Makia Broadnax

March 4, 2016
Masterpiece

Gwendolyn Brook was an American poet and teacher. In 1950 she was the first black
woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Annie Ann. She has had many accomplishments for
her work. One of her most recognized works We Real Cool won the pulitzer prize.
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks is a masterpiece because it represents an
understanding of the struggle of young black males in America, it moves the audience
to think about injustice toward young black men, and it retain lines of communication
with the immediate past connecting the 1960s with the experiences of young black men
today.

We Real Cool is a masterpiece because it connects with immediate past in the

1960s in southern areas in the United States. During the time, young black men
struggled with their identity. The theme connects with the immediate past of the 1960s
because there was segregation, struggles for education, equal opportunities for people
of color, and worldly disputes. In the article The American Dream by Anne Marie Hatcht,
she expresses the struggles of African Americans 100 years late, after the Civil War in
the 1960s and the basis of We Real Cool. Hatcht touches upon how many young
black men carried out a brave attitude to live through inequality and less opportunities
after the Civil War. The characters depicted in the Gwendolyn Brooks poem "We Real
Cool" (1966) embrace their collective identity with bravado. The poem summarizes the
attitudes, beliefs, and fears of young inner-city pool playersall a part of the repeated
collective "we"with just two dozen words arranged in alliterative three-word
sentences. According to their own declarations, the young men spend their time

engaging in frivolous activities instead of trying to better themselves.(Hatcht 3) Young

black men want to have a tough attitude because they want to be seen. They were seen
as outcast because of their color. They committed rebellious acts to get attention
because they didn't have another way to do it. They weren't getting equal education and
felt as if they did not have another path. However, it soon became clear to many African
Americans that freedom in the legal sense did not necessarily equal fair treatment and
opportunity, especially in the South. When Reconstruction came to an end and federal
troops withdrew from the region in the 1870s, the backlash against Southern blacks was
swift and often devastating.(Hatcht 2) Freedom is a misunderstood term, it's often
thrown around as if people actually have freedom. African americans are not free, they
are victims. The attitude of the black men in We Real Cool reflects the attitude of
African Americans because they were not getting equal rights . They were being
killed, beaten and their freedom was taken away. In We Real Cool The young men
decide to take another route instead, they became rebellious, breaking laws and
causing problems. Their actions reflect anger of how they were treated.

We Real Cool is a masterpiece because it connects with the immediate

past of segregation experienced by many blacks. Segregation caused many
challenges for blacks, including major inequalities in education. According to the
ruling in Brown Vs Board of Education, On May 17, 1954, after hearings that
took almost a year, the Supreme Court ruled on Brown v. Board of Education.
Segregated schools, the unanimous ruling stated, are not simply unequal
because they are separate. Even if black and white schools are equal in all
respects, the Court argued, segregation itself is harmful to the education of black
children because it encourages them to see themselves as inferior to whites.
Separate facilities, the text of the ruling reads, are inherently unequal. (Albert
2)

Superior whites separated schools for blacks and whites. Separating the

schools confused children especially black children. Blacks wasnt offered the
same education as whites. Separation in schools by color relates to We Real
Cool because black young men were not going to school because they were not
offered the same education as other races. This expressed by the line We Real
Cool because the young men decide to skip school and hang out in the streets
and caught in pool halls because they were underage. After the Brown v. Board
of Education ruling, state governments in the South looked for loopholes to keep
segregation intact, and white supremacist organizations reverted to intimidation
to dissuade African Americans from registering at all-white schools. In 1957 nine
African American students registered at Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas, which the school board had voted to desegregate, in accordance with
the Brown ruling(Albert 5). Whites would stop African Americans from enrolling
into white schools. White racist people wanted black children to be ignorant and
not receive education that was equal to and in the same space as the white
students at the time. This connects We Real Cool because young black men
were denied education and decide to take on another path. The young men
decide to play hooky instead of attending class.

We Real Cool is masterpiece because it deeply involved in the

understanding of black fellow men and women. It expresses Ralph Ellison's
Invisible Man (1952) also expresses doubt about the likelihood of African
Americans ever achieving equality in the United States. One of the main themes
of the novel is the inability for whites to truly see the black narrator as a person at
allhence the title. (Hatcht 3). This is an example of African Americans not
having a sense of their identity and looking for a crowd to be apart of in society.
This connects to We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks because the young men

