Miss Evers' Boys

Miss Evers’ Boys was an outstanding play, hands down. It had all the elements: it made you laugh, cry and smile and frown. The play gave you a close look to how society viewed African-Americans as inferior. The white people thought that only black people got syphilis and called the disease “bad blood”. I know that’s how certain disease were broken down to the African-American race back in the early 20^th century, but is there an underlying meaning. Is that saying supposed to mean because there black they have “bad blood”? It was really ridiculous how the African-American race was taken advantage of and used like guinea pigs in the study of syphilis. The Public Health service and participating doctors in the study lied to them. They gave the African-Americans in the study false hope. They said it would be a year study that turned into 14 years. They told them they would be first in line when a cure came along and they did not mention it when it came up. They told them they were still receiving treatment of mercury back rubs and arsenic shots, but they were really taking samples for the study. They wanted to make the connection of syphilis and race when there is not one. They found the syphilis disease inferior and connected with the race they found inferior: “blacks.” The racism and oppression of the African-American race was evident. They had little education and were seen as ignorant and unintelligent, but in actuality, what the study did was ignorant. The study became a new form of slavery because at first the doctors needed the patients for a couple years, but then they wanted them to dedicate their life to it. I think it was absurd that Miss Evers’ did not tell the boys about the study. I saw what Miss Evers’ was doing at the beginning; she was trying to improve the human condition by becoming knowledgeable and helping others. I also saw that “blacks had to work twice as hard to be half as good,” which I learned from a previous lecture. The dancer in the story practiced a lot to be able to get a chance at the cotton club. The patients were all farmers that made the minimum amount. I enjoyed the performance.