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While African Americans had to suffer through long periods of oppression and discrimination, they thrived to develop their own literature with many prominent authors. Their works were greatly influenced by their African roots which were combined with the new American cultures. African American literature also had a strong tradition of incorporating many forms of poetry. One of the driving force in African American literature came from the Great Migration when black people left the racist South America and moved north to places like Chicago with hopes of finding jobs. They usually settled to work in factories and other industry branches of the economy. From escaping the oppressive South, African Americans found a new sense of independence and …show more content…
freedom. The Great Migration would later contribute to the American Civil Rights Movement from which many powerful black writers had a chance to express their works. Black writers took advantage of the Civil Rights movement with an attempt to address the racial issues they were faced with within their works. Some of the most famous works actually came from Civil Rights Movement leaders. One classical example is “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. The theme that truly stands out throughout this course is the racism and discrimination that African Americans had to go through. Such racial issues played a huge role in shaping the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 1900s. Some of the most prominent changes that took place during this time were the 1954 Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This case marked the period in which segregated education was outlawed. Also, the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the late 1960s emerged as further progresses in the Civil Rights movement. The achievements as a result of the Civil Rights movement were notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite the fact that African Americans had to encounter the hostility, federal discrimination, and police violence, they always fought back with direct protests as well as nicely organizing political parties. To address these racial issues to the world, black writers expressed their concerns and challenges in their writing style. They were most concerned with the oppressive life that each African American had to endure. These writers also expressed a great deal of the behavior of many African Americans who accepted the discrimination as part of their life. Racism and discrimination during these periods were the main driving force that led to many important literature works by African American writers. One piece of literature work of African American writers that aimed to address racism is “Black Boy” by Richard Wright written in 1945. The memoir was written by Richard to talk about his childhood and young adulthood and his encounters with white Americans. “Black Boy” illustrated racism in this period as a problem that was blended into the American society as a whole. According to Richard Wright, racism was not just that it existed but rather it was rooted in American culture and society. It was rooted so deeply that he doubted that it would someday be removed. “Black Boy” also represented Wright’s desire to observe and reflect the discrimination that he himself was suffering from and was going around him. Throughout the story, Wright showed some examples of how racism affected the relationship between blacks and whites as well as the detrimental effects on blacks themselves. To Richard Wright, he grew up with a label of being black among whites. He also criticized blacks of racism because the black community he lived was unwilling to solve the problems. The desire to solve the racial issues led Richard Wright to take part in writings and gave him a sense of love of literature later in life. One of the early literature works that meticulously portrayed the oppressed life of African Americans is “The New Negro” by Alaine Locke published in 1925.
World War I had created a transition time for African Americans to transform from the Old Negro to the New Negro. Many African Americans soldiers, upon returning home, were determined to achieve a fuller part in the American society. Many thousands of them moved from the rural South filled with racism to the industrial North in a pursuit of new social and economic opportunities. In “The New Negro,” the author, Alaine Locke, showed us the myth of the Old Negro who had just become embedded into the American history. This concept of the Old Negro was solely a creation from historical controversy and debate. On the other hand, the New Negro turned out to be the augury of a new democracy in American culture. The New Negro Movement contained within it the goals it set out to achieve. Some of the main goals of the New Negro Movement were first to develop self-respect and self-reliance within blacks. For many years they had to rely on white Americans and almost lost their self-consciousness of self-respect and their own identity. The movement also set out to remove the social dependence of African Americans on white Americans in their society. In addition, the movement also aimed to repudiate the double standard of judgment and help African Americans rise from the social disillusionment to regain their racial pride. The New Negro Movement would also bring many benefits to African Americans according to Alaine Locke. First of all, the new and equal social status that they would have in the American society. The movement would also bring them their own independence from the superior whites and thus offer them a sense of pride of being African
Americans. Another piece of work by one of the most prominent authors in American literature is “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Faced with growing violence in the South amid racial tension, Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a peaceful march but was arrested and sent to jail. There he wrote a letter addressing his plan of a peaceful protest and more importantly the racism and discrimination that Africans Americans were going through. He called for non-violence protests and march since that would be the only feasible way in solving the racial issues that America was facing. According to King, he wanted to have a “constructive nonviolent tension” to achieve his goal of letting American be aware of the deeper problems that it had. King also pointed out that without non-violent and forceful direct actions, the true civil rights of Americans would not be acknowledged and achieved. These peaceful protests would thus benefit the long-term goals of African Americans. In his letter, King talked about “just” and “unjust” laws and that African Americans had been suffering from “unjust” laws for so long and that this problem needed to be solved. According to King, “unjust” laws were ones that were