Analysis Of Steve Biko And Steve Biko

Out of oppression rises resilient individuals whose voices cannot be silenced. Though the exact circumstances may vary, both Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. were empowered in the face of persecution. Both came from a place of suffering and restriction, were inspired by the brutality the observed, and attacks institutions which allowed these atrocities and others to continue. Their words, powerful and thought-provoking, will serve as pieces that will not soon be forgotten.

Frantz Fanon was a Martinique-born, Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer whose works are influential in the fields of post colonial studies, Marxism, and critical theory. He was born in 1925 and died in 1961. The quote above is from Fanon’s first book, Black Skin, White Masks (1952), originally titled as “An Essay for the Disalienation of Blacks.” Fanon, in this book is providing a prognosis about the lived experience of the black man. He is concerned with describing the place that is held by blacks in the mid 20th century and illustrates the issues of race and racism and to point the reader toward a better and free future for all men. The quote above shows how oppression gives rise to ways of being. Fanon’s experience and the background of the time period he was living in justifies his hostility when he argues that the black man is constantly trying, but never fully accomplishing, to be white and to integrate into the white man’s world. In this essay I will show the three phases Fanon goes through to reach this conclusion: to escape his blackness,

W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent African American scholar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote many significant essays that challenged the dangerous societal view that black Americans weren’t capable of progress. In one of those essays, Strivings of the Negro People, he develops new terminology to discuss the many forces that act upon black Americans in a white dominated society, the most important of which is double-consciousness. The phrase, “double-consciousness”, refers to the division of the African American self into conflicting two facets: one being the American and the other the Negro, ever being forced to look at themselves through the eyes of a racist society.

Manhood is when a boy takes the leap from being a child to a true man. People say that leap happens at different times for every boy. People can tell it happens because they stop acting foolishly and deal with matters by themselves. The four stories The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”, “The Man Who Killed a Shadow”, and “Almos’ a Man” all deal with African American boys and them becoming true men. The literature of Richard Wright and Malcolm X illustrate how African American males encountered much difficulty in asserting their manhood while living within the racist society of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Black people in the U.S have been fighting for themselves since the birth of America. Many today say that it will never stop. They may say that the challenges they face will never disappear. During the 1800s Blacks went through extreme hardships. Most of which were regarding slavery and the many attempts to put an end to it. The title of Howard Zinn’s Chapter Nine in A people’s History of the U.S represents much more than a typical reader would presume. The title has a meaning that represents a bulk of black history in the United States of America. The chapter title “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom” represents the everlasting fight that black people in the United States of America have had to put up for their own rights and freedom because blacks fought during the time of slavery and didn’t give up, the time period spent fighting to end slavery, and even after Slaves were freed they have had to continue fighting for the reason that they weren’t given true freedom.

Frederick Douglass once said, “No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty.” Throughout the history of America his words have proven true seeing that those of African descent have been faced with a tremendous amount of prejudice. Whether that be in terms of the basic rights vital to African americans, or the freedom of expression that should be allotted to every human being. They were subjected to endless economic and social prejudice. While at the same time being refused the decencies all American citizen deserved. But most importantly, African Americans were denied the right to decide how their country was controlled and in turn their “liberty”. These atrocities prove that the reform introduced during the Reconstruction era did little to resolve the problems plaguing African Americans or improve their quality of life.

For decades there has been a great deal of controversy over the importance of African American citizens. The Souls of Black Folks, by W.E.B. DuBois, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement both have multiple similarities that deserve to be thoroughly examined. Although DuBois’ work and the modern day movement occurred decades apart, some common similarities include: the realization in the black souls that they are seen differently, the lack of fairness towards black people, and the great divide between black and white citizens.

Racism is a thing of the past, or is it? Michelle Alexander’s, “The New Jim Crow,” main focus is on mass incarceration and how it occurs in an era of color blindness. Alexander also focuses on the social oppressions that African Americans have suffered throughout the years, until now. In this essay, I will discuss how the system of control was constructed, Alexander’s compelling historical analysis, and if the current system would be easier to dismantle. I would like to start by delving into how the system of control was constructed.

