Abstract This paper discusses the book, written under the pen name Linda Brent, first published in 1861, in which Jacobs tells of her years as a house slave before the Civil War. The paper's author describes the sexual exploitation and the incredible sacrifices Jacobs made to gain her freedom and that of her children. The author feels that it is difficult to think that anyone could read Jacobs's description of slave owners and not feel utter shame that humans could treat humans in such manner.
From the Paper "Jacobs's description of New Years Day was heart wrenching. Mothers and children separated amid pleas for mercy. It was indeed a day of sorrow as slave mothers. Jacobs describes them, "watching the children who may al be torn from her the next morning"she wished that she and they might die before the day dawn?. The desperation and helplessness these women felt, "mother clinging to her child, when they fastened the iron upon his wrists, could you have heard her heart-rending groans"pleading for mercy?. Their pleas were in vain, for slaves were property and therefore undeserving of compassion."
This paper discusses the character, Bigger Thomas, portrayed in "Native Son" by Richard Wright, as the existential hero and his alienation from society and from himself.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 2 sources, 1977, $ 79.95
From the Paper This research paper is about the character, Bigger Thomas, portrayed in Native Son by Richard Wright, as the existential hero and his alienation from society and from himself.
The task of adjustment for Blacks in American society, particularly Black youths, is arduous, and made more difficult by the combined handicap of racial barriers and inferior social status. Personality deficiencies results and the behavioral patterns Blacks have learned in their own domestic and social environment are often inappropriate in greater American society, minimizing their chances for success - unless he is able to overcome the obstacles placed before him by a society which has a history of treating Blacks as inferior beings.
Native Son, a landmark in fiction, is the absorbing story of a "bad Negro" caught in the friction generated by his own ... "
From the Paper "In the novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker writes about people she has known, people who lived in the part of the country where she was raised, and she reflects the conditions of those people and the values they represented within the larger context of American society. They constitute a subculture shaped by particular economic and social forces. The subject matter is the mistreatment of black women by their men, and in exploring this theme, the book has takes place in the mind of a particular victim of this kind of life, expressed by her through letters that fairly cry out for help and for a different life. Celie is the young black girl living in Georgia who has never known any life but one with male violence in it. That violence has been created in large part by the economic and social realities of being black in America, but from the point of view of one black girl, all that ... "
From the Paper "James H. Cone, in Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream Or A Nightmare, presents the thesis that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, for all their perceived personal and political differences, were leaders whose vision of America and its racial problems were growing increasingly close to one another. This is not to say that if the two men had lived longer they would have advocated the same philosophies and policies, but it is to say that there were many areas where their visions were complementary rather than contradictory:
Integrationists and nationalists complemented each other. Both philosophies were needed if America was going to come to terms with the truth of the black experience. Either philosophy alone was a half-truth and thus a distortion of the black reality in America."
A critical review of the work on the destructive effects of slavery from the early 17th century to nationhood, focusing on the slaves' survival skills and non-stereotypical life experiences.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 1 source, 1994, $ 39.95
From the Paper "Donald R. Wright, in African Americans in the Colonial Era: From African Origins Through the American Revolution, presents a fascinating exploration of an aspect of African Americans in slavery which he effectively argues has not been given adequate attention---the two-thirds of the period of slavery which existed before the creation of the nation. He presents a fresh focus on "the study of American slavery," arguing that the traditional focus "has long been on the institution as it operated in the cotton South between about 1830 and 1860" (1).
Wright's book is memorable and powerful because he methodically tears away at the foundation of the conventional historical approach which has dealt primarily with only thirty years of an insidious institution which lasted for two hundred and fifty years, beginning with the arrival of the first slave in..."
From the Paper "The problem of racism is not specifically an American problem, though Americans have made it into an important political and social issue as they have tried to find a way to eliminate racism from their society. Racism occurs whenever there is a dominant racial group that uses its position to discriminate against a minority racial group on the basis of racial characteristics. Traditionally, discrimination has been seen as a creature of prejudice, and until the late 1960s the dominant perspective among social science analysts of discrimination was that prejudice and intolerance were the causes of discriminatory actions. Other observers have focused on individual racists and have seen the problem as the individual motivated by hatred of a given "outgroup." Still others consider the issue in terms of patterns of segregation and community..."