not rooted in eternal and natural law and ones that should be removed from the society. The letter also indicated King’s feelings toward the unjust events that were taking place and from which Africans Americans were the victims. This letter also explained the approach King took throughout the whole Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is one of the finest examples of African American literature. It’s a piece of the American history full of unjustice and racism during the segregation. The letter illustrated how King approached the social problems and how he worked to solve these problems. One of the more recent literature works that I found interesting is “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” written by Alice Walker published in 1983. This collection of essays were Walker’s stories of the life of African American women in American society. She was most concerned with the life of African American women who were considered as tools in the society. These women were the ones that others could rely on. She used the term “mule of the world” in her essays to show that African American had been handed the burdens that others refused to carry. Her essays were an example of how African American women were discriminated against in the society. However, despite being taken advantage of, black women thrived to develop their own creativity through artworks. The quilt is a powerful image throughout Walker’s essays. It was used as a fanciful and inspired figure of Crucifixion. The quilt was a piece of art that displayed powerful imagination and deep spiritual feelings of African American women. In conclusion, African American literature focused on the role of black Americans within a larger American society. Their works primarily dealt with what it was like to be a black American. The presence of great African American literature works spoke for themselves and tested the nation’s claims of freedom, democracy, and equality. Most of these works represented the oppression of black Americans and the challenges they had to endure throughout history. Nevertheless, these authors thrived and found a way to address their social problems of racism and discrimination through literature. Their works also played a huge part in letting the public acknowledge the inequality and discrimination that was taking place during those time periods.
The thing that I consider most interesting about this article is Alan Locke’s comparison of the old Negro vs. the new Negro. He pictures the old Negro as put together, they had life set up a certain way there was nothing new and exciting about it. In his description of the new Negro he uses words such as radical and new psychology. He mentioned
The "New Negro," the Black writers in 1920/30, tried to get out of the dominant white assimilation and practice their own tradition and identity in autonomous and active attitude. In virtue of their activities, the Harlem Renaissance became the time of sprouting the blackness. It offered the life of the black as the criterion to judge how well the democracy practices in America and to weigh the measure of the dream of America. Their vitality and artistic spirit, and dreams were so impressive that the Harlem of the 1920s has never been eluded out from the memory of American (Helbling 2).
During the Harlem Renaissance period, Alain Locke considers African Americans as transforming into someone “new.” He describes how African Americans migrated from the south to the north and were given new opportunities. The old Negro was being taken away from constantly being scrutinized by the public and whites. The Negros transformed into stronger intellectuals which was significant because before they weren’t allowed to do so. For example, “Similarly the mind of the Negro slipped from under the tyranny of social intimidation and to be shaking off the imitation and implied inferiority.” The “new” Negro strived for equal rights. Alain Locke describes other factors that pushed African Americans to move north to discover a “rebirth.” The “new” Negro went north to obtain the opportunity to move up from the bottom, to get away from the Ku Klux Klan, and to get away from the pressure of having to many poor crops. For instance, he says “The wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of the northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toll, a chance for the improvement of conditions.” By moving North the African Americans had a chance to live a better life and were set free of depending on the whites to take care of them in exchange for their labor. He also believes that the Negro began to experience something “new” by the way they began to understand and accept the Negro race. For example, Locke says, “With this renewed self- respect and self-dependence, the life of the negro community is bound to enter a new dynamic phase, the buoyancy from within compensating for whatever pressure there may be conditions from without.” The “new” then recognized the ability to become independent, which was a significant role of the “new” Negro because by gaining independence they then discover a life for themselves.
The writings of the two authors, Langston Hughes and John Steinbeck address examples of how literature reflects society. Furthermore, the main idea is how the stated essential question related to modern day writers and how it reflected upon tragic events such as the great depression & racism toward Africans. For example in “Cora Unashamed” by Langston Hughes. He mentions how Africans had to go through hardships and were looked down upon, relating back to how literature was shaped. In the story, there is an African girl named Cora lived in an amoral time period where poverty was commonly encountered countless hardships. Near the end, Cora becomes pregnant and is looked down upon due to the fact she was uneducated and black when it is quoted
This story was set in the deep south were ownership of African Americans was no different than owning a mule. Demonstrates of how the Thirteenth Amendment was intended to free slaves and describes the abolitionist’s efforts. The freedom of African Americans was less a humanitarian act than an economic one. There was a battle between the North and South freed slaves from bondage but at a certain cost. While a few good men prophesied the African Americans were created equal by God’s hands, the movement to free African Americans gained momentum spirited by economic and technological innovations such as the export, import, railroad, finance, and the North’s desire for more caucasian immigrants to join America’s workforce to improve our evolving nation. The inspiration for world power that freed slaves and gave them initial victory of a vote with passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. A huge part of this story follows the evolution of the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment more acts for civil rights.
