The Fourth Of July, By Audre Lorde

709 Words2 Pages

Things don’t always go as planned in life. Young people in general always want the best in life but it is critical for them to learn that there are always some challenges ahead. In “The Fourth of July” Audre Lorde speaks of when she first experienced racism when on a trip to Washington D.C. While in “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, he had a “mental break down” after attending a revival meeting at his Aunt Reed’s church. Life can hit hard in the young stages of life. At the time both Langston Hughes and Audre Lorde were living with their families when they were leaving childhood. The Hughes family and the Lorde family had some things in common. Audre Lorde’s family was a fortunate family that was able to go on a pleasure trip to Washington D.C. …show more content…

Langston Hughes was spending time with his aunt and uncle at the time. He was from an African American family. The family was not the poorest of families but quite the opposite. He even had his own room in his aunt and uncle’s home. The family was a Christian family and the story took place at his aunt’s church revival. Both families had a huge role to play in both Lorde’s and Hughes’s lives. Audre’s parents tried to shield their children from the harsh type for racism that was happening in the U.S in 1940’s. They knew that the discrimination against blacks would have a negative effect on her. Audre’s parents also wanted to make sure they were treated equally and that she and her sister got the chance to experience what the other children at the school would have gotten to see. On the other hand, Langston Hughes aunt was trying to deliver him to Jesus making sure he was saved. His aunt was looking out for him spiritually. Aunt Reid insisted that Langston attended the revival and even told him what to expect. She and her church members would pray and sing over to make sure he would find …show more content…

For Audre while in Washington D.C she encountered how discriminative people could be when at a restaurant with her family. Phyllis, Audre’s sister school wasn’t able to travel there with her school. While sitting with the family a white waitress would tell them that they were not able to stay and eat. Now that shocked Audre because it was the first time she had experienced first-hand this discriminative act. She was furious of this injustice. Her parents had nothing to say and her sisters was as quiet as the parents. She wrote a letter to The President of the United States. She then expressed her anger on everything that she remembered that was white as she said “The waitress was white, and the counter was white, and the ice cream I never ate in Washington D.C.” (Lorde

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