100 Greatest African Americans Essays

  • Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Best Dialect Poet in Modernism

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frederick Douglass once said that Paul Laurence Dunbar is “the most promising young colored man in America” (Paul Poets.org). This goes well with Dunbar since he eventually turned out to be one of the best dialect poets in his time period. Paul Dunbar (1872-1906) was part of the modernism movement that wanted to create something new and get rid of the old literature. They used more free verse poetry and stream of consciousness writing. The time period lasted from 1890 to the 1940s (PBS np). The parents

  • London 1802 vs. Douglass

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    that the English have become “selfish men” and losing sight of their heritage. With Milton’s help, Wordsworth states the English would be returned their “manners, virtue, freedom, power.” In “Douglass,” Dunbar is speaking to Frederick Douglass, an American writer and abolitionist leader, explaining how strong segregation and discrimination is, ...

  • The Emotional Experience In Toni Morrison's Beloved

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The light shines in on an empty room. Nothing can be seen, nothing can be heard, and it gives a feeling of no beginning and no end. Complete emptiness. Walking on stage it’s an individual of African-American descent. The person drops two books to the floor and starts to pace back and forth, a look of anger on the individual’s face. Nic: (mumbling) I’m so tired of this. I’m so tired of all this crap I have to put up with, it’s just not fair. Why is it always me? Nic continues to pace back and forth

  • Black History Month Essay

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many people in the world who do remarkable things. There is one month, February, that commemorates all of the phenomenal African American people and their achievements. Black History Month celebrates their notable impact on society and the contributions they made to the world to make a difference. Americans have been celebrating Black History Month annually since 1926. It was first named "Negro History Week" and later it was changed to “Black History Month." It was started and created

  • Potato Chicken Power

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    small, worn-out room. This is the definition of the Youngers’ existence. The Youngers are a typical African-American family living in a Post-WWII era. The Youngers, unlike most African-American families, have been given a chance to move up in the world. With the death of Big Walter, the previous man of the house, the Youngers have a chance to make one family member’s dream come true. However, American Society has changed the Youngers. Instead of using the money to better the family, the family members

  • The Influence of Religion in Phillis Wheatley's Life

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    racism and sexism, to become one of the most acclaimed poets in the 18th Century. Her works are characterized by religious and moral backgrounds, which are due to the extensive education of religion she received. In this sense, her poems also fit into American Poetry. However, she differs in the way that she is a black woman whose writings tackle greater subjects while incorporating her moral standpoint. By developing her writing, she began speaking out against injustices that she faced and, consequently

  • Free College Essays - The Strength of the Characters in A Raisin in the Sun

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    dreams of better days. The character Beneatha knows much about her African past. Mama is very proud of her African heritage and believing it's importance. During the stage directing of the play Lena has the "noble bearings of the women of the heroes of the Southwest Africa , but she totally ignores her African past and does not care much about it either" (Cheney 59). Asagai Beneatha's acquaintance talks allot about his African past and believes deeply in his culture and heritage. He is from Nigeria

  • An Annotation of Paul Laurence Dunbar's Ships That Pass In The Night

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    ashore, wishing for freedom and for slavery to be abolished. Paul Laurence Dunbar on the other hand was already a free man. He was on a ship, still more of an opportunity than Douglass had, yet he was still in search for new opportunities for African Americans. The new opportunities that he seeks are upon a ship somewhere sailing in the dark night and keep passing him by. Links from the poem below are best read in order from the beginning of the poem to the end Ships That Pass In The Night by

  • Bilbo Baggins Sacrifice

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself,” quoted by Joseph Campbell, a very famous American mythologist, writer, and lecturer. Campbell is correct when his definition of a hero, but there is more aspects to heroes we don’t know about. For instance, heroes make difficult decisions to help others and to make a positive change in people's’ lives. Sacrifice is an essential component to the development of heroes since they must sacrifice things such as comfort

  • Paul Laurence Dunbar and Edwin Arlington Robinson

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" “April Showers” “Douglass” by Paul Laurence Dunbar “Luke Havergal” by Edwin Arlington Robinson 1.      Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used very effectively in her story. Situational irony is used to show the reader what is assumed to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to hint to the reader something is happening to the characters in the story

