Analysis Of Nella Larsen And Chester Himes Essay

In Society, there has been one common way through which an individual can differentiate himself and that is race/color. Consequently, once a person's color is determined, it seems a class structure is established, a structure that not only describes the individual's social, political, but also their economic standards. Throughout most of nineteenth century literature that we have read it's apparent, the class structure consisted of whites and blacks. Much of the literary works of the time stressed that to be black meant being despised and discriminated against by the white population. Moreover, the literature such as Our Nig portrayed whites as domineering and superior as they essentially controlled many black

In the essay “Color Lines” by Ralph Eubanks, the author explores the flawed logic of race from a scientific perspective. In the article, Eubanks explains the fact that a person cannot know the ancestry of another person or the nature of that person by looking at their race alone. Heritage is a much more complex concept than a simple racial categorization. In writing the article, the author sought to demonstrate that when looking at a person, you could not confirm their identity based on what percentage of a certain race they may have and that social construction meant to depict one group as being superior or inferior to another. This rhetorical analysis will therefore explore the importance of the rhetorical devices and strategies used by Eubanks to communicate with the audience.

In 1912, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was anonymously published by James Weldon Johnson. It is the narrative of a light-skinned man wedged between two racial categories; the offspring of a white father and a black mother, The Ex-Colored man is visibly white but legally classified as black. Wedged between these two racial categories, the man chooses to “pass” to the white society. In Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are, Brooke Kroeger describes “passing” as an act when “people effectively present themselves as other than who they understand themselves to be” (Kroeger 7). The Ex-Colored Man’s choice to ultimately “pass” at the end of the novel has been the cause of controversy amongst readers. Many claim his choice to “pass”

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.

The Critical Race Theory emerged in the mid to late 1970s when there was a significant amount of racial minorities and it focuses of theorizing race and the law. CRT scholars view racism and racial discrimination as systematic and institutional and consequentially not as individualized, standard and capable of remedy within the current constitutional and legislative framework. CRT emerged from Critical legal studies, covers a wide-ranging collection of work and it critiques scholars of CLS for not addressing the issue of race and law adequately. This essay aims to analyze six of the most important aspects outlining the theoretical framework of the Critical Race Theory adapted from various CRT scholars and its relation and application to the book, To Kill a Mocking Bird. Secondly, this essay will address some of the criticisms levied against CRT by Marxists. The purpose of essay is to determine, in light of CRT application, whether it was

The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of “white” and “black” and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a “white” and “black” male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiography of an Ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson uses double consciousness to show the narrators stance as a person that gives up his birthright for the “privilege of whiteness”.

For this week’s memo, I decided to read “Racial Formations” by Omi and Winant. The reading talks about the meaning of race as being defined and challenged throughout society in both collective and personal practices. It also suggests that racial categories are created, changed, ruined, and renewed. Omi and Winant explore the idea that the conception of race developed progressively, ultimately being created to validate and rationalize inequality. It began with the denial of political rights and extended into the introduction of slavery and other forms of forcible labor.

The One-Drop Rule: A Key Player in the Construction of Race in the United States

Many times blacks who are of a lighter complexion are seen as “prettier or more desireable” towards other blacks today, and as stated previously, were offered better employment opportunities. However sometimes they are shunned by whites and blacks alike and are treated as outcasts by the community due to their inability to conform to a certain ethnicity. In the book “The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man,” James Weldon Johnson depicts the fictional life of a biracial man living in the post-reconstruction era of America in the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. In his early childhood days, the narrator frequently struggled with his personal identity after he was told to stand with the rest of his African American classmates during somewhat of an analyzation of the gender percentages by a certain staff member. “I wish all of the white scholars to stand for a moment. ‘I rose with the others, the teacher looked down at me and said ‘ You sit down for the present, and rise with the others. ‘I sat down dazed… A few of the white boys jeered me saying:’ Oh you’re a nigger too! ‘I heard some of the black children say,’ Oh, we knew he was colored, Shiny would say; ‘Come along don’t tease him, and thereby winning my undying gratitude.’” (Weldon 11) Before he was seemingly outed

Between the World and Me has been called a book about race, but the author argues that race itself is a flawed, if anything, nothing more than a pretext for racism. Early in the book he writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people and racial designations have literally marked the difference between life and death in some instances. How does discrediting the idea of race as an immutable, unchangeable fact changes the way we look at our history? Ourselves? In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and the current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the

The novel The Garies and their Friends is a realistic examination of the complex psychology of blacks who try to assimilate through miscegenation and crossing the color barrier by “passing as white.” Frank J. Webb critiques why blacks cannot pass as being white through the characters Mr. Winston and Clarence Jr.

Historical archives discovered by Dorman show that colorism had tangible boundaries within the African American community during the 1920s (47). It is stated that blacks often divided themselves into four subcategories which consisted of “black”, “brown”, “light brown”, and “yellow” Negros (Dorman 47). The above ranking would be listed in a hierarchy from “black” being at the bottom of the socially accepted hierarchy to the “yellow negro” being the most revered and desired socially.

My grandad, Cecil J. Riley Sr. was born on Sept. 6, 1921 in Auburn, Alabama (Cecil J. Riley Sr., 2004). Grandad served in the U.S. Army during WW2, it is unknown where exactly he was stationed (Cecil J. Riley Sr., 2004). In his later years, he moved to Oneida, New York where he owned and operated his own dry cleaning business, Riley 's Esquire Dry Cleaning (Cecil J. Riley Sr., 2004). Having business in several locations: Canastota, Oneida, Syracuse, Utica and Morrisville, New York, my grandad was a successful businessman (Cecil J. Riley Sr., 2004). Given his social location this was a remarkable achievement. Unfortunately not everyone saw this as a remarkable achievement, and during the 70s many people in the local areas tried to protest against Grandad’s business. Grandad was Irish and Seminole Indian, however, on most documents that I’ve seen he was categorized as Negro. This is due to the fact that until 1960 the census wouldn’t allow people could select their own race (Elafros, A.). Prior to that, an individual’s race was determined by census takers (Elafros, A). If my grandad’s race was perceived to be African American, I can only imagine what other kinds of discrimination he faced. Regardless of his Irish roots, Grandad fell on the subordinate side of the traditional color line. People only saw his skin color and sadly enough that was their excuse as to why they were protesting against his business. In the book, The Black Experience in America, Norman Coombs paints a

Hypodescent status is a derogatory method of assigning race to people. It declares that whenever someone is of mixed racial background, they are automatically assigned to the subordinate race. The subordinate race is the race that is considered inferior, less popular, or is lower in socioeconomic status. In the United States, when referring to the black race, this has historically been defined by the “one drop” rule. The one drop rule states that if there is even a “drop” of black blood in the person, then they are considered black. As time has progressed, this form of assignation has become looser, but a form of hypodescent still exists in the United States. This is why former President Barack Obama is still almost solely considered black despite being of mixed racial origins. Since race is a socially constructed function, however, it can just as easily be defined in other ways. Some of these ways are defined by F. James Davis in the textbook, and allow for a different way of thinking of race. If it were defined in some of these ways, the career of Barack Obama—and black (or formerly black) people in general—would be dramatically different.

Haney Lopez’s “Social Construction of Race” requires not only an understanding of exactly what race is, but how we view race in our society. This means that we must understand the biological aspects of race and how we as humans apply it to certain groups of people and the implications it puts on those groups. For example, the Crump family is a black family in 1950’s New York. The narrator, Ernestine, tells the audience of her experiences, heightened by the fact that the Crumps are the only black family on their block.