Ségrégation Raciale

Anglais Exposé Tableau

        Racial segregation is a principle that aims to separate people of different colors in joint activities or in everyday life in general, such as in transportation or restaurants. It was present in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century but was formalized in eighteen-ninety-six by the Supreme Court and ended in nineteen-sixty-four. It is a painting by Norman Rockwell, An American naturalist and illustrator who inspired hyperrealism. He was born in New York in eighteen-ninety-four and died in nineteen-seventy-eight in Stockbridge. He made himself famous with his many accomplishments for the covers of Saturday Evening Post magazine and his claim in the civil rights struggle in the United States.

        This painting “New Kids in the Neighbourhood” is an oil on canvas of nineteen-sixty-four which highlights the ideals of racial segregation and inter-racial relations in the United States. This painting is currently on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge in the Massachusetts. Here we have the clear representation of two groups of children facing each other in front of a moving truck in a suburb in Chicago.

        At first view, we could think of a confrontation but in fact, the painter wants to fight the prejudices and show that the color has nothing to have with the agreement. Rockwell puts forward the positive idea of ​​cooperation by staging two black children far from being threatening. The face to face of the two groups are represented by symmetry and similarity. The only difference is skin color but both groups have the same social class and look.

        We note that black children have a white cat and that white children have a black dog. The children are leaning, with their hands in their backs and observing themselves insistently as the two animals do. Both groups of children have the same recreation as we see with the baseball gloves and the animals. The children are, for the most part, dressed in light colors like white which is a symbol of peace and understanding.

        For Rockwell, this painting represents racial integrity in the suburbs where most of the white population live. It combats discrimination through painting and photography and promotes an ideal of peace and freedom for all, it does not matter of the origin or color of each. Racial segregation ends in the same year of creation of this painting.

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