Discusses book that chronicles lives of the sisters from post-Reconstruction 19th Century to 1993. Combines personal experiences with historical accounts of life of African Americans in U.S.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 6 sources, 2001, $ 55.95
From the Paper "n Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters, First 100 Years, siblings Sarah Louise ("Sadie") Delany and her sister Annie Elizabeth ("Bessie") Delany share poignant and humorous details about their lives during the post-Reconstruction 19th century, Jim Crow, two World Wars, the exhilarating days of the Jazz Age of Harlem and how they managed to survive it all (Moore, 34). Co-author Amy Hill Hearth opens the narrative of the lives of Sarah Louise ("Sadie") Delany and her sister Annie Elizabeth ("Bessie") Delany by noting that they are among the oldest living witnesses to American history (Delany, Delany & Hearth, 3). Sadie was born on September 19, 1889. Bessie followed almost exactly two years later on September 3, 1891 ..."
Formatioin of his political methodology; non-violent strategies and social action. Influence of Christianity and Gandhi. Impact of his ideas and teachings.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 10 sources, 2001, $ 55.95
From the Paper "This research will examine the thought, life, and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. The research will set forth the conditions under which Dr. King's intellectual life was shaped and then discuss ways in which he made use of these ideas and teachings to form his views of the role of religion in fostering social justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr., had his roots deeply within what might be described as the black version of the American dream, in the sense that he was born into more comfortable economic circumstances than most other blacks in America in the 1930s. At the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1929, King, Sr. was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia and also a member of ..."
From the Paper "Robert J. Norrell, in Reaping the Whirlwind, examines the suggestion that Tuskegee, Alabama, was a "model of racial harmony" from the 1880s to the late 1960s. This study will argue that although many whites and some blacks did feel that their community was such a model of harmony, Tuskegee was in fact not such a model.
Norrell reveals, in fact, that Tuskegee was a thoroughly segregated community consisting of one powerful white sector and one politically impotent black sector. The veneer of harmony held up by many whites and some socioeconomically privileged blacks masked a deep racial disharmony. Whites claimed that blacks registered in the conservative Democratic party were evidence of harmony, but in fact the evidence is that the rolls were manipulated by whites. The struggle that emerged when racial..."
From the Paper "James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is a book of irony upon irony. Not a true autobiography but a novel based loosely on the author's life, the book portrays the life of a man of mixed black and white heritage who undergoes a series of unexpected reversals of consciousness largely based on his racial experiences. The protagonist appears to be white and is raised as a white of some socioeconomic privilege. His primary awakenings take him from his white upbringing into the world of blacks, where he comes to recognize and appreciate his black heritage, and finally back to the white world after his abandonment of that black heritage. Ironically, however, this series of awakenings leaves the protagonist as confused about his identity at the end of the book as he was in the beginning. The bulk of the book's ironies are rooted in the protagonist's almost.."
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine voices of hope and despair articulated in Anna Deveare Smith's play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which is made up of vignettes that were performed in Smith's one-woman show and that, more significantly, function as commentary on the consequences of the Los Angeles riot of 1992. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context in which Twilight was written and then to discuss how the selected monologues convey the emotional content of social, economic, and political realities--or perceptions thereof--of the contemporary Los Angeles experience.
When on a spring afternoon in 1992 the policemen who were filmed on videotape beating a black motorist, Rodney King, Los Angeles gradually became a city under seige. Smith's play title, Twilight, refers to the hours after the verdict, when events of.."
From the Paper EBONICS AND LITERACY
"Dialects in the United States are spread throughout the country. Not all members of a group speak the same dialect, and dialects among groups differ. he most controversial dialect in American English is Ebonics. In order to advance socially and economically, individuals must have access to the culture of power, and therefore, dialect use is often discouraged by teachers in favor of Standard English use. But, does sufficient reason exist to discard or devalue vernacular dialects in pursuit of literacy in Standard English?
There is "scarcely a country in the world today that could claim to be monolingual in any real sense…Furthermore, historical linguistic conflicts reemerge as minorities assert their identity" ("Literacy", no date, p. 1). In 1990, over 30% of the public school ..."
