Japanese diaspora

As a result of the multitudes of eye-opening written works describing the African American plight, modern day society has become more progressive and determined to fight for racial equality. By recounting the persecution of African Americans, the poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” contribute to the quest for equal rights. Moreover, these pieces of literature share a central idea as they both focus on the African American…

Throughout history, humans have isolated one another based on what they consider defining characteristics; Americans frequently treated one another poorly due to race. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man highlights the values of a culture or a society by using a character who is alienated from society because of his race. The narrator, or Invisible Man, feels as his name describes him, invisible, because he is African American and has been ignored, forgotten, disregarded, and overlooked throughout the…

In 1845, the Great Famine began, leaving an everlasting mark on the Irish people and the political landscape of their country. The potato crop, which sustained much of Ireland’s population, stopped growing, leading to mass starvation and the death of over a million people. In The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, Anna O’Donnell is born near the end of this national tragedy and survives, but later chooses to starve herself, much to the despair of her nurse Lib. Similarly, the movie Some Mother’s Son…

Within the two books of "Black Like Me" and "The Help", two characters seem to really stick out. Not sure if this because they are main characters or not. The two characters John Howard Griffin and Aibileen Clark exemplify the themes of race, society and class, and man versus society through their steadfast changes throughout the book and their developing relationships with other characters. Race is a big theme with these two characters in their books. John Griffin's whole story relates back to…

Yes, I do believe that Hansberry’s stage drama has helped be comprehend what she wanted her audience to understand through the story of the Younger family. Hansberry wanted to tell her audience the truth about the black people in that time period and teach about their life. she wanted to teach the audience whet the black people did on a day to day basis. She wanted her audiences to understand that the African American race is just as complicated and similar as other races of people are. She…

I am a young African American women who will rise above society's standards through becoming educated,being informed and becoming more independent. Education is the key to many success if ‘’we don't learn than we don't grow’’ meaning you are not expanding your mind and learning ,maintaining information that we should. I will educate myself by learning and improving on my grammar. Expanding your grammar can help with communication skills. Communication is highly important if you want to become…

A common misconception is the belief that African American history begins in America. Dating back to West African tribal civilizations, hair was seen as an extension of a person. By looking at a person’s hair, one could discern multiple aspects of their identity. According to Seiber and Herreman (2000), hairstyles reflected social “status, gender, ethnic origin, leadership role, personal taste, or place in the cycle of life” (pg. 56). One of the most distinctive characteristics of African…

Apart from African American celebrities and public figures who experience mental health distress or commit suicide in the public eye, mental health remains invisible from public discourse in the African American Community. According to the Minority Health Office of the Department of Health and Human Services, African Americans are 20% more likely to experience psychological distress than non-white Hispanics. While statistics prove that African Americans are experiencing distress at higher…

The most striking thing about this well-known passage is the fact that this was the first time a word had been given to describe how African Americans felt in America; always thinking with a double consciousness because of the Eurocentric society that surrounded them. DuBois described how, even from his boyhood, he had been thrust into a realm of how he saw himself and how white society perceived him. Being judged, punished, and ridiculed by white America could have broken DuBois, but it made…

The power of acceptance can neutralize or make current unpleasant experiences into positive ones. In Maya Angelou’s memoir All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, Angelou moves to a small country known as Ghana in Northern Africa from America for her son to go to college, Angelou comes to find out her ancestor’s would not welcome her family with open arms. Angelou reveals her struggle of being neglected by her ancestor’s home country of Ghana due to the fact the Ghanaian natives have a bad view…