Her aim was to gain allegiance from middle class white women but in this process she lost esteem from the women within her own race. She played into assertive ideals and clichés in order to be recognized. The author focused too much on gaining acceptance from white people instead of having self-assurance and understanding of possibly never being fully welcomed by her aggressors. It is one thing to desire equality, but when the basis of gaining equality requires degrading your own race, it is no longer equality of race nor mankind, but only gaining appreciation based on performance. McDougald thinks that the low class black women intrude as a hindrance for the entire black race and the few who have proven their dominant are still associated with ignorance and the signification of being a black woman.
The band members are all poor and banter about the various ways they have been exploited by whites. One of the strongest points made is the suggestion that black people must do what they can to survive and not get into trouble. Ma Rainey is able to exploit the white men who exploit her by taking advantage of the fact that they cater to her as a successful artist: whether they like or not, she is called the Queen (or Mother) of the Blues for a reason. In this way, she is able to maintain some control over her career and success, unlike her instrumentalists. Levee was rejected by the white producer he depended on, then couldn’t keep his cool, and now he has fallen into the trap that has ensnared so many young black men to this day.
The white woman only relates on some of these issues. To the contrary the black woman identifies with all of the issues and the white woman refuses to embrace the entire struggle of the black woman creating a vein of contention. The most prevalent issue that I have found among this sisterhood is the “black man’. The black man uses his relationship with the white woman as a sort of trophy. In his relationship with his black woman we find that as we move up the economic ladder, the black woman is used as a helpmate until he achieves any level of success and is then discarded and treated as she is passé.
While the end of the Civil War brought an end to the tragic institution of slavery, the hardships the African Americans were bound to endure had only begun. Tera W. Hunter wrote To ‘Joy My Freedom, a novel highlighting the difficulties black women had to face and the way they manipulated these struggles to make them happy and feel proud during the Reconstruction Era. Hunter shows how domestic black workers, mostly in cities like Atlanta, used their “freedom” to gain respect and make a life they could call their own. Working women, along with all freedpeople, established freedom as the idea that one has the liberty to practice their religion freely, get an education, be politically active and overall live a safe and fulfilling life. They pursued this through small and silent revolts
He is too focused on gaining his “manhood “or proving himself to both the community and others, which is an inherent need for someone who is low on the hierarchy of people. Mayberry articulates her analysis of the effects of all of these relationships very well in her article, and I generally took the main idea to be that the black male turns to be underdeveloped due to his position at the start (disdained by whites) while at the same time, envying them and wanting to be better than
There was a time in history when “Black men were encouraged to marry white women in order to enrich the slavemaster’s plantation with more human labor” (Black Women’s Liberation). The black men back then could choose anyone they wanted for a mate while “Black women had little choice in selection for her mate” (Black women’s Liberation). Now, things are different. Black women do have a selection and they tend to emasculate the men of their choice. There is a new movement for black women and “Women in the women’s liberation movement assert that they are tired of being slaves to their husbands.
Here we can see a little bit of racism on the part of the narrator, and despite she disagrees with the the treatment that was given to the slaves, she agrees the idea that if someone have to work on the sugar plantations, this someone will be the black and Indian, not white people. However, when she describes Oroonoko, she seems like she is talking about a white man. Her words to describe him are “He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied: the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot. His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of 'em being like snow, as were his teeth.
But as time passed, people started to believe that slavery was unconstitutional. Debates were fought, muskets snapped, and cannons roared in order to secure the future of our country. After a war that separated the country for the first time in her short history, slavery was abolished; but laws and manuscript can only do so much. For the generations that were imprinted with this natural racism, it would take an equal amount of explanation and understanding to have any hope of a change in their mindset. Langston Hughes’s poem depicts this as the “Negro bearing slavery’s scars”, stating that no matter how much time has or will pass, the social and mental damage has already been done (20).
Harper Lee conveys the message that having a clearly defined class system creates injustice despite enabling society to function smoothly by detailing the social exclusion of Dolphus Raymond, the Cunninghams, the Ewells, and the Blacks. First, Dolphus Raymond defies expectations established by the racial-social ladder by choosing to exclude himself from society, marrying a black woman, and living on an isolated patch of land by the river. When asked why, Jem replies that Mr. Raymond “’likes ‘em better’n he likes us,’” (161). Since whites are brought up on the belief that blacks are inferior, they immediately assume that any association with blacks deems a white inferior. However, this contradicts their notion that whites are superior to blacks.
Instead of the government allowing slavery, it looked like it found a loop hole to not treat people of color equally for anything whether it was sports, school or public facilities blacks were still treated as inferior. Thankfully the civil rights movement that occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s would turn out successful after years of civil demonstrations (some which would become riots e.g. : Birmingham, Alabama), marches, and speeches. One might say that one of the most famous speeches of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, would see fruition when looking at today’s society despite some traces of racism. Now we live in an era where different races can co-exist.