Abstract "In Alex Haley's transcribed work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), readers are treated to several valuable lessons in sociology. Without summarizing the book in great detail, the story of Malcolm X reveals the significance of social and economic stratification in affecting people's religious beliefs and people's perspectives on social problems and life chances
From the Paper "In Alex Haley's transcribed work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), readers are treated to several valuable lessons in sociology. Without summarizing the book in great detail, the story of Malcolm X reveals the significance of social and economic stratification in affecting people's religious beliefs and people's perspectives on social problems and life chances. This story shows a Malcolm X who grows out of a socialized value system emphasizing violence and hatred, into a de-socialized system emphasizing a new ideological orientation on race relations, to a re-socialized system nearing the viewpoints of Martin Luther King--a civil rights leader once despised by Malcolm. This research will examine this process of social development through the eyes of Malcolm X.
The Nation of Islam began in the early 1930s in the United ..."
Examines the history and evolution of the black codes (from the Civil War to the 1990s) designed to keep African-Americans second-class citizens after the emancipation.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 6 sources, 1999, $ 47.95
Abstract The Civil War ended slavery, but it did not give African-Americans equality. Southern whites, upon regaining power in the late 1870s and early 1880s, instituted black codes, also known as "Jim Crow" laws.
From the Paper "The Civil War ended slavery, but it did not give African-Americans equality. Southern whites, upon regaining power in the late 1870s and early 1880s, instituted black codes, also known as "Jim Crow" laws. Those statutes, coupled with racist terrorism and official indifference (if not hostility), relegated African-Americans to permanent second-class status for decades, until the U.S. Supreme Court began dismantling "Jim Crow" in the 1950s. This paper will analyze the impact and the legacy of Jim Crow laws, from their birth in the 19th century, their death in this century, and their lingering effect as the new millennium dawns.
After the Civil War, Congress passed (and the states ratified) three amendments to the U.S. Constitution: the thirteenth, which ended slavery; the fourteenth, which barred discrimination based on race; and the fifteenth, which ..."
From the Paper "Introduction
Slavery was called the "peculiar institution," and it was stoutly defended by those who benefited from it, the white plantation owners in the South, just as is was vehemently opposed by abolitionists in both North and South who saw it as an evil. Slavery was a business for some, an economic necessity for others, and for those enslaved, a way of life from which they could only rarely escape. The image of the abolitionist has been of white Northerners who formed societies and agitated for change, serving a swell as part of the underground railroad to free slaves. However, there were also black abolitionists who played a prominent and important role, and African American leaders among the freed slave population served a particular role in that they had been victims of slavery and were now able to..."
Abstract This paper discusses the history of slavery - examining it roots and how it developed over the years. In shows how slaves are as old as civilization itself, listing several ancient cultures which used slaves. It shows how the experience of slavery differed for men, woman and children and examines the various ways in which slaves were obtained - through debt, war, pacts and heritage. It compares the experiences of slaves in the ancient world to that of the Middle Ages and finally looks at the more recent issue of slavery in the United States. The paper concludes with the phenomenon of the emancipation of slaves in America.
From the Paper "Slavery might be defined as the now unlawful ownership of one person by another, with the purpose so that the owner can exploit the labor of the person he owns for his own gain or enjoyment. When we think of slavery we usually think of the period in United States history where slave owning was condoned as a necessary evil by many, or of isolated reports in the current news of private slave ownership. The truth is that the practice of one human being enslaving another is as old as civilization itself."
Abstract The paper gives a biography of Thoreau starting from his childhood. It gives insights to his thoughts and philosophies and comments on his essays ?Resistance to Civil Government,? ?From Walden,? and ?Life in the Woods.? It describes his influence on writers, philosophers, poets, conservationists, politicians, and statesmen.
From the Paper "Thoreau believed that government was at its best when it governed the least, and that no government was the ideal. However, he also campaigned for the government to foster culture and education, build roads, prevent crime, and protect wildlife. A pioneer ecologist and conservationist, Thoreau was one of the first Americans to understand that natural resources were not inexhaustible. He said, "A town is saved not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and swamps that surround it" (Walking pg). He distrusted institutions, disliked churches and rejected or ignored many aspects of Christianity. He believed that "man flows at once to God when his channel of purity is open" (Thoreau pg)."
Abstract This paper provides an analysis of the book "The Passing", written in 1929. It shows how, in this period, people were still mainly classified by their skin color. The book deals with the issue of how African-Americans themselves were divided, with the lighter-skinned people being accepted by the "white" society and the darker-skinned people being rejected even by their own.
From the Paper "Passing refers to the practice of light skinned black people trying to ?pass ? in white society. If a black person passed, they were thought of as rejecting their own history and heritage. If they could not or chose not to pass, then they were giving up a whole host of privileges and rights that came from being white. These were the Days before the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, everything was separate, but not any where near equal. If everything was equal, it is hard to imagine a black person who would want to ?pass.? There was this tug of war then, between heritage and rights that played on the people. Indeed, at the beginning of the novel, Irene runs into her childhood friend Clare, while they are both passing at a fancy Chicago hotel, Clare as a matter of course, and Irene, to avoid the summer heat of Chicago."
