Hughes expresses how black people represent a key part of America’s formation. He argues that Black people are just as deserving as whites to call themselves American. DuBois writes how the blacks as a people have made an impact in the world, giving reference to the great pyramids of Egypt. Both of these writers discuss how blacks are deserving of recognition as a vital part of America’s success. The poem “I Too” shows the blacks as a whole as being a neglected “brother” in a family.
African-American author Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved, describes a black culture born out of a dehumanising period of slavery just after the Civil War. Culture is a means of how a group collectively believe, act, and interact on a daily basis. Those who have studied her work refer to Morrison’s narrative tales as “literature…that addresses the sacred and as an allegorical representation of black experience” (Baker-Fletcher 1993: 2). Although African Americans had a difficult time establishing their own culture during the period of slavery when they were considered less than human, Morrison believes that black culture has been built on the horrors of the past and it is this history that has shaped contemporary black culture in a positive way. Through the use of linguistic devices, her representation of black women, imagery and symbolic features, and the theme of interracial relations, Morrison illustrates that black culture that is resilient, vibrant, independent, and determined.
The author uses language as a tool to show the characters' status in society as black or white. Various language techniques are used to display the classes of society. The words "blanker" (used by blacks to describe whites) and "dagger" (used by whites to describe blacks) are used repeatedly throughout the novel. This use of language reflects the intolerant attitudes towards one another in Blackman's radical world. There is a significant amount of symbolism used in these words.
They take the reader through pivotal moments in the South and North to enumerate the chain of events that lead to the achievements and failures of the African-Americans in society. My review led me to understand the Black Power movement as an effort to overcome the colonizer. Black people need to define themselves without the influence of white society. The authors were vocal about the downfall of blacks trying to assimilate into white middle class. In a passionate effort to convey their message, they gave an overview of significant political and life altering moments in history.
Feminism was one of the major events that took place throughout the 1900s, which was the protest of women rights compared to that of men. The Color Purple, is generally based on this topic, and how a patriarchal society runs in south America. Alice Walker does a phenomenal job in portraying her characters as vividly as possible. The plot of The Color Purple is based from the 1900s to the 1930s, which was the time of feminism’s first wave. Alice Walker, an African American herself, writes about the abuse of women in a black, patriarchal society, through the use of epistolary.
For example, when Herodotus wished to argue that the Colchian people were related to the Egyptians, he said that the Colchians were "black, with curly hair". Diop used statements by these writers to illustrate his theory that the ancient Egyptians had the same physical traits as modern black Africans (skin colour, hair type). His interpretation of anthropological data (such as the role of matriarchy) and archeological data led him to conclude that Egyptian culture was a Black African culture. Civilizations or Barbarism is Diop’s most recent book. Diop expanded on, clarified, and synthesized his arguments from Precolonial Black Africa) and The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality.
BLACK IDENTITY WITH REFERENCE TO ALICE WALKER’S THE COLOR PURPLE In the 1920s black writers and artists of America led a flourishing new movement in the literature, theatre and jazz known as the Harlem Renaissance or the Negro movement. The Harlem Renaissance is unusual among literary and artistic movements for its close relationship to civil rights and reform organization. It was an unprecedented outburst of the creative activity among the black writers. The impact of the movement hit all the areas of art, literature, politics and social life paving way for the people of colour a constructive outlet to voice their need against all odds. In 1960s, the feminist movement emerged against the dominant patriarchal society.
Pan-Africanism has covered calls for African unity (both as a continent and as a people), nationalism, independence, political and economic cooperation, and historical and cultural awareness (especially for Afrocentric versus Eurocentric interpretations). Some claim that Pan-Africanism goes back to the writings of ex-slaves such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano. Pan-Africanism here related to the ending of the slave trade, and the need to rebut the 'scientific' claims of African inferiority. For Pan-Africanists, such as Edward Wilmot Blyden, part of the call for African unity was to return the Diaspora to Africa, whereas others, such as Frederick Douglass, called for rights in their adopted countries. Blyden and
Another influential novel in America’s political history is Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. This book was a part of the abolitionist movement during a time period of slavery and inequality of African Americans. This narrative was successful during this struggling time period as it urged people to accept the African American race. Not only did it encourage people to accept the race, but it also encouraged people to cease from slavery. The brutal and harmful details that are described in the novel showed to the nation of how detrimental slavery was on an individual African American.
The situation of African American people in the USA has been a disputable issue since the abolition of slavery. The treatment of African American people, who were excluded from the rights and rules of the mainstream society, began the fight for equality within the African American society. One of the most remarkable African American authors is Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison’s novels represent the issues of class distinction among African American people and their individual characters represent different life-styles, personalities and destinies. They also focus on the issues of the underclass of women in the male-dominated African American society.