cultural issues

Plays from African American, Latino-American, Asian American and European American cultures often deal with important and relevant issues pertinent to that culture but they also connect to all cultures in a universal way. Throughout history in America people of all races have been discriminated against. Immigrants have dealt with experiencing new ways of life and struggled with the tough decision of holding on to their culture or adapting to change.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play about an African American family living in Chicago in the sixties. The Younger’s are a family made up of a mother, her daughter and her son with his wife and son. The home they are renting is a small two bedroom apartment, the bathroom is across the hall and they share it with the other tenants in the building. Chicago is still opposed to integration regardless of the laws. Violence against African American families was common when they would move into white neighborhoods. The play demonstrates issues with housing discrimination, but more importantly the reader watches an African American family pursue the American dream. Their dream is only to be treated as equals in a time when segregation and discrimination was still a big part of the culture in their city. Walter complains that he has nothing to leave for his son Travis. “I have been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room -- and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…” p. 34
In the play The Colored Museum readers a taken on a voyage with shackled slaves being transported to America. The setting seems to be an airplane and there is a Flight Attendant, Ms. Pat. The plane is actually revealed as the Celebrity Slaveship. Ms. Pat is not actually a Flight Attendant, she is a member of the slave ship crew that is taking the slaves to their destination. While she narrates the play she encourages all slaves to be like her. She is very upbeat and energetic; as if to