Brady Street Bridge Analysis

Another scene where race was clearly a factor was when Troy described that in some public places blacks were mistreated, unlike whites, “A Negro goes in there and can't get no kind of service. I see a white fellow come in there and order a bowl of stew. The black Priest picked all the meat out the pot for him. Man ain’t had nothing but a bowl of meat.” This statement shows that even the Priest, who is black treats whites better than blacks. Racism was so strong back in the 1950’s that not only white where treating blacks wrongly, but also blacks themselves where discriminating against each other. The reason why blacks discriminated on blacks was to be accepted by the white community and have more opportunities when it comes to getting jobs. In addition, the quote from Fences demonstrated the poor treatment that blacks received in
When Troy first arrived to the city he couldn’t get a job because of his skin color. Without any money, he had to start living under bridge call Brady Street Bridge, where multiple black people lived in a shack made of sticks and paper. Troy resorted to robbing people for money to buy food, shoes, and things for his son, but ended up in jail. “Causes of poverty are generally grouped into three categories: work-related characteristics (human capital) of the poor; the availability of employment and wage rates in local labor markets; and discrimination. The combination of these factors may determine the persistence of poverty in a population group, such as blacks.” (Ghelfi, 3) The main reason why blacks live in poverty was because they were not capable of getting jobs, due to their lack of experience, skill, and education. Like the quote stated is a mix of those qualities the reason why blacks have no jobs, which Troy is a clear example since he was illiterate, and he was discriminated against because of his