Pauline E. Hopkins' novel Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South is considered one of the most important works of African American literature. Throughout his life, Hopkins created literary works that captured the pain, frustration, and desperation that African Americans felt at the time. Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South focuses heavily on revealing the racism that existed in both the North and the South. of the United States. The North is often described as the most tolerant region of the country. When in reality the level of discrimination often did not differ from that which existed in the South. Often the North will do just enough to satisfy the Negroes, but has no real intention of making justice prevail. Hopkins stated, "Massachusetts is known for being willing to see fair play: it listens to the grievances of the Negroes and listens carefully to the charges of the Southern whites, weighs one against the other, and, naturally enough, the scales tip in favor". favor of the white brother” (Hopkins 224). There were rarely any real intentions to ensure that blacks were afforded the same level of fairness as white citizens. Regardless of their willingness to listen, or at least go through the motions to make it seem like it was a place where color wasn't an overwhelming factor, there was still a stigma; a stigma that is unwilling to see African Americans as equal to whites. Hopkins, like his contemporaries, also focused heavily on education in this novel. The ability to read and write seems to be the constituent that has allowed the Negro to progress over the years. Novels, poems, newspapers and magazines were medium sized... half paper... today they have the resources at our disposal to surpass what they did. Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and The South demonstrated that racism and prejudice have no geographic boundaries. Unfortunately, racism and prejudice are also not time-bound. These are still things that African Americans have to deal with for the rest of our lives. Hate is too deeply rooted in our history and culture for African Americans to go through life without being hurt; but just as the authors of this time have chosen to do, we can choose to create works that can liberate the minds of African Americans so that we can continue to delude the forces that continue to manifest themselves whenever there is an attempt at progress. We cannot build on the courage of past leaders if we are not willing to become leaders ourselves.