Life in Homewood: A Personal Look at Struggles and Change. John Edgar Wideman's touching story, "Our Time," vividly captures the challenges faced by the people of Homewood, showing their deep struggles with oppression, and feeling disconnected from their past. This essay explores how Wideman's tale of Homewood connects emotionally with John Berger's ideas from "Ways of Seeing." It also looks at how society has changed over the last forty years and its impact on the community's fight against oppression and feeling cut off from their history. In "Our Time," the characters, especially Robby, show us how their past and the rules of society weigh heavily on them. The folks at Homewood deal with tough times like not having enough money, facing …show more content…
Dealing with poverty, discrimination, and limited opportunities is an everyday reality that highlights the community's battle against unfair barriers. Robby's personal story reveals how individual choices and outside influences shape their lives within a system that holds them back. When we reflect on the changes in society since Wideman penned his story, we can see some good progress in tackling oppression and fostering a stronger connection to our history within the community. Actions to promote fairness, seek justice, and ensure inclusivity have had a positive impact in certain areas. Nevertheless, there are significant hurdles that require our focus to propel the community towards genuine advancement and a sense of empowerment. The journey towards breaking free from oppression and reestablishing a connection with their history is an ongoing challenge that necessitates the collective support and commitment of all individuals. While strides have been taken to foster a more inclusive and compassionate community, there remain unresolved issues that demand attention to ensure fairness and equality for all members. Wideman's narrative serves as a poignant reminder of the significance of acknowledging our past, advocating against unjust treatment, and striving towards the realization of a more just and equitable society where every individual is afforded the opportunity to
When someone thinks of the poor they instantly imagine a homeless man sleeping in a cardboard box or the nearest garbage can, but the working poor especially in the inner-city is commonly overlooked by society. However the working poor, in this case the working poor in the inner-city, are people advancing to try and make their lives better. They are taking minimum wage jobs so that they can barely afford a roof over their heads. Within Katherine Newman?s novel No Shame In My Game, she studies the working poor in the inner-city to draw conclusions about how to help them and dispute common stereotypes and the images people commonly view. Newman?s conclusions along with the way she had conducted her case study will be evaluated for her positive and negative points while searching for any biases she may have portrayed within her novel.
No matter where one is from or where one finds themselves today, we carry with us in some way or another a specific heritage. Certain events and circumstances can lead to someone trying to forget their heritage or doing everything in their power to preserve that heritage. Alice Walker’s “EveryDay Use” was published in 1973, not long after the civil rights movement, and reflects the struggles of dealing with a heritage that one might not want to remember (Shmoop). Alice Walker is well known as a civil rights and women’s rights activist. Like many of her other works she uses “Everyday Use” to express her feelings on a subject; in this case African American heritage. Through “Everyday Use” it can be seen that Alice Walker has negative feelings about how many African Americans were trying to remove themselves from parts of their African American culture during the time of the short story’s publishment. This idea that Walker was opposed to this “deracinating” of African Americans coming out of the civil rights
There are always certain social problems that take place in our communities. Some of us may not experience it first hand, but all of us should acknowledge the fact that our greatest social problem is still looming to this day. In Michelle Alexander’s work, Drug War Nightmare: How We Created a Massive Racial Caste System in America, she talks about the social problem of inequality and discrimination in America. From being an African American to being a law professor and experience as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice, it can give a reader a sense of comfort knowing that she knows what she is talking about. Alexander uses several methods of using logical and emotional appeals to the readers so they can get a glimpse of this national issue.
Centuries of both figurative and literal binding held down countless individuals from reaching their full potential, and in turn held down the entirety of the mankind from progressing forward, Despite laws that emerged in hopes to create equality, years of “Separate but equal” lies perpetuated across from sea to shining sea. Other nations took notice to how America treated its citizens with concern, but yet the discrimination continued. Years of voices fighting for change fell on deaf ears. Typically, only in incidents such as Freedom Summer where white students who fought for equal rights died did the attention of the national public tune to the true horror and extremity white supremacists were taking to hold back change. (cite). Through reading Tyson’s book, one is able to further reach an understanding of the clash of rage, despair, anguish, and frustration felt by those fighting for equal
What has been described here has kept African Americans proud of where they came from and how they can overcome any problem that they are faced with. The phrase “Strength in numbers” comes to mind when reading what they had to endure especially the families of the four little girls that died in the devastating bombing of the 16th street church. They will always be remembered and missed dearly.
This essay will summarize and reflect upon 5 individuals who were born into, and grew up in the United States of America under slavery. Lucinda Davis, Charity Anderson, Walter Calloway, Fountain Hughes and Richard Toley each have a compelling story to tell about the time when black Americans were not looked at as citizens and were not free to make decisions that were afforded to white Americans. Although their stories are brief and do not reflect all of the daily hardships that were faced by slaves during that time in our Nation’s history, they are, nonetheless, powerful in their message. Fearing above all else a beating that would result from a perceived act of disrespect, the fact that each of these individuals survived is an example of the human spirits desire to survive in the direst of situations and the ability to overcome insurmountable odds.
