...oet, writer. Born Audre Geraldine Lorde on February 18, 1934, in New York, New York. Raised in New York, Audre Lorde grew up to a leading African American poet and essayist who gave voice to issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Her love of poetry started early, and she began writing as a teenager. Lorde attended Hunter College, working to support herself through school. After graduating in 1959, she went on to get a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1961. For most of the 1960s, Audre Lorde worked as a librarian in Mount Vernon, New York, and in New York City. She married attorney Edwin Rollins in 1962, and the couple had two children—Elizabeth and Jonathan. The couple later divorced. Her life changed dramatically in 1968. Her first volume of poetry, First Cities, was published, and she left her job as a head librarian at Town School Library in New York City that year. Also in 1968, Lorde taught a poetry workshop at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, witnessing first-hand the deep racial tensions in the South. She would later teach at John Jay College and Hunter College in New York. Audre Lorde’s third volume of poetry, From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), earned a lot of praise and was nominated for a National Book Award. In this volume she explored issues of identity as well as concerns about global issues. Her next work, New York Head Shop and Museum (1975), was more overtly political than her earlier poem collections. With the...
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...pulls up, and this white fella opens the door with a gun.” To him and his companion it looked like they were going to be robbed, so they ran. As the gunshots sounded, all Armstead heard was “You black son of a bitches!” While his companion cried “I’m shot!” When justice had been done, 10-year-old Clifford Glover lay dead on the scene. In that instant, the power was taken out of a 10-year-old boys hand to live a full life. Just the same as the power was taken away from his mother to watch him live that life. A self-styled "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," writer Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her poetry, and "indeed all of her writing," according to contributor Joan Martin in Black Women Writers: A Critical Evaluation, "rings with passion, sincerity, perception, and depth of feeling." While driving, Lorde heard a radio broadcast announcing the acquittal of a white policeman who had shot and killed a black ten-year-old. She was so furious and sickened that she felt that the sky had turned red, and had to park the car before she drove it into a wall, according to a biography in Magill's Survey of American Literature. Then and there, she inscribed her feelings of outrage over...
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...Coal by Audre Lorde Summary In her essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” Lorde argues that poetry, as a revelatory distillation of experience, provides the illumination by which people scrutinize their lives and give substance to their unformed ideas. She also believes that each woman’s being holds a dark place where her true spirit grows hidden, forming a reservoir of creativity, power, and unexamined and unrecorded feeling. She has written that “the woman’s place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it is ancient, and it is deep.” It is not surprising, then, that one of Lorde’s most frequently anthologized poems is “Coal,” with its final two lines independently declaring “I am Black because I come from the earth’s inside/ now take my word for jewel in the open light.” This self-assertion and her awareness of the power of words are not merely themes but a necessity and a way of living for Lorde. In form, “Coal” is a discussion of the many different forms that Lorde’s words can take, “colored/ by who pays what for speaking.” Lorde’s imagery is as skillful as ever, as in such phrases as “singing out within the passing crash of sun,” an “ill-pulled tooth with a ragged edge,” or “seeking like gypsies over my tongue/ to explode through my lips/ like young sparrows bursting from shell.” The words that she analyzes, however, are both servant and served. The phrasing she employs seems to imply that Lorde herself is trapped by her words: “Some words live...
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...home videos are of me running around in a diaper like any other child’s home video; however, the major difference between my home videos and others is that I am running around screaming in Hindi. As I grew older and began to go to preschool the videos slowly transitioned to me speaking English. I came very close to completely forgetting how to speak Hindi, yet my parents only spoke to me in Hindi at home. Even though speaking another language has countless benefits, I have always felt different from the typical American teenager. Richard Rodriguez describes how speaking a distinct language created a barrier between his family and the rest of the country whereas Audre Lorde retells her first encounter with racism when she visited Washington D.C. Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” and Audre Lorde’s essay...
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..."black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," writer Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her poetry, and "indeed all of her writing," according to contributor Joan Martin in Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation, "rings with passion, sincerity, perception, and depth of feeling." Concerned with modern society's tendency to categorize groups of people, Lorde fought the marginalization of such categories as "lesbian" and "black woman," thereby empowering her readers to react to the prejudice in their own lives. While the widespread critical acclaim bestowed upon Lorde for dealing with lesbian topics made her a target of those opposed to her radical agenda, she continued, undaunted, to express her individuality, refusing to be silenced. As she told interviewer Charles H. Rowell in Callaloo: "My sexuality is part and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes from the intersection of me and my worlds. . . . [White, arch-conservative senator] Jesse Helms's objection to my work is not about obscenity . . .or even about sex. It is about revolution and change. . . . Helms represents. . . . white patriarchal power. . . .[and he] knows that my writing is aimed at his destruction, and the destruction of every single thing he stands for." Fighting a battle with cancer that she documented in her highly acclaimed Cancer Journals, Lorde died of the...