INTRO YO: Throughout history, all over the world, people have been enslaved and mistreated based on various arbitrary factors. From the slavery of cultures all over the world, to racial oppression of today, these people have been subjected to subhuman cruelty. In America, the turning point for this mistreatment was the late 19th century and early 20th century. With the civil war and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, slaves and free African Americans gained more freedom. The best path for these African Americans of the 19th and 20th centuries is to combine the ideas of great African American leaders like Frederick Douglass, WEB DuBois, and Booker T Washington. The optimal path to freedom for the subjected people is to become educated, to value themselves, working hard, and proving to oppressors that they are equal.

Throughout history, black people have been hurt and battered physically, mentally, and emotionally by white people and those who believe they are superior. From the beginning of the 19th century to the ongoing 21st century, black identity has evolved in accordance to the struggles African Americans are facing at the time. From the abolitionist movement to the Black Lives Matter movement, the evolving issues facing black identity in the struggle for equality and constitutional rights can be seen through the literature and writing by the black leaders of the time.

Men, Women, and Children died for the right to be free. From countless wars, such as; The revolutionary war, and the War of 1812, to name a few all fought for the concept of freedom. This unalienable natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was the cause for numerous worldly conflicts. Eons later and a nation known as the United States is met rebuilding their country after the conclusion of a Civil War. This time in history in commonly known as the Reconstruction Era. And in the center of this reconstruction are African Americans. Having fought a war to obtain their “Freedom”, African Americans now faced a time of racism, social injustice, and instituted laws that upheld white supremacy after the Civil War. In the following dissertation, I will explain the impact the reconstruction era and life post-civil war had on African Americans as they tried to rebuild their lives crippled by slavery.

Daryl Michael Scott argues that African Americans lived a damaged life in the post-World War II era and E Franklin Frazier’s “Black Bourgeoisie” shows exactly how damaging it was. The black bourgeoisie were middle class African American’s who went through many extremes to dissociate themselves as blacks and “be accepted as anything other than African American” (734). There were many reasons why the black bourgeoisie were damaged, but the main reasons why their social and psychological lives were damaged were because of four categorical problems. The black bourgeoisie lived in oppression, they lived with many insecurities and frustrations, developed self-hatred and feelings of guilt, and were unfortunately physically and mentally delusional. These were the main ideas Frazier pointed out in his work “Black Bourgeoisie.”

Knowledge is a primary factor in the attainment of personal freedom. This includes not only scholarly education but also awareness of historical heritage and familial legacy. The fact that African-Americans were held in human bondage cannot

This section demonstrates how the fear manifested itself among the whites. The Afrikaners’ power is not in numbers, as “they were few” but instead in political authority. They exploit this and impose harsh laws on the black to try to control and restrict them. However, they have bound themselves in their fear of the natives, a force that is perhaps more confining than their rules. Instead of trying to understand their fear and show their compassion towards these other human beings, they instead choose to hide it so that they will not appear weak. Additionally, the solution of love that Paton suggests presents a conundrum. In order end the fear, they must love, but to love they must stop being afraid. This demonstrates the almost impossible nature of true equality occurring between the natives and the Afrikaners.

Franz Fanon is one of the many profound voices of black identity during the 1950s. His work in the field of psychology features an unfathomed approach to critical theory, post-colonial studies and Marxism. In Black Skin White Masks, Fanon dives into the Negro psyche through understanding its origin. In studying this, Fanon comes to the argument that the dehumanizing process of colonization renders both Blacks and Whites crazy. In analyzing Africans, specifically, Fanon determines that the “Negro [is] enslaved by his inferiority [and] the white man enslaved by his superiority” and that is why they are both mentally unbalanced. It is this neurotic orientation through which Fanon discusses the process through which Africans become second-class French people. In discussing the Negro neurosis, Fanon begins with this statement: The Negro “becomes whiter as he renounces his blackness.”