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Brief history of racism in literature
Influence of African Americans on literature
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Assimilation of Blacks in Song of Solomon, Push and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Our African American texts call for close examination of the status of slaves and subsequent generations of free Blacks, how they fit into American society, and their quest for and denial of the benefits of Americanism. So does one assimilate or resist? But The Melting Pot Theory is not inclusive of Blacks since the process of assimilation could not work its magic on black skin.
In the slave narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, the capture of Africans, their ultimate enslavement in the Americas, the West Indies, and Europe exemplify the assigned inferior status to Blacks in societies of the alien worlds. Blacks have less than their proportionate share of wealth, power, and social status, and are discriminated against by those in the majority. The yoke of slavery did not sanction inclusion, instead it convoluted their status as immigrants or a colonized minority and that sentiment remained a constant. Equiano's race and his life as a seafaring slave narrowed his opportunity of citizenship in a landed community; consequently, he was neither immigrant or colonized. In fact, he was more displaced that ever, sailing under whatever flag happened to be that of his owner/captain. In Song of Solomon and Push the characters are several generations removed from slavery so the question is not whether the position of Blacks is that of immigrant or colonized minority, even though it could appear to be either. More importantly, theirs is the problem of dealing with the ambiguities of being "up from slavery," as the characters come into their own. The su...
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...rally fixed neighborhoods, or "sell out" by embracing the dominant culture and sometimes attempting full assimilation (although it is realized impossible) in order to advance one's career, and acquire better housing and/or education for one's children is ubiquitous. Total assimilation is not real for Black people, it never has been and it probably never will be and that is a sad commentary on the state of the country.
Works Cited
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudauh Equiano,
or Gustavus Vassa, The African. "The Classic Slave Narratives". Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
McLemore, Dale S. Racial and Ethnic Relations in America. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1991.
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: The Penguin Group, 1977.
Sapphire. Push. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1996.
There are few things as brutal as the history of the institution of slavery. In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, the aforementioned Olaudah Equiano describes the experience of his entrance into slavery.
The two concepts are perhaps the most powerful writing of the sheer burden of African-American in our society. Ever though the story was written many decades ago, many African-American today reflect on how things haven’t changed much over time. Still today American will conceptualize what is “Black” and what is “American”.
Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself (ed. John Blassingame) Yale University Press, 2001.
From slavery being legal, to its abolishment and the Civil Rights Movement, to where we are now in today’s integrated society, it would seem only obvious that this country has made big steps in the adoption of African Americans into American society. However, writers W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin who have lived and documented in between this timeline of events bringing different perspectives to the surface. Du Bois first introduced an idea that Baldwin would later expand, but both authors’ works provide insight to the underlying problem: even though the law has made African Americans equal, the people still have not.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Professor David Hennessy, 1845.
Although an effort is made in connecting with the blacks, the idea behind it is not in understanding the blacks and their culture but rather is an exploitative one. It had an adverse impact on the black community by degrading their esteem and status in the community. For many years, the political process also had been influenced by the same ideas and had ignored the black population in the political process (Belk, 1990). America loves appropriating black culture — even when black people themselves, at times, don’t receive much love from America.
Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative provides insight into cultural assimilation and the difficulties such assimilation. The writer embraces several Western traits and ideals yet guards his African virtues jealously. In doing so however, he finds himself somewhere in between a full European and a displaced African. This problem of cultural identity Equiano struggled with is still present in modern American society. The modern day African-American appears to also be in the process of deciding the between two competing cultures and often being left somewhere in middle becoming a victim of cultural identity just like Olaudah Equiano some 250 years ago.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1987. 243-331.
The world of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is a place racism and inequality are predominant, affecting every character’s life in some significant ways. This world runs parallel to America in the twentieth century between 1930’s to the 60’s. Morrison illustrates this societal divided amongst racism in a mythical interpretation. She gives of a first person account of life for a relatively well off black man in the time and viewing the world through his lens allowing us to observe the effects of racism during this time period where racial tension were at a new turning point. We see how racism is both socially and economically perpetuated and structured into our society. Examining the progression of racism in America seeing where Morrison’s
Slavery was a practice throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and through slavery, African-American slaves helped build the economic foundation of which America stands upon today, but this development only occurred with the sacrifice of the blood, sweat, and tears from the slaves that had been pushed into exhaustion by the slave masters. A narrative noting a lifetime of this history was the book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka in what is now known as south eastern Nigeria, later he was shipped to the West Indies, he then moved to England, and eventually purchased his freedom (Equiano). Olaudah Equiano, with many other millions of slaves, faced many hardships and was treated with inconceivable injustices by white slave masters and because of the severity of these cruel and barbarous occurrences, history will never forget these events.
“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...
Equiano’s journey begins as a child where he is kidnapped from his village along with his sister, Equiano’s childhood naivety is emphasized from the beginning of this narrative and is hinted at throughout, reflecting on the childish wonder of the young Equiano and making for an even more shocking narrative as a result of the European culture shock he faced along with the European treatment of slaves. Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? New Light on Eighteenth-Century Question of Identity Vincent Carretta argues the birthplace of Olaudah Equiano, arguing that the author may not have been born in Africa but moreover born into slavery in South Carolina. Equiano himself states in The Interesting Narrative, a scholarly firestorm erupted over the
Douglass, Frederick. “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
The Internet offers many benefits but it also creates many threats that undermines our personal privacy. Concerns about loss of privacy are not new. But the computer's ability to gather and sort vast amounts of data and the Internet's ability to distribute it globally magnify those concerns [1]. Privacy concerns on the Internet are centered on improper acquisition, improper use of personal information such as intrusions, manipulation, discrimination, identity theft, and stalking of personal information. Today the Internet stretches our geographic boundaries and force us to deal with global ethic based on moral principles held to be valid across the cultures. Due to the nature of the Internet, our personal information may be transmitted over the internet and that the transfer of personal information may be made to any country in the world, regardless of the extent of any data protection laws and regulations in any of those countries.
Over the past decade the world has gotten much smaller due to the electronic communication the Internet has fostered. While this promotes business and international relations, problems arise regarding the protection of individuals’ personal information. Many countries around the world have developed privacy policies and laws protect an individual's information in the realm of electronic communication. Universal enforcement gets complicated because the Internet is not restricted to one country; it’s worldwide. As a result, concerns arise regarding the compatibility of various countries' privacy policies. This paper will discuss the current legislation in place for various major countries1, the existing conflicts between these countries’ policies and the implications these conflicts hold for the protection of privacy on the Internet.