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Basel Mohamed

EAP 102

Jennifer Selvidge

10/24/2020

Happy

In the story “Happy” by Brad Watson, an American author and academic, he illustrates

on how difficult it was for African Americans in the 1960’s in Meridian, Mississippi to make

money to support their family. The author started the story by introducing his middle classed

white family who hired an African American maid, he continued that sentence with how at that

time most of black women would either work as maids or teachers. Back then colored people

didn’t have as many rights as others, which has led to white families getting away with under

paying their maids, the author was able to make as much money mowing yards in a day than

what the maid made a week, but he couldn’t talk to his mother about how little she was paying

her since she has other kids to take care of (265). One morning, the mother discovered that the

maid was stealing her kid's underwear and fired her immediately, the same morning the maid

waited outside for the mother to tell her that she isn’t a thief, but the mother didn’t listen and

drove away (266). He didn’t like that she left because he liked her even though he didn’t really

know her, since they were completely different. Although, he forgave her for stealing the

underwear, as he thought of it in a merciful way. As the time passed, he bumped into his maid

and noticed that she found a new job, there was no hard feelings between them (267). The author

is demonstrating the difficulties of a black family in the 1960’s in Mississippi and how life got a

bit better later.

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In 1960s, people were classified by their race. White people had all the power at the top

of the food chain and black people were all the way down with no political or economic power

from the impact of slavery. In “Happy”, the author showed how life was different for black

people and white people. There were fewer job options for black people, especially black women

who didn’t get an education, there only choice was working as a maid. During the 1960s, most

white middle classed families would hire a maid to do their housework for them, even though the

job was hard and a lot of work they weren’t getting paid enough. Most of the good jobs were

offered to white people, therefore black people didn’t have much economic power or political, so

white people would usually get away with under paying black people (265). The author proved

that when he mentioned how Watson was getting paid more than her in a day by mowing yards.

Racial discrimination has always been a disaster for many years, it affected the black community

massively and will affect the coming generations.

Another discrimination that took place in the 1960s was Classism, which was mentioned

very clearly in the story. Classism is the division of people based on their class in life, whether it

is upper class or lower class, classes are based on wealth, income, education, etc. Watson was

from a lower-middle-class family and was able to afford to hire a maid which proves how the

maids were under paid. Watson’s mother was the one providing for the entire family and paying

the maid, who was also providing for her family, the maid would do all the housework and take

care of Watson and his siblings (265). Watson described the maids house as a wooden shack

with no running water and no visible electricity, which proves that they were poor, although the

maid was accused of stealing, she stood her ground and defended her image (266). The world

was split into Classes and was harsh on lower classes, as the higher classes would have more

power to make a change while the lower classes where stuck there.
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The last discrimination that was mentioned was gender discrimination, which was around

since before 1960s and has evolved since. In the story the auther mentions how white and black

were different, but also how black men and women were treated differently and how white me

and women are treated differently. Black men had way more options than black women, if a

black woman had an education, she could be a teacher or the only other option a maid. On the

other hand, men could work as businessmen, dentist, etc. Same with white people, men and

women weren’t equal. Watson mentions how he could earn as much as his mother as a teenager

just from mowing yards. He also mentions how his dad doesn’t work but still doesn’t help the

family in any way shape or form (265). This type of discrimination didn’t just take place in the

United States but also in many other countries, which damaged the image of women.

Racism, Classism and Gender discrimination left a terrible impact on black people and

women in the United States like it was shown in the story. Many Institutions came out to help fix

the image of black people and the construction of racism. Black people couldn’t get a good job

or get any power in the society. Families were split to classes and hired lower classes to do all

the hard work for them. Women were limited in society and couldn’t obtain high positions in

social status. In modern day fighting against discrimination became very important so we can

grow up in a world where everyone has the same opportunities and is treated the same.
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Work cited

Watson, Brad. "Happy." Freeman, Jhon. Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a

Divided Nation. Ney York: Penguin Books, 2017. 265-267. book.