Blacks had to face the fact that they must work for the white man. There just weren't opportunities to make money in the black community. In Richard Wright's autobiographical sketch "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" he explains this. There is but one place where a black boy who knows no trade can get a job, and that's where the houses and faces are white (Wright 3). The fact that this statement was made by a black person who actually went through it illustrates the dependence on whites by blacks before they were able to integrate fully into society.
Blacks were held back from professions and other respectable jobs and forced to work the low level work for little pay. Throughout the autobiographical sketch Wright describes the different jobs he worked. He worked as a hall-boy, a porter for a clothing store, and twice in a factory for an optical company. During his first job, in an optical factory, he was promised by the boss that he would have opportunities to learn the trade in the spare time. One day Wright spoke out and asked one of his white coworkers about the line of work. .
Thinking they had forgotten that I was to learn the mechanics of grinding lenses, I asked Morrie one day to tell me about the work. He grew red. "Whut yuh tryin" t" do, nigger, git smart?" (Wright 4).
This shows how there was little to no chance for advancement in the workplace. Blacks would be told promising lies when they were hired then come to the realization later that they were only lies.
As black society slowly earned money and became more intelligent through working with whites they were able to give their culture an education. Granted this was a large step for the black society, but the education level was not what whites had. They were limited to low levels of schooling before having to go to work. When I finished grammar school I had to go to work (Wright 3). Black families just couldn't support their children long enough before they were forced to go to work.
