In “Graduation,” Maya Angelou tells the story of life in 1940s Stampa, Arkansas. She focused on the partial treatment of African -American- during that time because they were not considered by their educated intelligence like white people. She elucidates on how it feels to be discriminated and considered as less than equal. Angelou labels her anger from the racism and pride of graduation day at her segregated school. Similarly, to this podcast, “The Problem We All Live With,” tells the life experiences of Mah’ Ria Pruitt- Martin, in 2010. She recounts her own experiences as a black student by the fact that she is being treated differently in white schools, because of the racial stereotypes and discrimination. Maya Angelou’s experiences as …show more content…
a black student correspond to Mah’ Ria Pruitt-Martin because of both displays the fact that racial segregation still a prevalent in American society today. Both Angelou and Martin’s experiences show that the racial segregation is still a reality in American society. Angelou expresses that her mood has changed because of Mr. Donleavy’s speech. She describes on how Mr. Donleavy s speech has effectively demolished her hope and lead to occasion: “The man’s dead words fell like the brinks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly” (54). Angelou tone shifts into anger because of racist commencement speech Mr. Donleavy give. This kind of racial experience left Angelou angry and disappointed and began pondering her existence. Angelou’s thinking changes as she was listing to Mr. Donleavy speech, just as Pruitt Martin when she was listing to school boarding meeting by fact that white audience were being racist towards black students. Pruitt-Martin describes on how their words hurt her feeling more than they can’t imagined when she says, “I didn’t even get halfway to the microphone because of what the parents were saying. I stopped to the last row of the chairs because I did not want to say anything anymore” (the problem). Pruitt-Martin’s experiences on this meeting show the how devastating she was and her mother because of the stereotype white audience made against their colors. As matter of fact, both Angelou and Pruitt-Martin’s thinking were affected by white audience. Angelou’s thinking alters as she listing to Mr. Donleavy’s speech. As a result, she was exposed to the cruelty of mankind and wishes that Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner had killed the white community: “Then I wished that Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner had killed all white folks in their beds…” (55). She lost her hope and confidence. And her dream was crushed by white’s speaker that make her hated white people and wished that someone should have killed all of them. However, in the end, both Angelou and Pruitt-Martin did found appreciation for something else. They took prides not just by their education, but by their ethnicity. Angelou tone changes once again after her class valediction, who is also a black boy. Reed’s speech inspired Angelou because she had an epiphany: “We were on again. And always, again. We survived. The depths had been icy and dark, but now a bright sun spoke to our souls. I was no longer simply a member of the proud graduating class of 1940; I was a proud member of the wonderful, beautiful Negro race” (58). Angelou is proud to be African American, even though her race is suffering, she will still be happy with what has been given. Both Angelou and Martin’s experience also describes the extreme difference between the white and theirs.
Pruitt- Martin reveals the odds that stacked against her as a black student by white people when she writes, “Class was dumbed down and often unorganized and unruly. Even things that should have been good news turned to bad” (the problem). Martin’s illustrates the fact that the school doesn’t care about students anymore because they think that black students are unlikely to succeed. In addition to Angelou’s experiences on her segregated school. She describes how white people always look down on black people because of their unsuccessful in term of education in point view. Angelou reveals the career that white people think that black people should fit in when she says, “We were maids and farmers, and handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher than we inspired was farcical and presumptuous” (55). Angelus’s illusion in this quote reveals the fact that white people always obsessed with black people place in society by considering them as a farmer, maid, and filed workers. Angelou’s experience shows that racism is not good, but being a community is the only thing that matter, just like Pruitt Martin despite the exception of the transfer, Martin did, at last, thrived with her new school after she got a transfer into Francis Howell, and there she was not alone. She described how she is being welcomed by students and teacher in her new school when she said:” It was great. Because when I got there, they had their little cheerleading squad cheering for us when we walked through the door—’ Welcome to Francis Howell, cheers like that” (The problem). Pruitt Martin is welcomed by students and teacher as well, which shows that they really cared for her as a new student and as one of them in their
community.
Anne Moody’s memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, is an influential insight into the existence of a young girl growing up in the South during the Civil-Rights Movement. Moody’s book records her coming of age as a woman, and possibly more significantly, it chronicles her coming of age as a politically active Negro woman. She is faced with countless problems dealing with the racism and threat of the South as a poor African American female. Her childhood and early years in school set up groundwork for her racial consciousness. Moody assembled that foundation as she went to college and scatter the seeds of political activism. During her later years in college, Moody became active in numerous organizations devoted to creating changes to the civil rights of her people. These actions ultimately led to her disillusionment with the success of the movement, despite her constant action. These factors have contributed in shaping her attitude towards race and her skepticism about fundamental change in society.
In her memoir Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals describes her experiences as she became one of the first nine black students educated in an integrated white school. She and her friends, who became known as the “Little Rock Nine”, elicited both support and criticism from their family members, friends, community members, military troops, in addition to the President of the United States. Melba’s experiences, while heartbreaking and sobering, highlight the strength to overcome that individuals can have over a system intent on keeping them down. Throughout her experience, Melba’s views and attitudes have changed quite a bit. When she first volunteered to be one of the first black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Melba was full of excitement.