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...Audre Lorde was born on February 18, 1934, and died on November 17, 1992. She was African American writer, feminist, womanist, lesbian, and civil rights activist who was very proud of what she was as well as standing up for what she believed was right. She focused her discussion of difference not only on differences between groups of women but between conflicting differences within the individual. One of her quotes is "I am defined as other in every group I'm part of," she declared. "The outsider, both strength and weakness. Yet without community there is certainly no liberation, no future, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between me and my oppression". Lorde’s work on black feminism continues to be examined by scholars today. Lorde is urging black feminists to embrace politics rather than fear it, which will lead to an improvement in society for them. Lorde insists that the fight between black women and men must end in order to end racist politics. Here is another quote said by Audre Lorde “Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Black men. Too frequently, however, some Black men attempt to rule by fear those Black women who are...
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..."Hanging Fire" is a brief poem written by Audre Lorde that expresses the feelings of teenagers in a simple and direct context. The title "hanging fire" refers to a firearm that has been pulled its trigger, but is delayed in igniting. In this case, it represents the girl being hesitant and insecure about her future, therefore is neglected in going on, as in the bullet that is supposed to fire in “hanging fire”. Right in the beginning, Lorde is straightforward to us in her subject with the sentence, "I am fourteen"(line 1), and we therefore becomes aware of the fact that this poem is about a teenager. Right away it is followed by a personification, "my skin has betrayed me"(line 2).Of course, this cannot be taken literally as it really means who she is in another’s eyes is not who she is deep down. In using the word “betrayed”, Lorde now creates a sense that this teenage girl has no control over her actions and is debilitated by outside powers. This idea can also be seen throughout the context. In the lines “There is nothing I want to do/and too much/that has to be done” (lines 19-21), we may recognize that the unavoidable pressures teenagers receive, whether they are from their peers or parents. The effects from peer pressure can also be seen in the line, “I have to learn how to dance/in time for the next party”. When Lorde uses, "the boy I cannot live without"(line 3), readers perceive this naive fairytale-like dream of the-prince-on-a-white-horse and the child-like longing...
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...chance to show their true self and all they have to offer. I would say nothing to my classmates and let time take its course. This may allow Mary’s classmates to learn by the end of class their higher level of interest and possibly discover more commonalties than expected. Mary’s classmates need to develop diversity skills such as communication and self-evaluation to exert diversity consciousness to the best of their ability. Smart, well thought out, and respectful communication skills are necessary not solely be caring of others but also to think before speaking to express nondiscriminatory, open minded response. Self-evaluation and understanding areas of improvement allow the individual to focus on change to improve. In conclusion, as Audre Lorde said, “It is not our...
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...children. In the essay Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist Response, Audre Lorde gives her point of view regarding raising her children-specifically her young male son Jonathan. This essay reveals that despite the obstacles of raising children, regardless of what type of relationship couples are in, most parents want to raise children who possess the balance of being caring, independent and strong. Our daughters have us, for measure or rebellion, or outline or dream; but the sons of lesbians have to make their own definitions of self as men. Heterosexual couples aren’t the only couples who worry about the development of their children. In the essay Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist Response, Audre Lorde, a black writer, lesbian, and feminist describes the obstacles of raising her two children. She specifically explores the obstacles of raising her fourteen year old son Jonathan. Lorde realizes that because she is a woman and in a lesbian relationship, her daughter has a guide/outline of how to be a woman but her son will have to define who he is as a man. She also realizes that in being a lesbian she can teach her son survival instincts and acceptance, but she cannot layout what he needs to be a man. Women are taught at a young age to be sensitive, gentle, yet strong. Men are taught at a young age to be tough and fearless. They are also taught to not show emotions and be the provider and protector. Lorde gives an instance of when her child was being bullied. Lorde’s first...
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...Sydni Craig 000108021 Professor Bailey T and TR April 6, 2016 The Fourth of July In the story, the Fourth of July, by Audre Lorde the little girl is telling the story of a graduation present of going to Washington D.C. As a graduation present from graduating from the eighth and older sister from graduating from high school. And it says that she received the best graduation present but I agree to disagree with the people, who would say she received the best graduation present. I agree with going to Washington D.C. was the best graduation gift the eighth grader could receive. I agree because at a young age especially since she will be going to high school, it is great for her to see everything at firsthand of what the world was like during that time. It gives her an idea of how the world looks like in 1947, were as she is always being hidden from it and not telling what has been going on. But I can also disagree because her parents should explain to her in detail of what was going on, and I also disagree with that being a graduation present and it being the best present she will ever receive. She went through the process of seeing how and what life really is at her age and how it will be for the next couple of years. The world at the year if 1947 was full of racism and discrimination in which it is bad in some states, but also horrible in others. The young girl in the story witnesses her family and not be treated right at firsthand. The thing that was messed up about the...
