Prejudice is a cancer that spreads hatred among both its executioners and its victims. In 1930 Langston Hughes wrote the novel Not Without Laughter. This powerful story, written from the point of view of an African-American boy named James “Sandy” Rodgers, begins in the early 1900s in the small town of Stanton, Kansas. Through the eyes of young Sandy, we see the devastating impact of racism on her family and those they are close to. We also see how generations of abuse by white people have caused a divide within the black community. Among black families, and even within them, there were different social classes that seemed centered on the search for equality through obtaining white approval. The class to which one belonged was determined by skin color, the type of church attended, the level of education and where an individual was able to find work. From an early age it was clear to Sandy that the lighter a person's skin, the higher their social status. As the only young child in his family, he was exposed to many conversations among the adults around him that revolved around race. A striking example of this was one of the conversations between her grandmother, Aunt Hager, and her friend, Sister Whiteside. Sandy and the two older women sat together at the kitchen table to share a meal while the two women chatted. Sandy sat quietly and absorbed their talk about everything from assuming the white ancestry of a lighter-skinned child they knew to the difficulty of keeping "colored kids in school" (13-15). Sandy not only learned through adult conversations. around him the importance of skin color, he witnessed a series of events that cemented the concept. Sandy's somewhat wild aunt, Har... middle of paper... porters and laundresses...” (188). In Hughes' Not Without Laughter, we see the long-term effect of generations of prejudice and abuse. against blacks. Over time, this prejudice manifested itself through the development of different social classes within the black community. Hughes, through the eyes of young Sandy, shows us how the color of one's skin, the church one attends, the level of education an individual has achieved, and the type of employment someone might find impact their position within the community and dictate social rules. class to which they belonged. Tragically, decades of slavery and abuse led to a class system within the black community that was not built on the pursuit of happiness or fulfillment but on equality through gaining white approval. Works Cited Hughes, L. (1930). Not without laughter. New York, NY, United States: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.