling. Extremely talented in watercolor painting, she aspired to make that her major in college. Because of racial discrimination, she was denied the scholarship that would have been her ticket to a brighter future. Sadly, there are some people in the world that are blinded by race and forget how America was supposed to be a place with equal rights and justice for all.
Langston Hughes brings in themes like racism, equal rights between human beings, racial and national pride, and of course the American dream. His biggest aim is to show the world how colored people are treated and that present day America doesn’t fulfill the American dream of all men being equal. Nancy Lee may be a colored girl, but at times she forgets she has a different skin color than the rest of her classmates.
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Her peers overlook her race as well, they see her as nothing but a young and talented individual.
Nancy Lee painted an award winning piece of art worthy of a scholarship to an art institute. The painting was of her grandmother sitting on a park bench looking at the American flag on a bright sunny day. This represents a dream that Nancy Lee wanted to express; that all people are equal and deserve to be treated as such.
Unfortunately, the art institute didn’t realize that Nancy Lee was a colored girl at the time they chose her painting. When it was made known, they decided to give the scholarship to a white student. They felt if Nancy Lee were to attend the Institute, it would cause controversy amongst others. On the day Nancy Lee was to receive the award, she was told by her principal Miss O’Shay that she would not be able to accept this essential scholarship solely because of the color of her skin.
Miss O’Shay regrettably informed Nancy Lee that “When the committee learned that you were colored, they changed their plans” (Hughes 5). Miss O’Shay did her best to encourage Nancy Lee not to give up and to fight for her dreams. In the story they compare Miss O’Shay with abolitionists and the first white teachers who went to the Deep South to teach the freed slaves. Nancy Lee looked up at her principal and noticed the bright spring day through the open window that resembled her painting. This is a metaphor for the close proximity of the utopia depicted in her art that would have no discrimination and in which all people would be treated equally. (expand on this idea!)
At the weekly assembly, Nancy Lee took her seat along with three thousand other students. She turned her head and said the pledge to the flag, a symbolism of freedom and equal rights with “...liberty and justice for all”. She then decided that even though she’s not receiving the scholarship that was rightfully hers, she’s determined to “fight to see that these things don’t happen to other girls as this has happened to me. And men and women like Miss O’Shay will help me” (Hughes 6). This shows that Nancy Lee isn’t willing to accept that the scholarship was withdrawn simply because of her race, and that with help from people like Miss O’Shay, she is going to start a revolution to make sure that this won’t happen in the future to people like her. Discrimination is all around us; everyone is discriminated against at one point in his or her life.
Langston Hughes, an African-American writer, wrote the short story “One Friday Morning” to describe the experience of one particular girl who was discriminated in her school because she was colored. Life brings many disappointments, all of which make a person stronger. Unfortunately, there will always be discrimination, as it is a part of life. This story is a great example of seeing someone being discriminated against while putting the reader in the main character’s shoes to feel what it feels like to be them. Discrimination occurs for many reasons. A good reason is we become wiser from it and realize that no one deserves to be treated unfairly. From her personal experiences, Nancy Lee will go on to motivate other people to move closer to achieving the high ideal extolled in the Pledge of Allegiance. “...one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The short story “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes is about a young black girl, Nancy Lee, who recently moved out of the South with her parents so they may provide her with a better life and schooling. Very talented in watercolor painting, she wanted to make that her major in college. Regrettably, there are some people in the world that are just blinded by race and forget how America was supposed to be a place for equal rights without tyranny.
Nancy Lee may be a colored girl, but at times in her new school she forgets that she has different skin color than the rest of the students. Her peers would overlook her race as well, and they saw her as a young and talented individual. This represents foreshadowing that she was not seen as colored although she was. Nancy Lee had painted an award winning piece worthy of a scholarship to an art institute. The painting was of her grandmother sitting on a park bench looking at the American flag on a bright sunny day.
Unfortunately, the art institute didn’t realize that Nancy Lee was a colored girl at the time they chose her painting. When it was made known, they decided to give the scholarship to a white student as they felt if Nancy Lee were to attend the Institute it would cause controversy amongst others. The day Nancy was to receive the award, she was told by her principal, Miss O’Shay, that she would not acquire this magnificent prize because of the color of her skin.
Miss O’Shay regrettably informed the talented girl that “When the committee learned that you were colored, they changed their plans. ” Nancy Lee looked up at her principal and noticed the bright spring day it was outside just like in her painting. At the weekly assembly, Nancy Lee took her seat along with 3000 other students, turned her head, and said the pledge to the flag that is supposed to symbolize freedom and equal rights with “Liberty and justice for all”.
She then decided that even though she was not accepting the award, which was rightfully hers, she would fight to make a difference in the future so no other young girls would go through what she was currently enduring. One gloomy day the principal, Miss O’Shay called Nancy Lee into her office after school. Miss O’Shay made Nancy Lee aware that her painting had won the contest; but also asked her to keep it a secret until the assembly on Friday when she was to accept the award.
She was not supposed to tell Nancy Lee, however, Miss O’Shay felt it would be in Nancy Lee’s best interest to know ahead of time so she wouldn’t be taken off guard and could remain composure at the time of the acceptance. The irony in this is that if Miss O’Shay did not tell Nancy Lee of her winning then, on the day of the assembly, Nancy Lee would not have to be called into the office to receive the disturbing news that she would not be called on stage to accept the award because of the color of her skin.
Even though Nancy Lee, as well as her peers, would sometimes forget that she was a brown girl, the committee couldn’t see past her skin color. Nancy Lee went from being a bright eyed, brown colored girl to a dark girl that day. Within the context of the story Langston Hughes portrays the stars on the American Flag as a symbol of hope to all. Not only in the 1950’s but also in today’s society the stars on our flag of freedom represent what all Americans are about, liberation and equal rights for all.
Our ancestors came to this country to make a better life for themselves as well as their children. Even during our national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” the last verse says “Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave” The stars on the flag will always mean the same regardless the year whether its 1814 when the national anthem was written, the 1950’s when this story took place, or in the year 2012. Bigotry is something that we all have to deal with. Some people are so scared of change and anything different.
Even though we all have the same rights as humans, some people just can’t see past the color of a person’s skin; not just the outer difference, but also religious beliefs as well. We live in a society that no matter how much a person can persevere through discrimination there is always going to be someone to try and hold them back. In my point of view, intolerance of someone that is different is a disgrace to all mankind. This is something that Langston Hughes illustrates very well in the story. Nancy Lee, a very talented young girl, deserved to win the scholarship; but because of the color of her skin she was denied what was rightfully hers.
“One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes. (2017, Jan 31). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/one-friday-morning-by-langston-hughes-essay
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