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...In “The Fourth of July”, Audre Lorde express her anger toward American society. Her angry was caused by discrimination and racism in our Nation. I agree with Lorde, during this period in our nation’s history racism was treated differently. Lorde describes the excitement she felt before her family trip, her reaction to the first encounter of racism while on the trip, and how her parents did or did not deal with racism. To begin, I feel that Lorde was excited to receive a trip to Washington D.C. as a graduation gift. Lorde believed the trip was a gift of accomplishment for graduating the eighth grade, which turned out to be a train wreck. She didn’t understand what people meant by “it’s time to grow up” until her trip that summer in 1947. Her eyes were opened to what her parents had been hiding from her during childhood. The trip that was to celebrate her achievements and the beginning of her journey into adulthood turned into an abrupt experience that would change her aspect of our nation. Conclusion: Lorde provided a personal experience on how cruel our racial society could be. …….. I grew up in a mostly white neighborhood with only a few African Americans that went to my school, so racism was not an issue in my childhood. From the history books, movies, and articles like “The Fourth of July”, it helps me understand what it must have been like. With the Civil Rights Laws in place today, people are supposed to be treated equal, but unfortunately , that does not always...
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...authentic selves. We must learn to respect them. We must learn to listen” (Breathnach, 2010). In the essay “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Audre Lorde slowly unscrews the proverbial lid that has kept hidden the naked truth of the erotic for so long. Lorde’s essay, equal parts informative and poetic, is a defiant declaration against oppression, and aims to reveal and convince the reader of the truth in relation to the erotic. Using invitational rhetoric, “Uses of the Erotic” communicates themes of feminine liberation and defiance in the face of oppression. Imparting information by way of defiant declaration, the reader is offered a path to illumination. Lorde opens her essay with an introduction, or shall I say, reintroduction to a misunderstood “erotic.” Her interpretation of the erotic differs greatly from society’s, which perceives it as a purely physical sexuality lacking in emotional intimacy. Lorde defines the erotic as “a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling” (Lorde, 1984, p. 53). She conveys the erotic to the reader as a fundamental inner force of connectedness, explaining that it functions not only as a physical experience and expression, but a metaphysical sense of connectedness as well. Lorde aims to reveal and convince the reader of the truth in relation to the erotic. She goes onto explain that women carry within themselves the erotic, a...
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..."Hanging Fire" is a brief poem written by Audre Lorde that expresses the feelings of teenagers in a simple and direct context. The title "hanging fire" refers to a firearm that has been pulled its trigger, but is delayed in igniting. In this case, it represents the girl being hesitant and insecure about her future, therefore is neglected in going on, as in the bullet that is supposed to fire in “hanging fire”. Right in the beginning, Lorde is straightforward to us in her subject with the sentence, "I am fourteen"(line 1), and we therefore becomes aware of the fact that this poem is about a teenager. Right away it is followed by a personification, "my skin has betrayed me"(line 2).Of course, this cannot be taken literally as it really means who she is in another’s eyes is not who she is deep down. In using the word “betrayed”, Lorde now creates a sense that this teenage girl has no control over her actions and is debilitated by outside powers. This idea can also be seen throughout the context. In the lines “There is nothing I want to do/and too much/that has to be done” (lines 19-21), we may recognize that the unavoidable pressures teenagers receive, whether they are from their peers or parents. The effects from peer pressure can also be seen in the line, “I have to learn how to dance/in time for the next party”. When Lorde uses, "the boy I cannot live without"(line 3), readers perceive this naive fairytale-like dream of the-prince-on-a-white-horse and the child-like longing...
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...critical analysis hanging fire also, the door closed thing is that her mother isn't helping her through the hard time of early adolescence ashy knees are just a metaphor for a unsatisfactory life, stop taking so she's a girl with an unsatisfactory life, with a immature boyfriend, and a unhelpful mother. think this poem is about the hardships of a teenager, about how she feels her skin is deceiving her because it does not show her true colors, or who she really is. her knees are ashy because of all the "falls" she has taken, i see those to be her skcars of her life. learning how to dance before the next party can just be learing how to do anything before the next moment, being a teenager is a time of learning how to be an adult. she has fears of not making it through high school, which is a scary place for everyone, but i think it means she will not be able to do anything in life if she cant grow up. she thiks there is nothing to do or nothing that has to be done, which just means she sees no importance in anything. as always, a teenager thinks that no one cares about them and everything is either right or wrong no matter what she has to say about it. making a team or getting higher grades is an accomplishment to a teenager, she wishes she had an accomplishment but does not see all the little things she has done. she wonders why she is the different one who has braces. and finally she wonders who people are going to see her as tomorrow, her clothes, we all know teenagers...
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...most apparent and obvious forms of racial discrimination, such as slavery or segregation, have been eliminated. Nonetheless, racism effects the political, economic, and sociocultural structures of America in ways that cause separation between people of color and whites. Race constantly affects the way we are seen in society and controls our actions. Racism leads to ostracizing, bullying, and even violence. “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde both exhibit these struggles of racism....
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