At the start of the 1920s, African Americans were struggling to overcome racial barriers. W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey were two influential black political leaders of that time. The two men came from separate backgrounds, which consequently led to their differing outlooks on the destiny of the African American race. Their ideas often differed from other black leaders.
Kayla Gouy English-01 5/21/2014 Within The Glory Field there were many things that explained how America is a product of its past. The Lewis family shows how the black community on Curry island gets along with their lives. Even though they don’t really have the hardest time once America decided to abolish slavery. But being black in America before though was really hard. Since people are treated differently based on the color of their skin, the books shows it from America's past to its present.
As many other musical genres such as Jazz, Gospel, and Blues were developed by African Americans, Hip-hop music is also a creation of their culture. Although the style and the characteristics of Hip-hop music that people have been making have varied over time, the essential purpose of the music remains the same: to send a message through music. African Americans developed their music as a product of their experiences of being under the harsh conditions of slavery in America. According to Megan Sullivan, the author of the article “African-American Music as Rebellion: From Slavesong to Hip-Hop”, white Americans treated African Americans unequally and separated them from white American’s society (21). Under the bleak condition of slavery, African American used music as a way to stay connected with their own African culture, while expressing the painful experiences that they had throughout history.
Both the autobiographical of Booker Taliaferro Washington and Zitkala-Sa showed to their audiences how education had a major impact in their lives, and also how they overcame the struggle in education to become successful persons in their communities. Not only that, they also faced difficulties when they tried to integrate into a new environment, with strange and totally different to do with their daily lives Booker T. Washington was an African American educator and social leader. He was born as a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, “ in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surrounding” (Washington 1344). Also, he did not know exactly what date and what place he was born, so then he probably assumed he was born near a post-office called Hale’s Ford in 1858-1859. As a little boy, he did not know much about his ancestry, but he heard other the coloured people say, “ my ancestors on my mother’s side, suffered in the middle passage of the slave ship while being conveyed from Africa to America” (Washington 1344).
1. “One of the difficulties about being a Negro writer (and this in not special pleading, since I don’t mean to suggest that he has it worse than anybody else) is that the Negro problem is written about so widely” (446) James Baldwin is referring to the fact that African American writers have written about all of the problems already suffered by African Americans; He feels that every body considers themselves informed about the African History. He also is stating that there is either a pro or against side in the writings there is pain on both sides there for it is difficult to find things to write about because both sides cause him pain. 2. “But it is a part of the buisness of the writer-as I see it- to examine attitudes, to go beneath the surface, to tap the source.
Self-Verification brings social reality into Harmony with the self. A desire for self-verification plays in the identities of African American individuals. Without a sense of group identity, individual identity, and self-esteem, the African American characters cannot survive. In the “Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglas spends a lot of his early years with barely any of his physiological and safety needs being met. In the Narrative he is a slave from the time of his birth.
Langston Hughes Research Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is one of the most influential African-American writers of the 20th century. His poetry represented a significant chapter in American literature. He always wrote about the current events of what is happening to African-Americans in his time. It is because of his original poetry that engraved his name forever in not only African American history, but in American Literature as well. “Through his long career as a professional writer, Hughes remained true to the African American heritage he celebrated in his writings, which were frankly ”racial in theme and treatment, derived from the life I know” (1131 Meyer) .
Harlem Renaissance The impact that the artists/writers had during the Harlem Renaissance had in the United States history and culture was a memory that the world may never forget. Initially, no one has an exact time period on when it this movement had begun but dates show between the 1920s and 1930s. Research shows that artist during this time period were mainly writing about enslaved time period, or the world around them. For example, the artist that I chose go by the name of Anita Scott and the poem that she had written is discussing the lives of everyday black babies during that time period. Great waves of African Americans migrated to northern cities to take advantage of the many factory jobs that opened up in response to World War I (1914-1918).
Because of his determination to write about the authentic experience of Black America, Hughes was criticized by some of his contemporaries for what they perceived as negative portrayals of African Americans as well as for dealing with subjects that some reviewers considered not fitting for literature. Hughes spent much of his career writing about the experience of the blacks in the United States, exploring issues of race and racism in his poetry, fiction, non-fiction and plays. He questioned the subconciousness of “white is best” proudly said “I am a negro- and beautiful” (Gates, Mckay 1271). Langston Hughes in his essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain says “Most of my own poems are racial in theme and treatment derived from the life I know. In many of them I try to grasp and hold some of the meanings and rhythms of jazz”(Gates, Mckay 1270).
Although both cultures are similar in looks and color, their similarities almost equates their differences. The major differences derives from the years of differentiation in self-attributes such as self esteem, self concept, and racial and ethnic identity as do the similarities (Belgrave 93). With that knowledge, situations could get puzzling. It might have been anticipated that Black Americans and African would still till current day inhabit the same cultural values; when in fact, Situational and environmental factors have impact on everyone’s ethnic identity (Belgrave, 70). There are certain cultural practices that came to America with the enslaved Africans that have long been forgotten as the years went by.