... do that?- This was part of a conversation I had with one of my Great-Aunt Grace, who grew up listening to he late Lady Day. Still, even after her death more than thirty years ago, Billie Holiday remains one of the most influential Jazz/Swing artists of all time. However her life was not all glitz and glamour that one would think a person ... were responsible or not (Gyurko). "When Billie was just six years old her grand mother past away and her family blamed Billie's behavior for the death,"" (Gyurko). Feeling lost and unwanted she left the family and was raped at the age of ten. Later ...

• Word Count: 1369
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to a ticket counter in a train station. He went through something that he has never been in all his life. As Griffin mentions "I walked up to the ticket counter. When the lady ticket-seller saw me, her otherwise attractive face turned sour, violently so. This look was so unexpected and unprovoked I was taken aback" (52) He points ... a situation like this. In addition to all that Griffin mentions "He sat a few yards away, fixing his eyes on me. Nothing can describe the withering honor of this. You feel lost, sick at heart before such unmasked hatred, not so much because it threatens you...

• Word Count: 2270
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... us. You're father's one of them"(245). Miss Maudie exhibits the enormous amount of respect that she has for Atticus throughout the entire story. When the entire town turned against him, and looked down on him, she was there, standing by him, and she never lost respect for him. Some of the supporting characters, such as Mr. Underwood, are even so bold as ... to make a public statement contradicting Maycomb's culture and values. As Scout says about the editorial he published in his newspaper about the trial and Tom's murder, "Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin ... church in Atticu...

• Word Count: 1682
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... play a "double role" by appearing to be numb and unaffected by mistreatment, while also accepting pain and injury, and acting grateful to the White race to be alive. I believe that Wright is correct in his explanation of African Americans playing a double role to avoid being ... me if I knew enough to keep my mouth shut," (595). The other experience occurs when he and another black lady are leaving work, and the white night-watchman slaps the lady's backside. When Wright looks stunned and amazed, the watchman pulls a gun on him, and even encourages Wright to agree ... that this gesture ...

• Word Count: 1958
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... African prostitute for spilling his drink in a waterfront bar in Senegal. A more youthful mariner, "The Little Virgin," who is a kind of protégé of the more seasoned man, unsettled by depression and a loss of group, assaults Mike. The story closes with "The Little Virgin" ridiculously droning again and again, "He oughtn't to hit a lady. So, what was Langston's goal in this story? To depict ... the rage he felt towards the injustice that was racism, sexism or sexual exploitation, and colonialism ... among other things. It was also an ironic twist on the way that he possibly viewed hims...

• Word Count: 1762
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... accepted as Christians solely, therefore avoiding any difficulties having to do with race, at least when speaking about it with religion. The author then looks back upon the time in his life when her mother decided to drive Hunter Jordan's old car. However, she didn't know how to drive ... about that. This gives the entire event a sense of irony, because any comments that the black student made about white people being rich, therefore not having any problems whatsoever were be directly contradicted from the folded letter which held, "the heartbroken words of an old white lady who had alw...

• Word Count: 1571
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... a woman was to play the role. In October 1660 writer Samuel Pepys saw Othello performed and had this to say about the play: "1660, October 11. - To the Cockpitt to see "The Moore of Venice", which was well done. Burt acted the Moore; by the same taken, a very pretty lady that sat by me, called ... out, to see Desdemona smothered." Pepys saw the play again nine years later, this time ... with a different opinion: "1669, February 6. - To the King's playhouse, and there in an upper box did see "The Moore of Venice": but ... Robeson, a black American actor, as Othello. His career as Othell...

• Word Count: 1708
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... ). Sheltering their kids from important lessons, just as their parents had sheltered them, just continued the tradition. After living life as sheltered, fragile dolls, the expectation of the southern white woman became complicated yet again with the happenings of the Civil War. "During the Civil War, the lady recreated herself to accommodate, even valorize hardship. With the men away, women had to run plantations and farms, sometimes taking to ... the fields themselves to bring in the crops" (Roberts, pg. 3) So now these women who had spent their ... ...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Southern life in Stamps, Arkansas was filled with humiliation, violation, and displacement. These actions were exemplified for blacks by the fear of the Ku Klux Klan, racial separation of the town, and the many incidents in belittling blacks. Maya knows that to be black and female is to be faced with violence and ... with her mother and is raped by her mother's boyfriend. When Maya is faced with this catastrophe, tells who did this to her, and the man is killed, she believes her voice killed him. She withdraws into herself and vows never to speak again. Her mother feeling that she ... d...

