Name: Alvin Schröder Tutor: Kerstin Shands Course: Women Writing in English Lorraine Hansberry - A prominent writer and dedicated fighter for civil rights Lorraine Hansberry had a brilliant career as a successful writer, among many things she was the first black woman to produce a play on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. She was the youngest and the first black writer to ever receive this particular award. Hansberry was an author who was deeply committed to the fight for equality and human rights for the black community whose life was unfortunately cut short. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. Her family consisted of her parents, Carl Augustus Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry and her three older siblings, Carl Jr, Perry and Mamie.
Her writing career started being known in the 1960s as one of the strong new voices of the emerging black arts. Was also in the mid-1970s established as one of the leading poetic voices. (www.encyclopedia.com/topic/nikki_giovanni.aspx ). Furthermore Nikki Giovanni received the National review from “Ebony” also in the 1907s. (www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/NikkiGiovanni_259434) In the year 2004, she was nominated for a Grammy for “Best spoken word album”.
The strong views displayed in this novel are clearly aimed at black women, as the book captures the lost traditions of black women in the early 1900s, and this is backed up by the book’s first appearance in United Kingdom in 1983 being published by The Women’s Press, thus clearly labelling the target audience of the book. The littered patriarchal ideologies within the text can also be appreciated by both white females and males of all backgrounds, but each person will interpret the book differently. Women in particular will have to take a very different approach on reading this book to men, as females when they follow the tale of Celie will be able to appreciate the social oppression to her gender, and feel empowered by her struggle against the dominant, patriarchal traditions. The Color Purple focuses on the story of Celie, a young African-American girl, who writes a collection of letters to, at first, God. The use of the epistolary genre of writing has a strong significance throughout the book, as it reflects segments of thought from an individual person.
Theoharis sheds light on Rosa Parks’ political stands and thoughts, her many years of activism and how she essentially gave birth to the civil rights movement. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is one of the most difficult books I have read up to this point in my life. Not necessarily because it is hard to follow, but because it is so full of information and research, I would occasionally have to go back and read certain paragraphs or pages more than once. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is not an easy read, but it is extremely detailed and informative. Jeanne Theoharis received a degree in Afro-American studies from Harvard as well as her PhD in American Culture from Michigan.
Mallory E. Ridgway Ms. Frey Introduction to Literature 17 March 2011 Character Analysis of Dee Johnson in “Everyday Use” For hundreds of years, African Americans have battled for equal rights, social equality, and their freedom. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “black” replaced the derogatory “negro”, and many African Americans took pride in their identity. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” Dee feels very comfortable being an African American, and tries to gain attention from others while trying to regain touch with her African roots. “Everyday Use” focuses on heritage and how it affects the members of Dee’s family differently. The family consists of Momma, and her daughters Maggie and Dee.
Ida B. Wells was an African American speaker, crusader, suffragist, journalist, and women’s rights advocate. She is simply one of our nations most prominent leaders in the fight for civil rights and democracy, not only for blacks and for women, but for everyone. Born in 1862 in Holy Springs, Mississippi, the groundwork for Ida to become a leader would be laid at an early age. Even though enslaved prior to the Civil War, Ida’s parents (her mother a well known cook and her father a skilled carpenter) were still able to support their seven children.
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Y. Davis Undoubtedly, Angela Davis epitomizes what millions of African American men and women have long felt about the never ending oppressed conditions that exist for them in America. Davis, one of the founding mothers of the radical 60’s and 70’s black feminist and civil rights movement, usher into the 20th century a buried and overlooked oppression that many black woman experienced at the end of racial slavery that cannot continue to go unnoticed. In her book, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, Davis attempts to breakdown the wall barriers of gender oppression by examining the sexuality and lyrics of three iconic women of the blues; challenging the “mainstream ideological assumptions regarding women being in love… and the notion that women’s place was in the domestic sphere” Blues Legacies and Black Feminism (pg.11). But before discussing the works of Angela Y. Davis it would be injustice not to discuss the woman, herself, and the many accomplishments as-well-as trials and tribulation she has overcome. Angela Davis was born January 6, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama to two highly educated parents, both of whom where educators themselves.
The unique history of African-Americans subconsciously affects what black men and women consider attractive. If this wasn’t true, black women wouldn’t go to such extremes as to put chemical relaxers in their hair to make it straight. Assata Shakur describes the process of straightening her hair as, “burnt ears, a smokey straightening, and the stink of your own hair burning” (174). She hadn’t understood why she and generations before her had gone through the trouble. The women, who wear natural looks such as afros, dreadlocks, and braids, are a rare find.
Dove believes “putting these private events” alongside historical events makes the personal and historical equally important. This is seen in one of her most famous works, Thomas & Beulah, which focus on her maternal grandparents.With being a successful poet, Dove has created throughout her works, whether a poem or a play gives “the experience of connectedness [which] gives pleasure, even if what it is connecting us to is a moment of grief” (Arizona Board of Regents). Dove is able to “weave African-American experience into the broader perspective of international culture reflecting drama, commitment to social justice and sensitivity to women's issues” (qtd from The Library of Congress). Dove is a contemporary poet able to create dramatic pieces out of serious topics easy and enjoyable to
In 1958, she married husband, Harold Morrison (Johnson Lewis 2010). But later divorced in 1964, she took their two sons and moved back to Lorain, Ohio, then to New York where she worked as senior editor in Random House (Johnson Lewis 2010). Her first novel was written in 1970, “The Bluest Eye”. After numerous other publications, in 1987, she won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “Beloved” (Liukkonen 2008). In 1992 Morrison published “Jazz”, which won her a Nobel Prize for Literature, she was the eighth woman and first black woman to be awarded this honor (Johnson Lewis 2010).