Rita Williams-Garcia Essay

Alice Malsenior Walker, an African American born into poverty, came into this world on February 9, 1944 in Eatonon, Georgia. She was the youngest child of eight children born to Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walkers. Both of her parents were sharecroppers as well as expert story tellers. Things were not easy for the Walkers and Alice often witnessed her mother’s frustration of having the burden to take care of eight children with little means. Even though children of share croppers were usually made to work the fields, Alice’s mother made sure that her kids received an education. Alice was brilliant at writing poetry.

In remembering her seventh-grade class in 1965, Charlotte recalls how much she and her friends loved Miss Hancock. They were "backward" because they "had not yet embraced sophistication, boredom, cruelty, drugs, alcohol, or sex." Because of their innocence and their sheltered environments, Miss Hancock "was able to survive, even flourish" as their teacher. Charlotte recalls when Miss Hancock read poetry aloud, the class "sat bewitched, transformed," and they were "drugged by some words as some children are by electronic games." This description juxtaposes the end of the short story. Miss Hancock's teaching career no longer inspired the children because they were no longer the broad-minded, influenceable children they once were. Nostalgia eats away at Miss Hancock, especially in the case of Charlotte. Once so inspired by the composure of a metaphor, “grown up” Charlotte, when asked if she still wrote metaphors responded, “oh, I dunno.” Miss Hancock once knew the mesmerizing and transformative power of words; however, as she and her students aged the words lost their power, in turn she too lost power.

Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson and then moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena was also considered as the "Queen of Tejano," a type of Hispanic culture; she was also fashion designer and actress. Selena was also sometimes referred as the Mexican Madonna for her sexy outfits (like bustier) and dance moves. Selena began performing as a child at her parent’s family restaurant. Around the age of 10, Selena became the lead singer in her family's band, Selena Y Los Dinos. The musical group started out playing weddings and clubs in their hometown. The band featured her brother Abraham playing bass guitar and her Sister Suzette playing on the drums. Her father, Abraham, a former musician, managed and produced the group.

Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers. Although almost a generation apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives. Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. Walker through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies. Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style that gives the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows.

Eudora Welty’s sheltered, adolescent life, coupled with her parent’s emphasis on education and reading, helped to shape her as the writer she was by making her stylistic approaches daring and intelligent while keeping a southern tone and state of mind.

On February 10, 2015, Anna Garcia, a 38 year old hispanic woman, was found dead in her foyer with a blood pool surrounding her head and vomit near her mouth. A similar blood stain was found on the corner of a nearby table that was found on the floor, turned on its side with a couple of orange juice 2.5 ft away from her spilled on the floor and a footprint found near her front door. Luckily, the footprint and the blood stain on the floor and corner of the table belonged to her. Based on what I know, Anna Garcia died from a Diabetic coma caused by many other disorders affecting her cardiovascular, nervous, urinary, and digestive system.

Maya Angelou was inspired to read by several amazing authors and an educated Black woman. “She read books by Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar”. .”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya said, “Even though she and Bailey were discouraged from reading the works of white writers at home, Angelou read and fell in love with the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Mrs. Flower’s was someone who also once played a wonderful role in her life. She was the person whom was able to get Maya to speak again when she was young. Mrs. Flowers was a charming gentlewoman who was an aristocrat in the small town of Black Stamps. She would give Maya books to take home, and she would tell her to read the books aloud. “She explained the importance of education, importance of the spoken word, and instilled in her a love of poetry. ”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya became so interested in writing that she moved to New York and joined the Harlem Writers Guide in the late 50’s and began her writing career.

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California, in 1953. In 1970, Tan majored in English at San Jose State, in California. Tan began a carrier as a technical writer after she graduated, at the University of California. However, she changed her writing because she was inspired to write fiction book after reading of Louise Erdrich's novel “Love Medicine”. As a result of this, language has helped Amy Tan in becoming the successful writer she’s today. It helped her express her complete thoughts in a way that everyone who reads, understand. Additionally, the type of language that she uses in her writing makes people take her seriously and as important as everyone else.

