1st Assignment

When I hear of the word "free" I think of equality; being able to do whatever you want to do and not be held back because of your race and/or religion. In addition you will not be judged or stereotyped based on the color of your skin. In our book "The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader" there is a study that was distributed to the public called "Prejudice and Your Child" with dolls. In one study there were three types of dolls: black, brown, and white. They took kids from the ages of 7 to 8 and told them to do four things.
1) Best Doll
2) Nicest Doll
3) Doll that looks bad
4) Doll that has a nice color

In this experiment black kids prefered the white doll over their own and the brown doll. This shows how young black children would prefer to be white because of the recognition of whites in their society. Through this experiement it shows how this doll study how these kids are not free. These kids that took part of this study were in the age prior to the civil rights movement era and had this perception of themselves as inferior. This case doesn't comply with my defintion of being free but it does show that this isn't the idea of being free.