Charles Waddell Chesnutt's The Wife Of His Youth

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

Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” illustrates that the race of people should be identified by their culture and not their race. For example, he states, “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and because I want to be Chinese” (164-165). Richard Rodriguez identifies himself as Chinese because of the culture he is surrounded by on a daily basis. For instance, Richard Rodriguez states that culture should be the way to identify someone’s race, and he identifies himself as Chinese because that’s the culture he lives in. Richard Rodriguez also denotes, “I wear an Indian face: I answer to a Spanish surname as well as this California first name Richard” (39). This illustrates that Richard Rodriguez

Gary Brigg’s article offers detailed information on the mystery of the Lost Colony. In the article, Gary gives background information on the Queen Elizabeth and detailed information on the colony itself. The Roanoke Colony was the Second English colony in the New World. The Roanoke Colony was found at Roanoke Island and was the second English colony in the world. Researchers say, there were two settlements in 1586 and 1587.

In midst of the radicalizations that were apparent in those times, Ferguson brings in the account of the transgendered mulatta. (p. 40). One can imagine the thought that went into this mulatta, where people of all races, sexual orientations could convulge and commit any act of vice that they deemed fit. In this Chapter, one sees a common theme, the expansive arguments around the heterogeneously composed African American culture – something that is visible to this day in the stereotyping that occurs with relation to queer people of color. One can also see another common aspect, in the way in which these articles show the way American industrialization disrupted hegemonic gender/sexual ideals as well as the people mistaking this disruption as racial differences. With the passage of time, these differences became more apparent, but the concept of queer people of color is still something that remains widely shrouded in question in the minds of ordinary

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”.

When reading Charles Chesnutt's story the audience starts to question what is a white man and a black man? For year's the requirements of a white man have steadily changed. In this story, "Mr. Ryder might aptly be called the dean of the Blue Veins" (602). The Blue Veins were an organization where men were considered to be more white than black. We further catch on to the narrator being critical of the blue veins as they think they are better than the rest of the black community. Mr Ryder in particular was "...economical...his residence was handsomely furnished..."

In Act II of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail has a drastic effect on the town without being present in the play by condemning many people to horrible witchcraft accusations and creating a sense of fear and paranoia in the town. To begin, Abigail makes merciless accusations of many people being bewitched. This is often solely done because Abigail has feeling of disdain towards the person. This is evident by this quote exclaimed by Elizabeth Proctor, “She will cry me out until they take me!” (Miller 1274). Elizabeth is fearful and appalled because Abigail accuses her of being a witch. There is no just cause or evidence for this claim, but Abigail Williams is a crazy girl who is engulfed with jealousy; she only accuses Elizabeth of being

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”

2011. “The New Jim Crow” Pp 217.-224 in Rethinking the Color Line, 5th Edition, edited by Charles Gallagher. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

W.E.B. Du Bois said it best in his groundbreaking 1903 treatise The Souls of Black Folk, “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line”—a prescient statement(Bartleby). The famous playwright Ira Aldridge touches on this issue throughout his stage production, “The Black Doctor.” Moreover, the audience is shown the historical context of this time period through the characters. Reading the pages of Aldridge’s scrip, it is quite evident that Fabian’s (the black doctor who was a mulatto) and Pauline’s love for one another was a dead end.

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.

In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” the author, Zora Neale Hurston, emphasizes points in her life, those being times where she has felt her color and others where her color seemed almost nonexistent. Hurston’s motive for composing this writing piece is to show the readers that race does not solely determine one’s identity. The author skillfully utilizes writing strategies to assert this, which embellishes and strengthens the impact of her words. Some examples of these approaches include Hurston’s use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism throughout the entirety of her work. Namely, the imagery presented in the essay allows for the reader to perceive Hurston’s surroundings in her time.

Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, but the Negro race still was not accepted as equals into American society. To attain a better understanding of the events and struggles faced during this period, one must take a look at its' literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own.

As a young African-American man coming of age in, a predominantly white, middle school often times I was the odd one out. Playing the alien role, it was expected of me to participate in “black activities” or certain reasoning’s for declining or accepting any favors was determinate on skin color. Living like this makes a young man think about his worth. When he reaches his teenage years as he looks back on who he used to be, and the feeling of being exploited because of skin color isn’t a feeling that is sought after for the future. I wanted more. In relation, there are certain roles in history that men and women were expected to take part in. Bobbie Ann Mason seems to elaborate on a young mind’s perception on gender role stereotypes in her essay “Being Country”. “Granny didn’t question a

In Charles Chesnutt’s novel, The House Behind the Cedars, there are divides between individuals in the black community based off of skin tone. It reflects on the experience of John Warwick and his sister Rena Walden as they attempt to pass as white. Rena leaves home to come with John Warwick back to his home in South Carolina where he works as a white lawyer and Rena takes on the role of a white woman. But they face the reality that their attempt at passing comes with limited success.