From the Paper "In her novel "The Bluest Eye", Toni Morrison explores the themes of racism and capitalism, specifically from the perspective of the black experience in the United States. In general, the view of the characters in the novel is that the world is run by and for white people, especially white people with power and property, and that black people, particularly poor black people, are hurt in many ways by this racist, capitalist system.
One of the most destructive results of this racist, capitalist system is that black people come to feel so negatively about themselves and their race that they long to be white. The character of Pecola portrays this self-hatred and its destructive effects.
Morrison clearly believes every aspect of racism to be ... "
This paper is an essay which states that despite America's rich and proud history, this country has never been able to shake the dark legacy of racism and that racism still exists in America today.
Abstract This paper discusses the history of racism in American history and reveals the evil and unjust treatment towards African-Americans and other groups. The author proposes that racism in America was allowed to flourish because the government allowed and supported it. The author believes that the survival of the U.S. is dependent upon our collective human will to do good for all ,not just a select few.
Table of Contents
A Reflection
The Legacy Continues
Looking Ahead
Final Thoughts
From the Paper "These definitions help to uncover why White America's have actively sought to hate others on the basis of skin color. America was built on the backs of Black slaves with their labor, their blood, sweat and tears. Black women nursed and raised white children and were expected to provide for their master better than they could provide for themselves and their families. Black slaves were captured in Africa and made to endure a long trip to America in inhumane conditions. It is said that more people died in the slave trade than during the holocaust. Blacks were sold to the highest bidder on auction blocks like animals and then doomed to a life of torment, toil and pain. Black women were raped. Black men beaten and their children were sold and taken away from them without notice anytime."
Abstract This essay is a comparison of the messages of the two black leaders and their personalities. It briefly presents King's and Malcolm X's main beliefs and goals for their people and how their personalities and backgrounds influenced the ways in which they sought to achieve these aims.
From the Paper "Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are two of the most famous Black American Civil Right leaders who influenced the African-American's struggle for emancipation during their lifetimes and left even greater legacies after their premature deaths. Both of them were contemporaries, having been born in nineteen-twenties, and dying in the sixties. Their lives followed parallel paths with both working towards a similar goal, i.e., emancipation of the black community in their own ways. "
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses and analyzes "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, a short story set in New York City's Harlem. Specifically, the the paper discusses the role the blues plays in the story. The paper shows that "Sonny's Blues" is about being lost, and trying to be found, within the context of being a black man in this society; and of finding oneself as so many black men have, through the blues?both as music, and as storytelling.
From the Paper "But if blacks recognize each other in the rarefied smoky atmosphere of the jazz clubs, black society at large often doesn"t even honor its own. It's sometimes impossible to earn a living as a musician--something the narrator warned Sonny about after their mother died. The narrator doesn"t even know who Charlie Parker is"perhaps the greatest jazz musician of all time. If blacks themselves can"t recognize the geniuses among them, what chance does Sonny have? "You"ll have to be patient with me. Now. Who's this Parker character?? the narrator asks Sonny, who becomes sullen and turns his back. ?He's just one of the greatest jazz musicians alive.? Sonny, too, will turn out to be a creative genius. For the black man, this means spontaneous improvisation: "Baldwin's bastardized characters must legitimize self through endless improvisation"[they] begin with memory, then bursts out into improvised song.? (Tsomondo, p. 197)"
Abstract This paper looks at whether affirmative action policies remain relevant today, with a particular focus on racial minorities such as African-Americans and Latinos. In the first part, the paper defines affirmative action, traces the policies’ history and examines their goals. The second part is a critical examination of the arguments of affirmative action supporters. The third part studies the arguments against affirmative action by evaluating both the policies’ effectiveness and their deleterious consequences for African-Americans and other racial minorities. In the conclusion, this paper maintains that though they were instituted with the best of intentions, current affirmative action policies are ineffective against addressing racial discrimination and have even had harmful effects on the people they were intended to help.
From the Paper "This classical definition of affirmative action as preferential treatment has since spawned more contentious definitions. Opponents of affirmative action, such as law professor Lino Graglia thus characterizes affirmative action as "a euphemism for discrimination: the granting of preference to some individuals and therefore disfavoring of others on the basis of their race" (47). In this paper, affirmative action is defined neutrally as any policy or effort to facilitate racial integration in society by developing more opportunities in education and employment to people who have traditionally been at the margins of social, economic and political life due to social perception stemming from their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, or disabilities."
