In the book, “A Gathering of Old Men”, by Ernest J. Gaines, there are some events that corresponds to issues Malcom X responds to in his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet”. Mathu’s believes in his respect as an equal person and gains it by not fearing white people. However, the preacher Jameson fears the whites and is scared of the consequences of standing up to them. In the book, times have changed and racism is slowly dying. In the story, “A Gathering of Old Men”, Mathu was a character that was respected, because he feared no one. When Beau was shot dead on Mathu’s lawn, he stated, “If Fix started anything, I am going to protect myself” (Gaines30). Being that Fix is a white man, going against a white man at that time can lead blacks into a lot of trouble, such as being lynched. Yet, Mathu was still prepared for the fight. If Mathu did not have the respect he has, then he would have been lynched the moment he and Fix had the altercation at the store. According to the text, “When Fix told Mathu to take the bottle back in the store again, and Mathu did not, Fix hit him---and the fight was on” (Gaines30). Mathu gained his respect, because he refused to be mistreated by anyone. According to the book, “To Mapes, Mathu was a real man” (Gaines84). Mapes thought this because Mathu was not like the other African-Americans he knew due to Mathu actually defending himself. Even though Mathu stoop up for himself, he wanted for the other African-Americans to do the same. Mathu
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is the story about a man who greatly impacted American history. Malcolm Little, or Malcolm X as he is more widely known, taught what he believed in regards to segregation, racism, and discrimination. Growing up in a large family with a father Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his mother Louis Little who was a homemaker, Malcolm’s life at the time seemed very promising. His father’s involvement in support of the Black National gained him many death threats at the hands of white supremacists. In 1929, they lost their house to a fire, and two years later the body of Malcolm’s father was found mutilated. This lead to the emotional breakdown of Malcolm’s mother and in turn she was institutionalized. Malcolm and his siblings were separated and placed in foster homes, and from then, his life began a path of drugs, sex, and crime. It was not until he was imprisoned in 1946, that he decided to make some changes for the better. This essay will assess and discuss those changes whether negative or positive, on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. It will also cover some of the effects of racial prejudice on human behavior, and how society today keeps the ideology of Malcolm X alive.
In the Heat of the Night (1967) is a film well defined by the relationship between its two main characters, one of which is black and the other white. The key concept of the film is of the reluctance of the white town (specifically the police force) to accept Virgil Tibbs, a black police officer from Philadelphia, as their equal. The sheriff of the town, Chief Gillespie, is a character who seems to represent society as a whole during the film’s time period (In the Heat of the Night, 1967) . That being said, the character Chief Gillespie is an extremely dynamic character in the film and his essence and outlook changes dramatically throughout the film. The sheriff transforms from a racist, uneducated, close minded individual to one who is more
On September 18, 1895, an African-American spokesman and leader Booker T. Washington spoke in the front of thousands of whites at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. His famous “Atlanta Compromise” was one of the most influential speeches in American. regardless Washington soothed his listeners’ concerns about the what they said “uppity” blacks. Mr. Washington was a very well-known black educator. Even though he was born into slavery he strongly felt and believed that racism would in fact end once the blacks put effort into labor skills and proved themselves to society. He pressured industrial education for African-Americans so that they would gain respect from the whites. Washington often was good for ignoring discrimination because it didn’t phase him. But he was so nervous
- [x] Malcolm X believed in the theory of a “common enemy” . He deeply believed that in our world regardless of what your race may be whether it was black , Asian , Indian, and whatever else that may fall in between or outside of those, that they all had an common enemy: which was the white man. And that where ever the white man went that turmoil, greed, corruption followed;
First, ask yourself how would you feel after hearing the news that one of your family members had been lynched? Throughout the chapters 1-8, we can experience and observe the disheartening history of violence and lies. It is additionally an irritating depiction of a partitioned country on the very edge of the social equality development and an eerie contemplation on race, history, and the battle for truth. Throughout history, the conditions of the lynching, how it affected the legislators of the day, quickened the social equality development and keeps on shadowing the Georgia people group where these homicides occurred. During the 1900s until 19600s various African-Americans experienced various harsh conditions of violence, never being granted the right to vote and being segregated from whites based on their race and skin-color from their white masters. In general racism between whites and blacks can be seen throughout the globe during the era of slavery
His views on black rights often clashed with other Black rights activist such as Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King was focused on equality and finding the goodness of man and the hope that we could live equally. Malcom’s views sometimes took on an aggressive tone. Understandably so, giving his background. All Malcom knew of race, was the anger and hatred that it brought with it. Which made him at first, have the notion of not wanting anything to do with White America. Even going as far as doing anything necessary to complete the separation from them. In order to have a separate but equal Black
Imagine being hung on a rope with your life crashing down right in front of your eyes. You don’t know what you did wrong besides speaking up for your rights. You think to yourself, how could people really be this evil and kill me for the color of my skin? In the 1900s, lynching was a common public form of execution used when African-Americans spoke up for their rights and equalities they deserved to have. There were many people that fought for equality using different approaches, but two of the most powerful leaders that made great change within the black community in the late 19th century and 20th century were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Booker T. Washington’s passive view on the racial inferiority of African-Americans was all about accommodation while W.E.B. DuBois's aggressive view was all based upon resistance. He wanted to fight back because he thought the racial discrimination was unacceptable while Washington wanted to accept discrimination temporarily to avoid more anti-black violence. Despite their differences in views, Washington and DuBois shared one common goal: the future equality for all African-Americans.
