...The poem I chose to do my final essay over is titled “Lion” by Jericho Brown. I chose to do this poem because it is a poem that I can greatly relate to. Knowing prior knowledge of my ancestors, generational history, and currently, predicaments that I have been in, “Lion” was a highly identifiable poem. I am very much into my black history and whatever my ancestors went through centuries ago, still resonates with me today. In “Lion,” Jericho Brown discusses the fears that many African Americans suffer from in today’s society. I have felt these same fears and because of that, I related greatly to this poem. Initially reading “Lion” by Jericho Brown, I did not quite grasp the concept of the poem, but after reading and analyzing the poem entirely,...
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...The Fight for the Fifteenth Amendment The fifteenth amendment to the United states constitution prohibited the United States government to deny someone suffrage based on color or race. The fight for suffrage for African Americans was a long one and took the help of many people and their words and ideas to finally win. However, it was a small step for mankind. African American men finally gained the right to vote, but where did that leave women? Fredrick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were two important writers dedicated to the cause of gaining the right to vote. Although their struggles were similar in nature, the difference between gaining suffrage for all races, and gaining suffrage for both sexes raised arguments between what should have been a collaborative force. In Fredrick Douglass’ essay “Learning to Read and Write” and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s essay “Declaration of Sediments and Resolutions” there were significant shared literally binaries. First off is the underlying factor Civilized v. Uncivilized. This is relevant to the argument because they both are considered uncivilized so they can’t vote. Secondly, Mental Darkness v. Education. Douglass wasn’t able to be educated because he was a slave to a white family and it was looked down upon for him to be educated. Stanton was a woman therefore she was seen by society as less intelligent even though she wasn’t. Third is Depravity v. Innocence. Both of them were being treated wrongly by someone above them and both...
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...poet—not a Negro poet” (Hughes 348). In his essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Langston Hughes covers many important points but his hook is one to mention. This hook focuses a lot on the main issue of the essay itself. The issue is that the negro poets want to write like the white poets implying that colored artists want to be white. This then leads to the fact that the white audiences turned to the artists of color and saw them as stereotypical entertainment mainly because these black artists were afraid of being themselves. Langston Hughes’s poem, “The Weary Blues” engages with themes of the Harlem Renaissance and the content of the poem expresses various issues Hughes discussed in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” The poem, “The Weary Blues” is a powerful poem because it highlights the cultural traditions of the African American descent during a time of the Harlem Renaissance. The audience is able to...
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...I enjoy writing and helping people realize they may not be the only one feeling how they feel. In one of my blogs I spoke about the fear of being unsuccessful after college. That is a thought many college students especially minority students may fear because some of us are the first to go to college. Being unsuccessful would put us and our family to shame, because they’ve tried hard to make sure we went to college so they want us to see it through. I used my personal stories and thoughts to relate to the audience. Throughout my writing, my relatable stories and voice has helped captured the audience’s attention. But towards the end of my blog posts and Project 2, I have seen a substantial difference. My voice is still the same but I feel I can capture the audience’s attention quicker because I learned to how to write to an audience. I am no longer writing and letting the audience think if it relates to them or not. Now the audience...
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...treated lke a subhuman so, what is the point of defending the prinicples of this “home” when you get treated like you don’t belong. “Trickology”- James Baldwin quotes Elijah Muhammed in saying this. I think that it means all the defenitions of a white world in which what all white people have told black poeple should be taken as truth, but it also becomes a black persons truth, because to oppose this trickology is to oppose what the oppressive system wants you to believe. Denying theses lies would certainly lead to the downfall of that human being. 5.”A certain hope died,a certain respect for white americans faded. One began to pity them or to hate them” I think this is important for his story , because it gives an idea about how most African Americans felt about White Americans during this time. Which i believe is what he was trying to convey with this essay overall that African Americans had given up on trying to understand and accept white...
