Bambara believed that her mother had a great respect for the life of the mind and always encouraged the author to go with her heart. In one of her anthologies Bambara remembers her mother by saying “Mama, who in 1948, having come upon me daydreaming in the middle of the kitchen floor, mopped around me” (georgetown.edu). Her mother was her true source of inspiration.

In her short story, The Lesson, many of her personal beliefs and attitudes are apparent. First off, the story is about a poor family of African American children who take a trip into the city with an old woman named Miss Moore. While on their little t

In this story, “Bambara is deeply concerned with how the wisdom of the community passes on from generation to generation and how it manifests itself in the living” (georgetown.edu). Miss Moore is a very knowledgeable and caring woman who tries to educate the children at every chance she gets. She is always asking them questions, trying to stimulate their minds.

The Lesson is a prime illustration of the issues facing Toni Cade Bambara as she was growing up Black and proud in a society that shunned this pride and belittled it. She is certainly an activists for equality, not only for the African American community, but for all minorities alike, children, the elderly, the oppressed, etc. In writing her stories, Bambara is offering sort of a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ so to speak, and as quoted by Bambara herself, “Take away miseries and you take away some folks’ reasons for living” (quotationspage.com).

I would also like to point out, that although it is only directly stated once, the feeling of injustice shared between African American’s during the time that the story was written (1972). This next quote, I believe, is the most powerful statement in the whole story because in creating this line, Bambara is completely challenging and poking fun at society and the political blatantness among the unequal treatment of

Some topics in this essay:
African American, Miss Moore, FAO Schwarz, African American’s, Granddaddy Nelson, Cade Bambara, Sylvia Bambara, Moore Bambara, miss moore, african american, toni cade bambara, Toni Cade, charters pg 97, white folk, rich white, elderly oppressed, charters pg, demonstrates person, black folk, rich white folk, children elderly oppressed, pg 97, children elderly,