Analysis Of Countee Cullen's How Racism Doomed Baltimore

881 Words2 Pages

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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

Show More
Related

  • Racial Microaggressions and Injustice: A Review of Rankine's Citizen

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen explores the daily life situations between blacks and whites and reveals how little offensive denigrating conversations in the form of micro-aggressions were intentionally conveyed to the black people by the whites and how these racial comments fuel the frustrations and anger among the blacks. She gathered the various incidents, where the black people suffered this pain. This shows the white’s extraordinary powers to oppress the black community and the failure of the legal system Rankine also shares the horrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina experienced by the black community, where they struggled for their survival before and post the hurricane catastrophes.

    Read More

  • Why We Can T Wait Rhetorical Analysis

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    To depict the unfair daily lives of African Americans, Martin Luther King begins with an allegory, a boy and a girl representing faultless African Americans in the nation. The readers are able to visualize and smell the vermin-infested apartment houses and the “stench” of garbage in a place where African American kids live. The stench and vermin infested houses metaphorically portray our nation being infested with social injustice. Even the roofs of the houses are “patched-up” of bandages that were placed repeatedly in order to cover a damage. However, these roofs are not fixed completely since America has been pushing racial equality aside as seen in the Plessy v. Ferguson court case in which it ruled that African Americans were “separate but equal”. Ever since the introduction of African Americans into the nation for slavery purposes, the society

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Countee Leroy Cullen's Incident

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    Countee LeRoy Cullen was one of the leading poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Although there is no real account of his early life, his accomplishments throughout his time was magnificent. During the Harlem Renaissance, he and other writers and poets used their work to empower blacks and talk about the ongoing struggle of blacks. His poem, “Incident”, depicts how overt racism was and how it attacked anyone regardless age or gender.

    Read More

  • Luis J Rodriguez Race Politics Poem

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    Words are commonly used to separate people by the color of their skin, but they can also be used to bring people together, no matter what their skin color was. Using words improperly was a common problem in America when our parents were our age, and even way long before that. People have written countless stories about racism, it’s affect of the world, or it’s effect on the person themselves. One of the more well known poems about racism is “‘Race’ Politics”, by Luis J. Rodriguez. The story the poem is based off of took place sometime in the mid 1960’s, so this gives us an insight of what the world was like back then.

    Read More

  • African American History in A Red Record

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery is one of America’s biggest regrets. Treating a human with the same beating heart as a low, worthless piece of trash only because of skin color is a fact that will forever remain in our country’s history. Those marked as slaves were sold, tortured, demoralized, raped and killed. After the Emancipation in which slavery was illegalized, many would think that the horrors were over and that America as a whole started a new leaf. Unfortunately, the man of the South, refusing to move forward tried to keep the colored man down as best they could. Their premeditated plans and actions to find an excuse to continue torturing and killing the Negro man continued for years, which are documented in “A Red Record”. This story captures the grueling events African Americans were put through and the unfairness of the times. By capturing and sharing this history it will make sure these mistakes can never be repeated again .

    Read More

  • Racism In Claudia Rankine's 'Citizens: An American Lyric'

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Citizens: An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine the audience is placed in a world where racism strongly affects the daily American cultural and social life. In this world we are put as the eyewitnesses and victims, the bystanders and the participants of racial encounters that happen in our daily lives and in the media, yet we have managed to ignore them for the mere fact that we are accustomed to them. Some of these encounters may be accidental slips, things that we didn’t intend to say and that we didn’t mean yet they’ve managed to make it to the surface. On the other hand we have the encounters that are intentionally offensive, things said that are

    Read More

  • As I Lay Dying And Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up during her time as a mixed race child brought along a lot of questions for Trethewey. Her mother grew up during a time when racism was at its worst and after all of it decided to marry a white man. The moment her parents decided to wed they put themselves and her in danger way before she was even born.At this time civil rights were expanding and changing and “already the words were changing. She is changing from colored to negro,black still years ahead.This is 1966-she is married to a white man- and there are more names for what grows inside her” (37). The decision Trethewey’s parents made affected her life and how society viewed her from the moment she was born into a country that was just learning to accept her mother. Trethewey spent her entire life in this “middle” where she didn’t know whether she should identify as black or as white. Her identity and her race determined how people looked at her and how they treated her. As a child she was very curious about the derogatory terms that followed her home everyday but “my mother cannot answer, her mouth closed, a gesture toward her future: cold lips stitched out” (40). Trethewey’s poetry shows her analyzing history and answering the questions she had that her mother could not answer for herself. For Trethewey, understanding and accepting history is the only

