Josephine Baker

The purpose of ending slavery was to give black people the independence to have power over their own lives without the authority of White Americans. This independence was capable through constitutional amendments but only to an extent. Without having legal power over black people, White American found different ways of maintaining social control. According to Sociologist Turner, Singleton and Musick, the need for the social controlled system of a caste-like system developed on the basis of…

I used to love writing when I was young; however, I fell out of love very quickly. In middle school, I was an avid reader and enjoyed writing but my eighth grade teacher changed this habit completely. The teacher assigned so many essays that at some point I started to see writing as a chore. This outlook on writing continued throughout ninth and tenth grade because of all the work the teachers assigned. I stopped writing and reading for fun, I only wrote and read for school. However, there was…

In the articles “Letter from Birmingham” by Dr. Martin Luther King and “Speech at the March on Washington” by Josephine Baker each articles mention how to achieve equality. In order, to achieve true freedom society must use non-violence to get their point across. To begin with, we must use non-violence to achieve true freedom. According to “letter from Birmingham jail” king stated “as a result of begin denied the right to vote had no part in anacting or devising the law”. This reveals how…

There are tons of powerful women throughout history – ones that have successfully held political positions, advocated for civil rights and women’s rights, or had a profound effect on the outcome of discoveries. While their names may be familiar, there is often a lot more to these figures than just one fact. In honor of Women’s History Month, we gathered five women from our book WHO WINS?: 100 Historical Figures Go Head-to-Head and You Decide the Winner by Clay Swartz, Illustrated by Tom Booth…

at the March on Washington” Josephine Baker creates a much more effective speech than “Civil Rights Address” by John F. Kennedy for the reason of the reason of using personal anecdote, and appealing to ethos to persuade the audience to speak out. Baker was chosen to speak at the March on Washington because her experience of freedom in France and the racism in the U.S. On the other hand, Kennedy had to address an incident that recently happened in that time period. Baker talks about her…

In the 1920s and mid 1930s the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, artistic, and social movement that gave a new light to black cultural identity. At the heart of Harlem Renaissance were black authors/writers, scholars, and musicians. Many of the people involved in the Harlem Renaissance were artistic and literary leaders that later influenced African American culture. This coming together of people created a sense of racial pride for people in the African- American community. Many African…

She began performing at a very young age in vaudeville performances in the Midwest. Due to the racial tensions in the USA, she moved to France and began performing on stage. She cleverly offered stereotypes but also mixed in elegant African dance. Baker had arrived in Europe during a time that had recently seen Africans displayed like animals in a zoo. Mathew Pratt Guterl observes that her performances offer a pastiche in that they exploit the stereotypes long associated with “savages”. He notes…

The Roaring 20’s The 1920’s in the United States were a decade of prosperity. Known as the Roaring 20’s or the Jazz Age, the U.S. was booming economically and evolving socially. The economy became the strongest in the world and social and cultural dynamism was on the rise. With the beginnings of mass culture, celebrities, songs, dances, and clothing turned the 20 's into a decade of fads. And with the end of World War 1 in 1918, life seemed to be turning into a never-ending upswing. Of…

The first movement literature at no time in American history African-American writers gathered in the same place at the same time, such writers as Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and insular Hurston and many more. These writers created an environment and network that had never been seen before they were able to create poetry clubs throughout Harlem given the opportunity for young writers to display their skills and they would not network with each other not meeting weekly…

The Harlem Renaissance made for a diverse world in the 1920’s. African American writers, musicians, poets, and intellectuals, initiated a new movement, claiming their cultural identity while also appreciating their African heritage. Negro-Americans of this time focused on uplifting the black race, by changing the depiction of ghetto realism after fleeing the oppressive Southern caste system. Although the intent of this movement was not political, but was “explosive aesthetic”. Negro-Americans…