Civil Rights are freedom from arbitrary or discriminatory acts by the government, or private individuals. During the time “Florence” by Alice Childress was written, the female characters were set in the time period of when the series of Civil Rights were fighting and taking place as means of affirmative action. The story centers on a Black mother that is mainly defending about Florence, a young woman in hopes of pursuing her theater career, but never appears on stage. In “Florence” by Alice Childress, the racism stereotypes women from understanding each other physically and mentally, coupled with the limitations that these stereotypes creates a border among them and especially for the main protagonist named Mama. The foundation of the plot and the setting of this play are set in a train station. The symbolism here depicts a journey, or some sort of change that will be committed. A clear emphasis in the social division of the train that segregated the Blacks and Whites is which the time period is depicted in the play. The objective of this physical segregation is to reveal striking similarities with racism in society. The play’s dialogues in “Florence” are very informative as well as revealing the women’s different personalities and judgmental beliefs. With the author’s intention of exploiting different women in this play, this allows the audience to put forth the physical border between the women from understanding one another. Mama felt the atmosphere of social tension with Marge, Florence’s sister, is rather to set boundaries for Florence. Our affect for Mama’s character grows powerful because of the highlights from her conversation with Marge. Provided that Marge is trying to help as through means of warning Mama that Florenc... ... middle of paper ... ...w York, but instead send a letter to Florence to keep trying, and for this reason it is to mentally and physically stimulate her to not lot others push one’s goals down. Mama states that no matter what the color of the skin is, one should try to pursue one’s goals and hint a sense of motivation to Florence through this letter. Work Cited • Brown-Guillory, Elizabeth. "Contemporary Black Women Playwrights: A View From The Other Half." Helicon Nine 14/15.(1986): 120-127. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. • Dugan, Olga. "Telling The Truth: Alice Childress As A Theorist And Playwright." Journal Of African American History 87.(2002): 146. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. • Balestrini, W. Nassim. “The Invisible Black Female Artist in Alice Childress’ Florence (1950).” 108-110. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
Gill, Glenda Eloise. No Surrender! No Retreat! : African American Pioneer Performers of Twentieth-Century American Theater. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.
Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, talked extensively about the civil rights movement that she had participated in. The civil rights movement dealt with numerous issues that many people had not agreed with. Coming of Age in Mississippi gave the reader a first hand look at the efforts many people had done to gain equal rights.
This piece of autobiographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction
3. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 51: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Trudier Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Gale Group, 1987. pp. 133-145.
Mama, as a member of an older generation, represents the suffering that has always been a part of this world. She spent her life coexisting with the struggle in some approximation to harmony. Mama knew the futility of trying to escape the pain inherent in living, she knew about "the darkness outside," but she challenged herself to survive proudly despite it all (419). Mama took on the pain in her family in order to strengthen herself as a support for those who could not cope with their own grief. Allowing her husband to cry for his dead brother gave her a strength and purpose that would have been hard to attain outside her family sphere. She was a poor black woman in Harlem, yet she was able to give her husband permission for weakness, a gift that he feared to ask for in others. She gave him the right to a secret, personal bitterness toward the white man that he could not show to anyone else. She allowed him to survive. She marveled at his strength, and acknowledged her part in it, "But if he hadn't had...
Beale, Frances. "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female." An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought. New York: New, 1995. 146. Print.
Effiong, Philip U. In Search of a Model for African-American Drama: a Study of Selected Plays
James, Johson Weldon. Comp. Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 832. Print.
Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
Sofia’s encounter with Millie is a daily occurrence in nations worldwide. Her “Hell no” is a justified response to the subservience white people have forced upon African Americans and the constant struggle against black women have against abuse and sexism. Millie is an example of the everyday white woman whose class and social standing prompt her unawareness about social problems and her own racist misgivings. Alice Walker’s novel explores this deep-rooted racism intertwined with social class and sexism. Walker’s writes from the events that have marked her life, other’s lives, and the cruelty that has scarred the black community for years. Hence, the softened racism in the form of stereotypical comments, white superiority complexes, and the sexism towards women of color that fills the
In 1942, Margaret Walker won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for her poem For My People. This accomplishment heralded the beginning of Margaret Walker’s literary career which spanned from the brink of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s to the cusp of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s (Gates and McKay 1619). Through her fiction and poetry, Walker became a prominent voice in the African-American community. Her writing, especially her signature novel, Jubilee, exposes her readers to the plight of her race by accounting the struggles of African Americans from the pre-Civil War period to the present and ultimately keeps this awareness relevant to contemporary American society.
Ryan, Bryan, ed. “Alice Walker.” Major 20th Century Writers. Vol. 4. R-Z. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
The emergence of black women writers on the American literary scene was not a sudden or a fortuitous event.Their bursting on to the scene was a result of the new found consciousness of black American women.They were increasingly becoming conscious of the racist and patriarchal oppression that they were being subjected to in America.By the 1970's the black women had the knowledge that both-The Civil Rights Movement and The Feminist Movement were neglecting the issues relating to black women.Despite being active participants in both the move...