The Lesson ( short story ) - wikipedia The Lesson ( short story ) hide This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia. Please help improve this article by adding links that are relevant to the context within the existing text. ( December 2013 ) This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the Find link tool for suggestions. ( January 2012 ) `` The Lesson '' is a short story by Toni Cade Bambara ( 1938 -- 1995 ). It was first published in 1972. The Lesson '' is a first person narrative told by a young, black girl named Sylvia who is growing up in Harlem in an unspecified time period known only as `` Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right '' ( Bambara, 1992 ). Going by the prices, one can assume the story takes place sometime in the early seventies. The story is about a trip initiated by a well - educated woman named Miss Moore who has taken it upon herself to expose the unappreciative children of the neighborhood to the world outside of their oppressed community. The destination is the FAO Schwarz Toy Store in Manhattan, where the toys aimed at a white market are extremely expensive. Some cost more than the children 's household yearly incomes. The children contemplate the extreme prices. Miss Moore uses the trip to demonstrate how an unjust economic and social system creates unfair access to money and resources for black Americans. The lesson on economic inequality is almost lost on the children, who, too contemptuous to open themselves up to the education offered them by the well - intended Miss Moore, close the story by making plans to spend the left over cab fare change. At the end, however, Sylvia seeks solitude to contemplate the events of the day. The narrator has found a way to direct her own anger and spouts `` ai n't nobody gon na beat me at nuthin, '' illustrating how the two main characters choose different paths at the end of the story. This story also emphasizes that individuals who are segregated to certain environments are clueless about the outside world. Its up to `` Miss. Moore '' an educated elderly lady to show the children that there is more to life than poverty. References Jump up ^ Wright, Richard ( 2011 ). The Man Who Was Almost a Man. Bedford / St. Martin 's. p. 883. Friedman, Joe. `` Review of Toni Cade Bambara 's `` The Lesson ''. HubPages. HubPages Inc. 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. Short Stories for Students. `` The Lesson ''. Book Rags. Gale Group. 2000 - 07. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. Andrew, Richard. `` The Man Who Was Almost a Man. '' The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 8th ed. California : Bedford / St. Martin 's, 2011. 878 - 87. Print. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lesson_(short_story)&oldid=839343106 '' Categories : 1972 short stories New York City in fiction African - American short stories Short stories by Toni Cade Bambara Hidden categories : Articles with too few wikilinks from December 2013 All articles with too few wikilinks Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from December 2013 All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify Orphaned articles from January 2012 All orphaned articles Articles with multiple maintenance issues Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 2 May 2018, at 20 : 28. About Wikipedia

Question: when was the lesson by toni cade bambara written
Answer: 1972