Y'all

INTRODUCTION Beginning in the year 1619, African-Americans were used as slaves to aid Caucasian landowners and work on their plantations. In 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was founded, a group that opposed the granting of civil rights for African Americans through murder, lynching, and many other notorious acts. In the 1870s, the Jim Crow laws were introduced, enforcing racial segregation between Caucasians and African-Americans. In the year of 1941, Emmett Till, an African-American teenager, was…

the homies riding for him now. King didn’t admit that Khalil turned him down. So he got folks thinking that Khalil repped King Lords.’ ‘Wait,’ I say. ‘How do you know he turned King down?’ ‘Khalil told me in the park one day. We were posted up.’ ‘So y’all sold drugs together?’ ‘Yeah. For King.’ ‘Oh.’ ‘He didn’t want to sell drugs, Starr,’ DeVante says. Nobody really wants to do that shit. Khalil ain’t had much of a choice though.’ ‘Yeah, he did,’ I say…

Where’re Y’all From?: A Brief History of the Southern United States Dialect Southern American English, more commonly known as the Southern drawl or the Southern accent, is one of the most immediately recognizable of the United States’ many dialects. The dialect can bring many different connotations to mind depending on the preconceptions of the hearer. Those with positive ideas of the South may conjure up images of hard-working, hospitable, family oriented people, whereas others may prejudge…

yelled at me in front of my best friend and called her a bitch. He threw out my clothes that he didn’t approve of because he didn’t want other guys to see me in revealing clothes. (I live on a hot island off the coast of Texas, shorts are necessary, y’all). He didn’t like that I was/am vegan, so he’d constantly buy large quantities of dairy and throw them away in front of me if I refused to eat them. He said he thought he was helping me because deep down, that’s what was best for me and what I…

Without a doubt Maury Jones’ body knew it was dawn. He wakes up to get ready for school, and wakes up his two younger brothers. Jones quietly walks into his mother's room to grab his britches and bag filled with his work uniform. His mother, half woke, asked him to fix the boys something to eat. “I ain’t gon’ let em’ go hungry mama,” he said, heating up the stove top. No man could take care of their family as this young man could. “Those were the good ol’ days,” Jones said to himself while…

Twenty-two years ago, I was lucky enough to call Pittsboro, North Carolina my home for the first time. Unbeknownst to me, this small rural town would play such an enormous role in who I am today. From a first kiss to pig pickings, Pittsboro was full of life and opportunities. My family, farming, and the culture here consequently affected how I view the world today. Though I may not get to spend as much time in Pittsboro, my roots will always be in this town. Pittsboro, North Carolina was…

I have received info that there are Russian spies in the forest north of Stockton, California. I’m hunting for those Russian idiots when, I hear footsteps and I load up my bow, the tension is insane. The footsteps are close, I hear the crunching of leaves under boots and when I catch a glimpse of the spy I let the arrow go. He catches it and looks at me with eyes as blank as a tv screen, I knew from the second he caught the arrow that it was my former school mate, Matthew Matthews.…

If You Believe It, You Can Achieve It Having confidence in yourself can lead to a positive and successful future. Almost all people, if not everyone, want to grow up to become a successful person, being able to support themselves and their families all while being a role model to others in society. In Nas’ “I Can,” he spreads the meaningful idea that his success came from believing in himself and not letting others pull him down from achieving the status that he has reached today. By singing…

A literacy tragedy is a written piece that consists of courageous,noble characters who must confront powerful obstacles ,external or from within. A tragic hero is a character who starts off in a high position but has a major downfall in the end . In the short story “The Gilded Six-Bits” the author Zora Neale Hurston puts her tragic hero through a powerful obstacle to show tragedy in the short story. “The Gilded Six-Bits’’ is considered Tragic literature through the use of dramatic tragedy,…

The provision of the great catch is one that will be embedded within my memory for as long as I live. It is a lesson that reminds me of what God was doing in my life early in my walk with him. In this lesson, the disciples had been fishing all day and night and it was now morning. Exhaustion frustration, and hunger had set in. The lack of a catch equaled the lack of harvest and the lack of selling in the market place. Which in-turn would cause insufficient funds! Does this sound like any of…