A Movement Towards Change African Americans were treated unfairly due to lack of moral and ethnocentricity by the whites. Maya Angelou an African American author/poet wrote the Caged Bird which symbolize this time period. Malcolm X, a radical activist gave blacks hope and a vision for change. Harriet Beecher Stowe shed light on the iniquity of the south giving America a different view of the African Americans. The 1960s were a time of misjudgment; Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, depicted the wrongdoings of prejudice. In order to understand the significance of the works one must first understand the significance of the time period. Blacks during this time were unable to express their opinions let alone defend themselves.
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Each of the birds had a distinct characteristic which pertains to how each of the races lived. “ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing”(Maya Angelou 27-31).This quote symbolizes the blacks who are enslaved , and stands on the path of fulfilling a dream because of their skin color. A bird with a clipped wing is not able to fly taking away its freedom, which belittled blacks leaving them with the only "freedom" of singing. "A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky" ( Maya Angelou 1-7). Meanings to this quote expands to whereas the whites are living off of the hard work of the blacks while getting full credit , the upper hand, and the power. To this point blacks are coming together, and seeking freedom as they fully deserve. “Blacks are slowly overcoming the dominance of whites to blacks” (Vicky 1). Vicky says this because Maya being a black African American got a streetcar job, which only whites got at the time. Dreams of blacks are crushed by the ethnocentricity and traditions of …show more content…
In Stowe 's book "Uncle Tom 's Cabin", Tom is a brave and honest man who is supposed to change people 's minds about slaves. Slavery occurred in many other places which Stowe emphasized and elucidated on. “The dark places on earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” (Stowe 340). This quote is mentioned in the bible as being respectful to an agreement, because it 's hard to know what someone might get into, which is ironic because the slaves did not get to choose their agreement. She mentions this quote as a guilty conscience to the south for their wrongdoings. Some saw Stowe’s novel as stereotyped and an excuse for her to apologize on behalf of America , which does not acknowledge the real truth about slavery “ ‘ That Stowe’s novel that she wrote to protest slavery as this evil that was going to damn the nation to hell if we did not abolish it became converted to an apology as the ‘good old days’ for almost immediately after the civil war’ ”(Hamilton 22).Stowe writing this book in her time period was not something that everyone had the guts to do, but she did to open the eyes of the people, to get them to understand that this was wrong.. At that point America really represses the truth about slavery and a change for equality was
Each of the birds had a distinct characteristic which pertains to how each of the races lived. “ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing”(Maya Angelou 27-31).This quote symbolizes the blacks who are enslaved , and stands on the path of fulfilling a dream because of their skin color. A bird with a clipped wing is not able to fly taking away its freedom, which belittled blacks leaving them with the only "freedom" of singing. "A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky" ( Maya Angelou 1-7). Meanings to this quote expands to whereas the whites are living off of the hard work of the blacks while getting full credit , the upper hand, and the power. To this point blacks are coming together, and seeking freedom as they fully deserve. “Blacks are slowly overcoming the dominance of whites to blacks” (Vicky 1). Vicky says this because Maya being a black African American got a streetcar job, which only whites got at the time. Dreams of blacks are crushed by the ethnocentricity and traditions of …show more content…
In Stowe 's book "Uncle Tom 's Cabin", Tom is a brave and honest man who is supposed to change people 's minds about slaves. Slavery occurred in many other places which Stowe emphasized and elucidated on. “The dark places on earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” (Stowe 340). This quote is mentioned in the bible as being respectful to an agreement, because it 's hard to know what someone might get into, which is ironic because the slaves did not get to choose their agreement. She mentions this quote as a guilty conscience to the south for their wrongdoings. Some saw Stowe’s novel as stereotyped and an excuse for her to apologize on behalf of America , which does not acknowledge the real truth about slavery “ ‘ That Stowe’s novel that she wrote to protest slavery as this evil that was going to damn the nation to hell if we did not abolish it became converted to an apology as the ‘good old days’ for almost immediately after the civil war’ ”(Hamilton 22).Stowe writing this book in her time period was not something that everyone had the guts to do, but she did to open the eyes of the people, to get them to understand that this was wrong.. At that point America really represses the truth about slavery and a change for equality was