in the poem lost a sense of identity. They are most likely to go down the wrong
path that could include jail, prison, death, drugs, diseases, and more. African
Americans will never be treated equally in America. Statistical educational data
supports the fact that the graduation rates for African-American males are in
crisis. African-American male students are missing in the statistical data that
represents success and academic achievements. African-American males are
normally listed among the most negative educational statistical data collected
and reported. The following troubling educational statistics on African-American
male graduation rates, dropout rates, suspension and expulsion rates, placement
in special education classes, low test scores, and lack of placement in advanced
placement classes illustrate their underclass status in public schools. (Floyd D.
Weatherspoon)
This a trend generation after generation with black males. They don't know what
path to take. They aren't given many choices and didn't make the best choices. In We
Real Cool Brooks line We left school is expressing the young men leaving school and
trying to be cool. They did this because they thought it was cool to leave school instead
of getting an education.
The understandings of young black men expressed in We Real Cool are still
relevant today. Through the interview Campaign Zero between Brittany Packnett and
Audie Cornish discussed the Black Lives Matter campaign, an international activist
movement that campaigns against violence toward black people. I think in particular,
ending broken-windows policing such that issues like stop-and-frisk and the
criminalization of minor acts in communities of color can stop immediately and there can
be a really felt difference, especially for young people of color. Additionally, the
demilitarization of local police departments - just last Wednesday, a number of peaceful
protesters, myself included, were tear-gassed in a densely-populated residential area
around the corner, actually, from my church. And there is pretty consistent

understanding that that is not how residents of the United States should be treated. And
I certainly think that the demilitarization of the police is an urgent matter.(Packnett 2)
This quote connects strongly with the line We Sing Sin in We Real Cool. (Expand)
These minor crimes that are happening are taken out of proportion and handled the
wrong way. Black young men are often put in prison for these crimes. They feel
completely cut off from the excitement and cultural stimulation of their former urban
neighborhood and their culture. Their idea of the American dream is the opposite of their
grandfather's. (Hatcht 6). Hatcht reflects that the understanding of black men and
women and how many people feel as their culture is a joke. That they dont know who
they truly are so they become rebellious. Their culture wasnt respected enough

We Real Cool is a masterpiece because it moves the audience to understand

and feel empathy for young blacks who are experiencing racism and discrimination. In
the first line reads We Real Cool(Brooks). It is indicating that many black young men
leave school because of the inequality they are faced with. The decision of Brown Vs
Board it created segregation towards the whites and blacks. They didn't want to attend
school many males questions their roles in society because they were separated
because of color. They were often put down and told they don't belong so they become
rebellious. In the fifth line Brooks wrote We sing Sin (Brooks). We sing sin is saying
that because the have no sense of self of who they are they start to commit crime. (two
more sen)
The poem We Real Cool moves blacks audiences on the expression of not
benefitting from the best in life. They are encouraging their sinful acts giving them a
sense of manhood. In the lines 3 and 4, Brooks expressed We lurk late..we strike
straight (Brooks). This is saying what done in the dark stays in the dark. The illegal
activity they were doing and getting prosecuted for them. Instead of handling their
challenges a better way. We Die Soon...the young men see no future for themselves,

and therefore see no reason to prepare for such a future(Brooks). Young men do not
see a future for themselves. Black young men feel as if there only two options for their
kind are jail or the grave. They decide to give up on their education, and instead left
school and committed sinful acts.

In conclusion We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem that shows the

experiences of young males that are confused and affected by society around them.
African American males battled with self and not know how to handle the problems they
faced. Brooks is also reflecting on how actions have consequences especially for
young black men. The young men in this poem were doing sinful things because they
had not sense of who they were. The main target of prejudice whites were young black
men and how they reacted to the life they were given. African Americans were faced
with injustice and inequality, they made poor decisions. We Real Cool is a masterpiece
because it retains lines of communication with the immediate past, it moves the
audience strengthening their views, and has an understanding of fellow man and
women.

Work Cited
Brooks, Gwendloyn, "We Real Cool," Blacks, Third World Press, 1987, p. 331; originally
published in The Bean Eaters, Harper, 1960.

"The African American Dream." Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream.
Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 527-532. Literary Themes for
Students. Student Resources in Context. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.

"Race Riots of the 1960s." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E.
Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 7. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 1279-1285. Student
Resources in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

"Black Lives Matter Publishes 'Campaign Zero' Plan To Reduce Police Violence." All
Things Considered 26 Aug. 2015. Student Resources in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Floyd D. Weatherspoon, Racial Justice and Equity for African-American Males in the
American Educational System: a Dream Forever Deferred, 29 North Carolina Central
Law Journal 1 (2006). (221 Footnotes Omitted
"Brown v. Board of Education Ends Legal School Segregation: May 17, 1954." Global
Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 6: North America.
Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Student Resources in Context. Web. 4 Feb. 2016