Brooks And Mcnair (2009) Begin Their Essay By Pointing

During the twentieth century, many African American writers wrote several texts that tell the story of their lives and experiences in the society that they had lived. This includes the author, Richard Wright who often wrote gruesome poems, criticisms of other African American writers, and short stories. Many of Wright’s text, like “Between Laughter and Tears,” “Between the World and Me,” and “The Library Card,” has challenged and reflected the brutal discrimination of African-American, socially, politically, and philosophically.

Zora Neale Hurston is a trailblazer. Back then people ridiculed her, but she felt the pride and dignity within herself. She was seen as an African-American grandmother in many images of black women writers (Showalter 221). Her talent for African-American literature excited the new readers who were constantly reading her literary works (“Hurston,” Feminist). Occasionally, both black and white supporters reviewed her books (McKay). She demonstrates a larger pattern of white American culture to be substantially inspiring in her interest with politics (“Hurston,” Authors). The works of Hurston would affect on her literary work that is shared through others. Understanding Zora Neale Hurston’s typical themes and concerns in her body of literary

A number of black women writers forged their way into classrooms to teach us. “Historian Gerda Lerner edited Black Women in White America in 1973 which further revised the understanding of African American roles in U.S. history as both the victims

“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.” –Richard Wright, Black Boy. The author suffered and lived through an isolated society, where books were the only option for him to escape the reality of the world. Wright wrote this fictionalized book about his childhood and adulthood to portray the dark and cruel civilization and to illustrate the difficulties that blacks had, living in a world run by whites.

Despite knowledge being suppressed against African Americans during the 1800’s and 1900’s, the attempt for an African American to seek knowledge is presented in the stories, “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “The Library Card” by Richard Wright. It is invariably true that knowledge is both a blessing and a curse, which is why both Douglass and Wright can relate to the inflicting role that knowledge plays in people’s lives. Knowledge is presented as a form of a blessing in both stories as both Douglass and Wright endure the chance to educate themselves, Knowledge is expressed as a form of a curse in both stories as both Douglass and Wright face the risk of encountering with the possible unbearable truth behind the knowledge they seek to obtain, also in both stories, both Douglass and Wright develop a self hatred after learning new information that has been kept from them since they are prevented the chance to be informed.

   In an era where "knowledge is power," the emphasis on literacy in African American texts is undeniable. Beginning with the first African American literary works, the slave narratives, through the canon's more recent successes such as Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Sapphire's Push, the topic of literacy is almost inextricably connected to freedom and power. A closer investigation, however, leads the reader to another, less direct, message indicating that perhaps this belief in literacy as a pathway to the "American Dream" of freedom and social and financial success is contradictory or, at least, insufficient in

“The Wife of His Youth” is an 1898 historical fiction short story by author Charles W. Chesnutt. Charles Chestnutt is the first African American writer to use folklore in series literature. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 20, 1858, but spent most of his childhood in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Growing up in the south had a lasting impact on him, in that it furnished rich material for his fiction. Therefore, it is not surprising that Chestnutt’s characters, settings, scenes and institutions reflect North Carolina’s culture. As a creative writer blossoming in the 1880s, Chesnutt believed that he could use folklore to stem the tide of racist thinking depicted by the plantation school writers, such as Thomas Nelson Page and others, who wrote of slavery as a benevolent system. However, by 1905, Chestnutt realized that fiction was not the route to bring America around to treating African Americans with the same respect as whites. Consequently, with this realization Chestnutt became a fighter against discrimination with his voice. He made speeches and wrote essays against all kinds of discrimination (Young). In his short story “The Wife of His Youth”, Chesnutt combines the themes of racial identity and colorism to create the conflict at the center of the story.

The essay "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" by contemporary American novelist Alice Walker is one that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage in my mind. It is an essay primarily written to inform the reader about the history of African American women in America and how their vibrant, creative spirit managed to survive in a dismal world filled with many oppressive hardships. This piece can be read, understood, and manage to conjure up many emotions within the hearts and minds of just about any audience that reads it. However, Walker targets African American women in today's society in an effort to make them understand their heritage and appreciate what their mothers and grandmothers endured to

In reading through the works of Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington, I traveled back in time and felt the pain and suffering of the black folks from the past. The three authors completed their works to the best of their understanding, experiences, and chosen disposition to the matter. While the tones and messages of their works differed from one another, addressing various issues at specific levels of either favouring it or opposing it, Hurston, DuBois, and Washington brought to light a single message: respect the race that had endured so much from the past and yet survived the test of time – the race of African-Americans.

Slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed were both dark moments in American history where black people were discriminated and harassed over a hundred years. “Learning To Read And Write” is an autobiography that takes place during slavery. Readers see how Frederick Douglass had to outsmart his superiors and find a way to learn how to read and write. In “The Library Card” Wright lives in the period of Jim Crow laws, where the former slaves were allowed to read, but they had limited resources to do so. In the story, wright finds a way to manipulate the system to his advantage. During Slavery the whites took advantage of black people 's status in order to

Maggie needs to keep up and enduring association with her heritage, and both mama and the reader perceive this. She speaks to these among the African-American group try to pass on their

The African-American authors of this time period wrote stories describing life during and after slavery. Real life issues that these authors lived through and experienced through the world around them. The excerpts that we read of Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery,” told a compelling tale of his life of being born into

During the slavery period a number of African slaves wrote stories, and poems about their daily hardships that they had to withhold by being a slave and everything else that happen throughout their life’s. Not many Black writers had the resources or support from their owners to publish what they wrote or anyone to care about what they wrote, lucky slaves did reach success when they published their work. Knowing where they came from or where they grew up from is important, the type of work that each individual accomplished when they published their work to the public. The massive impact that Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Abraham Lincoln had in the black community and how they helped change the way they were being treated completely.

I was interested in reading a book from a well-known author and an author I am familiar with. Ms. McMillan is an American Author is probably known best for her works (well at least to me) Waiting To Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Both of these novels were also adapted into films starring Angela Basset and other well-known actors of color. That is another reason I wanted to read this novel, it was a diverse piece of work. Currently I am trying to include a lot of diversity into my own works and library. As a woman of color it’s important that representation is out there. However, and do not get me wrong in every single piece of work I wrote includes representation in some way!

Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing uses criticism to aid in promoting the success of African-American writers. He did this because of how he viewed the literature standards and works of the writers