Abstract This paper discusses the book, "The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion" by Stephen B. Oates, which recounts the life and times of Nat Turner as he led the 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia. A background is provided about the author. The book is summarized thoroughly, presenting all the central characters and the main points of the historical account. The writer offers a personal critique and evaluation of the book.
From the Paper "The author also discusses the plight of Nat's mother, Nancy who was born in Africa and lived through the Trans Atlantic voyage known as the middle passage. Nancy was taken from Africa when she was only a teenager. The book was graphic in describing the voyage and the plight of the Africans aboard and the way that they were treated by white Europeans. Nancy was very opposed to slavery and taught her son that people should be free. The lessons that Nancy taught Nat stayed with him for the rest of his life."
Abstract This paper examines the masterpiece, "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee, about racial injustices and gender discrimination observed through the eyes of a young six-year old girl, as well as the movie version of the book produced by Robert Mulligan, and presents a comparison of the two. It shows how the movie was made black and white, in such a technologically revolutionary period, in order to capture the gloominess and the dullness of the Depression era and how the book paints a far more effective picture of that time period probably because it gave room to the author to get her personal experience into the play for she was a resident of the Southern town. The book symbolizes the theme of innocence and pureness through the use of mockingbird. However in the film version, the most fundamental theme of the novel has deviated slightly in terms of the plot by emphasizing more on the theme of racial prejudice than the theme of innocence. Both the movie and the book have been recipients of awards.
From the Paper "The representation of the world where racial injustices and gender discrimination prevail are observed through the eyes of a young six-year old girl whose widowed father is not only a man of words but is also a man of deeds. Gregory Peck plays Atticus Finch, the tomboy's father and a principled attorney (Marja: B06) who fights for the rights of a local black man wrongly charged with the rape of a white woman in their segregated town (Marja: B06). Gregory Peck has managed to do justice to his role and Robert Mulligan deserves equal credit for an aptly portrayal of the novel. However, since Lee wrote the novel keeping in mind her horrifying personal experiences as a child that gave birth to the protagonist of her novel, Stout, the novel turned out to be far more effective in its representation of the Depression-era Alabama than the movie version of it (Marja: B06)."
This paper examines the forgotten black roots of rock music in America, its influence on rebelling youth, and the evolution of new popular musical genres.
Abstract Rock and Roll music was both influenced by and influenced the youth movement of the 1960s. The beginnings of Rock music during the 1950s were actually quite rebellious and controversial. This paper puts the development of rock music into a cultural and historical context, drawing on examples such as Wynonnie Harris, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Bob Dylan. The paper also mentions beatniks and the psychadelic counterculture.
From the Paper "Rock and Roll music broke into the forefront of American culture as the baby boomer generation came of age. During the 1950s, the new musical style helped young people begin to rebel against their parents? generation in a stylistic, subtle, and symbolic way, generating more differences and encouraging a widening of the generation gap. Popular culture tends to disregard the 1950s as a sterile and orderly decade, however, the youth of the 1950s were beginning to rebel much more drastically and blatantly than we are led to believe, and more so than what remains as the lasting image in the historical memory of Americans who were alive at that time. While this music that we now call "oldies" seems so boring and unhip by today's standards, the earliest Rock and Roll music contained sexual implications and a gift of immediate gratification that spoke to the so-called juvenile delinquents of the time. By the early Sixties and the beginnings of the ?movement,? Rock and Roll music had already established itself as a successful form of cultural radicalism, that is, an individuality of spirit and expressive form of defiance against the norm. (The "movement" collectively refers a shift to the "New Left" which supported the Civil Rights Movement, was against the Vietnam War, and opposed the Old Left Liberal methods of working within the system to end poverty and racism by means of a technocracy.) The more the youth rebelled, the more the music changed to suit this rebellion. The lyrics became more overtly political and explicit, and Rock and Roll music began to ?evolve out of artistic necessity,? when new ways to rebel were necessary, in order to keep on rebelling, as it were. Folk musicians began to blend their lyrics and style with Rock music, and wrote songs that were true reflections and reactions to the times and responded to the changing world. By the mid 60s, a youth "counterculture" hit the scene, and Rock and Roll had split into two breeds of music: one which served an industry and popular culture, and another type of music for political activism, which eventually infused itself in the drug-laden hippie subculture."