Abstract Discusses the relationship between fear and racial or ethnic discrimination as complicated. Connection to one's cultural world and values. Forms of discrimination against African Americans (workplace, community) & against other ethnic groups. Fear of social violence. Low self-esteem and the emotion of fear, and fear based on concrete situations. How differences trigger fear. Police reactions.
From the Paper "The emotion of fear is an essential part of human development and experience. For adults, fear sends crucial messages to the mind about potential dangers and reflects an individual's emotional vulnerability about certain issues or situations (Owen, 1998, p. 483). Various individuals can develop a wide range of fears towards many objects and situations, such as fear of heights and open spaces. However, while some fears can be considered a regular part of a healthy normal life, fears that are related to abuse and discriminatory situations can have a debilitating effect on the overall well-being of the individuals concerned (Owen, 1998, p. 483). In this essay, the complex connection between the emotion of fear and discrimination will be explored. Racial or ethnic discrimination is used because it is also manifested in other forms of..."
Abstract Discussion of stable slave communities established and maintained by American slaves even under the oppressive system they were forced to live in. Psychological, social, familial, religious and cultural importance of these communities in allowing slaves to cope with the terrible conditions of their lives. Impact of master culture & Christianity. Role of story-telling and music in creating the community.
From the Paper "Despite the terrible conditions under which American slaves were forced to live, they were in many ways successful in establishing stable slave communities and in maintaining their sense of wholeness both as individuals and as members of their original cultures by depending on what culture they could transport with themselves - mostly in the form of stories, songs, music and dance - an in relying on a sense of family (often based not on consanguineal or not only on consanguineal bonds but also affinal ones) as well as religion, often the adopted Christianity of blacks in the New World.
Most Americans of African descent originally were brought to the continent involuntarily as slaves, although of course others have immigrated to the United States since the end of the slave trade. The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade can still be seen..."
Examines how Smith's "Strange Fruit", written over 50 years ago, embodies racial problems that still remain unresolved today, yet takes a hopeful humanistic tone, despite its tragic story.
Abstract This paper discusses the novel "Strange Fruit" by Lilian Smith, published in 1947, showing how Smith builds her novel around the inability of both whites and blacks, to let go of age old prejudice and bigotry. Also analyzed are the ways is which Smith's themes and character depict not only southern racial difficulties, but also offer an optimistic vision of life as it might be, if humans could learn to live beyond limited color perceptions, and allow every individual to reach out for and embrace their own sense of acceptance, purpose and love in the world.
From the Paper "It's Maxwell, Georgia, a town where, according to appearances, people know their place. The whites, pretending only good will toward inferiors, treat the blacks like sub-human beings. The blacks, while on the surface behaving like they are too dumb to notice, only show respect for the whites out of fear. A young white man, Tracy Deen, who always disappoints his self-sacrificing mother, returns home from World War I. It is obvious that he loves Nonnie Anderson and she loves him, but he is white and she is colored. The respected position of her family in the town, and the fact that she has a college education, count for nothing."
Tags: black, conflict, south, southern, vigilantes, white
Abstract The formal structures of Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" and Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" operate in unusual ways. The paper shows that because both poets were African-Americans writing about the injustices suffered by their race, they were writing about fundamental feelings of rage and the struggle to avoid despair. It shows however that they were also writing specifically about the ways African- Americans face the white world that oppresses them. Ironically, they also wrote in the language and, at times, in the poetic tradition of the white culture.
From the Paper "Dunbar's poem is written in iambic tetrameter and contains very few words of more than one syllable. The short words emphasize the regular rocking rhythm that resembles a children's rhyme. And for the first three lines of the poem the reader, while aware that something is being hidden, is not fully prepared for the fourth line where the shocking image of "torn and bleeding hearts" emerges. It emerges only to have its intensity quickly suppressed as the line ends with "we smile," which rhymes almost childishly with "guile." But the true depth of feeling is established by the contrast between the "torn and bleeding" and the "smile." The smile, a feature of the mask, hides the true feelings of the people who are Dunbar's subject -- just as the "smile" in this line masks the intensity of the words that precede it."
