All Souls Book Review Essay

Melton McLaurin, in his book, “Separate Pasts,” recalls memories of growing up in his hometown of Wade, North Carolina. During this time, McLaurin works in his grandfather’s store in the segregated South. McLaurin writes of his interactions with the black community and observes the segregated lifestyle of black and whites. In his book “Separate Pasts,” McLaurin describes the black citizens of Wade that have influenced and changed his views of segregation and racism.

He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.

The content of Taylor’s essay is based upon his negative experiences with racism, presented through anecdotes taken from his life. Though these experiences provide support for his arguments there is an overabundance of facts and a lack of

In the new proactive book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander dives into the not so complicated racial issues that plague this country that we tend to ignore. In all of history, African Americans have had to constantly fight for their freedoms and the right to be considered a human being in this society. It’s very troubling looking back and seeing where we have failed people in this country. At the turn of the century, when people began to think that we had left our old ways behind, this book reminds us that we are wrong. Racism is still alive today in every way, just in different forms.

The article "Michael Brown and Black People” that was published on The New York Times on August 13, 2014, and written by the author Charles

We tend to marginalize the poor, the destitute, the food stamp and welfare recipients among us. We like to pretend that they are not there, much like the residents of Southie liked to pretend that the violence and anger and tragedy in Southie weren't there. We like to try to compartmentalize this part of our own society, this very real set of people who still live in our towns. Who mourn their dead at our churches, who lower them into the ground in our cemeteries, who hand food stamps to the cashier at our grocery stores. We have all been guilty of it. How could we not be? How could we really grasp, realize, come to terms with, comprehend such an alien life? Michael Patrick MacDonald is our translator. He relays the past as Southie has written it on his heart. He hands it to us in a language we might better understand. MacDonald opens the door and invites us to sit down at his Southie dinner table. To lie on a mattress on the floor next to him and his brothers. To come

Throughout Miller’s essay, he follows a similar format in the way he states his opinion about the connection between reading and writing to his readers. With every subheading, he tells a story of the influence of reading and writing on the protagonist of each story. Every subheading begins with the introduction of the protagonists through the final outcome of their actions. For example, the first story of the two boys, Harris and Klebold begins with the revelation of what they have done—murdering fifteen people with weapons they created on their own. This knowledge to create such weapons and to follow through with such an act is all blamed upon technology

John Mack Faragher, Mari Jo Buhle, Daniel Czitrom, Susan H. Armitage. Out of Many Sixth Edition, Volume 1, (2009)

The following is a summary on the short essay The Dark Night of the Soul by Richard E Miller. This short essay is an essay that has been written with a main point always in mind, that reading and writing has very powerful influences people and their imagination but, the act of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Richard has created an essay that proves his point by taking five very different short stories and giving each a twist that helps the reader see the power of reading. As the reader is chronologically going through the essay he or she is given many possible meanings of the essay. The meaning and the

Finally, Tom’s arrival to a conclusive decision between vengeance and mercy for the greater good asserts the lack of a simple solution for black Americans. While striking back would have reflected poorly upon Tom’s people and resulted in dire consequences, remaining silent also seemed akin to granting his oppressors a victory: “The jointed doll had saved the colonel 's life. Whether society had conquered self or not may be an open question, but it had stayed the barber 's hand until love could triumph over hate” (Chesnutt 252). With this in mind, it is evident that there is no easy solution to defeat racism. The historical bases laid through slavery and centuries of oppression cannot be eradicated by adopting the principles of the law of retaliation. Not only does it reinforce damaging, offensive perceptions of black Americans, but it also erases any credence earned through patience and hard labor. For this reason, the most ideal solution would be to remain level-headed and unflinching in the face of further discrimination.

What if we could walk in each other’s shoes? What if we could truly understand what our brothers and sisters are going through? These questions and more are what John Howard Griffin strived to answer when he surgically changed his complexion to resemble that of a black man in his book, Black Like Me. He set out to write a biting commentary about the state of race in the United States, but what he experienced changed his life forever. Griffin learned two very valuable lessons that dominated his experience; good can exist in the midst of suffocating evil and to bridge the gap between races there must be mutual understanding. To analyze such a powerful book, I will start with a summary and then explain my thoughts on the text.

Taking into consideration my early childhood, youth and adolescence, I could say that I was surrounded by people, who were friendly and shared common cultural values. However, with the hindsight at my whole life, I could say why the sense of institutional racism touches me so deeply. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, both of whom could not read and write. Thus, for the illiterate people there were no chances to have higher status in the society. The only way to survive for them was hard physical work. Institutional racism, as a form of oppression, is more consequential and involves policies and acts that affect a large number of people. Life of my family is only one example of its impact. Even though, a lot of time has passed since then, the most recent incidents with Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer, illustrate how a black man continues to be viewed as a menace to society in America (Blumenfeld, 2010).

“That one has a jail-cell with his name on it”, (Ferguson 1). A quote this powerful lays a foundation of the stories shared within the book Bad Boys.  This book allows us to see how the public school system is shaping black masculinity, and the affect it brings on these young boys.Yet, in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, it tells us about  Robert’s struggle from poverty, the streets of Newark, and his education at Yale. These two books give us a powerful message. One that allows us to see the underlying triumphs Black men face. With poverty, biases, prejudices, and many more obstacles thrown in their path, they will always be set to prove themselves. The odds are constantly against them, as they are seen and viewed as

I was able find All Souls through one of Damla’s Weekly Check-ins from October. Damla created and sent out an excel sheet with different organizations with a 501c3 status, separating them under different borough labels.

“Black people be like, ‘Gimme that fried chicken or Imma shoot’,” said the desperate comedian, who was dressed up as a “gangster” in a poor attempt to disguise his prejudice in the name of humor. Humor similar to the latter further endorses single stories, and because the comedian is popular, he has the power to promote an oversimplified generalization of an entire group of people regardless of their individual differences and make his racism appear tolerable, therefore laying the foundation of the cycle of oppression. The single story that young black men who grow up under the oppression of systematic failure will be violent and subvert authority is created by people with power and is the reason why the cycle of oppression happens as it does.