While reading both books At The Dark End of The Street by Danielle L. McGuire and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration by Michelle Alexander both have a straight forward approach on the view of stigma and constant racial caste systems placed on African Americans. The books share many comparable factors because the condition based on the fact that African Americans “civil” state never changes. The book At The Dark End of The Street and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration the emphasis on racial…
People will always have a problem with someone whether if it’s how you wear your hair, who you believe in or who you don’t believe in, the skin on your body or what you wear. You can be the ripest peach and still someone won’t like peaches! My point is you can’t sit there and get upset because of something you can’t change and that you shouldn’t want to change! Everyone is made an original why would you want to die a copy? I will discuss what my life was like growing up from my heritage, to…
The persistence of Ebonics defies the intentions behind the dehumanization of African people. Furthermore, the use of Ebonics in literature highlights this defiance and persistence. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston paints the picture of displaced descendants of enslaved Africans lacking their native tongue in the color of their innovative vibrant language (Ebonics). In her use of Ebonics, Hurston promotes the value of African American language while adequately displaying the complexity…
Education to Dubois was the main thing that stopped African Americans from gaining rights. Attending schools meant blacks could become literate and in turn stand up for political and civil rights. If African Americans had knowledge of the laws, politics, and medicine, then will the black community thrive and make a change. They wouldn’t be subjected to laws that oppressed blacks, have a sense of what rights as a citizen they had and even become doctors and inventors which many have become.…
white people. White people want to live in a civilized community which is never possible because the people they dislike are around them unless it is a gated community correct. White people do not consider everyone as an ally till this day because of politics and to compare to the play “ A Raisin in the Sun”(Lorraine Hansberry) racism was also a political war since slavery in the play. Eventually, the Younger’s fulfill their dream and move out of their…
Living in New York during the 1880’s through the 1890’s was a historical time. New York endured extensive transformations. In the great place of Harlem, New York, it went through the most transformation. Harlem went from Dutch to Irish to Jewish to Negros. Throughout the article “Harlem: The Culture Capital,” James Weldon discussed the transformation of Harlem, New York, the transformation of culture, African Americans in New York, the struggle for blacks in Harlem, and the Harlem Renaissance.…
The language we use is the best indicator of who we are, individually, socially and culturally. Language is a key element in the expression of all forms of identity, according to Linguist David Crystal “more than anything else language shows we belong, providing the most natural badge or symbol of public and private identity”. Identity is heavily influenced by social factors and can be reflected in the lexical choice and semantic distinctions that people use. In addition, the degree of…
Words are extremely powerful; perhaps if people understood what a single phrase can make an individual do, feel, or think, we would think not only twice but rather three or four times before we went on in speaking our minds. The United States of America symbolizes freedom; the statue of liberty located in the city of New York, is a good representation of what we as Americans are guaranteed. Freedom of speech, the right to follow any religion, and the right to love and marry whoever we want are…
There are various theories in Black or Africana Studies. An Africana study is a “critical and systematic” study of the African people. Under this consists of theories that are an explanation of facts that are acknowledged. Kawaida Philosophy is one of the main theories and it is also used as in a theoretical way and how it implies in the Africana Studies. Kawaida is a philosophy first developed by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of Africana Studies at California State University, which…
African culture is discernible in every culture – through black people’s suffering and discrimination, they were able to create different types of art all over the world. Since the time of slavery, African Americans created music with hidden messages in them, longing for the freedom and opportunities every human being should have. Through these songs, black people instilled a hopeful feeling in themselves and their children, passing it on to the present day generation. Black artists of today,…