Martin Luther King Junior once stated that, “our lives begin to end the day we become silent.” This was a huge staple in the African American community previous to the 1960s. Does the fault solely lay on the fact that African Americans were so in fear of their life and the life of their loved ones to speak up? After all this was the time of murdering those who were believed to be looking at a Caucasian in any shape or form. It was also a time for murdering those who even considered making a social change in such a bigoted nation. However, the fault often more times than not, usually lays with more than one party. Who exactly is known to be the cause of such a lack of noise in the African American culture is not at the moment a colossal deal of concern. What is important is that someone finally took control and declared that they refused to be quiet. And when one person …show more content…
Not only was she a heterosexual woman who turned lesbian, but also she was a Caucasian woman who the majority of the time found herself on the side of the underdog in any argument. When it came to fighting for women’s right she declared herself a feminist and got to work. When it came time for the African Americans to speak up and be heard, she joined in. She was a woman who had mainly lived in upper-class white neighborhoods who moved and started working in urban New York with kids who were minorities. This allowed for her to witness first hand the injustices. She however knew that it would take a little work to make others listen. Many didn’t want to listen to the problems that had nothing to do with them or painted them in a negative light, so she did it in the only way she knew how, by using imagery of nature that was very popular up until them, to give an underlying meaning of oppression and inequality. This can be witnessed in her poem, “What Kind of Times are
She wanted to let people who don’t think that women who don’t have power, actually has power too and that they are all equal. She explains to us how she is different in a unique way, and her magic that gives power to all woman. In her writing, the first stanza is longer for explaining the old and her new definition of magic. Although, on the last two stanzas, it develops her ideas that the magic empowers all the colored women. In the poem it says, “ I have been women for a long time, beware my smile, I have been treacherous with old magic and the noon’s new fury with all your wide features, promised, I am woman, not
In the 1960s racial hate was a massive problem, probably the biggest issue to face the country at that time. Fast forward 50 years and ask if that problem has been solved. Obviously it hasn’t. Racial slurs are commonly used in everyday conversations and stereotypical ideas about people of different races are commonplace. Some may argue that since the time of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s racially motivated hate issues have come so far in the direction of an equal society. While that is very true, by no means are all the problems solved. The media endorses the use of racial slurs and racial stereotypes. Television shows like “Blackish” promote stereotypical ideas of a black family and discusses topics like the use of “the n word”. Rap
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
She argued and fought for all women to have access and with it freedom to choose when and or if they wanted to be mothers.
...women, Jews, and Negroes were just some of the many things she believed in and worked for. With more equality between the different kinds of people, there can be more peace and happiness in the world without all the discrimination. Her accomplishments brought about increased unity in people, which was what she did to benefit mankind. All of her experiences and determination motivated her to do what she did, and it was a gift to humanity.
Like the Blues women, Simone expands ideas pertaining to self-expression, identity and beauty as they relate to black women. She does this by embracing what is definitively African American and connecting that to a historical context. By doing so, she is the embodiment of a political statement. Her journey, which began like many entertainers, detoured and then collided with one of the most pivotal periods in American history.... ... middle of paper ...
Times were looking up for African Americans, their new freedom gave them the option to go down a road of either criminal actions or to make something out of themselves. But the presence of racism and hatred was still very much so alive, Klu Klux Klan, although not as strong as they were after the Civil War was still present. Laws like Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” came into play and continued to show how racism was alive. Besides these actors of racism, blacks still started gaining a major roll in American society.
In her sixties, she came back to the South. In the South prison, she talked with some black people about what happened over there. She also gave them courage to be free and alive, before she came back to Chicago. In her last life, she wrote the autobiography so the young people knew what happen to their grandparents and parents during the reconstruction
One of those women was Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde was raised in a very sheltered family. She was protected by her mother, who believed that white people should not be trusted. Seeing her mother as an idol, she dared not question her authority and obeyed her, she said. The pivotal point was when Lorde was on her own in college, it is then she fought racism and prejudice with writing and her involvement in the women community.
After the death of Malcolm X the movement started to get funky. It seemed as though after the assinaition of Malcom X, the revolution’s focal point began to change. The movement began to head towards a more intense, and nitty gritty level. It seemed as though all the non-violent organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, as well as the Christian Leadership Conference had little hold on what was about to happen to the movement. The death of Malcolm X brought a new direction in the movement. In a society of a violent system it was hard for young blacks to take charge in an non-violent organization, it seemed to be a hypocrisy. And the idea of tolerance was wearing thin for the whole generation.
...s, and beliefs. She spoke on behalf of women’s voting rights in Washington D.C, Boston, and New York. She also was the first speaker for the foundation, National Federation of Afro-American Women. On top of all of it, she helped to organize the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (blackhistorystudies.com 2014).
Her parents nurtured the background of this crusader to make her a great spokesperson. She also held positions throughout her life that allowed her to learn a lot about lynching. She was fueled by her natural drive to search for the truth.
This was something she grew up with and was used to, she was used to being discriminated against because of her skin color. When she was 16 she dropped out of school to take care of her ill grandmother. She then learned how to type and took on sewing, where she later took her skills and became a seamstress and housekeeper to take care of her family. Also she and her husband was a member of the NAACP.
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
... she addressed many problems of her time in her writings. She was an inspirational person for the feminism movements. In fact, she awoke women’s awareness about their rights and freedom of choice. She was really a great woman.