Revenge is what set the beginning tone of Wexler’s story and the initial reason for why four African-Americans were shot to death. Roger Malcom, one of the lynching victims, stabbed Barnette Hester out of revenge; he believed that his wife, Dorothy, was sleeping with Barnette (Wexler, page13). Since Roger was black and not white, this was considered an act that the white population could not let go unpunished. The death of Roger Malcom was expected by everyone, even Roger knew, “when Barnette Hester died, he would die too” (Wexler, page 55). Many people at the time thought that this was the main motive behind the lynching and that the other three, Dorothy, Mae Murray,
Since the creation of the United States of America there has constantly been a problem with civil rights. Even though African Americans fought for their freedom and rights, they are still facing similar obstacles that they were in the past. There are no real great leaders of the civil rights movement today but in the peak of the civil rights era there were two frontman that advocated for African American rights. One was Martin Luther King Jr., and the other was Malcolm. Martin Luther King Jr’s approach was very different from Malcolm X’s because he used peaceful uprising, while Malcolm X was examined as more assertive. In response to Martin Luther King Jr’s “ I Have A Dream” speech, Malcolm X delivered a speech called “ The Ballot or the Bullet”. In this speech Malcolm is trying to explain the reasons black people needed to stand against the American government. In “ The Ballot or the Bullet” Malcolm X uses the rhetorical terms of ethos, logos and pathos to persuade his listeners and readers.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is the story about a man who greatly impacted American history. Malcolm Little, or Malcolm X as he is more widely known, taught what he believed in regards to segregation, racism, and discrimination. Growing up in a large family with a father Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his mother Louis Little, who was a homemaker, Malcolm’s life at the time seemed very promising. His father’s involvement in support of the Black National gained him many death threats at the hands of white supremacists. In 1929, they lost their house to fire, and two years later the body of Malcolm’s father was found mutilated. This lead to the emotional breakdown of Malcolm’s mother and in turn she was institutionalized. Malcolm and his siblings were separated and placed in foster homes, and from then, his life began a path of drugs, sex, and crime. It was not until he was imprisoned in 1946, that he decided to make some changes for the better. This essay will assess and discuss those changes whether negative or positive, on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. It will also cover some of the effects of racial prejudice on human behavior, and how society today keeps the ideology of Malcolm X alive.
With the way people reacted towards a black man being a cop, you knew not everyone was keen of them having the same jobs as a white man yet. One scene where you knew people didn’t want Tibbs around was when he was being chased by four or five white men. They didn’t want him to be involved with the murder case in their town and wanted to beat him up to make him leave. At one point in the movie those men had cornered Tibbs into a barn up against a wall. The men picked up various tools and chains from inside the barn and were getting ready to beat him since he was trapped. Tibbs began fighting back and protecting himself with the metal bar he picked up. Then Officer Gillespie calmly walks inside the barn, watches what is happening and tells the men to stop what they are doing since they have had their fun and to get out of there now. Of course, the men don’t just leave without saying a few things and warning the officer that he has to get rid of the black man or they will. Officer Gillespie, as one would guess, didn’t like the comments they made and being the kind of man he is, he stood up for Tibbs and told the men off and gave them a few punches. This shows the viewers, that people were still not okay with black men being treated like white men, and didn’t want them to get equal opportunities. It also shows the side where
For this reason, Candy is a patronizing racist who believes that she is being gracious by speaking for the African Americans of Marshall Plantation. Even though Candy looks to Mathu as a father figure, she constantly treats him like a child by making decisions without considering
For him, like many other real-life Negroes in American history, the principles underpinning political, social and criminal justice failed. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus’ belief that, “in our courts all men are created equal,” ( p. 209) makes a complete mockery of the judicial system.
McKay uses literary devices such as similes to make a comparisons expressing how the African-Americans were being treated. He does this to show the people what the oppressors view them as and what they should be viewed as. This forces the people to
Booker T. Washington was one of the most well-known African American educators of all time. Lessons from his life recordings and novelistic writings are still being talked and learned about today. His ideas of the accommodation of the Negro people and the instillation of a good work ethic into every student are opposed, though, by some well-known critics of both past and current times. They state their cases by claiming the Negro’s should not have stayed quiet and worked their way to wear they did, they should have demanded equal treatment from the southern whites and claimed what was previously promised to them. Also, they state that Washington did not really care about equality or respect, but about a status boost in his own life. Both