Education
Early Chicago provided a background for controversial and segregated school systems. In a time when "separate but equal" was rarely equal, it was ultimately the Black children that received the lesser end of the bargain. The number of black children in need of education largely outnumbered that of the designated black school buildings, resulting in classroom overcrowding.
Although the sole purpose of education was to prepare children for the job industry, black schools failed to provide as thorough of a curriculum as white schools, leaving black children far behind as far as employment likelihood.
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Black parents were fully aware of their children's anticipated inferiority in employment, and as a result, withdrew them from school to find work early. Their children would not have the opportunity to further their education, but they could undoubtedly secure work performing manual labor for low wages. They would perform work that most white people refused to do, consequentially working dreadfully long hours in poor working conditions to make a small amount of money to contribute to the family income.
In Native Son, Bigger's mother places a similar pressure on him to find a job to support their family.
"If you get that job," his mother said in a low, kind tone of voice,..."I can fix up a nice place for you children. You could be comfortable and not have to live like pigs."
..."You know Bigger," his mother said, "if you don't take that job the relief'll cut us off. We won't have any food." 7
Bigger's mother is not unlike the black women of 1940s Chicago. She scolds, nags, begs and guilts her son into taking any job that surfaces in order to help their family. She knows that skill-wise, Bigger is inferior to the white people of the time period, and in all probability will not be able to compete with their superior education. Although her tone makes her sound as if she simply wants extra money, Bigger's mother is simply weighing her options as a parent. In a society where the intelligence of black children is substandard, a stable and profitable career is nonexistant.