Analysis Of Viola Desmond 's ' One Woman 's Resistance ' Essay

When Alvin Ailey’s Cry premiered in 1971, Judith Jamison was praised for her tour-de- force 16-minute solo. An original New York Times review expressed that “She looks like an African goddess”. Cry - originally a gift for Ailey’s mother - was dedicated to “all black women everywhere, especially our mothers”. This work, one of Ailey’s greatest successes, evokes an emotional journey, as the performance depicts the struggles of African American women suffering the extraordinary hardships of slavery. Through self- determination, these women overcome their tribulations to attain justice and emancipation. [insert argument here]

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia Hill Collins. (New York: Routledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128.28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26.21, 0-415-92484-7.)

In Elise Johnson McDougald’s essay “The Task of Negro Womanhood,” she elaborates on the difficulties of being a black, working woman in society. In order to understand the struggles of a black woman in America, “one must have in mind not any one Negro woman, but rather a colorful pageant of individuals, each differently endowed” (McDougald, 103). This is because to be able to understand the problems they face as individuals one must think of black women as a collective unit. McDougald focuses on the women living in Harlem because they are more free and have more opportunity to succeed than in the rest of the United States. Though they are considered more

George C. Wolfe’s satirical play, The Colored Museum, elicits emotion from those who read its powerful lines and make its sentiments spring to life on stage. The play is Wolfe’s indelicate way of handling sensitive subjects related to the African American community. The play carries just enough humor to keep its audience captivated and just enough scalding stereotype to keep its audience from growing bored. The satire and parody presented in The Colored Museum depicts the harsh truth about the lives of African Americans.

The film reminds us that “slavery and its aftermath involved the emasculation-physical as well as psychological - of black men, the drive for black power was usually taken to mean a call for black male power, despite the needs of (and often with the complicity of) black women. That continues to result in the devaluing of black female contributions to the liberation struggle and in the subordination of black women in general.”4

She attended Bloomfield High School. Her parents were Gwendoline Irene Davis and James Albert Davis. She married a man named Jack Desmond. Viola Desmond’s background was African she was not allowed to train to become a beautician in Halifax, so she left and got beautician training in Montreal, Atlantic City, and at one of Madame C.J. Walker's beauty schools in New York. After finishing her training, Viola Desmond went back to Halifax to start her own hair salon. Viola Desmond created a beauty school in Halifax, The Desmond School of Beauty Culture so that black women would not have to travel as far as she did to get training. She also started her own beauty

There was a heavy amount of contextual evidence demonstrated throughout this book, what with the minute print and informative words given. The perspectives of the South and the North were infused with the perspectives of people today, and how discrimination has been implemented throughout our society both then and now. With ‘the intent to introduce readers to individual African American working women’ [Preface, xv], she elicits such feelings and highlights the real struggle of those African Americans that were confirmed and transformed by giving examples from historical events such as The Great Depression, the American Revolution, Labor movements and reforms in both the North and the South.

In Document A there is an image of a patriot woman in Marblehead MA, 1779. The image portrays a woman holding a rifle and powder. She is near a fort with a flag flying in background.The image describes a few things, first is that women participated in the Revolutionary War. Second, Women’s roles were expanded in the Revolutionary War and women began to do things that men had previously done. Third, the image hints at the potential change in Women’s roles. Document B was from Pennsylvania in 1779. The document warned citizens of the revolution and to stand up against the British. They don’t want to the British to return to their “happy land”. Many believe war will be soon. Document C was a message to Congress from the Chickasaw tribe chief

After she refused to move, the cops were involved and Viola had been taken to jail. She spent the night in prison, sitting upright and strong. Then came the trial. The trial mainly focused on the 1 cent tax difference that she didn’t pay. Even though Viola mentioned that she offered to pay the 1 cent tax difference, but her offer had been refused. The judge chose to fine her $26, and six of those dollars went to the manager who was listed in the court as a lawyer. However, during the trial, the race issue was not mentioned. Viola Desmond later settled in New York, where she died on the 7th of February 1965.

Blacks in the United States have had to persistently fight against torture, racism, and segregation and still do. For years, in the United States people of color were not given the same rights as white men. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., “Graduation” by Maya Angelou and “A Homemade Education” by Malcolm X, the authors discuss their experiences and fight against inequality. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Maya Angelou were just a few of the hundreds of thousands of blacks who restlessly fought for civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Maya Angelou showed that in the face of adversity to persevere you must always remain strong and steadfast if you wish to succeed. Even with Malcolm X and Maya

Women have always been fighting for the rights of others and rights for themselves; they’ve stated time after time that everyone should be equal. Equality in America meant everything to women; equality between whites and blacks, Native Americans and whites, and women and all of America. “There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women,” (DuPont 12; Lewis). Passages such as the pervious sentence are just a few of many that express women’s feelings towards women’s rights and suffrage. However, women did want changes in rights for all people, but with women being women

Viola Desmond was a Black Nova Scotian who was strained of racial segregation at a film theatre in New Glasgowa. Viola was important and still is through her actions even though she had passed away because she had stood up for herself when racism was involved. Viola is important to understanding Canada since she is canadian herself and also her acts provided inspiration to a later generation of Black persons in Nova Scotia and in the rest of Canada. As a result of this incidence it had made an significant overview throughout time because slowly viola got well known for standing up for herself since she was black and people

Claudia Rankine analyze racism to its core, bringing to surface that miniscule event are just as problematic as televised one. Her words are beautifully brutal, striking up emotions for anyone that reads it. As readers we are taken through a journey from past to present events of racial incidents experienced by different genders and ages. Above all, Claudia provides a strong indication that racism is far from over.

Jacobs autobiography which is known by the name of ‘Incidents in a Life of a Slave Girl’ gave a true account of the treatment that black women faced during that time and also throwing some light on a perception which has been kept in shadows from the society. While writing the story of her life, Jacobs though focused on her defeat due to obstacles like race and gender, gave voice to something which was hidden from society regardless of the presence of patriarchal society of the nineteenth century.

This movie is amazing and inspirational to other young black women, it shows that you many struggle but if you keep going your dreams and hard work will be recognize. This film touch on the gender norms and racial norms, which has strong connection to the four reading I choice to critical review this blog. This movie has strong connection to the Gaga Feminism theory, the concept is “a set of wholesale changes that may be most obvious in the realm of gender norms but that also stretch too many other realms of everyday experience and that call for improvisational feminism that keeps pace with the winds of political change.” Hidden-figures proved that Black women can do whatever they want if they put their mind to it. This is breaking down what society has deem as the normal way of doing this.