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Marxist theory in modern society
Black women and the black liberation movement
Marxist theory in modern society
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The book Left of Karl Marx by Carole Boyce Davies examines the life of Claudia Jones. Jones was a renowned journalist, political activist, and one of the most radical black intellectuals of all time. During the 1950’s and the early 1960’s she rose to prominence because her unyielding and progressive political views. Today, she remains one of the most controversial, yet influential figures in the history of politics. In this book, Carole Davies not only provides us with a biography of Claudia Jones’s life, but she also analyzes her political ideology, writings, and the legacy that she has left behind. Claudia Jones was born in 1915 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. In 1924, she migrated with her family to Harlem, New York. Living in Harlem, she had a rough …show more content…
childhood. At the young age of 12 years old she lost her mother due to illness. She was also raised in very poor conditions because of her family’s financial instability. As a result of poor nourishment and lack of proper medical assistance, she contracted tuberculosis that caused irreversible damage to her body and as Davies states, would plague her for the rest of her life. Beginning in her late teens and early adulthood Jones grew very interested in politics and social activism. At the age of 21 she started to become very active in the Communist Party. She was involved in several historic movements, such as the African American Liberation Movement and the International Communist Movement. Jones also advocated for social change in several aspects of society, such as equality among genders and world peace. One thing that Jones was especially vehement about was the “super-exploitation” of black working-class women. Davies writes, "...she brought an explicitly women’s rights orientation to the politics of the Communist Party”, demonstrating how great of an impact her political activism and passion for women’s rights has had not only on the Communist Party, but on the study of politics as well. As a result of her radical political activity and affiliation with the Communist Party during the McCarthy era she was arrested several times in the early 1950’s. In the book, Davies makes several comparisons between the McCarthy era and the time of mass hysteria that occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She points out how the government infringed on people's right during both periods in time by imprisoning and deporting citizens simply because of ties to certain groups that the United States considered as enemies. This was exactly the case for Claudia Jones, because of her political ties, in 1955 she was deported from the United States. Eventually, she relocated to the United Kingdom where she continued her political activism. Claudia Jones was also a very distinguished journalist.
She wrote for several newspapers throughout her life in the United States and in 1958 she established Great Britain’s first major black newspaper called “The West Indian Gazelle”. She even wrote while she was incarcerated, mostly in the form of letters and poems. Her writings were mainly focused on the issues relating to black people, such as racism, the struggles of the working class, and Jim Crow laws. In the introduction, Davies discusses how Jones’s work were ahead of their time and how they are still applicable and relevant in today’s society. Claudia Jones’s political activism has had a momentous impact on the study of politics and the African Diaspora. She is a significant figure in the history of feminism, communism, and black politics. Jones is regarded as one of the most radical and revolutionary thinkers of her time. Her writings are still regarded today as influential. I think this book was very informative and interesting because it gives you an insight of history and communism through a different perspective. Claudia Jones’s life and dedication to social justice is very inspiring to read about and her works and legacy still lives on
today.
African-Americans’/ Affrilachians’ Suffering Mirrored: How do Nikky Finney’s “Red Velvet” and “Left” Capture events from the Past in order to Reshape the Present? Abstract Nikky Finney (1957- ) has always been involved in the struggle of southern black people interweaving the personal and the public in her depiction of social issues such as family, birth, death, sex, violence and relationships. Her poems cover a wide range of examples: a terrified woman on a roof, Rosa Parks, a Civil Rights symbol, and Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, to name just a few. The dialogue is basic to this volume, where historical allusions to prominent figures touch upon important sociopolitical issues. I argue that “Red Velvet” and “Left”, from Head off & Split, crystallize African-Americans’ /African-Americans’ suffering and struggle against slavery, by capturing events and recalling historical figures from the past.
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
Chisholm, Shirley. "Race, Revolution and Women." The Black Scholar 42.2 (2012): 31-35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 May 2016.
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery, and lived in Holly Springs Mississippi. She was later freed, and learned from her parents what it meant to be a political activist. By 1891, Wells was the owner of the newspaper, Free Speech, and was reporting on the horrors that were occurring in the south. Wells, along with other people of the African American activist community were particularly horrified about the lynching’s that were occurring in the south. As a response to the lynching that was occurring, and other violent acts that the African American community was dealing with Wells wrote three pamphlets: Southern Horrors, The Red Record, and Mob Brutality. Muckraking and investigative journalism can be seen throughout these pamphlets, as well as Wells intent to persuade the African American community, and certain members of the white community to take a stand against the crime of lynching. Wells’ writings are an effective historical text, because she serves as a voice to an underrepresented African American 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.
