Juliana Surratt
Mrs. Burton
Creative Writing Enriched
13 May 2016
Black Africans in Renaissance Europe: Treatment and Impact Perhaps the first people one thinks of on hearing ”Renaissance Europe,” is Shakespeare or Michelangelo. Yet those well known figures who have not been lost as the wheel of time grinds forth, and who still have a great impact in the artistic world today should not be considered the only people of importance from the Renaissance. There are other figures from this time frame who have greatly impacted the European mindset during the Renaissance, breeding in the people of Europe a sort of blooming respect for other cultures. During this time period, Europe was thriving with people from every corner of the globe; people trying to survive and make a name for themselves. Indeed, one of the most notable racial presences was that of the Black African. The treatment of these peoples within European society reflects the thought systems of white Europeans at the time, a thought system which is, unexpectedly, one of more respect than not. It is undeniable that the idea of white privilege and superiority affected the mindsets of white Europeans, but there was a sort of exoticism with which they regarded blacks, and their social interactions ultimately led to a newfound admiration bordering on acceptance, an admiration which would be a necessity for a future of equality. The majority of Black Africans stepped onto European soil as property. Indeed, slavery was
The issue of race is one filled with controversy and passion, even today in the twenty-first centaury. In today’s day and age it is more shuttle and underground then it was in its most recent ‘hay-day’. In our time today we see it as more of a shameful, offensive and intolerant thing, but it was the norm in the early 15th and 16th century. Today those people that are outwardly racist are seen as outcasts. In this essay I will tempt to show how even though it was the norm in Victorian England, Shakespeare already had another mind set, and was trying in this creative way that the mind set of the people was not correct even for that time. How and why did Shakespeare purposely portray Othello the Moor as a tragic hero, like Hamlet or King
The Renaissance spread from Italy to western and northern Europe. A movement called humanism developed, which praised the beauty and intelligence of the individual. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the Renaissance changed view of the world with the blossoming of art, literature, and science.
In the article ‘Black People in a White People’s Country’ by Gary Nash, he explains how slavery gave Africans a low role in America’s society, and how because slavery was allowed in the New World, they were “Socially and legally defined as less than people...”. It wasn’t just the fact that they were enslaved that made people treat them horribly, but also where they came from. In the eyes of a European, Africans were very different,
The European colonization of Africa, also known as the Scramble for Africa, Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, occurred between the 1870s and 1900s, and was the invasion, occupation, colonization, and annexation of African territory by European powers during a period of New Imperialism. European control of the continent increased from 10 percent (1870) to 90 percent (1914), with only three territories, Saguia el-Hamra, which was later integrated into Spanish Sahara, Ethiopia and Liberia remaining independent of Europe’s control. There were many reasons for the European colonization of Africa, including economic and political motives, with the Berlin Conference serving as a catalyst. Africans resisted the European invasions of their lands, with the two main methods of opposition were guerilla warfare and direct military engagement. European influence on Africa still remains today, though these influences are generally negative and hurt Africa’s overall development.
Although Othello is set in Venice and Cyprus, the attitudes and values shared in the text are probably reflective of the attitudes and values of Shakespeare's own society. It is difficult to assess the attitudes and values of people in sixteenth-century Britain to the relatively few blacks living amongst them. We are given an insight into those attitudes and values through the representation of race and
The Harlem Renaissance was a milestone for America due to the fact that it showed white people that African American’s were equal to them. This allowed them to become more accepting of them and began to allow them to think of black people as equals. Stories similar to this one can be seen through other times in history, One example of this is with Christianity in ancient Rome. Before Emperor Constantine, bring a christian in Rome was shamed upon. People were not treated with equality and were considered an outcast from society.However, that did not stop them from still practicing their religion. Eventually, Constantine decided to make the religion legal and suddenly, people became open to the idea of a new religion. People were no longer shamed upon for something as small as beliefs but were instead treated the same as those who believed in the Roman God’s. Christianity is only a small example of people expressing their views and fighting for equality. By standing up for what people believe in they are able to succeed and be treated as equal as their peers. When being the minority, people can find it challenging to stand up for their beliefs and trying to be treated as equals. Therefore, they should be treated with admiration for dealing with their setbacks every
The women previously talked about on include, unfortunately, white women due to the fact that racial issues were still prominent post Civil War to the roaring 20s. Racial tension between blacks (now freed) and whites intensified as time continued after the Civil War. Yet, much like women, racial equality had its gains and its setbacks, especially in the South. Many of the gains for African Americans came in forms such as free blacks whom were equal to white men, political participation, and artistic and social expression during the Harlem Renaissance. However, the setbacks were much larger defeat, such as segregation and the overall treatment of blacks in the States.
