... more detail with each telling. In the story there are three levels of narrative consciousness. The 1st is personal idealized consciousness of childhood as demonstrated by Pecola yearning for the blue eyes. The 2nd is the novels central narrator Claudia McTeer. The 3rd is the social/ historical consciousness of an objective narrator who shows the reader the anger of Black lives (Bjork 39). There are many different themes that ... conviction, their conviction And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it. Dealing with it each acc...

• Word Count: 2499
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography

... : political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education (Dubois, 39). Indeed, in the Atlanta Compromise, Washington simply asks African Americans to focus on "industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South" (Dubois, 39). Washington had many followers from both the North and the South, and he even had support from many working-class Negroes. Although ... leader (Dubois 44). In 1903, Dubois published a collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, in which he strongly criticized Booker T. Washington. Firstly, Dubois summarizes Washington's o...

• Word Count: 1189
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... or realize that they were really, in fact, ugly and inferior. "You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and ... they had each accepted it without question." (Morrison 39) In Toni Morrison's short story "Recitatif", Morrison sets up expectations and breaks them down by showing us how much we rely on limited and stereotypical information in order to draw conclusi...

• Word Count: 1083
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... tales-the ugly duckling does not become the beautiful swan. Seasons do not presage growth; indeed summer is winter," (Harris, 11). Morrison shows that the emigration of black people to the North was not a story of easy success and comfort; these emigrants had to contend with their differences with white people as well as the black people of the North. "Through a process of reversal, Morrison undercuts the belief in the ... North as a freer place for black people, thereby debunking the myth that informed folktales ... and blues lyrics about successful journeys North. She also refutes the...

• Word Count: 619
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Boston there are two trails you can follow. scattered oaks and immense pine trees cover the swampy land on one side of the morass. in that direction is where kidd the pirate, as the story goes, buried his treasure. as most tales go, the devil minded the hidden riches after kidd had gone. the trees growing as high as 90 feet tall, making it dark at high noon, was ... one of the things that made this path one left mostly untraveled. pits of quagmire engulfed trunks ... visitors to leave. tadpoles, water snakes and bullfrogs mingled with the neighborhood owls, creating a unwelcoming atmos...

• Word Count: 337
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... America's values." (Rose 2008). Near the end of the 1990's, rap became associated more and more with its negative manifestations, specifically "gangsta rap," but also very misogynistic, materialistic, violent, and over-sexualized lyrics and images. Hip-hop's multi-dimensional range of subjects, including politics, religion, comedy, social commentary, urban story telling, and social critique became underrepresented in ... of confidence. In rap music, it was apparent that these labels were considered a source of pride and identity for artists. Because NWA was able to associate itself positi...

• Word Count: 2443
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and consequently they are always considered ugly. Hence blacks learn to hate themselves; and Pecola Breedlove, prays every night for blue eyes. As a result the ideal of beauty becomes a unsafe and racist ensnare into which African Americans are born, and from which they can never completely escape. In other ... , their conviction They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance"(pg 39). Some instances that deal with beauty in the book are as follows: Claudia is constan...

• Word Count: 577
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , and drum beats. Along those lines, an early type of slave music was the spiritual, which has its roots in Protestant hymns taught to the slaves. Spirituals were "long thought to be the spontaneous creation of African-American slaves and the only original folk music of the U.S." Spirituals told tales of suffering and struggle, but these true meanings were often hidden. An example is ... in the song "Gospel Train" with the lyrics, "Get on board, little children/There's room for ... many a-more/The gospel train's a-leavin'..." The "gospel train" of the song likely represented an ... ...

• Word Count: 1049
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... goal, especially if they are Hispanic or African American. This is simply reflecting statistics that even though more minorities are enrolling in college, the rates of success for these students are still shockingly lower than those of their Asian or white counterparts. It then becomes a domino effect. ... levels of education (race or ethnicity is not taken into account in this graph). Since many minorities are not completing college, they would fall under the "some college, no degree" category. Notice that they earn less than half of what one with a doctoral degree earns, and 30 ... ar...

• Word Count: 1872
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... -American Culture Series. Print. Reprints of editions originally published in 1936. "Reading references" at end of each chapter in both items. "Record illustrations" at end of most of the chapters of The Negro and his music. This book is available for readers in 2 libraries. ---. Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington, D.C: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. Bronze Booklet ... Harris, Leonard, and Charles Molesworth. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Locke, Alain Leroy." Africana: The Encyclopedi...

• Word Count: 2542
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... -American Culture Series. Print. Reprints of editions originally published in 1936. "Reading references" at end of each chapter in both items. "Record illustrations" at end of most of the chapters of The Negro and his music. This book is available for readers in 2 libraries. ---. Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington, D.C: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. Bronze Booklet ... Harris, Leonard, and Charles Molesworth. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Locke, Alain Leroy." Africana: The Encyclopedi...

• Word Count: 2542
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a black soldier (Fincher). They said blacks were not equal and it would dishonor them to have to fight along side these Negroes. Because of this, hundreds of Union soldiers left the army (Fincher). Black soldiers were subject to discrimination and petty harassment everywhere they went. Through it all, African Americans still lined up for enlistment. They never backed down and refused ... often subject to harsh whippings if commands were not followed. They received inferior equipment and medical care. Nearly twice as many African Americans died of diseases on the battlefield then the whi...

