Kathryn Stockett Term Papers

While writing the book, I made the conscious decision to write my second book and further expand real stories of the Civil Rights Movement and Black History. Stories about the Civil Rights Movement are sorely lacking as are stories about the achievements of great Black Americans, and stories about the incredible trailblazing history of Blacks in Jacksonville.

Throughout the years of our nation’s history, we have learned to solve or cope with problems that could potentially tear our society apart. However, there is still one underlying issue that American citizens cannot solve today- racism. Racism has been a problem for over hundreds of years and still continues today. The novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks shines a light on how this discrimination personally affects the families who are minorities. Henrietta, the protagonist of the novel, experienced poverty and discrimination in different aspects of life. She grew up during The Great Depression, from the 1920s through the 1930s. Growing up with nine other siblings, trying to find the means to provide the basic needs to survive was

Imagine a situation where one is walking down an empty street and a woman gives one a glance and begins running, or one is told to leave a public restaurant simply because of the family one was born into. This is the reality for two African-American authors in the 20th century. Over the history of the United States minorities have faced a numerous amounts of racism. The types of racism that was expressed to these minorities has evolved as time went on. Two authors decided to write about their experiences and they occurrences vary vastly. The details that really set one essay apart from the other include the time of day the racism took place, time period of the occurrence, and type of racism witnessed.

In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans received ten percent longer sentences than whites for committing the same crimes. W.E.B. Dubois, a heavy influencer in the NAACP, wrote many books describing the inequality felt by African Americans in everyday life. Thirty years later, when Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird it showed that discrimination in the United States had stayed the same. W.E.B. Dubois’ union with the NAACP and his socialist views on government during the 1900's are relevant to the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird and the extended fight against racial discrimination leading up to the March on Washington in the 1960's.

Participating in the project made me aware of the things I want to do to help children when I become a Social Worker, and the project renewed my love for service. I would recommend this project to a community because once you realize that your one or two book packs where included in a huge cause, it makes a person actually feel like they made a difference. Just imagine 400 book packs from only 12 of 992 chapters. When I do the math and every 12 chapters bring 400 book packs that’s about 33,066 book packs and about

For my trimester one book project I chose “The Help”. The bright yellow jacket on the book caught my attention as I was glancing through the library shelves. Once I saw the book I recalled that a friend had recommended this book and I had not read the book. The Help is a Realistic Fiction set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. This novel gives us a glimpse into the lives of several African American women coming together and creating a book about their experiences working as domestic help. In this story, we see how a group of domestic help get together with Skeeter Phelan, to put together their personal life chronicles. and publish it at a great personal cost. I chose the book to gain an insight into the lives of the people who help

August 28, 1963 (Eidenmuller) marked a very important day in history that had an impact not only on America, but the whole world. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well known I Have a Dream speech that aimed to eliminate racism, inequality and discrimination. He strongly believed that one day people would put their differences aside and come together. So, what happened to that dream? Along with other equality initiative ideas, they rarely make it past the idea stages or end in the actual eradication result. It is clear to us that even after 51 years, our societies still struggle with accepting full equality. Within those 51 years we have made a mass amount of progress but, a common thought would be that after this long the issue should have been eradicated. Two essays that can be used as an example of proof that racial inequality still exists in our society are, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples and Who Shot Johnny? by Debra Dickerson. In these essays, both provide solid evidence to support their main goal with the use of different writing styles, tone, and rhetorical devices to display how African Americans are perceived and treated by society.

Prejudice, the chain of hatred and ignorance, has haunted our history at every step. In the twenty-first century prejudice and its destruction can be viewed in many forms of modern literature. Two of the most famous and rejoiced literatures that examine the theme of prejudice are Harper Lee’s realist fiction novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Martin Luther King’s heart warming speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Both texts explore the theme of prejudice of white Americans on the Blacks in the racially tense times of the early twentieth century. Unlike Harper Lee, Martin Luther King goes a step further to persuade the audience that there is prejudice present and we should be motivated to stop this evil from blossoming in our world.

I learned a lot while doing my Civil Rights project for my American Literature class but most importantly I was able to improve my writing and my ability to work with others. Our group’s goal was to advocate gender neutral restrooms in restaurants. I focused more on the out of compliance letter out of everything. We sent out a letter to a hand full of restaurants in Granada Hills and Panorama for having

Racial prejudice behavior towards others has been exercised throughout history for a long time. The well known novel To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, exemplifies the racism seen in the 1930’s. The racism seen in this time period refers to mainly African Americans. Racism seen then and racism seen in present day has changed greatly.

I do not discount that reading as it clearly depicts slavery and racism. But, I think to Kill a Mockingbird would have been an excellent choice to follow that reading assignment. I love the quote “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” I think this quote still holds true today. We all remember that in the book To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young girl who is growing up. She has the typical life of playing, having fun, and creating friendships with people. But what is most impactful was her introduction and having to learn about things such as life’s unfairness, weak people, and people with a different skin color. To Kill a Mockingbird” is the perfect example of racism and gender inequality. The reoccurring theme of racism depicts just how much of an impact racism has on the daily life of individuals. The lesson we learned is that people can have kindness, sympathy and support it does not depend on your color of skin, your social status, or public opinion. It all depends on a man’s soul. I think everyone can use or hear this message no matter how old in life they

Kathryn was born in 1969 in Jackson Mississippi. She is a writer of the book The Help.

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” As we look back to racism in the south, we can accept the truth in these words given by Rosa Parks, a famous African American civil rights activist. Some people share their ideas by speaking, some by art, but the most powerful way to share an idea is with literature. To Kill a Mockingbird and “Dry September” were two of many American pieces focused on telling the truth about racism and the response of society. American literature used important characters and their ideologies to enlighten society about the many racial problems that Southern states dealt with during the 1930’s.

The United States has faced various race-related issues for the last 240 years. These issues have led to several milestones in history such as the abolition of slavery, the right for blacks to become citizens and vote. One of the best ways to learn about this history is through the reading of great literature by many historic authors. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain presents information about slavery and racism during the 1830s through the experiences of Jim as he tries to escape slavery with the help of Huck. Next, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee depicts racism in the 1950s through the eyes of Scout Finch as her father, Atticus, tries to defend a black man, Tom Robinson. Finally, How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon shows present day racial tensions after the death of a black teen Tariq Johnson. Race and racism are two common themes that run through the entirety of all three of these novels. Although the relationship between blacks and whites has greatly improved over the past two centuries through the abolition of slavery and the establishment of civil rights, this relationship continues to be strained due to violence against blacks that still infiltrates society today.

I believe my project fits into ‘Human Ingenuity’ in our areas of interaction. I feel that I have stretched my academic and creative abilities to write this novel. I have learned how to use my resources, as in my social media accounts to advertise and build a fan base. Not just social media, but the internet in general. Also, I now know how to self-publish for free, and have it published for the same amount. It has expanded my knowledge on how to be a successful writer. Not to mention that it has fully expanded my creative writing skills. With creative writing, I write more formally, descriptive, and fluidly. I had mediocre skills in the beginning; I know can say I am above average.