However, she never really experienced the actual life of living in poverty as the majority of people living in poverty experience. Barbara, an educated white women had just that on other people living in poverty, because of the color of her skin and education level that is more often than not restricted from people living in poverty. She was able and more qualified for jobs than other people living amongst the status she was playing. She also was able to more readily seek better benefits than people living in poverty. When she first start her journey in Florida she had a car, a car that in most cases people living in poverty do not have. She was also able to use the internet to find local jobs and available housing in the area that many people living in poverty are restricted from. Another great benefit she had was the luxury of affording a drug detox cleansing her of drugs deemed bad. Many people living in poverty do not have much extra cash laying around much less fifty dollars to afford a detox for prescription drugs. She also had the luxury to afford her prescription drugs, another option that many people living in poverty do not have. Another element that made Barbara’s experience not that genuine was the fact that she was not providing for anybody other than herself. Twenty-two percent of kids under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line (http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5) , Barbara did not have to provide for pets or kids which would of changed her experience altogether of living in poverty. Not to belittle Barbara’s experience, but many factors of what life is like living in poverty were not taken into consideration during her
African-American women have often been an overlooked group with the larger context of American Society. Historically, oppression has been meted out to the African-American woman in two ways. Historically, everything afforded to African-American, from educational and employment opportunities to health care have been sub-par. As women they have been relegated even further in a patriarchal society that has always, invariably, held men in higher regard.
This image is the author’s perspective on the treatment of “his people” in not only his hometown of Harlem, but also in his own homeland, the country in which he lives. The author’s dream of racial equality is portrayed as a “raisin in the sun,” which “stinks like rotten meat” (Hughes 506). Because Hughes presents such a blatantly honest and dark point of view such as this, it is apparent that the author’s goal is to ensure that the reader is compelled to face the issues and tragedies that are occurring in their country, compelled enough to take action. This method may have been quite effective in exposing the plight of African-Americans to Caucasians. It can be easily seen that Hughes chooses a non-violent and, almost passive method of evoking a change. While Hughes appears to be much less than proud of his homeland, it is apparent that he hopes for a future when he may feel equal to his fellow citizens, which is the basis of the “dream” that has been
The last stepping stone of democracy was discovered, and African Americans realized their worth. The archaic notions of “what was right” and “what was expected” were blurred, bent, and shattered. Young minds became sculpted to see the world in a different light, a world where discrimination, racism, and inequality of any form were no longer acceptable or normal. This new world had opportunity, victory, pride, and strength. Although it would take until the 1960s to achieve this far off dream of the Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, the cornerstone was set here, upon the work of talented individuals that did not subscribe to some chimerical idea of what the world should see, but realized a bold truth that would be accepted by even the most stubborn of minds in the generations to come.
As can be seen, the victories for individuals who are in a certain group or society are so difficult to achieve because there are a lot of stereotypes and limits that others put in place that prevent certain individuals from achieving and pushing through diversity. During High school, I remember being treated harshly when I became pregnant at the age of 16; during the 90’s this was not precisely common for most High school students.
In an article entitled “Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Stories” Walter Shear discusses how Young Goodman Brown “swings out of time, paradoxically and almost deliriously senses his power, and then moves abruptly back to contemplate his cultural fate”. It is up to Goodman Brown if, upon his return to his home, he will live “with a resigned contentment at his place in the world or with an irreconcilable bitterness at his powerlessness” (548).
When we think of the word “home”, it is typically thought of as merely a physical location. However, upon deeper exploration, the word extends beyond a physical location and transcends into a sense of comfort and belonging. In the novel “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi, the author illustrates how the home search transcends physical space by connecting the historical experiences of African American slaves during the slave trade with the search for a home, revealing the necessity of community and culture when finding a home. By including stories from different generations of slaves, Gyasi shines a light on how certain aspects imposed on African Americans throughout the slave trade strip away comfort and identity for many encaptured slaves, leaving them feeling empty and
It is no secret that for many, many years, the African-American community was seen as nothing more than simply dispensable hand help. These people were placed in fields and regarded as something less than what they were: human beings. It is no secret that there are still forms of discrimination in the twenty-first century. Simply turn on the news one night and I guarantee you will be bombarded with the consequences of this racial discrimination. While there are people that are stuck in the old ways, a majority of people are now on the move to make steps of progression past the era of inequality. But in this fight, there is a long list of questions. Heading off the list, is that of what to do with this background? Do we use this history to be a constant reminder of what we have done and encourage the youth to realize what wrong has been done by our kind? Or do we move past this and try to look forward and know that it happened, but not dabble with it in our lives? Is this history that happened, or do we allow it to be a prevalent part of our everyday
12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright is a photo and text book which poetically tells the tale of African Americans from the time they were taken from Africa to the time things started to improve for them in a 149 page reflection. Using interchanging series of texts and photographs, Richard Wright encompasses the voices of 12 Million African-Americans, and tells of their sufferings, their fears, the phases through which they have gone and their hopes. In this book, most of the photos used were from the FSA: Farm Security Administration and a few others not from them. They were selected to complement and show the points of the text. The African-Americans in the photos were depicted with dignity. In their eyes, even though clearly victims, exists strengths and hopes for the future. The photos indicated that they could and did create their own culture both in the past and present. From the same photos plus the texts, it could be gathered that they have done things to improve their lives of their own despite the many odds against them. The photographs showed their lives, their suffering, and their journey for better lives, their happy moments, and the places that were of importance to them. Despite the importance of the photographs they were not as effective as the text in showing the African-American lives and how the things happening in them had affected them, more specifically their complex feelings. 12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright represents the voice of African-Americans from their point of view of their long journey from Africa to America, and from there through their search for equality, the scars and prints of where they come from, their children born during these struggles, their journeys, their loss, and plight...