Elizabeth And Hazel: Two Women Of Little Rock

The protagonist of the poem is Rosa Parks, a seamstress and an active member in the local NAACP, who refused to give up her seat for a white man. Parks was arrested, which led to a boycott against Montgomery bus system. As a result of more than one year of boycott, the segregation law was announced unconstitutional.

I read the first chapter in the book and immediately Ms Thompson came to mind. I worked with Ms Thompson my first year as a intern.   She had a group called Dolls and Dolls, that consisted of the most troubled young black girls.  The girls Ms Thompson worked with were a mirror image of the characters in the novel Pushout written by Monique Morris.  A lot of what Ms Thompson used to communicate with her  girls were very same as the book.    When I read  the  the line written by Manning Marable, “Freedom is the fragile flower that must constantly be protected-not from those at the bottom of the social order but from the whims and desires of those at the top”.  I remember these girls would get in trouble and Ms Thompson would say,” Remember you are a rose”.  Black girls are being criminalized by beliefs, policies, and actions that degrade, and  marginalize black girls in their learning environments and their humanity- relegating many to an inferior quality of education because they are perceived as defiant, delinquent, aggressive, too sexy, too proud, and too loud to be treated with dignity in their schools and  leading them to conditions  that is pushing black girls out of schools and render them vulnerable to even more harm.(Morris)I was blessed to have a great support from my mother.  My mother was very strong and believed in education.  She grew up in North Carolina when schools were segregated, and  all of her teachers were african american.  In her final year of school

the two women came, much like the growth the Unites States has made in bringing about racial equality, they were never able to cross that line and fully accept one another.

The story is set in 1968 in Oakland, California three young girls Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern who leave their father in Brooklyn to go Oakland to meet their mother who abandoned them. Oakland at this time is a boiling pot with political and racial turmoil, with the Black Panthers at the head of a movement fighting for civil rights. In a historical context many readers at this age level have not been exposed to the many freedom fighter organizations like The Black Panthers, middle school students are usually only exposed to a limited number of figures in the civil rights movement like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Glenda Gilmore, in her essay “Forging Interracial Links in the Jim Crow South,” attempts to tackle the charged concepts of feminism and race relations during the infamous Jim Crow era. Her analysis focuses on both the life and character of a black woman named Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a highly influential member of the community of Greensboro, North Carolina. Brown defied the odds given her gender and race and rose to a prominent place in society through carefully calculated interracial relations. Gilmore argues that in rising above what was expected of her as a black woman, Brown was forced to diminish her own struggles as a black woman, and act to placate

In Mrs. Browne’s life up to middle age, about the age she is in “Kiswana Browne,” she lived through the horrible inequality that had been lingering since the abolishment of slavery in 1865. “The Blacks in America” informs us of the literary tests used to discourage the black voter, if Mrs. Browne chose to vote she had to pass a literary test that involved reading and explaining a difficult passage of a federal or legal constitution as was commonly used to discourage African Americans from voting (63). Only in 1965 with the new Voting Rights Act could she vote without her intelligence being questioned because of her race. In public she would be subjected to the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that was enacted at the end of the 19th century after the Supreme Court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson (Spangler 56). This law was supposed to create places for African Americans like schools, housing and transportation that were equal to those of White facilities but were very rarely equal. Because of the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine Mrs. Browne had to use sub-par facilities including segregated transportation,

Kathleen review of how Mattie takes Lucielia in her arm and begins to rock her as a mother would rock a child that is unable to be comfored in any other manner. I can hear the cadence of my mentor stating get an education it can’t be taken away from you, you will be able to make a future for you and your children and no one will be able to take that away. “Mattie offers the soothing power of words and the water of symbolic baptism, Puhr (103-104), the baptism comes after the commission of an unforgivable sin of the abortion of her unborn child and the taking of the only one in her life that loved her unconditionally. The purging of all the wrong one has done, is demonstrated in the rocking of Mattie’s arms. The sin being represented by the

She mentions the lynch law being created by whites, and not government therefore making it not a law. Whites claimed lynching was done to protect the white women of these men black who were “rapist and animals”. When in reality most white women who accused these black men of sexual harassment and rape didn't want to be protected from them. In fact these white women admired black men, for their hard work and strength. What surprised me most was the reverse of roles in the situation. White men were never charged with the actual rape of black women and children. Ida B Wells touches base on a story about 3 white men who raped a young black girl, they went to court, and was acquitted of all the charges. Switched roles these white men were able to walk freely, but reverse roles back again and 3 black men would have been brutally

Throughout the novel it is apparent that everyday instances of racism occur, causing people of color to feel outcasted. There are two very obvious occasions where this happened. In the first instance two African American woman are in a workspace of primarily all white co-workers. When a woman they worked with got these two names mixed up, it was stated that she had a “fifty-fifty chance of getting it right” insinuating that these two women are the only black ones working here. Later, the woman who had the mix-up with the names wrote an apology note; however, in the note she stated it was “our mistake” and seemingly put part of the blame on the to women. This is a primary example of how African Americans can be thrown against a white background making them seem different than everyone else.