When the Garcia Girls immigrated to the United States and established a place to live in an apartment in New York, an old tenant that also lived in the apartment complex made complaints to the manager claiming, "the kids [were] too loud" and the halls reeked because "Hispanic food [smelt] bad" (Alvarez 170). In America when children live in apartments, they are expected to behave and refrain from making a ruckus. The Garcia girls whose parents were wealthy and owned several acres of land didn't have neighbors, so they could be noisy when they played unlike in American cities. The Garcia's had fled their homeland for fear of being prosecuted as political terrorists, not realizing they could be prosecuted in the States for their legal status. For example, the Garcia girls were also in constant fear from "the unexpected knock on the door" that they knew was happening to other Hispanic immigrants (Jacques). In the Dominican Republic it was the S.I.M on the hunt for those against Trujillo but in America it was ICE agents after undocumented immigrants for illegally entering the country. At school, one of the Garcia sisters, Carla, was bullied by her white peers, being taunted as a "spic" and being told to go "back to [her] country" along with the rest of her family (Schaefer and Alvarez 153). The color of their skin and the language they spoke made them stand out as outsiders among their peers who were white. Additionally, Sandra (Sandi) and Yolanda suffered from "mental affliction[s]" because they were confused about their identities ("Julia Alvarez" Contemporary). This was a parallel to Julia Alvarez's life, because from a young age she was told to consider herself "American and therefore different from the rest of her extended family" ( "Julia Alvarez" Contemporary). Sandi and Yolanda were

In Julia Alvarez’s fictional book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, she tells the story of four sisters immigrating to America. Their story is told in reverse chronological order; starting when they are adults, and ending when they are children. The four girls are born into a privileged household in the Dominican Republic. While they are young, they must flee to the United States when their father gets himself into trouble. When the family comes to America in 1960, they struggle to adapt to the new culture.

Dorothy McCormick graduated high school in 1960, but couldn’t go to college because her brother already was going. Her family did not have enough money for the both of them to go so McCormick went to work right out of highschool. She remembers one day, driving to work,

Judith Ortiz Cofer might have been destined over Hormigueros, An residential community in Puerto rico. When she might have been an adolescent youngster her father’s military vocation took the crew on Paterson, new Jersey, Anyway she often went through her adolescence going over and over again between Puerto rico and the what's to come for U. Encountered with urban decay because of deindustrialization, innovation developed, government lodgin. At 15, her crew moved again, this period should Augusta, Georgia, the place she in the end earned a ba for english from augusta school. She after the fact earned a mama to english from florida atlantic school What's more completed graduate fill in In oxford college.

While reading the poem “Daystar,” written by Rita Dove, its readers most likely do not ask thought-provoking questions like “Why did Dove write this?” or “What is the true meaning behind this poem?” but the poem has deeper meaning than what its outside layer portrays. Dove, an African American woman born in 1952, has not only viewed the racism of the United States society, but she has also seen how gender can or cannot play a role in the advancement of a person’s life (Rita Dove: The Poetry Foundation). The poem “Daystar” not only takes an outside perspective on the everyday life of a woman, but it closely relates to Dove’s family history. Dove uses the experiences of her life as a woman, and the knowledge gained from living in countries

In the memoir “Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx”, Sonia Manzano tells her story of a poor Puerto Rican family living in the Bronx in the 1950s. Manzano tells her story of her alcoholic and abusive father, her loving yet exhausted mother, and all her outlandish family members and people she meets as a child. As Manzano’s story unfolds, we see her transform from an innocent child to a somewhat independent young woman who still has a lot to learn. The book ends with Manzano saying, “Then I go home, because there is nothing else to do but wait for the next thing to happen” (Manzano 262) as she leaves her audition for Sesame Street, which she will later become very successful in.

Brooks and McNair (2009) begin their essay by pointing out that in children’s literature rarely are main characters African American and written by African American authors. Several African American authors were rejected by publishers because their work did not fit the publisher’s idea of what an African American family should look like. One unfortunate example of this is when a publisher wanted the father to be edited out of a story written by an African American. The author had to fight for the right to keep the father in the story. Stories like this are common for African American authors. African Americans have been marginalized in children’s literature when they are omitted and stereotyped.