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... In his short essay, “The Preconditions for Racial Change,” author Harvard Sitkoff argues that economic, political and ideological considerations played a major role in bringing about racial equality for African-Americans in the United States during the middle of the 20th century. Sitkoff maintains that the introduction of televisions into American homes, a booming postwar economy, the decolonization of many African nations from white rule and the emergence of the United States as the leader of the Free World were the driving forces behind bringing racial equality to the forefront for many Americans, both black and white. The arguments offered by Sitkoff regarding this awakening in many Americans are both compelling and convincing. While his viewpoints are based on nothing more than perception and opinion, his logic is sound and his line of reasoning is very persuasive. Sitkoff begins his essay by discussing the opportunities afforded to blacks as a direct result of positive changes in the American economy. With the explosive growth of our Gross National Product (GNP) after the 1940’s, many blacks saw a sharp increase in their income, the availability of jobs in industries that had previously been off-limits to them and advancement opportunities that ranked them alongside their white counterparts. In the past, the fear of blacks taking jobs that could have gone to whites was a powerful incentive to suppress the advancement of black Americans in the workforce....
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...letter to you with the beginning of the story. My people had a very rocky start. In the mid 1500’s European mariners started to bring African Americans to America as slaves. They were forced to migrate. African Americans were captured and brought to be sold. Two out of five of the African Americans died on the move from the Atlantic seacoast to where they were sold to Europeans as slaves. When they were on board the vessels they were chained below decks in racks the size of coffins. They were sold to people who wanted them primarily for plantation workers. Slave owners had no rules as to what they were allowed to do to them. They could use very harsh punishments if they saw fit. A lot of times families were broke apart family members would be sold to different families. Even through this really hard time for these poor people slaves still managed to develop a strong cultural identity. When children were separated from their parents adult slaves at the plantations would take care of all of the children not just their own. Even though they faced separation daily slaves would quite often get married. The north had less slavery then the south. So a lot of times slaves who escaped would go to the north. The civil war brought an end to it being legal to own slaves but there were many other problems that came about after the Civil War. African Americans were able to vote, start their own schools and churches, and they even were able to purchase land. Many of the people in the south were...
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...The novel, The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin, is a narrative composed of two essays, “My Dungeon Shook” and "Down at the Cross”. Both of these essays discuss the problems faced in America in the 1960s, surrounding the time of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrative has quite a few different themes but the themes that stuck out to me from both the reading and the lectures are the ineffectiveness of religion and “the negro problem”. These two themes, as different as they may seem, are both interconnected. “The Negro Problem” refers to the racial tension primarily between black and white Americans during this time and is a very important concept. The ineffectiveness of religion has to do with religion’s inability to deal with “the Negro Problem”....
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...The history of racial violence in the United States of America is extensive and complex, woven through centuries of dehumanization and bigotry. From the days of chattel slavery to the Jim Crow era to the modern day Black Lives Matter movement, racism towards African Americans throughout American history is displayed in a variety of ways. One such example of the social terror that African Americans experienced was that of the race riots of the late 19th and 20th centuries. This essay will explore one of the most prominent examples of race riots: the Tulsa Race Massacre, its details, and the social and historical context that led to the tragedy. The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma between May 31 and June 1, 1921, with the violence centred in Tulsa’s Greenwood district. The Greenwood district was...
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...around the remnants of sundown exile, the systematic expulsion of African Americans once it was dark; deemed as dangerous, they were once forced to leave the boxed quarters of $110,000 median income every night… official or not, this sundown policy was in place less than thirty years ago, and its racist crumbs remain. The town, named Lake Oswego, was nicknamed Lake No Negro—fitting considering the town is 90% white and only 0.7% African American—and while sundown no longer means expulsion, there is still, to this day, protests of new trains, bus stops, and apartment buildings because, and only because, it would let them in. The town evokes a West Coast sense of racism, not articulated or verbalized, instead perpetuated through nods or looks or words like...
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...is a shortcut your brain makes so it doesn’t need to evaluate every situation from scratch” said by Bitsy Bentley in an essay addressing her own racism toward African Americans. Bentley describes her experience with stereotyping people; specifically black men, which can be related to Brent Staples’ essay Just Walk On By. Brent Staples is an educated author and editor for the New York Times and in Just Walk on By, he explains his experience with being stereotyped as a dangerous black man throughout his life. In Just Walk On By, Staples relies on his persona and emotional appeal in order to convey the message that other people’s fears and stereotyping results in him having to carry the burden around nearly everywhere that he goes. Staples...
