Analysis of The “Black Table” is Still There by Lawrence Otis Graham

“The ‘Black Table’ is Still There” by Lawrence Otis Graham is a personal essay regarding racial segregation at a junior high school. The author specifically addresses and criticizes the “black table” versus the other tables in the school cafeteria. Despite being African American, Graham sat at the white table during his adolescence, and uses this essay to reflect on the past. The author uses imagery, rhetorical questions, and catalogs to state that self-segregation should be stopped.

Graham’s use of imagery throughout the essay emphasizes the difference of the “black table” compared to the other lunch tables at the school. The essay begins, “During a recent visit to my old junior high school in Westchester County, I came upon something that I never expected to see again, something that was a source of fear and dread for three hours each school morning of my early adolescence: the all-black lunch table in the cafeteria of my predominantly white suburban junior high school” (Graham 345). By initially describing the table as black, Graham sets an image of a dark table in the reader’s mind. He is describing the race of the students at the table, while symbolizing how the table was perceived. Also, by saying that the school is predominantly white in the same sentence, a contrast is created that sets the “black table” even further away in comparison. This contrast is what the author describes and argues against throughout the essay.

As a child, Graham believed that sitting at the “black table” was an anti-white statement, and because his friends were white, he refused to sit there: “Each afternoon, at 12:03 p.m., after the fourth period ended, I found myself among six hundred 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds who marched into the brightly-lit cafeteria and dashed for a seat at one of the twenty-seven blue formica lunch tables. No matter who I walked with – usually a white friend – no matter what mood I was in, there was one thing that was certain: I would not sit at the black table” (Graham 346). By describing the room as “brightly lit” and by stating the tables’ “blue formica” colors, Graham is creating a positive setting in the reader’s head. He then mentions the “black table” which reproduces the color contrast used in the beginning of the work. Graham believed that the “black table” was the problem that led to the racial segregation, but he later realized that it was the segregation that led to the table. He was wealthier than the kids at the “black table”, so he naturally related to the richer white kids more.

The idea of racial segregation was not in Graham’s head as a child; he self-segregated based on personal similarities. He did not realize that he the separation was based on white discrimination against African-Americans. To conclude, Graham uses imagery to argue against self-segregation. Graham also uses rhetorical questions to reminisce and reevaluate his actions as a child. Schools were becoming integrated during Graham’s years in junior high, but that didn’t prevent self-segregation: “What did the table say about the integration that was supposedly going on in homerooms and gym classes?” (Graham 346).

Although the law required schools to integrate, the students themselves were not required to integrate outside of class. Graham realizes that the prejudices planted in children’s heads did not go away once segregation was banned. Children in his generation grew up during a time of revolutionary change, but were not born with the idea of equality. At the time, Graham did not notice that he was being discriminated against by his white friends based on race: “In the face of this blatantly racist (anti-black) behavior I still somehow managed to blame only the black kids for being the barrier to integration in my school and my little world. What was I thinking?” ( Graham 346). His mindset was against the “black table” due to the influence of his white friends. Graham’s use of a rhetorical question in this section demonstrates that his mindset has changed from his adolescence to now; he now realizes that the segregation in tables was due to racism against his own race. Therefore, Graham uses rhetorical questions to reflect on self-segregation is his junior high school.

Graham uses catalogs throughout the essay to explain the self-segregation that was taking place. Graham was of a higher class compared to the students at the “black table”, so he could never relate to them on a level that wasn’t race. He never truly understood the purpose of the table: “As I look back on twenty-seven years of often being the first and only black person integrating such activities and institutions as the college newspaper, the high school tennis team, summer music camps, our all-white suburban neighborhood, my eating club at Princeton, or my private social club at Harvard Law School, the one scenario that puzzled me the most then and now is the all-black lunch table” (Graham 345). By stating that he is an upper-class African American, Graham is setting himself apart from both the poor black kids and the rich white kids. He was living a life of luxury compared to his black peers, and was ignorant to the discrimination they experienced.

The self-segregation at the junior high was not limited to only black and white tables: “During that same time, there were at least two tables of athletes, an Italian table, a Jewish girls’ table, a Jewish boys’ table (where I usually sat), a table of kids who were into heavy metal music and smoking pot, a table of middle class Irish kids… At the time, no one even acknowledged the segregated nature of these other tables” (Graham 346).

Graham is stating that segregation existed throughout the entire school for different reasons that were overlooked. And although there were many types of tables, the “black table” was racially discriminated against by a majority of them. Ergo, Graham uses catalogs to further explain the segregation at his junior high school.

Graham’s use of imagery, rhetorical questions, and catalogs help him develop his argument against self-segregation. He argues that separation due to race, social class, or any other dividing factors is not healthy, especially in school. In the end, Graham’s purpose is to encourage equality.