Although there were numerous efforts to attain full equality between blacks and whites during the Civil Rights Movement, many of them were in vain because of racial distinctions, white oppression, and prejudice. Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi recounts her experiences as a child growing up in Centreville, Mississippi. She describes how growing up in Mississippi in a poor black family changed her views of race and equality, and the events that took place that changed her life forever. She begins her story at the tender age of 4, and describes how her home life changed drastically with the divorce of her parents, the loss of her home, and the constant shuffle from shack to shack as her mother tried to keep food on the table with the meager pay she earned from the numerous, mostly domestic, jobs she took. On most days, life was hard for Anne, and as she got older she struggled to understand why they were living in such poverty when the white people her mother worked for had so many nice things, and could eat more than bread and beans for dinner. It was because of this excessive poverty that Anne had to go into the workforce at such an early age, and learn what it meant to have and hold a job in order to provide her family. Anne learned very young that survival was all about working hard, though she didn’t understand the imbalance between the work she was doing and the compensation she received in return.
In Maya Angelou's, Graduation, the protagonist Marguerite gains awareness of herself and others through the Duboisan concept of double consciousness. She realizes that she must reconcile her own perception of herself with the unflattering perception society will also possess of her.
"Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.
Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to
Throughout life graduation, or the advancement to the next distinct level of growth, is sometimes acknowledged with the pomp and circumstance of the grand commencement ceremony, but many times the graduation is as whisper soft and natural as taking a breath. In the moving autobiographical essay, "The Graduation," Maya Angelou effectively applies three rhetorical strategies - an expressive voice, illustrative comparison and contrast, and flowing sentences bursting with vivid simile and delightful imagery - to examine the personal growth of humans caught in the adversity of racial discrimination.
In Maya Angelou's Essay `Graduation' the use of language as a navigational tool is very evident, as it leads from emotion to emotion on the occasion of the author's graduation from eighth grade. Over the course of the work, Angelou displays 3 major emotions simply based from the language she uses; excitement, disappointment and finally, redemption
In her first autobiography, Maya Angelou tells about her childhood through her graduation through, “Graduation”, from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” when she is about to graduate. She starts as an excited graduate because she was finally going to receive her diploma, a reward for all her academic accomplishments. On the day of her graduation finally comes, that happiness turns into doubt about her future as she believes that black people will be nothing more than potential athletes or servants to white people. It wasn’t until Henry Reed started to sing the Negro National Anthem that she felt on top of the world again. Throughout her graduation she felt excited to disappointed, until Henry Reed sang and made her feel better.
The receptionist sold short Angelou’s capabilities, but she wasn’t going to let that dissuade her, “Why did I insist on that particular job? Openings were going begging that paid nearly twice the money. The minor officials with whom I was able to win an audience thought me mad. Possibly I was”(268). Angelou’s emphasis focuses on the word “mad”, which the minor officials used to describe her. Angelou’s decision to go for a job, that no other black man, let alone women would ever dare to do justifies this as mad. The streetcar job not only paid less, but gave uneven hours to discourage her from getting the job. Not any benefits or salary increases would ever constitute this as a rational act. But it was Angelou’s will that allowed her to accept this, her awareness to all the consequences proves that she is willing to fight back against racism. Her discontent with not being a conductorette forces her to wake up every morning, tirelessly to trudge into the office; by which at the end, Angelou got the job. By getting that job, it proves that fighting with persistence makes a huge impact on combating racism. Angelou uses different methods to strive against racism, sometimes, all you need is a bit of help. Angelou’s recital, along with the other black children, gave back hope to the black race: “We were on top again. As always, again. We survived. The depths had been icy and dark, but now a bright sun spoke to our souls. I
Throughout life we go through many stepping stones, Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay "Graduation", was about more than just moving on to another grade. The unexpected events that occurred during the ceremony enabled her to graduate from the views of a child to the more experienced and sometimes disenchanting views of an adult. Upon reading the story there is an initial feeling of excitement and hope which was quickly tarnished with the abrupt awareness of human prejudices. The author vividly illustrates a rainbow of significant mood changes she undergoes throughout the story.
She explains that African American and Latina/o students and their families continue to have high educational aspirations despite persistent education inequities. The culture of power as the “norm” of Whites.
Through only the words of Donleavy, Maya’s personal identity changes, from embracing the day she graduates in the world to ruing it, saying, “It’s awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life, it was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and have charges brought against my color with no chance of defense.” (Angelo, 184) This turns her overall perspective of life to a positive outlook ta a negative one just through the speech of one
Graduation, an Article by Maya Angelou, is a self-portrait of her 8th grade graduation from an all-Negro school in Arkansas in the 1940’s during the segregated era of America. Maya a 12 year old who looked forward to her life and was excited seeing all the plans and activities going on during graduation “The whole young population had come down with graduation epidemic. Large classes were graduating from both the grammar school and the high school. Even those who were year removed from their own day of glorious release were anxious to help with preparations.” (74). Donleavy, guest speaker, for the graduation walked onto the stage and he spoke about how the white school was receiving new equipment as well as receiving teachers from esteemed
The exhaustion of the long commute to Monroe Elementary School everyday had upset me, the feeling of being powerless overcame my mentality. I constantly thought to myself about the all whites elementary school only seven blocks away, what made them so surprior? I, as a third grader, grew up to the discriminatory profiling. Of course it was nothing new, but I could not comprehend why. Recalling back to Monroe Elementary; the broken ceiling tiles, the wore down floors, and the cracked windows was not an ideal place for any education to take place. It had only proved to me that the segregation of white and black children made us African American students feel inferiority to the white American students.