Abstract
This paper examines Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal", Leslie Marmon "Silko's Ceremony", Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet." It shows how they all offer vivid and important accounts of racism in the United States of America, all present different aspects of the problem and offer different ways of coping with them. More than anything, these texts testify to the continuing problem of racism in America and the multiplicity of forms in which racism can manifest itself.

From the Paper
"Indeed, the manifestations of racism are so heavy within the "Battle Royal" section of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man that it is difficult to pinpoint one single instance of racism, which outshines the others. Indeed, the chapter effectively presages all the manners of racism that will eventually manifest later in the book. The unnamed protagonist who has won a school prize is sent to the white men's club to deliver a speech, but is forced to compete in the Battle Royal instead, a request with which he too willingly complies. He is forced to box a large group of other men blindfolded, to pick coins off an electric carpet (which turn out to be fake coins), and eventually to read his speech with his mouth so full of blood that he can barely speak and is forced to swallow his own blood. The racism throughout the chapter is grotesque and at point absurd, but Ellison uses this absurdity to use the Battle Royal scene as an effective allegory for the rest of the book."

Tags:malcolm, x, ballot, bullet, luther, king, birmingham, jail, silko, ceremony, marmon, battle, royal, ellison

Abstract
This paper explains that the essay, "The Library Card", by Richard Wright, illustrates a young, black man growing up in Memphis who cannot borrow books from a whites-only library because he cannot obtain a library card. The author points out that the racism experienced by Brent Staples is subtler, but still present in the legal racism of the Northern states of the 1970s. The paper stresses that even if one man experiences de jure versus de facto racism, this does not mean that racism has less of an impact upon Staples's life than it does on Wright's.

From the Paper
"Both contradicting ideas in both essays the young Black man dangerously striving for knowledge against legal constraints and the adolescent Black man dangerously lacking in knowledge, walking down a city street, are simultaneously held in the minds of racist society. The experiences of both authors, when viewed in consort, shows that there is no way out of the irrational, racist mindset other than bringing it to the reader's attention. Black education is feared and Black violent ignorance society fears what it has attempted to generate. It existed in the past, and it still exists today, just as damaging, even if the legal prohibitions that thwarted Wright are no longer in place. In fact, because Wright circumvented the law, perhaps the law matters less than the fetters that exist upon white minds that endanger Black self-esteem."

Tags:libary, legislation, racist, invisible, circumvention

Abstract
This paper explains the refusal to ignore and tolerate racism in these three pieces of 20th Century writing. The author states that each writer looks at racism differently but illustrates through their fiction that racism existed during the early 20th century and that African-Americans had to deal with it in their own unique ways. This paper stresses that writers refused to tolerate racism; and ,through their works, they urged others to do the same.

From the Paper
"In "Sonny's Blues", James Baldwin takes a different approach to racism. Sonny is a young man growing up in an urban ghetto, rather than a small Southern town, yet he and those around him face the same prejudice and racism, as he sees while he watches a young group of women sing on a street corner. ". . . it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through - to sing like that. It's repulsive to think you have to suffer that much" (Baldwin 132). Sonny sees the suffering, but even though he reaches the depths of despair in heroin addiction, his life, and the story which portrays it, is more hopeful and uplifting, because Baldwin can see better days in the future, and he believes men like Sonny, who finally find their passion, and in it themselves, will help lead blacks to better days."

Tags:period, viewpoint, tolerate, laws, humiliation

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze three works: "Their Eyes Were Watching God", by Zora Neale Hurston; "Sonny's Blues", by James Baldwin; and "Battle Royal", by Ralph Ellison. Specifically the paper discusses the refusal to ignore and tolerate racism in these three pieces of 20th century writing. Each writer looks at racism differently, but each writer poignantly illustrates through their fiction that racism existed during the early 20th century, and African-Americans had to deal with it in their own unique ways. The writers refused to tolerate racism, and through their works, they urged others to do the same.

From the Paper
"Anti-racism is a strong and compelling theme throughout each of these 20th century works. Each work handles black characters differently, but the characters all experience racism, and deal with it as best they can. Hurston weaves the realities of black life in the South in the 1930s subtly through her book, from Mrs. ?. Who has an almost religious devotion to anything white, to the subtle reminders that these people may be free, but they are still certainly second-class citizens, "conveniences" as she calls them. "These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. . . . But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things."

Tags:african, american, black, semitism, south, civil, rights

Abstract
By examining American author Flannery O'Connor's story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" the paper shows that the central theme is a view of the degrees of racism that existed during the desegregation period in American history. The paper also shows how the son, Julian, is more like his mother than he realizes.