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...Economy of African American Music." Teaching the Journal of American History Vol. 90, No. 4.March 2004 (2004): 1295-1324. Web. 1 Mar. 2004. African American owned Record Company, which produced records for African American consumers, was faced with attempts by a large record corporation to force them into bankruptcy. Why would a large company do this for such a small African American owned company? How would it merit attention from African American people in this medium when you have more important subjects like voting rights and lynching? Moreover, why would it merit any attention at all, not to mention, selling records to black consumers. This article answers these questions and investigates the rise and fall of the small record company and explores the political economy in which it operated. Black Swan Records created by Henry H. Pace, who saw a way to respond to a hostile environment that African American people faced with, both in the entertainment industry and in American society. The protégé of W.E.B Du Bois, also saw that African Americans were not equally even when they were freed from slavery. Access to material goods that cultivate and motivate African Americans creative spirits were denied by America. The fear of African Americans, by White America, to support one another and encourage each other to develop business, and economic self-sufficiency was racially evident. African American growth and prosperity would shape the landscape for African Americans....
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...Gap in Health Disparities of African Americans Rosie Vasser Grand Canyon University Closing the Gap in Health Disparities of African Americans Historically speaking African Americans have had harder access to healthcare due to a number of socioeconomic reasons. Many are unable to even get to a facility. When thinking about poverty in America one must associate African Americans with poorer health, less access to medical care and higher risk factors than others. Stressors alone within this group places them at higher risk for hypertension, smoking, diabetes, etc. Lower income limits the availability to healthier food and quality healthcare. AA persistent struggle to achieve the American dreams translates to their persistent struggles with health. The dominate society generational connection to wealth, affords them the ability to access the best in healthcare. AA has very limited access to quality healthcare. According to Eileen M. Crimmins, Mark D. Hayward, and Teresa E. Seeman (2004), “People who are poorer and who have less education are more likely to suffer from diseases, to experience loss of functioning, to be cognitively and physically impaired, and to experience higher mortality rates” (2004), This essay will compare and contrast the health status of the African American minority group and compare to the national average. We will discuss the current health status of this minority group, how health promotion is defined by African Americans, and what health disparities...
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...skin. On a deeper level, it refers to white Americans refuses to address issues of race. While whiteness isn’t talked about most schools in America, it is an issue that we as a nation need to address. Being white in America means a great deal to the way you are raised, educated, and treated. White people do not have to be told to “go back to their country” or, as stated in the I, racist article, be forced to stop hanging out with a friend because their parents don’t want to be associated with a minority. White people don't have to fear for their lives whenever they are pulled over by a police officer. African Americans and other minorities are treated far worse than white Americans. When an African American man cannot get a job, he is called "lazy" or "there must have been someone better" when in actuality a white American man with a felony on his record has a better chance of getting a job and supporting his family than a black man....
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...Lernard Chambers English College Comp 1 Mr. David Glimpse March 3, 2014 The Other Meaning of Race This essay “What’s in a Name,” Henry Louis Gates created a expresses on his viewpoint of the discrimination that his parents, particularly his father, experienced during his childhood in the South. The specific example that Gates refers to involves an incident where a shopkeeper who was friendly with his father referred to him as “George,” a name that Gates now realizes was a popular way of referring to African Americans in those times. Perhaps because his father made good money and the shopkeeper felt uneasy about his status, or simply because of the color of his skin, Gates’ father had to accept this discrimination and there was nothing he could do about it. “The “Black Table ”Is Still There,” Lawrence Otis Graham, this story he created a point of view I would never imagine over something so small, like sitting at the wrong table. Mr. Graham had mention,” It was always something that was a source of fear and dread for three hours each school morning of my early adolescence. What I found interesting was that the Gates family was different than the other African American families in the town. They were treated with a mix of dislike and respect. An example would be “Them being allowed to eat where other blacks couldn’t due to Mr. Gates’ reasons and were of privileged status.” Once the incident with Mr. Wilson had occurred, the author might have felt ashamed or a bit embarrassed...
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