Colored People

4 Pages 1085 Words

Colored People
Henry Louis Gates Jr,’s “Colored People” is a memoir that follows the life of Gates in his home town of Piedmont, West Virginia during a time of transition between the old, segregated world and the new, integrated one. As Gates matures, he goes through a cycle of cultural identity changes. His cycle would best be described by Cross’ conversion experience model. The stages of this model go in a certain order beginning with pre-encounter, encounter, immersion, internalization, and commitment. Gates is able to overcome the beginning stages that deal with prejudice and discrimination to become a successful colored person not only with his career, but also in the sense of gaining his personal identity.
The pre-encounter stage begins early in life when a black child associates beauty with the white culture. As Gates describes, “I first got to know white people as “people” through their flickering images on television shows”(Gates, 1994, p.20). Gates becomes obsessed with the white culture through television shows like Leave it to Beaver where he believes that the “perfect” family should be like the Beaver family. When the local schools integrated in 1955, Gates begins the first grade and becomes even more engrossed with the white culture. School is seen as the only non-segregated place in Piedmont. He is picked to excel in school unlike most other black children his age, and is treated more than equally by his teachers. Gates’ impression of white people becomes more optimistic when he develops a crush on a white girl named Linda. Her affection towards Gates diminishes the older she gets and begins to develop a racist attitude because of the people surrounding her.
The encounter stage of the model deals with an encounter that a black person has that is associated with racism and begins to doubt their pre-encounter stage. Gates’ first experience with racism is when he sees Mr. Frank Price...