From the Paper
"In an ironic way the title itself implies various degrees of racism that exist in both characters. Mrs. Chestney's statement in regards to blacks shows this correlation: "They should rise but on their own side of the fence" (O'Connor 207). Mrs. Chestney does not mind black people rising as long as they don't converge with her world. Dorothy Tuck McFarland also finds this relation between the title and the characters: "It is true that O'Connor deliberately plays off the meaning of the title against numerous metaphors of non-convergent rising, and especially against her characters' desire to rise without convergence" (McFarland 229). This can also be seen in Julian's character. Julian thinks he has risen but has not converged with the ideals he professes."

Tags:Mrs., Chestney, bigot, negro

Abstract
The paper addresses the relationship between the black Jim and the white Huck in the book as well as Twain's use of the term "nigger" to explore whether the book condones racism. The paper shows how there are arguments that the book defends racism but that it also condemns racism. The writer of this paper believes that each side of the debate can still find Twain's novel valuable in a discussion of the effects of racism on society and the role literature plays in supporting or debunking that racism.

From the Paper
"An iconic American author, Mark Twain has been a staple in high school and college classrooms for years. The humorous Southern author who worked as a riverboat pilot, printer, and newspaperman before becoming an author ("Mark Twain: Biography") is often an interesting subject for high school students. His novels are taught with cultural significance, humor, and stylistic choices worthy of study. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has long been a favorite among the high school teaching crowd. Not only is it a piece of classic literature, but the novel's main character, the adventurous, miscreant Huck Finn, is a protagonist with which high school students can easily relate. But not everyone is pleased with this book or its inclusion in the high school classroom. In 2007, the Dallas News reported on a controversy regarding teaching the book in the high school classroom, and this controversy was just one in a string of debates questioning whether or not the book should be taught in high schools (Fox). So why is the book so controversial?"

Tags:Huck, Jim, nigger, blacks, stereotypes

Abstract
The writer discusses that although many Canadians are proud of living in the only country in the world that embraces multiculturalism as an official policy, the truth of the matter seems to be that many minorities still experience racist discrimination in various spheres of Canadian life. This literature review examines the literature on the subject of racism in Canadian education, to ascertain whether racism is in fact a problem in Canadian schools. A good place to start the literature review is to look at the broad picture of racism in Canada, and in particular at the theoretical concepts and discourses that have been used to examine this issue.

From the Paper
"Beiser et al. researched the effects and levels of stressors facing refugee Southeast Asian children in their new Canadian schools. They point out that many other studies have concluded that one of the most intense stresses such children have to cope with is the stress of fitting into these schools."

Tags:racism, education, canada

Abstract
The paper explores how Walt Whitman's works espouse or express his views on racism. In particular, the paper notes that Whitman cannot be easily categorized as either a "racist" or as a progressive thinker who thought beyond race; instead, he internalized the Eurocentric and "white-centric" paradigms of his time whilst simultaneously also admiring the physical beauty of African-Americans and by giving them a stature and an agency that was not granted them in most of the literature of the age.

From the Paper
"The next several pages look at Walt Whitman's view of racism in America by exploring how his works espouse or express his views on racism. In particular, the paper notes that Whitman cannot be easily categorized as either a "racist" (at least in the most invidious sense) or as a progressive thinker who thought beyond race; instead, he internalized the Eurocentric and "white-centric" paradigms of his time whilst simultaneously also admiring the physical beauty of African-Americans and by giving them a stature and an agency that was not granted them in most of the literature of the age. Yet, to confuse matters, he was also an..."

Tags:walt, whitman, racism

Abstract
This literary study analyzes the morality and racial issues that arise within three works by James Baldwin. By analyzing "Go Tell It On the Mountain", "Another Country", and "Going to Meet the Man", one can realize the victimization that racism places within the philosophy of Baldwin's characters. By understanding these characters within a white racist environment, the premise for victimization within a racist construct is brought forth through an African-American perspective. The evolutionary basis of victimization in "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin relates the story of a young man, John Grimes, who must learn to abide by a religious moral standard in his life. The victimization of this tale is conveyed through a moral idiom, as both of John's parents have led lives of betrayal and infidelity.

Tags:baldwin, race, literature

Abstract
This paper looks at how Alice Walker, following the great tradition of African-American literature, has been considered one of the women writers who fought to "break the barrier" that divides African-Americans from other races and women from men in a dominantly white American and patriarchal society, respectively. In particular, it examines how, due to the extraordinary themes and powerful characterization of Celie, the main character in "The Color Purple", Walker has become one of America's most prolific African-American women writers.

From the Paper
"What makes Walker successful in portraying the lives of African-American women? As reflected in The Color Purple, Walker sought to confront the primary issues and problems that African-American women (and women in general) experience during her time that is, the issues of racial, gender, and socio-economic discrimination within African-American communities and the society. These issues include the racial discrimination against (by the dominant white American society) and among African-Americans; gender conflict between males and females, particularly in the struggle for power and dominance; repression of women through poverty; and coping with physical and emotional abuse, self-discovery, and lesbianism."

Tags:celie, racism, discrimination