Analysis Of Countee Cullen's How Racism Doomed Baltimore

Complexion of one’s skin in former periods can greatly determine if basic rights can be stripped. The act that consists of prejudicial treatment of people on behalf of pigment of the skin, years of age or sex is discrimination. With discrimination at high in earlier decades, came laws that prohibited citizens of different colors to bond together in marriage. These unjust laws only rose the crucial amounts of hate that people of color faced while living in the United States. Articles upon different sources, shed light yet knowledge on poems by both Cullen and Trethewey conveying incidents of discrimination.

Numerous victims turned to writing to express yet inform others of the treatment that came with being a citizen of color. These three

hand picked articles speak of the issues and laws that halted interracial marriages around the states.
“How Racism Doomed Baltimore” by The Editorial Board declares how segregation was enforced at great lengths on the thriving city of Baltimore that ultimately affected the lives of African Americans.

The Editorial Board acknowledges how the city was crumbling due to the high amounts of racism that came along with the city. Normalization of discrimination echoed throughout all blocks of Baltimore nevertheless splitting the city into two. Countee Cullen’s poem consisting of his encounter with racial discrimination is given a sharpened understanding by the article tremendously. The article speaks of how caucasian neighbors spoke of the issue that came with another color living on the exact street or block even if that person of different color hasn’t committed any wrong doings to any of these caucasians. In Cullen’s poem, Cullen is simply innocent to the residents who thrive in Baltimore but gets called a “Nigger.” by a Baltimorean while strolling on the same sidewalk as this Baltimorean. The simple factor in the article connects to Cullen’s poem as it explicits how hate can gather on color even if no crime is seen in a certain person of color. A hate towards people of color has thrived in Baltimore during the 20th century, almost splitting the city into two with its absurd laws and interracial laws as well. This pure act of hate can have events such as Cullen’s “Incident” or the unfair living multiple African Americans faced while in the city of Baltimore happen countless of

times in life.
Miscegenation laws stayed alive as discrimination did in the United States.

An abundance of articles discuss all the laws that prohibited mixed marriages. “Laws that Banned Mixed Marriages” and “Interracial Marriage Laws History & Timeline” both breakdown the ordeal the laws placed on miscegenation yet bring out the couples who were devastatingly affected by the laws that tried putting an end to interracial love. ‘Interracial Marriage Laws History & Timeline” dives deep about each single law passed to put heavy regulations on these interracial couples who tried to marry. One law that is particular in the article is the Cable Act that struck couples it applied to by stripping a U.S. citizen of citizenship if married to an individual who is an alien who could not gain United States citizenship. Natasha Trethewey's poem about her life as a girl with parents that were interracial is shown throughout it as Trethewey explains “white as angels in their gowns” meaning the infamous KKK being aggravated at her parents’ choices to be in an interracial marriage even if others of society disagree with it heavily. These articles about interracial marriage laws enlightened Natasha Trethewey’s “Incident” poem by explaining how difficult it is to be in an interracial marriage without the law having a slight or full control in the marriage itself. With the KKK being involved in any interracial marriage by simply being offended by them as Trethewey's poem explains, it can be related to how

many of the citizens of the United States in the early 20th century disagreed with the mixture of races and agreed with the laws being placed against them. Both show how many tried to stop the mixture if races or the marriage of different races even if it wasn’t a personal matter. Being the children of an interracial marriage seemed to spur more controversy at the time of this law and can be considered an offense at the time this law was placed by the United States government.
These articles illuminate the discrimination that was present in both Natasha Trethewey and Countee Cullen poems. These incidents that happened to both writers were caused by the laws that many thought were humane/fair in the 20th century. These laws that stripped the freedoms of colored people grew rapidly in the 20th century and divided that nation of “freedom” into two with just a handful of laws in act. Discrimination lived strong in Baltimore causing incidents Countee Cullen faced/handed while living as a man of color . While discrimination of the city of Baltimore enlarged over the 20th century so did the laws that prohibited or limited the marriage of people who were different races or colors. Laws were placed to prohibit any of color but failed at the end as these people but victims of discrimination finally got the freedom that was deserved for many years in the United States. Freedom is not based on the pigment of skin and never will be.