Most curriculums being taught to students withhold a mass amount of history. Some may do this because they feel some events do not have the same importance as other topics being taught. Such topics for example would be the rape and sexual exploitation of thousands of African American females during the time periods where racism and segregation was the norm. It is important for people to be educated about the horrific events that these women went through without justice. It is also essential because it shows the amazing activism Rosa Parks took part in. Most people are often just taught about Parks’ actions on the bus. At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire shows how Rosa Parks and many other dedicated their lives to receive equality not only for themselves, but for all African Americans in the south. Danielle L. McGuire’s work is an amazing way for people to not only learn more of Rosa Parks story, but to get a better understanding of what all African American woman had to deal with during this time period. The realism of sexual violence and its dominant impact on the African American women was one of the many events that helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. McGuire wrote At the Dark End of the Street in order to resolve the negligence of this reality.

On page 67 of the book, it says “Maybe they thought a teenagers testimony wouldn’t uphold the legal system” this meant that even if she put so much emphasis and effort into it she would still be humiliated and doubted. Yet, the neglect and humiliation made her even stronger and caused her to to keep moving forward even if it meant going to jail. After her arrest she found out that a adult had finally stood up, but all the attention that was given to her quickly ended and it was given the adult that was arrested.In the book it says “I heard on the news that it was Rosa Parks the negro woman who got arrested.When i heard i had several feelings: I was glad that an adult had finally stood up to the legal system,but i felt left out. This meant that after Rosa parks got arrested she got all the attention taken away and she felt left out on all that was going on. Colvin attempted to change society while being neglected and humiliated and yet she stood firm and kept moving

Many segregated schools that the black teens were forced to attend were overcrowded, run-down, and were not provided with books or supplies in good shape. Conversely, the schools for the white students were in better condition, and had newer book and supplies (Bubar 2).The local leader of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Daisy Bates decided to prove a point. She wanted to give the not only the black students but all blacks just as many privileges and ‘luxuries’ as the white. She was much older than the students and had seen how blacks had got treated in the past and has seen many monumental actions such as Rosa Parks sitting on the bus. She used her platform to be a voice, her Husband and her owned the top African American newspaper offices in America and they stood up for the blacks that would never be heard, or get their voice out. She knew bundles upon bundles were getting mistreated and not getting their equal rights.

By observing Scout’s reaction, readers see that social injustice happens daily, worldwide. Through Scout’s eyes, readers are allowed a vision of the world around us as it truly is. The fact that people learn the social injustice of racism is totally unacceptable.

Reading the first chapter of the Michaels book, right away I could tell that it would closely relate to our class discussions and focus on one of the complex subjects that many if not all of us face on a daily basis, race. Beginning in chapter one Michaels talks about the Plessy v. Ferguson case and how a man named Homer Plessy was thrown from a train for being one-eighth black. Plessy was quickly identified as being colored and told to leave the ‘whites only’ train compartment to which he refused. The story goes on to tell of the case going all the way to the U.S Supreme Court where he loses the case. During the hearing the judges proceed to explain that there is a discernible difference between whites and blacks so therefore the segregation of races is permissible. Next the book goes on to target another story, this one has a slightly different outcome. Susie Guillory Phipps who her whole life has identified as a white woman goes to the Bureau of Vital Records for a copy of her birth certificate in order to obtain a passport. To her surprise she learns that she is actually part black and just like Plessy her case goes on to court where it is to be decided

     There are two conflicts that coexist in this short story. On a minor scale, the conflict lies between the main character and her inability to accept her true stance towards the issue of racism. This is quickly identified through her obsession with insuring the host of how accepting she is of the African America race, when in reality her comments say otherwise. Looking at the big picture, such a problem doesn’t only exist in the mind of the lady with the pink velvet poppies, but in many of society’s members. After the eradication of the institution of slavery, many of its former followers still rejected the African American people and their new place in the American society. The real tragedy lies in the narrow-minded views that still exist today in the minds of many individuals. In this way, the lady with the pink velvet poppies is simply a caricature of people that share her similar views; making the story’s conflict one that the humans of the 21st century continue