Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path is a story about an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson who embarks on a journey to the city. In the city, Phoenix needs to obtain medicine for her son whose throat has been damaged drinking lye several years ago. During Jackson’s travel, she encounters several obstacles, some dangerous and some mild. Written in 1941, this story describes what sort of life people like Phoenix Jackson lived in 1940’s America . Slavery in America was abolished in 1865 after the Southern States had surrendered to the Northern States in the Civil War.
Dr. Patricia Bath is a more recent historical figure who has shown great courage. Dr. Bath came from a poverty stricken and predominately black community. She came from Harlem, NY where there weren't any high schools and African Americans were excluded from most medical schools. Dr. Bath refused to let these obstacles stand in her way. She went to medical school in the early 1960's and persevered against the sexism and racism to graduate and become an ophthalmologist, surgeon, and patients' rights activist.
Take Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for example, Dr. King played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the desegregation of the South. There are some cities and states that refuse to have a street or even a park named after him. According to Schaefer, “Efforts to recognize significant figures in African American history have often been controversial. There are only 650 cities in 41 states that have renamed streets in honor of the late and great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Oh my dear friend when will we all love and live as one as Dr. King wanted? Another issue my people haven faced for some time is racial profiling and here lately it has been on the hot seat!
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (TSUS) was a clinical study based in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S Public Health Service. The main purpose of the testing was to “study the course of syphilis in blacks and to compare the course of the disease against a study on syphilis in whites.” (Pg 39; 2) There was a major problem with this study and the way it was conducted. There were many ethical question raised as to whether the effects of syphilis on black males was worthy of study. The main issue raised was that the subjects tested weren’t told what they were being tested for. Instead, they were “told they that were being tested for bad blood, a Southern catchphrase for a variety of illnesses.
The Raven Theatre Company presented Radio Golf, by August Wilson, which was performed at the Raven Theatre and was directed by Aaron Todd Douglas. Radio Golf was the last play that August Wilson wrote before he died in 2005 caused by liver cancer. This play won the 2007 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. The playwright, August Wilson was trying to demonstrate how life was still tough in the 1990’s for African American people. He intended to show how being black affected the role in being a politician, but at the same time he showed the devotion that African American people had in doing what they dreamt to do.
What was the Tuskegee experiment? The Tuskegee experiment was a public health service study conducted for forty years between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama. The experiment’s name comes from the Tuskegee Institute which is a black university founded by Booker T. Washington. The aim of the experiment was to study how untreated syphilis develops and how it affects blacks as opposed to whites. The syphilis disease affected poor rural black men in the United States Government.
| Comparison Essay | Brandon Simmons | October 10, 2012 | The purpose of this essay is to compare “The Library Card” written by Richard Wright and “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” written by Alice Walker. These essays were written by two African American authors. Wright was born in 1908 and Walker was born in 1944. They grew up in the south during the times when America was segregated and African Americans were not free to do whatever they wanted to. Many of their stories were written about the struggles of blacks.
.) The way Henrietta’s cells were taken from her without her knowledge or consent and her children’s shows how doctors and scientists felt about and treated blacks in the
Professor Atkinson September 22, 2012 Response Paper BATTLE ROYAL Battle Royal is a short piece out of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man. This piece exemplifies the segregation of blacks and whites throughout the mid-19th century. The writing takes the readers through some of the struggles faced by African Americans during this time period and explores the meaning of being black, staying humble and still living your life to your satisfaction. The time period in which this novel is portrayed in, was an era of turmoil for the United States, landing most of its aggression on the African American society. With a prevalent segregation between the black and white communities, particularly in the south, the availability of opportunity for African-American citizens to grow as individuals was diminutive.
Write a critique of any of the dvds viewed on reserve 4. Write a book review of any of the books read in class or: A. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin B. Slavery By Another Name by Douglas Blackmon C. Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington D. Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehreneich 5. Write about the ongoing debate between Bill Cosby (“It is their own fault that poor Blacks are poor.”) and Michael Eric Dyson (“Is Bill Cosby right or has the Black middle-class lost its mind?) 6.