Slave Girls 'Life' By Jacobs Harriet And The Negro Speak By Langston Hughes

522 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Modern slavery essay report

The poem, “The Negro speak” the poem was written in 1921, by Langston Hughes, during a period of high racial intolerance, inequality, and injustice in America. While Jacob
Harriet wrote her poem in 1861, during the period, she escaped slavery and was residing in the north. The poem, “Slave Girls’ Life,” is a powerful narration of the suffering, which is slavery.
It portrays families that are broken apart, and freedom promises made though never kept, the suffering the slave endured during the slavery period. Contrary, the poet wrote this poem in a more reflective meaning informing of how Black Americans had a crucial role in history. He also asserts that they existed since the beginning of humanity cradle.
Langston Hughes in his literary work …show more content…

In the poem by Jacobs Harriet, she also tries to relate to the suffering black women undergo while in slavery, explaining in detail the difficulties, and how this unites them to stand together against oppression.
Surname 2
In the Slave Girl, the author places slavery as the chief memory of the black American women and institutes the final bequest to which all memories might return. Whereas in the poem by Langston Hughes addresses themes, which are closely related to the Harlem Renaissance and trying to reflect on the beauty of the life of black Americans.
Both poems were written during the period of racial intolerance in the United States. In the Negro Speaks, the poet literacy work celebrates the soul and voice of the black American community in a period of great racial prejudice, inequality, and injustice. Jacob’s poem was also written to display the
Langston Hughes was privileged to have lived in the United States in a period where the black Americans were heartened to observe their heritage. In contrast, Jacobs lived in a period when she faced difficulty faced as part of the black community, the racial discrimination, masters selling their children to slavery, a period when the black community could not address

Show More
Related

  • The Influential Work of Paul Laurence Dunbar

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many writers begin writing and showing literary talent when they are young. Paul Laurence Dunbar, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, was already editor of a newspaper and had had two of his poems published in the local newspaper before he’d graduated from high school. His classmate, Orville Wright, printed The Tattler which Dunbar edited and published for the local African American community. After graduating from high school, he was forced to get a job as an elevator operator which allowed him spare time for writing. He finally gained recognition outside of Dayton when, in 1892, he was invited to address the Western Association of Writers and met James Newton Matthews who praised his work in a letter to an Illinois newspaper. In 1892, he decided to publish his first book of poems entitled Oak and Ivy and four years later his second book of poems Majors and Minors was published. People began to see him as a symbol for his race, and he was thought of artistically as “a happy-go-lucky, singing, shuffling, banjo-picking being… in a log cabin amid fields of cotton” (Dunbar, AAW 2). Dunbar’s poems, written alternately in literary and dialect English, are about love, death, music, laughter, human frailty, and though Dunbar tried to mute themes of social protest, social commentary on racial themes is present in his poetry.

    Read More

  • Slavery In The Souls Of Black Folk By Harriet Jacobs

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Analyzing the narrative of Harriet Jacobs in the context of the writings of W.E.B. Du bois serves to demonstrate how slavery prompted the weary and self-denigrating attitudes of Negro Americans during the subsequent Reconstruction period. However, it is important to note that Harriet Jacobs does not embody the concept of double-consciousness because slavery effectively stripped away her sexuality and femininity, therefore reducing her to one identity--that of a

    Read More

  • Slavery and Christianity in Harriet A. Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Incongruity of Slavery and Christianity in Harriet A. Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself

    Read More

  • Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the earliest part of Harriet?s life the whole idea of slavery was foreign to her. As all little girls she was born with a mind that only told her place in the world was that of a little girl. She had no capacity to understand the hardships that she inherited. She explains how her, ?heart was as free from care as that of any free-born white child.?(Jacobs p. 7) She explains this blissful ignorance by not understanding that she was condemned at birth to a life of the worst kind oppression. Even at six when she first became familiar with the realization that people regarded her as a slave, Harriet could not conceptualize the weight of what this meant. She say?s that her circumstances as slave girl were unusua...

