Growing up as a child in the 1970s in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles, I never noticed the differences between me and my playmates. Although my mother and I eventually moved to the suburbs, my father remained there until my adulthood. However, it was only in late childhood, as I visited my father on weekends, that I began to distinguish between me and my friends, between my father's house and my house. The realization that I was different may have come about because of the piercing stares and turned heads at the neighborhood market. Or perhaps it was the racist epithets angrily exchanged between childhood friends. However, the image indelibly burned into my memory is that others called me “Casper.” Yes, I'm white... chalk white, milky white, even ghostly white. If others hadn't constantly pointed this out to me, I doubt I would have noticed at such a young age. However, when you are young and searching for your identity, labels have a way of sticking to you and images stick in your mind long after they have fallen out of use. Although this self-image lasted for decades, it was far less demeaning than those labels applied to an entire race of African Americans. According to sociologist Dr. David Pilgrim, during the Jim Crow era (1877-1965), various “stereotypical representations of blacks helped popularize the belief that blacks were lazy, stupid, inherently less human, and unworthy of integration.” (“Who Era”). Promoted and exploited by the entertainment industry, the black stereotype “Mammy” and the faithful “Tom” have permeated American culture in the form of cartoons, films, radio, television and theater, dehumanizing blacks and ultimately providing… half the paper… Raine Vivian.” American National Biography Online. 2000.Oxford SU. February 2000. Web. 30 Sep 2011.Hansberry, Lorraine. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Jackson, Kenneth T the era of subdivision." Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. By Jackson. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. 231-245. Print. Nemiroff, Robert. Introduction. A Raisin in the Sun. By Lorraine Hansberry. New York: VintageBooks, 1994. 5-14. Print.Pellegrino, David. Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State University. Web. December 15, 2011 "Tom's Caricature." Ferris State University.Dec. 2000. Network. December 15, 2011.---. "Who Was Jim Crow?" Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum. September 2000 . 15 December. 2011.