• Word Count: 2443
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything," as he does not trust the symbols or the ideology of democracy. The young man stirs many emotions among his own people in the crowded room with his way of thinking, especially that of an outraged preacher and a baffled but amused elderly lady, when he challenges the very existence that they have learned to live within. While ... the reader is unsure whether the young man's logic has been widely heard outside the dentist office, he/she can confidently presume that ... in time it will be, as the determined young man pur...

• Word Count: 1528
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe they'd say, "Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola. (Morrison 46) Pecola Breedlove does not have the self-esteem to contest the injustices she faces from whites. In an effort to be accepted by whites, and furthermore by her family, Pecola longs to conform to Western ideals of beauty presented ... . Geraldine makes Pecola feel even more worthless than Mr. Yacobowski because she acknowledges her existence and personally verbally abuses her. Like the incident with Mr. Yacobowski, Pecola does not stand up fo...

• Word Count: 1667
• Approx Pages: 7

... we first learn of Tom, as someone at school teased her saying "Finches daddy defended niggers" This is our first taste of racism in American courts in the 1930's as it was a thing Scout wanted to deny - that her father, a lawyer, was on a niggers side. She questions her father about this ... so without her noticing. Thus, yet again she pays no heed to his feelings, as they are inferior to her fascination with the Farmer. Throughout the majority of the book, Rhoda avoids the Farmer, finding out about him through her son. Therefore, we do not learn how she behaved with him when they were t...

• Word Count: 2388
• Approx Pages: 10

... to read is not only unlawful, it's unsafe, and I forbid it." They felt if blacks could read it would make them rebel and be more miserable for the way they were being treated. "Listen to me, Sophia-reading's not only no good for a black boy like Fred; it would do him harm, make him ... with trust for no one. Soon after, he joined the Navy. But with the help of a military psychiatrist, he was able to turn his life around and actually enjoy it. Similarly, lady in blue, in Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, was raped by one of her frie...

• Word Count: 1924
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... according to race. o Miners, ranchers, and farmers penetrated Indian territories, which caused series of war in the west. o Mining caused the development of short-lived boom homes known as "Helldorado."" o Many tradition western lands were lost their land especially through corrupt business. o Mining caused the development of small citied e.g., Nevada which was a deserted area now produced $306 million (according to Brinkley ... life,where most of them were negative. v Firstly, the whites brought several diseases such as small pox, in which the Indians were vulnerable to be affected. As s...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... from their pasts that can be found both directly and indirectly in their poems. Were it not for the experiences that these two authors had during their lives many, if not all, of the passion that they put into their poetry would have been lost or compromised. In "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" Walt Whitman draws on many life experiences that provide both realism and ... in a positive manner. Although he does write this poem about the victory of the North and the values that are embraced there, Whitman also reveals a line that he hopes will make people take a closer look at the direction that ...

• Word Count: 1893
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography

... climbing again (lines 15-16). Much like a hiker or marathon runner, once you stop moving, you lose momentum and the ability to return is nearly impossible. It also means if you fail to keep moving, all the progress made by the mother will be lost and a setback for all African Americans. "Don't you fall-now -- / For I'se still goin", honey, / I'se still climbin"" are ... the final hopes and inspiration of the mother, giving the advice to be strong (line 17-19). If she can do it, then there ... luxury, but of struggle and difficulty; which over time she has endured and in many ways overc...

• Word Count: 1328
• Approx Pages: 5

... of society's influence arises, Huck believes praying is the only way to make himself feel better, and the only way to do that is to confess. He decides to write Ms. Watson and describes feeling "light as a feather, right straight off, and [his] troubles all gone" (241) and "how near [he] was to being lost and going to hell" (242). Twain writes Huck ... begins to think of Jim and "somehow [he] couldn't strike no places to harden [him] against [Jim]" (242). He remembers the nights Jim guided the raft down the river as Huck slept and how upset he was at the thought of Huck being lost in th...