Phillis Wheatley marks the beginning of the African-American literary tradition. Although she is the first African-American to become a published author, it is Wheatley’s work that proves her originality as it reflects a specific time in American history, her status as a slave, and a young woman of Christian faith (Harris). Each of these inherently contribute to her fresh African-American perspective. Wheatley is ingenious in the way she subtly ties in the roots of slavery and racism in a way that whites did not feel guarded. Not only does her work allow those with a conscious to at least somewhat consider the African-American point of view, but it invites criticism by those who care not to see African-Americans as intelligent equal beings that deserve respect. Some of the African-American community also criticizes that Wheatley did not speak enough about the injustices of slavery and prejudices of her time (Scheick). These critics are simply unable to see the Wheatley’s intent as her writing breeds originality and attention to a young and well-educated African-American woman whose words could stifle her freedoms if put any other way. In evaluating Wheatley’s On Being Brought from Africa to America, An Hymn to the Evening, and To the University of Cambridge, in New-England it is clear to see that she could only be imitative in style perhaps, but nuances of her heritage is what places her “writing at the heart of any definition of an African-American canon” (Harris).
In the beginning of the book Hunter proceeded to tell us about the history of African-American women in a broader narrative of political and economic life in Atlanta. Her first chapter highlights the agency of Civil War era urban slaves who actively resisted the terms of their labor and thus hastened
The life of Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964) affords rich opportunities for studying the developments in African-American and Ameri can life during the century following emancipation. Like W.E.B. DuBois, Cooper's life is framed by especially momentous years in U.S. history: the final years of slavery and the climactic years of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Cooper's eclect ic and influential career mirrored the times. Although her life was privileged in relation to those of the majority of African-Americans, Cooper shared in the experiences of wrenching change, elevating promise, and heart-breaking disappointment. She was accordingly able to be an organic and committed intellectual whose eloquent speech was ensnarled in her concern for the future of African-Americans.
It is extremely essential to mention that Wheatley was the first African American woman to have her work published. Her works were in their own right prototypes for all literature that touched on race during her era. By analyzing Phillis Wheatley’s intellectual capacity, we can begin to see that even after having been sold into slavery, she was only as limited as her imagination or faith would have her to be.
Throughout the eighteenth century there were a lot of African American slaves and a problem with women’s rights. During that time there were people writing about literature and the society around them that related to slaves. There were a lot of people influenced on what was written during that time. Frances E. W. Harper was a American poet that was a free slave. Hse wrote about her views on the world. Analysis of Harpers life and poems will show how influenced she was through her writing.
The Life and Activism of Angela Davis. I chose to do this research paper on Angela Davis because of her numerous contributions to the advancement of civil rights as well as to the women’s rights movement. I have passionate beliefs regarding the oppression of women and people of racial minorities. I sought to learn from Davis’ ideology and propose solutions to these conflicts that pervade our society. As well, I hope to gain historical insight into her life and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s.
It is important to not that the direction of Brooks’s literary career shifted dramatically in the late 1960’s. While attending a black writers’ conference she was struck by the passion of the young poets. Before this happened, she had regarded herself as essentially a universalist, who happened to be black. After the conference, she shifted from writing about her poems about black people and life to writing for the black population.
“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” (“Angela Davis Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web.”) Angela Yvonne Davis was an activist, an educator, and a politician. Aside from doing this, she was a major impact on feminist rights for the African American community. This essay will include Angela Davis’ Impact on the male but mainly female African American Community, and to the everyday society. Angela Davis’ philosophical side, and her personal and background life. Will also be included.
Situating Sojourning for Freedom within the conceptual framework of “black left feminism,” McDuffie traces the political lives of black radical women such Claudia Jones, Grace Campbell, Williana Borroughs, and Audley “Queen Mother” Moore. The story begins in the 1920s with the conclusion of first wave of feminism through the 1970s with the beginning of third wave feminism. Originally McDuffie looks to study black communist women as a way to stabilize the “overwhelming attention to the church, women’s clubs, and the Garvey movement” that overshadows other brands of black women’s radical activity (6–7). Instead of observing these black communist women as individual activists, McDuffie chooses to demonstrate their activities as “part of a community of black women radicals whose collective history spanned more than fifty years” (7). With this work, he proposes an “alternative genealogy of twentieth century black feminism” which places the black women radicals, instead of civil rights, black power, and feminist movements as the foremost “progenitor for the black feminism of the 1960s and 1970s” (13).
Karl Marx had very strong viewpoints in regards to capitalism, making him a great candidate for this assignment. People constantly debate over whether his ideologies held any grain of truth to them. I believe that although not everything Marx predicted in his writings has come true (yet), he was definitely right on about a lot of issues. As a matter of fact, his teachings can definitely be applied to today’s society. This paper will give a summary of Marx’s political philosophy. It will also discuss a contemporary issue: the current economic crisis— and how Marx believed racism played a crucial a role in it. Finally, through the lens he has developed, I will explain how Marx would analyze this issue and how one can argue that it spurred the current movement known as Occupy Wall Street.