Beverly Daniel Tatum's 'Sitting Together In The Cafeteria'

Originating Factors of Two Lives Life has many determining factors and Beverly Daniel Tatum’s perspective in Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria reveals the realization about an individual’s identity, which formulates where we are positioned in society. Tatum shares her experiences based upon specific studies and what she observed in her son’s life. The basis for this paper is to express to those I grew up around that I became the person I am because of my past. The topics discussed in this paper will be both Tatum’s and my cultural background, the roles and responsibilities in our family’s social structure, the typical stereotypes that directed our educational path, and the gender role that stationed us where we
Tatum explains a situation where a girl struggles with the pain of being segregated and placed inside of certain gender role. Tatum talks about a story where a young Black girl had a teacher says “you people” in one of her comments to the girl (Tatum, 364). Tatum states that the young girl found herself wanting someone to talk to about the statement, so she asked one of her White girl friends. The White girl friend seemed to be unprepared for that type of question, and simply dismissed the statement as being insignificant (Tatum, 364). Since Tatum is also a woman, she has probably been through similar situations where she needed to give advice. This is a situation is stereo-typically played by a man as counselor. The gender role of a woman is continually changing, from being the woman who only cooks and cleans, to having similar job positions as men. “For example, 1950’s children grew up in a world of ‘Father Knows Best’ and traditional gender roles, while 1970’s children were born after the re-emergence of the feminist movement and in an era characterized by gender-role permissiveness” (Twenge, 2). This demonstrates how women in society can equally perform in most given situations, whether to give advice or lead a corporation. My gender role in my life has always played the role of leader and mentor. This role has been instilled into my mind at a very young age. I have been raised to believe that the role of the man is to lead, provide, and guide wherever I am placed in life. I am currently engaged to the love my life and I will be placed as head of the household once we are married. This doesn’t mean that my future wife will not play a major role in the relationship, but I will lead the role as head of the family. My fiancé will definitely have a voice in the marriage, and this information will be heard and understood by