• Word Count: 1375
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ) Walter feels as if no one wants to help him or uplift him. He shows these feelings by telling Ruth, "that is just what is wrong with the colored woman in this world Don't understand about building their men up and making "em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something (Hansberry 1.1.482). ... be a nurse like other women-- or just get married and be quiet. Another thing he does not think about is Mama's dream of having a house for the family. He only wants to put his dream first, even if it involves Mama putting off her dream until later. Walter's selfishness makes him seem lik...

• Word Count: 1434
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... sign that Congress, and its northern constituents, had finally lost interest in the cause. As the opportunity for economic advancement increased after the Civil War, the North felt as though it had done its part and both the President and Congress hastily turned their backs on the new, colored American Citizens. With the protection and support of Northerners lost, the blacks in the South were held hostage by white supremacists. Although ... the 13th Amendment stated that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... shall exist within the United States," a new agricultural system, the c...

• Word Count: 1530
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... it means that there are certain sociological and cultural biases present in our society that makes us render an individual, worthless and insignificant. This is the sentiment of the protagonist in the novel, in which he narrates: "I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids-and I might even be ... "What is your name?" and "Who are you?" and he couldn't respond, when he was given a new name by the Brotherhood and was assumed to have a new identity, and lastly when he disguised himself in order to shake pursuit and was mistakenly called as " ... the one name he seeks for ...

• Word Count: 1723
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and try to gain 'justice' in America. This case was so big and world wide known, that it has been in comparison to the O.J Simpson trial. People of all ethnicities shared different views as to why they believe that Trayvon Martin was killed in self-defense, while others ... it was just another murder gone without justice. On one hand, Zimmerman stated that he shot Trayvon in self-defense, and on the other hand, the community including people in the law enforcement, states that Zimmerman shot Trayvon because of racial profiling. I think that stereotyping definitely played a huge rol...

• Word Count: 1262
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... husband's efforts to give her a "rest cure" have only driven her deeper into perhaps permanent psychosis. In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator is Sonny's older brother, an educated black man who has chosen a "proper" career as a schoolteacher, trying to achieve that middle- ... will never again try to keep Sonny away from the music that nourishes his soul. In both of these stories, artistic expression is the only weapon an oppressed individual has to cry out. The writer in "The Yellow Wallpaper" may have lost her mind because her art was denied; Sonny ... finds his soul again because his art...

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

... husband's efforts to give her a "rest cure" have only driven her deeper into perhaps permanent psychosis. In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator is Sonny's older brother, an educated black man who has chosen a "proper" career as a schoolteacher, trying to achieve that middle- ... will never again try to keep Sonny away from the music that nourishes his soul. In both of these stories, artistic expression is the only weapon an oppressed individual has to cry out. The writer in "The Yellow Wallpaper" may have lost her mind because her art was denied; Sonny ... finds his soul again because his art...

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

... children and was sent to a mental facility. Malcolm Little and his siblings were quickly separated between family friends and foster homes leaving Malcolm to temporarily live at a foster home. Despite the destabilization Malcolm Little continued to perform especially well at a new school he attended; however, that did not last as a consequence to continual racist actions he experienced. Malcolm Little consistently achieved ... evoked his powerful influential gift on people. Malcolm Little was 27 years old when he entered the Nation of Islam in 1952. He changed his name from Malcolm Little...

• Word Count: 1673
• Approx Pages: 7

... can potentially serve to restrict their access to college by limiting pre-college academic programs and resources. These school resources and programs are unreasonably distributed based on the wealth of the school district rather than the need of our nations students. Almost half of all high school seniors in 1992 were enrolled in some type of college preparatory program rather than general programs ... world because he is not given a equal opportunity to prepare for college. In some cases, the preparation is so awful that college does not even become a factor in the life of some black ...

• Word Count: 2016
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School