    Read More

  • A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes and My Little Dreams by Georgia Douglas Johnson

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even if these poems had the same theme of the delayment of a dream, each poet’s vision towards this dream is explored differently, where readers are able to grasp both the effects and potentials of a dream deferred, through the use of imagery. Nonetheless, both poems had fulfilled the role of many distinguished poems during the period; to communicate African-Americans’ desires to live a life of equality and free from prejudice.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Black Man Talks Of Reaping And From The Dark Tower

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust

    Read More

  • Robert Hayden's 'The Ballad Of Nat Turner'

    311 Words  | 1 Pages

    With the celebration of Black History month, the importance of Robert Hayden’s “The Ballad of Nat Turner” reflects the significance of how far African Americans have come. During the time of this poem, the civil rights movement making quite a noise, allowing African American musicians, artists, and writers to express how they felt about the issues going on in America. One of the writers would be Robert Hayden. A poet with a strong interest in African studies writing about those whom like Nat Turner would pave the way for African Americans down the line. “The Ballad of Nat Turner” gives an insight to the intense tension between African Americans and Caucasians, which society can see till this day. The poem also paints the picture of the two

    Read More

  • What did freedom mean to harriet jacobs

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass and Slavery

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...f Jacobs’s narrative is the sexual exploitation that she, as well as many other slave women, had to endure. Her narrative focuses on the domestic issues that faced African-American women, she even states, “Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women”. Therefore, gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery.

    Read More

  • Jacobs & Douglass: An Insight Into The Experience of The American Slave

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    numerous types of themes. Much of the work concentrates on the underlining ideas beneath the stories. In the narratives, fugitives and ex-slaves appealed to the humanity they shared with their readers during these times, men being lynched and marked all over and women being the subject of grueling rapes. "The slave narrative of Frederick Douglas" and "Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" themes come from the existence of the slaves morality that they are forced compromise to live. Both narrators show slave narratives in the point of view of both "men and women slaves that had to deal with physical, mental, and moral abuse during the times of slavery." (Lee 44)

    Read More

  • Slavery Is Terrible For Women, By Harriet A. Jacobs

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harriet Jacobs story clearly shows the pain she suffered as a female slave, but it also showed the strength she proved to have within herself. At such a young age she went through things that I have never experienced. Her way of surviving is what truly inspires. Imagine just having to watch your children grow up before your very eyes and not being able to give them a hug or kiss. The simple things that our parents do today for us, the things we take for granted, are what she hoped and prayed she could do one day. Jacobs died in 1897, but she continued to fight for the rights of African

    Read More

  • The Song Of The Smoke Poem Analysis

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    W.E.B. Dubois was one of the most prolific and pioneering leaders during the early Civil Rights era. Throughout his life, he produced numerous works as a commentary on the social construct that existed between whites and blacks, including the groundbreaking collection of essays The Souls of Black Folk published in 1903. These essays detailed the historical, political and sociological plight of African Americans in society after the Civil War. In addition, the essays introduced the concept of double consciousness which referred to the challenge blacks faced in reconciling an African heritage with an American identity, a theory that would disseminate into his later works. Accordingly, his poem “The Song of the Smoke” published in 1907 is an extension of his earlier work in double consciousness, but with an emphasis on the celebration of black heritage. Embedded in these affirmations of blackness; however, is a sense of longing for the unity and equality of all races. In the poem, “The Song of the Smoke”, DuBois reflects on the past, finding grief and courage in the legacy of his slave ancestry and toward the future, hoping a new strength and dignity is formed amongst all Americans.

    Read More

  • The Poetry in Harlem Renaissance

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    When discussing the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, due to the strength of their relationship, one must look at Blues and Jazz. Many viewed this genre as a voice for the black communities and as “the New Negro poets expressed a deep pride in being Black” (Smith, 1983, p. 37) it is easy to see how this influenced their poetry. The main theme of Blues were the troubles of life and finding an escape, and this underlying dissatisfaction was incorporated into poetry as a response to many of the injustices present. For example, a clear example of this is Langston Hughes’ Homesick Blues which uses many of the key techniques from Blues songs, such as short lines to create urgency. The poem discusses the effect of prejudices and injustices on the black communities, especially when it comes to finding a home and an identity. There is a subtle, irregular rhyme scheme from words such as “sun… done” (Ramazani, 1994, pp. 152-3) which strengthens the influence. The dull, full rhymes create a sense of dissatisfaction and boredom, as if the speaker has given up on life. Hughes similarly uses many colloquialism and phonetics, which were common in Blues songs, such as “De Railroad Bridge/ a sad song in de air” (Ramazani, 1994, pp. 152-3), which furthers racial pride and identity, present in Blues and Harlem Renaissance poetry. However, perhaps the strongest example of how the Blues genre infl...

    Read More

  • Harlem by Langston Hughes

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    the life of Harlem and knew that equality and freedom was definitely not present. The poem portrays

    Read More

  • Black Poetry

    2173 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.

    Read More

More about Slave Girls 'Life' By Jacobs Harriet And The Negro Speak By Langston Hughes

Open Document