  • A Raisin in the Sun Essay: Importance of Deferred Dreams

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Importance of Deferred Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun A dream is a hope, a wish, and an aspiration. Young people have dreams about what they want to be when they grow up. Parents have dreams for their children's future. Not all of these dreams come true at the desired moment - these dreams are postponed or "deferred". A deferred dream is put on the "back burner of life"(Jemie 219), and it matures to its full potential, and is waiting when you are "ready to pursue it"(Jemie 219). It is assumed

  • A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about an African-American family, who faces discrimination and financial struggles, but still remains united throughout their journey in buying a new home. Just like the Youngers, people create lifelong goals and dreams, in which they want to accomplish. When they do not fulfill their dreams, it simply becomes “a raisin in the sun” because just like a raisin loses its juice when kept outside for too long, a dream loses its significance as well

  • Carry Your Own Skis, Arthur Ashe, and Dreams

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    This semester has been really tiring. It has been really stressful for me lately with all my classes. It is hectic preparing for finals, finishing up end of the year projects, as well as practicing for state soccer. It is not easy being a 4.0 student athlete. It’s probably the most stressful thing for a high school student. Some people think that the athletes have it easy but they don’t. We have to work hard to earn our spot. We constantly have sports as well as school on our mind. It is especially

  • Changes in London, 1802 William Wordsworth and Douglass Paul Laurence Dunbar

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both London, 1802 by William Wordsworth and Douglass by Paul Laurence Dunbar are poems addressing the changes in conditions among their respective societies, London for Wordsworth and the United States for Dunbar. The poems are reactions to different time periods as both writers look upon the conditions of their societies and reminisce of better times as they long for the glory days of the past. London, 1802 and Douglass are poems that have several similarities among their content, however there

  • Comparing A Raisin In The Sun And I Have A Dream

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    hope that they will be able to move to a house with the money they are receiving from the check. In both A Raisin in the Sun and “I Have a Dream” speech the people have a dream and they want to achieve their dream then they can be happy and live the American Dream. In the beginning of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry describes the living space of the Younger family and how there is only “sole natural light” (Hansberry 24) that the family can enjoy throughout the day, which can

  • The American Nightmare: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”, she uses the African American Younger family as a representation of the entire race’s struggle for the American Dream. America has always had slogans such as “the land of the free” and “liberty and justice for all”. The Younger family is finding out, like generations before them, the American Dream isn’t at all what it seems if you’re black. The family eagerly awaits the insurance check from the death of their father, while living a life of constant

  • A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    paper ... ... Window. Lorraine Hansberry. Ed. Robert Nemiroff. New American Library, 1987. 9-20. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 62. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin In The Sun”. Literature For Composition, 10th Edition, 2014. Print. Washington, J. Charles. "'A Raisin in the Sun' Revisited." Black American Literature Forum 22.1 (Spring 1988): 109-124. Rpt. in Contemporary

  • Robert Johnson: The King Of Blues

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    however, there is not an exactly known reason why or how he died. He was ranked 5th on the Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarist of all time.

  • Jackie Robinson's Accomplishments

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Major League system and African-Americans playing in the Negro Leagues. There were many factors that made whites and blacks come together including World War II. Integration caused many downs in the time period but as baseball grew and grew it was one of the greatest accomplishments in the history. It was hard to find the right black man do start this, they needed a man with baseball abilities and a man who didn’t need to fight back. There was quite a number of African-Americans playing alongside white

  • Similarities Between Eleanor Rigby And We Wear The Masks

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1966 one of the greatest songwriters ever, Paul McCartney, wrote a song the would peak at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was ranked as one of the 150 greatest songs of all time by the Rolling Stones. This song was Eleanor Rigby. 71 years before this one of the greatest American poets, Paul Laurence Dunbar, wrote We Wear the Mask, a poem that would become an embodiment of life lived by many African Americans of the time. Even though 71 years separates these two bodies of work they both