• Word Count: 2424
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to blacks." (Weiss 1984: 5). Still, the black community remained with the Republican Party, because to stay seemed the lesser of two evils. Politically, they weren't strong enough a force to gain political attention for themselves on a national level, because the majority of blacks still could not vote (Weiss 1984: 39), and as Robert R. Church said "the Republican Party offers us little. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFERS US NOTHING" (Weiss ... 1984: 12). So although disenchanted, blacks stayed with the Republican Party on a passive basis, because they felt they had nowhere else to go ... ...

• Word Count: 3336
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of his farm. Bands included Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix, among many others.38 The number of people attending Woodstock was equivalent to the population of the fourth largest city in the U.S. at the time, and traffic was backed up for literally miles.39 The celebration received a lot of negative feedback from older generations, but other than ... excessive drug use premarital sex, Woodstock-goers handled themselves very well. Of the five thousand people treated for injuries, the majority were foot prob...

• Word Count: 3282
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... soldiers. They would serve America proudly and fight to free their fellow brothers who were still enslaved. Official Enrollment occurred only after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862.6 Thousands of black men enlisted. They would be commanded, led, and trained by all white ... were not followed. They received inferior equipment and medical care. Nearly twice as many African Americans died of diseases on the battlefield than the white soldiers.13 Throughout the war, black soldiers fought for their rights to be treated equally. They were continuously told th...

• Word Count: 2958
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... melancholy, and governed by opinion; and a descendant of Afer niger was said to be crafty, lazy, careless, black, and governed by the arbitrary will of the master (Hannaford 204). These 5 distinctions between races seemingly came out of nowhere. Just 155 years earlier, race was being viewed as ... the five race system that Linnaeus introduced, but instead of classifying people based on genus, species, and class, like Linnaeus did, Blumenbach classified people based on the color of their skin and also by their actions. Though Blumenbach did not believe " races were superior or inferior," ...

• Word Count: 2593
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the short story "The Pocketbook Game" was about this black woman named Mildred ,who was carrying a conversation with her friend Marge about a situation involving Mrs.E ., a lady she works for. Mildred tells Marge ... at Mrs.E One day Mrs E. told Mildred to do something so Mildred purposely left her purse behind and waited outside for a couple of minutes and then knocked on the door rapidly and yelled "I forgot my purse." She held it close to her just like Mrs.E would always do. So mrs.E felt ashamed and tried to apologize, ... but Mildred interrupted her saying if she paid as less attent...

• Word Count: 258
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... of Water: A Black man's tribute to his white mother by James McBride is the story of a young black man trying to reveal his mothers past and his own identity. Set in the 1960's in New York City, James tries to figure out his mothers past while struggling with his own racial identity. James's childhood was spent in a chaotic home with 12 children ... of racial segregation. Another strength in the book is the motifs of James's story and his mothers. Through James's narrative technique of weaving his own life story in and out of his mother's story allows us to learn about the lives of mot...

• Word Count: 512
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Water, an autobiography by James McBride, tells the story of Ruth McBride, the two men she married, and the 12 children she raised. Ruth is a Polish Jew who immigrated to America 2 years after birth. As an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and Jewish faith behind in Virginia to escape the life she was living. I think this was a good idea considering ... she was abused by her father and treated very poorly her entire childhood. One of Ruth's sons, James, tells the story, went through many of the similar hardships that his mother did, as a result of never being sure of ...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... completely different; in the house you had more access to food, cleanliness and even a little education. Whereas, the field workers performed the more manual jobs and were usually less educated than the house Negroes. Most significantly, I find the author's story toward the end of the chapter to be very interesting. Toni made it a point to reiterate the Dick and Jane story clips before this story purposely. In the Dick and Jane stories ... , from the outside life was perfect, just as the lives of Geraldine, Louis and ... ...

• Word Count: 495
• Approx Pages: 2

... of five volumes of autobiography, Maya Angelou tells the story of her life from age three, when her divorcing parents sent her and her brother to live with their maternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, to age sixteen, when, reunited with her mother in San Francisco, she gave birth to her son. Thus her story begins with semi-orphanhood and ends with motherhood. ... predicament. After this introduction, Angelou turns to her arrival in Stamps at age three and proceeds by chronicling her emotional development, with reflection upon the implications of her experiences for understanding rac...

• Word Count: 1226
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery; " ... light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be" (82). The "woman behind the bars" is, of course, the narra...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery; " ... light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be" (82). The "woman behind the bars" is, of course, the narra...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ). According to Brooke Horvath, Baldwin "desires to succeed on the basis of literary style and the humanity of his characters rather than in terms of successful polemic" (207). The short story "Sonny's Blues" is considered one of Baldwin's amazing works. This story takes place in Harlem in the 1950's, during a time in which the black man struggled to make a living in a society. This ... is a story of how two African Americans brothers take their own path through life as they struggle ... gets out of jail, he desires change and finds a just choice to be a musician. He finds peace and com...

• Word Count: 1511
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

... her soul" (Chopin). This revealed to me that her strong emotions initiated her physical exhaustion. Mrs. Mallard was not only emotional, but now she cannot even handle it physically. The story implied that Mrs. Mallard's weakness goes as deep as her soul. Mrs. Mallard began to appear as a stronger woman after she sat down. She looked out of ... married to Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard knew that she could now begin to live her life to the fullest. She was now free from the man that controlled the relationship. In "Story of an Hour", marriage gives the impression that the male has complete co...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School