Cost Her A Whipping From Momma Analysis

In American history, racial inequality has been a prevalent issue for many decades. By the 1930s racial inequality and segregation was still as strong as ever. There was a racial hierarchy with white people at the top and black people near the bottom. White people would discriminate against black people. The two groups never worked alongside each other or mixed in any fashion. To help understand this time period, segregation was still present until the mid 1950s, when the Supreme Court ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional. During this time full of racism and racial inequality, Maya Angelou was just a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a town in the South that was most likely overflowing with inequalities at the time. In 1938 Maya Angelou was only ten years old. At this age, she worked for a lady named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Maya Angelou wrote briefly about her time spent working for Mrs. Cullinan in her short story “Mary.” Maya Angelou's’ use of vivid, direct characterization and alternating childish voice to mature adult narrative diction filtered through her authentic first person point of view helps to prominently establish the theme of Angelou’s distaste for racial inequality throughout the short story.

In the mid-1900's, Discrimination had overruled minorities. In Maya Angelou's “Graduation” and Audre Lorde “Fourth of July”, these authors are faced with challenges that fit them for reality. However, they are challenged differently for they had different ethnicities. Angelou is a southern black girl while Audre Lorde is the daughter of two Caribbean immigrants. Despite this difference, they had a few similarities. One is that they were both eighth graders while experiencing discrimination first hand and second they become furious due to being discriminated. Angelou wanted to graduate peacefully and Lorde wanted a happy vacation to Washington DC with her family, but sadly that could not occur because they were minorities.

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” Miss Moore attempts to teach the children of a Harlem neighborhood about class inequality. It’s apparent that the young narrator of the story, Sylvia, struggles interacting with those she views as above her. Numerous times throughout the story Sylvia belittles and lashes out at the people she believes are in a higher social standing. Sylvia’s interactions with those of authority and higher social standing further demonstrate Miss Moore’s lesson of the rift between socioeconomic classes in society. Through the entire story the reader gains insight of how Sylvia’s attitude is a struggle to cope with the differences between economic classes.

Michelle Nam Discussion Preparation (Summer Homework) 1.) “Graduation” Summary: Maya Angelou’s essay is describing her eighth grade graduation and the racism that was prominent at that time. With an explanation of the roles at graduation, she begins excited for her own graduation but as she listens to the speech of a white man, she becomes angered with the racial discrimination that was hinted at in his speech. In the midst of her anger, she regained hope from the black valedictorian’s speech and proudly stated that her race still continued to live happily even with the limited opportunities that were given.

The memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography written by Maya Angelou as she grew up in the mid-20th century, where being a black girl and facing racial issues in society, had to overcome many problems that show the larger issue of the time period. I

Happiness Over Status In the essay “What’s Your Name, Girl?” Maya Angelou explores the injustice and suffering of her childhood as a black girl living in Stamps, Arkansas. Immediately, as the essay begins, you acquire insight on how Angelou seemed to be envious of white girls: “But Negro girls in small Southern towns, whether poverty-stricken or just munching along on a few of life’s necessities, were given as extensive and irrelevant preparations for adulthood as rich white girls shown in magazines. Admittedly the training was not the same. While white girls learned to waltz and sit gracefully with a teacup balanced on their knees, we were lagging behind, learning the mid-Victorian values with very little money to indulge them.” (17-18). Angelou recognized how unfair black people were treated. They had to scrounge up money whenever they could, while white people would effortlessly “waltz and sit gracefully” whenever they wanted to. She was envious of white people’s social statuses and what little work they had to do in the world and she wanted to be one of them; she wanted to live an easy life.

The passage “Talking Wrong” by Patricia Smith is a reflection of the author's memories and knowledge of her mother. She talks on how her mother has a need to start speaking ‘right’ and is going to take classes on correcting the way she articulates her words and formation of sentences.

