A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Essay

BUSINESS SCHOOL HARVARD SUCCESSFUL 65 APPLICATION SECOND EDITION E S S AY S APPLICATION BUSINESS SCHOOL HARVARD SUCCESSFUL 65 ECSNS A IYI O N S SE O D ED T With Analysis by the Staff of The Harbus, the Harvard Business School Newspaper ST. MARTIN’S GRIFFIN NEW YORK 65 SUCCESSFUL HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL APPLICATION ESSAYS, SECOND EDITION. Copyright © 2009 byThe Harbus News Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America

I grew up in Jamaica at a time when Rastas were still regarded as useless, lazy, half-insane, ganja-smoking illiterates who were of no value to society. Teachers, students, office workers, and anyone of social importance could not grow locks, and families would go into mourning when their sons would start sprouting them. I heard the term “black heart man” used again and again as a means of expressing fear or ridicule of the Rastafarian. And this was in the early 1970s—after Bob