    Read More

  • Interracial Marriage in the United States

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marriage, as an institution, has evolved in the last few decades. As society progresses, the ideas and attitudes about marriage have shifted. Today, individuals are able to choose their partners and are more likely marry for love than convenience. While individuals are guaranteed the right to marry and the freedom to choose their own partners, it has not always been this way. Starting from colonial times up until the late 1960’s, the law in several states prohibited interracial marriages and unions. Fortunately, in 1967, a landmark case deemed such laws as unconstitutional. Currently, as society progresses, racism and social prejudice have decreased and interracial marriages have become, not only legal, but also widely accepted.

    Read More

  • Hiram Hillburn Character Analysis

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    African-Americans aged 12 and up are the most victimized group in America. 41.7 over 1,000 of them are victims of violent crimes, compared with whites (36.3 over 1,000). This does not include murder. Back then during the era of the Jim Crow laws, it was even worse. However, during that time period when there were many oppressed blacks, there were many whites who courageously defied against the acts of racism, and proved that the color of your skin should not matter. This essay will compare and contrast two Caucasian characters by the names of Hiram Hillburn (The Mississippi Trial, 1955) and Celia Foote (The Help), who also went against the acts of prejudice.

    Read More

  • Issues of Racial Identity during the Harlem Renaissance

    2024 Words  | 5 Pages

    The early 1900s was a very challenging time for Negroes especially young women who developed issues in regards to their identities. Their concerns stemmed from their skin colors. Either they were fair skinned due mixed heritage or just dark skinned. Young African American women experienced issues with racial identity which caused them to be in a constant struggle that prohibits them from loving themselves and the skin they are in. The purpose of this paper is to examine those issues in the context of selected creative literature. I will be discussing the various aspects of them and to aid in my analysis, I will be utilizing the works of Nella Larsen from The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Jessie Bennett Redmond Fauset, and Wallace Brown.

    Read More

  • My Red Face Hurts By Jan Mercredi

    454 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem “My red face hurts” by Duncan Mercredi, the author has conveyed his message through describing the tragic events that are faced by many discriminated races to exemplify that people cannot face human equality because it reveals the horror of the injustices they commit. Mercredi has portrayed his message because he wants to emphasize the racial hatred and inequality various different races are experiencing. To begin with, one of the main subjects that the author has expressed in his emotion-filled poem is racial discrimination, how people torture many races and treat them like animals only because of their color. Mercredi stated “my red face hurts as I watch my brother die before me white bullets riddle my body and I hide my face

    Read More

  • Analysis of Law Cases

    1766 Words  | 4 Pages

    Facts: Two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter a colored woman and Richard Loving a white man, got married in the District of Columbia. The Loving's returned to Virginia and established their marriage. The Caroline court issued an indictment charging the Loving's with violating Virginia's ban on interracial marriages. The state decides, who can and cannot get married. The Loving's were convicted of violating 20-55 of Virginia's code.

    Read More

  • How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston breaks from the tradition of her time by rejecting the idea that the African American people should be ashamed or saddened by the color of their skin. She tells other African Americans that they should embrace their color and be proud of who they are. She writes, “[A socialite]…has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges,” and “I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (942-943). Whether she feels “colored” or not, she knows she is beautiful and of value. But Hurston writes about a time when she did not always know that she was considered colored.

    Read More

  • Perseverance in Mother to Son and The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    The founding fathers constructed the Constitution with the notion that “all men were created equal.” However, many minorities still struggle for the same rights and opportunities as others. “Mother to Son” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are poems written by Langston Hughes that use symbolism to exemplify the struggles of African Americans as they attempt to persevere through adversity. Hughes utilizes the stairs in “Mother to Son” and the rivers in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as his main modes of symbolism.

    Read More

  • A Deeper Look: Langston Hughes's 'Ballad of the Landlord'

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ites a short 33-line poem that simply shows the barriers between races in the time period when racism was still openly practiced through segregation and discrimination. The poem captures the African American tenant’s frustrations towards the landlord as well as the racism shown by the landlord. The poem is a great illustration of the time period, and it shows how relevant discrimination was in everyday life in the nineteen-forties. It is important for the author to use the selected literary devices to help better illustrate his point. Each literary device in the poem helps exemplify the author’s intent: to increase awareness of the racism in the society in the time period.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Countee Cullen's How Racism Doomed Baltimore

Open Document