The woman who raised and loved him did not know him any longer. This is one of many instances that illustrates the white society’s “lack of mercy and compassion” (22). Malcolm X blames whites for robbing his mother’s dignity, for separating his siblings, and for “disintegrating” his home and unity. Therefore, Malcolm X states he has no compassion for “a white society that will crush people” (22). The word “crushed” imparts the same horror he feels on the audience to illuminate the extremity of racism so that the audience can sympathize with his reasoned anger. Being called the ‘n-word’ in his life is another factor in Malcolm X’s belief that white society is demeaning to blacks. When Malcolm X told his English teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer, she replied, “That’s no realistic goal for a n-word” (118). The teacher’s statement is a clear portrayal of the widely accepted sentiment in that time period that African Americans are too incompetent to have good jobs and have ambitions. As a result, this incident deeply affected Malcolm X and has contributed to his disapproval of blacks being servile in a white society. Malcolm X appeals to the audience 's sense of horror and hatred by sharing his experiences in order for paint a more illuminated picture of racism.

The power of language and its ability to deconstruct and reconstruct not only the individual’s identity but also a community’s identity is the overall main point in Maya Angelou’s “Graduation” piece. Angelou is able to capture this in her writing through her personal experience, and also simultaneously by using the example of American society’s social infrastructure which can limit opportunities for people of color, specifically the black community. After Edward Donleavy, a white politician during the late 30’s/ early 40’s, had spoken down on the students from Lafayette Country Training School, down on their black community, a sense of defeat filled the auditorium. Angelou’s simile, “the man’s dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly.” (Language Acts,

However, Maya, the viewpoint of the novel, as a woman who hasn't lived this TRUE American life style. Like said, “In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than that they were different. To be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well-dressed. I remember never believing that whites were really real. ” (Angelou, 25) Maya illustrates the quantity of racial discrimination between the white and the blacks. That the segregation was in a sense said “complete” and never had the black seen the whites. Maya is once told in the novel that she was “the Uglies” and had told Bailey that was actually a beautiful blonde hair and she was in a nightmare trapped in this “African American” body. This act by Maya really says her individual characteristics that she is equal upon all American, and is not to be look down upon. In a sense, American isn't supposed to be a point to be judged upon racial features, but an individual who wants to strive and succeed for greater

Gloria Naylor talks about her first time experiences with the word “nigger” and how her family and her deal with the word. She was in her math class and her teacher was giving back their math exams. A little boy sits in front of her and she score a higher grade than the little boy. The little boy snatched the paper out of her hand and spit out that word “nigger”; she couldn’t be more puzzled. Naylor didn’t know what the word was. It seems to her that it was her first time hearing that word in her presence, but the truth is that she has heard this word many times before. Every word has several meanings its not just the meaning that was given by the person who came up with the word.

The Identity of Black Women in the Post-Bellum Period 1865-1885 Throughout history, the black woman has always had a multitude of responsibilities thrust upon her shoulders. This was never truer than for southern black women in the period between 1865 and 1885. In this span of twenty years, these women were responsible for their children, their husbands, supporting their families, their fight for freedom as black citizens and as women, their sexual freedom, and various other issues that impacted their lives. All of these aspects of the black woman’s life defined who she was. Each of her experiences and battles shaped the life that she lived, and the way she was perceived by the outside world.

Eng. 102 Analysis Essay October 25, 2010 Stolen Treasure In Leslie Savan’s essay, “What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over?,” Savan talks about the “hidden costs”(381) and benefits of the black language in America. When observing this economic and psychological boundary its clear that African American people went through lots of pain and suffering when creating trendy words and sayings. This is important to African Americans because most people do not understand that these words have now been adopted by white people “who reap the profits without paying [their] dues”(Savan 382).

In “My Name is Margaret”, Maya Angelou, the author of this short story, elucidates upon a fictional scenario depicting the dictating entitlement and superiority exposed to a myriad of African Americans during her generation. Angelou demonstrates this racial contrast by emphasizing the feeling of irrelevance through the looking glass

The year was 3600, America is no longer insensitive of minorities. They weren’t just sensitive to just women, but also to everyone of differences in whatever aspects. No one dared speaking unjust to women. No one dared mentioning race. No one dare saw disabilities. All this