The Role Of Racial Conflict In Literature

A problem over the decades that will never be gone is racial tension. From the earliest of times, we have had slavery and throughout writing we have had the views of slavery writers. Each literary movement brought more and more views of the perspective of an African-Americans life. Then, we had African-Americans capturing in their owns words how they viewed white people; how they portray each other in their own ways. The mid 1800’s -1900’s was a time of slavery, even though there was a change in segregation, racial views were still the same.
Throughout the literary movements, racial conflict has always been a major factor. Slavery had been a part of America until it was abolished by the thirteenth amendment in 1865. Even though this was …show more content…
No one could ever truly see a slave 's point of view, but when they wrote about it they could. Once slavery was abolished, blacks started writing their point of view on how they still were not equal no matter what rights were thrown their way. In “Civil Rights in America: Racial Voting Rights” by Neil Foley, Peter Iverson, and Steven F. Lawson it states, “the right of impartial suffrage” and sent a delegation, headed by the ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to meet with President Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded Lincoln. On February 6, 1866, the black emissaries declared to the president that African-Americans deserved the suffrage because of the fact that “we are subjects of the Government and subject to taxation, to volunteer in the service of the country, subject to being drafted, subject to bear the burdens of the State, makes it not improper that we should ask in the privileges of this condition”(5). Frederick Douglass .was also a slavery writer and gave a view of what a determined slave can do to fight for his freedom. One of his works is “What is a Slave to the Fourth of July”. He explains that the Fourth of July is not an African-Americans day of freedom because they were not free until the 13 amendment. Through determination, eventually, along with the 13 amendment, came the 14 and the 15 amendment. The 14 amendment gave citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United …show more content…
This can be specific with race to like how white writers portray African-Americans. We can see this specifically in the “Narrative Patterns of Racism and Resistance in the Work of William Faulkner” by Janet E. Barnwell. It describes his work as bringing “black, white, multi-racial, as well as poor, middle class, and wealthy characters face to face in situations where they at times transgress racial and class boundaries.” In William Faulkner’s “That Evening Sun” he writes about a African-American woman, Nancy, and of her life and tendencies. Faulkner does not give a very good picture of Nancy, but gives a very truthful one of her having sexually relations for money with a white man and then being thrown in jail after being beaten by the man all while being pregnant. After this her husband, Jesus, moves away and she lives in fear of him coming back to kill her for what she has done. The white family that she works for takes her in and lets her sleep there. For the time being she feels safe, but soon the family’s mother gets tired of Nancy being there and says that she needs to go home. In this story it is seen as Nancy’s fault for sleeping with the white man. This can be seen in “That Evening Sun” by Faulkner he states “Can 't nobody do nothing with him," Nancy said. "He say I done woke up the devil in him, and ain 't but one thing going to lay it again." "Well, he