Those studying the experience of African Americans in World War II consistently ask one central question: “Was World War II a turning point for African Americans?” In elaboration, does World War II symbolize a prolongation of policies of segregation and discrimination both on the home front and the war front, or does it represent the start of the Civil Rights Movement that brought racial equality? The data points to the war experience being a transition leading to the civil rights upheavals of the 1960s.
“The New Negro” as described by Alain Locke is seeking social justice, however he is doing so in a way different from the various forms of resistance that preceded him. Locke describes a shift from radicalism in the fight for social justice to a need to build a relationship between races. The “New Negro” has come to the realization that assimilation into American culture is not a viable answer; therefore he has decided to build his own culture in collaboration with American culture. The construction of this culture became known as The New Negro Movement or The Harlem Renaissance. This was the attempt by the black community to birth for themselves a status quo in which they were no longer defined by their oppressors’ views.
The quote above is from the British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore who proclaimed freedom for African American slaves who fought for the British, after George Washington announced there would be no additional recruitment of Blacks in the Continental army in 1776. For numerous free blacks and enslaved blacks, the Revolutionary War was considered to be an essential period in black manifestation. Many public officials (like Dunmore), who initially had not expressed their views on slavery, saw the importance of African Americans and considered them an imperative tool in winning the war. Looking back, it almost seems like an inherent paradox in white America’s desire of emancipation from England while there still enslaving blacks. This concept has different grounds in white’s idea of liberation in comparison to that of the African-Americans. To white Americans, this war was for liberation in a political/economical tone rather than in the sense of the privatized oppression that blacks suffered from. But what started this war and what would this mean for blacks? How did these African Americans contribute to the war effort? What were there some of their duties? How did the white communities perceive them? How did it all end for these blacks? The main topic of this paper is to show how the use African Americans helped the control the outcome of the war while monitoring their contributions.
Frustrated, African Americans moved North to escape Jim Crow laws and for more opportunities. This was known as the Great Migration. They migrated to East St. Louis, Illinois, Chicago's south side, and Washington, D.C., but another place they migrated to and the main place they focused on in the renaissance is Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance created two goals. “The first was that black authors tried to point out the injustices of racism in American life.
“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, – this longing to attain self-consciousness, manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message f...
Throughout American history, African Americans have had to decide whether they belonged in the United States or if they should go elsewhere. Slavery no doubtfully had a great impact upon their decisions. However, despite their troubles African Americans made a grand contribution and a great impact on both armed forces of the Colonies and British. "The American Negro was a participant as well as a symbol."; (Quarles 7) African Americans were active on and off the battlefield, they personified the goal freedom, the reason for the war being fought by the Colonies and British. The African Americans were stuck in the middle of a war between white people. Their loyalty was not to one side or another, but to a principle, the principle of liberty. Benjamin Quarles' book, The Negro in the American Revolution, is very detailed in explaining the importance of the African American in the pre America days, he shows the steps African Americans took in order to insure better lives for generations to come.
The increased black population in the North during the Great Migration created a new black urban culture for themselves. The Great Migration led to an increase in African American political involvement that would make an impact in black culture ever since. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the many authors who gained recognition during the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida and lived there during her younger days. She attended Morgan University, Howard University, and finally moved to New York City to pursue a writing career in 1925....
Nabrit, James M. Jr. “The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation.” Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004
For various southern African Americans, their journey westward usually began as slaves. In 1825, when the Mexican government enticed Americans westward through land grants, various slave owners moved in the hopes of becoming wealthy. These American immigrants into Mexico brought with them their wives, children, and property, including slaves. In the vast North American west, African Americans found new opportunities to put their skills to work. Many of these skills, which included herding cattle in Ghana and Gambia, had been passed down generation to generation through oral histories. Plantation owners, now ranchers in the West, employed their slaves’ skills in managing their plan...
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great rebirth for African American people and according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the “Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s.” Wikipedia also indicates that it was also known as the “Negro Movement, named after the 1925 Anthology by Alan Locke.” Blacks from all over America and the Caribbean and flocked to Harlem, New York. Harlem became a sort of “melting pot” for Black America. Writers, artists, poets, musicians and dancers converged there spanning a renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was also one of the most important chapters in the era of African American literature. This literary period gave way to a new type of writing style. This style is known as “creative literature.” Creative literature enabled writers to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues that were of importance to African Americans. These issues include racism, gender and identity, and others that we...