Not Without Laughter

My second independent reading book in entitled Not Without Laughter by African American poet, Langston Hughes. This was Hughes' first and only novel. It is about young boy named Sandy Rodgers who lives with his mother and grandmother. Sandy's father is constantly moving around looking for employment. When his mother decides to leave town and join her husband, Sandy has no choice but to live with his aunt and uncle because his grandmother passed away. Sandy does not enjoy living with them, but has to stay with them until he is old enough to live on his own.
While reading this book, I hope to learn about the struggles that a young African American boy would go through while living in a time period where money, success, and happiness was not earn very easily. African Americans did not have the best jobs in the twentieth century. They would work in fields that required little or no education at all. In the book, Sandy's mother is a housekeeper for a wealthy white family, his grandmother does laundry, and his father is currently unemployed. Sometimes, I think about how grateful I am to be able to have a opportunity to earn a college degree and be able to achieve my goal on becoming an Athletic coach.