Belief and perseverance are the eternal children of struggle, sculpted throughout the ages by poets, poets like Langston Hughes, who wrote “I, Too” and “Refugee in America” from the depths of black discrimination. “I, Too” describes an African American and his reaction towards black oppression, while “Refugee in America” speaks of the African American longing for true freedom. Eugenia W. Collier, like Hughes, captured the essence of black discrimination, through her poem “From the Dark Tower”. Taking a step back, “Courage”, by Anne Sexton, describes the trials of life in general, from birth until death, the hardships and the milestones. While human pain, tribulation, and difficulty are evident within each poem, a common overlying theme exists.…
Cornel West’s essay “On Black Fathering” clearly states what is needed to be a successful black father: first they have to overcome being dehumanized, second they must provide economically, psychologically and personally for their family, and finally they must also develop of who they are as a person (West 242). The main characters, Grange and Brownfield, in the novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland suffer through countless forms of hardships such as racism, extreme poverty, and living in dehumanizing conditions causing anger and bitterness from living under oppressive circumstances. From the oppression of the sharecroppers comes a hatred for the white landowners which inhibits their ability to raise a harmonious family. Throughout the novel, Grange fails to fulfill the role of being a father which cripples his son's ability to become a “good black father” as detailed within Cornel West’s essay “On Black Fathering”; only after he is able to grow himself is Grange is able to overcome his shortcomings as a father. Within the first section of West's essay On Black Fathering he clearly highlights the struggles that black fathers have to endure.…
Malcolm X was somewhat of an extraordinary man. I found him to be very descriptive and honest in his auto biography, he mentions things such as his own prejudice and bias, and even describes himself as being somewhat self-conceited. He even proves at many points in the book that he himself is racist, being that he discriminates against white people from a lesser view point to avoid criticism. This auto biography greatly stresses how ethnic diversity was looked at negatively during this period of time in the great depression. This resulted in not only moral demise but also violent actions.…
Dreams give people a reason to live. Fulfilling a goal and achieving a milestone can become one of the best feeling in the world. But when it has to be pushed aside, it can be very difficult. These types of sacrifices can change ones way a life, both positively or negatively. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry shows a 1950s African American man that has the fantasy of becoming a successful man.…
Claudia Rankine’s book, Citizen: An American Lyric, touches on current and past issues in the world today. One of the topics she discusses is discrimination. The book is different from other books that are introduced in schools such as, To Kill A Mockingbird and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Rankine deals with being a citizen in a world where people are worried if they will make it home alive.…
Set 1: The poem "To a Dark Girl" counter acts what the advertisements are trying to sell. In the advertisements one can see various skin lightening products meant to bleach the skin and remove it's "darkness" to something more "light and attractive". In the poem however Bennett talks very differently about the idea of skin color. To her one should not be ashamed of their skin color.…
The play “A Raisin In the Sun” and the poem “Harlem” both concentrate on the attainment of the forever promised “American Dreams” (higher education, prosperity, equality, freedom to come and go as you desire and to be whoever and whatever you want). These aspirations were and still are the hopes and goals society offers to all of us, unfortunately, many African-Americans rarely achieved and experienced them. Both writings depict the unfair treatment of African-Americans during the 1960’s with each implying how, discrimination and segregation, made achieving these dreams virtually insurmountable for most of the black population. The main difference between the play and the poem are the endings. The poem ends with a reference to the total destruction…
Specifically, everything a black person says or does in this setting is automatically correlated with race, and the historical role of African Americans in society. The author uses Hennessy Youngman’s quote “…a nigger paints a flower it becomes a slavery flower” to explicitly state that black people cannot act or express themselves without having a…
The Autobiography of Malcolm X was not only a depiction of Malcolm X’s life but it also presented racial discrimination that he faced. A large portion of the book revealed and described the rigorousness that he and minorities like him faced. Malcolm’s experience of racial discrimination from both races, black and white exhibits the extent to which racism is still ingrained in society. It also displayed that racial discrimination and injustice were not exclusive to just the South but was a nationwide dilemma.…
Her mom tells her that it is in human nature, her dad says to stand up, her grandma wants her to ignore it. How are you supposed to ignore something that seems to control your life? Prejudice, her whole family faces it. Being half black isn’t easy, even in America. Everyone seems to blame her, her sisters, her mother for the war going on some call it World War Two, but Joy calls it ‘Stupid’.…
Richard Wright’s African American literature expresses the theme of exploring black identity(World Book Discover, 2015). Richard Wright wrote many popular books with this theme in mind including Native Son and Black Boy. Wright lived in a time of racial segregation which greatly affected his work and views on the American Dream (Galens et al. ,2001). The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Richard Wright condemns the idea of the American Dream in his books Native Son , Black Boy, and Uncle Tom 's Children that expresses African American’s struggles as well as his own struggles through racial conflicts, whites…
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is able to bring to light various issues occurring in Chicago’s Southside during the 1960s,the time at which the play takes place. Many of theses issues stem from racial tensions,terrible education and poor housing systems among other things for blacks at the time. Money, however is the main focus in the play because it interrelates with many of the conflicts that occur between family members in A Raisin in the Sun. The Younger family’s perception of themselves and the world around them are impacted by money because they believe money gives them power in society and their homelife, allow them to pursue or refute the American Dream, and controls their ability to be happy.…
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, delves into the African American psyche during the 1950’s in the way a lower class black family deals with acquiring new money and moving into a new neighborhood. All of the members of this family have their own dreams, and the different ways they handle their dreams getting seemingly crushed reveals a lot about the African American psyche during this time period. Beneatha, the daughter of Mama and sister of Walter, has a dream to become a doctor and take care of people, but due to the sexism and racism of her peers, it becomes nigh impossible for her to achieve her dream. Because of the time period she lives in, her dream is marginalized and discounted by everyone she meets, including her own family.…
The history of African Americans has always been limited in many school systems creating an ignorance to many people on the construction of this race. To truly understand why a race of people do things you need to know their history and where they came from. The African American Experience is often considered one of the most interesting pieces in history. Africa, the world’s oldest populated area and also considered the beginning of humanity was comprised up to 10,000 different states and groups with distinct languages and religions. The country of Egypt was a huge contributor to the development of Africa and other world civilizations and was the land of mathematics and problem solving.…
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry tells us a story about a struggling black family dealing with a move during the 1950s in Chicago. Lorraine Hansberry pinpoints the struggles this family was facing due to race, gender, and class. Being an African American family in the 1950s went through many hardships and they were segregated based on their economic standing. Even today we still face many problems with poverty . The problems of poverty and economic stature depicted in this story stands as an obstacle for their goals leading to a weakened lifestyle of an African American family.…