Around the year 1897 Edward Morel noticed something that would change the way the modern world viewed the colonization of Africa and the supposed “humanitarian” work there forever (Hochschild 1). Morel worked for an English shipping company that was responsible for cargo going between the Congo Free State and Belgium. What Morel noticed was that ships from Africa were filled with rich, exotic goods like rubber and ivory, but the ships headed to Africa from Belgium were filled with military members and various firearms and ammunition (Hochschild 2). Morel made the conclusion that the cause of this odd “trade” between Europe and Africa was slave labor. European colonization of Africa was a slow, arduous process resulting in the deaths of
In Millicent Bell’s “Othello’s Jealousy”, she explores the idea that Othello’s downfall is ultimately caused by his distrust for and apprehensiveness towards society due to him being a racial outsider. He knows not only does he not fit in to this strict European society, but he probably never will. Bell argues Othello’s racial weariness was used and molded by Iago into sexual jealousy, a jealousy Othello was never able to recover from, as Iago accused Othello’s venetian wife Desdemona of cheating and ultimately convinced Othello of such to his demise. I argue, that Shakespeare made a point to exemplify not only the racial discord in society in 1604, but just how deep that disgust for racial outsiders ran, and how it could easily sway the individual to begin to feel the same way about themselves, along with the sometimes fatal consequences that can accompany those beliefs and insecurities.
The Harlem Renaissance showed a bizarre cultural change that helped the image of Africans around the world. The Renaissance’s purpose was to project the rebirth of the African American arts. Though, it originally wasn’t known as the Harlem Renaissance, but instead called the Negro Renaissance by Alain Locke. It all started with a insane migration of African Americans traveling north to pursue a new future for themselves and their families. With Harlem being the focus of where most of the African American migrate to, it also became where the America’s culture shifted. The Harlem Renaissance removed the old views of how blacks are supposed to be treated as slaves and gave them a way to show that they aren’t that different compared to other races.
The African societies (like those of the American Indians and the Europeans) were highly dependent on the environmental conditions and varied widely across the continent. Africa very much resembled America in its diversity of cultures across deserts, grasslands, and forests, its established networks of trade, and resource competition. The early use of iron implements raised productivity and subsequently increased the continent's population, which reached about 50 million by the fifteenth century. Much of that population was organized politically under large empires, like the Kingdom of Ghana. Ghana achieved architectural and artistic wealth principally through important trading contacts with the Middle and Far East. Other kingdoms also developed
While African Americans were viewed as inferior to the white race, and look upon as a race without intellectually, culturally and morally values, incapable of performing any task without supervision thus justifying why white race portraying African Americans. Even when bills were passed by the government and turned into laws African Americans were victims of violence. I will demonstrate in my thesis several events that African American had to endure during the 18th century and the Jim Crow laws that restrict African Americans and were state and local laws ( Henry 1949) enforcing racial segregation in the Southern. In my report, I will display what accomplish made during the 19th century, and how the Harlem Renaissance ( Henry 1994) was a
Europeans viewed Africans Americans as a minority by their skin color , and the inequality in numbers . Europeans developed division in the world. For example , Christian / atheist , white/black , seperations in bathrooms , segration is education .
The Harlem Renaissance, also known as “The Negro Movement” was the rise of African American cultures, it gave African Americans the chance to express themselves through literature, art, and music, it was a leading factor in The Great Migration, but the Great Depression of the 1930s brought this celebration of black voices and black ways to an end. The Harlem renaissance came about during the 1920s and took place in Harlem, the center of New York. American writer, philosopher, and educator, Alain Locke, described this time as a “spiritual coming of age”. Although the Harlem Renaissance was a good time for the African American community, a few whites did not see it that way, which caused great controversy with white venues and audiences.
Racism seems to be a big concern in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Othello. Because the hero of the play is an outsider, a Moor, we have an idea how blacks were regarded in England, in Elizabethan times. There are many references that bring about the issue of racism from the very beginning to the end. In the tragedy, where Othello is coming from is not mentioned, yet through the descriptions the reader is informed that he belongs to one of the Eastern nationalities such as African, Ottoman Turk or Arab. In this paper I am going to analyze some episodes involving a prejudicial, racist attitude and try to discuss whether Shakespeare was a racist or not. Even though the play is full of offensive definitions of black