Not Such an Evil Fairy

In Ted Poston’s “Revolt of the Evil Fairies”, the narrator is put through something I

would never wish to go through, and that is discrimination. You and I  may not wish to admit it

but you and everyone else has had discrimination in their lives. The discrimination that the

narrator endures is very heart-breaking because it is done by African Americans with light skin

to African Americans with dark skin. The dark-skinned people were never allowed to have any

high paying jobs, their children’s opportunities were crushed by their teachers, and the dark-

skinned children always got in trouble while the light-skinned children thrived.

The story takes place in a colored grammar school in Kentucky in the early 1900s. The

Narrator, a dark-skinned boy, says in the text that “The yallers had the best of everything. They

held most of the teaching jobs in Booker T. Washington Colored Grammar School.” “Yallers” are

very light skinned African - Americans. This means that the dark-skinned people didn’t get the

opportunities to go to a good college or to get a good, well-paying job. If they went to a good

college they would still be despised by the Yallers because they are thought of as lower class.

In the text, it is also plain to see that the “yallers” are given priority over the “blacks”.

In the play, all of the good characters wore white and all the evil characters wore black. Also,

you had to be “yaller” to get the part of Prince Charming, Sleeping beauty, or any important

good fairy. Poston writes, “most of the Good Fairies usually turned out to be extremely light in

complexion, with straight hair and white folks’ features.” The narrator also says “sometimes

a lucky dark-skinned girl would get the part of a good fairy, but not one with a speaking part.”

Another example is that the teachers pass over the fact that the narrator did well in class and

got high grades (in fact, he says that he “got the best grades in his class”) and give the best role

to the “yaller” who did worse. So, even if a “black” was better qualified, the teachers’ priorities

were set on the child with lighter skin.

One thing that I find even more disturbing than the other two problems is the fact

that the light skins never got into deep trouble like the dark-skins did. For example, in the text

when Leonardius hits the narrator over the head with the prop sword, Leonardius did not

get in trouble. The teachers said it was probably by accident. However, when the narrator hit

Leonardius, the narrator got in huge trouble because he was dark-skinned. This shows that the

teachers think the narrator has worse behavior because he’s dark skinned. They even give him a

much greater punishment than Leonardius by exiling the narrator from the play.

All in all, I believe that this is more than enough proof to make you realize what type of

discrimination the African Americans put themselves through. The “yallers” got the better jobs

and the better opportunities, they got priority over the “blacks”, and they were protected and

supported. I hope this essay has made you think about discrimination within societies, and this

is still happening in the present. An example is that many “blacks “ today still get lower pay and

slower promotions than most whites.

I believe that this is a very sad, but amazing story. I feel as though this really did affect my life to because as someone who isn't truly an adult or even close to being a true teen I don't get so much respect shown to me, I'm just the kid anyway. The narrator has it even worse than me because he's a kid and he's dark-skinned. Neither of those titles give him respect. Imagine if you were in his shoes. Wouldn't it be a frightening experience because of what the others think of you? I know it would for me.