Short Story I Finally Get My Gold Ring By Gia Elk

Maya Angelou’s Rural Museums- Southern Romance, explores the legacy of slavery and brings much needed light to it. Angelou takes a trip to Louisiana too see it’s slave cabins exhibit in search for closure. Angelou, as a black woman, feels it is her obligation to be aware of her painful history. She quotes, “Since I am a descendent of African slaves, my baggage was frightfully overweight with trepidation anger fear and a morbid curiosity…” (Angelou, 89). She acknowledges who she is and braces herself for what is to come, instead of cowering and avoiding the past just because it might make her uncomfortable like many.

In the book “Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege,” the author Kent Anderson Leslie discusses the life of Amanda America Dickson. Ms.Dickson was a born-into-privilege daughter of a young slave and her white master, who was also a very wealthy and socially accepted planter. Being a mulatto child from a white father who was greatly successful, Amanda America Dickson’s life could have been completely different. Yet, her father David Dickson and some of his family, made sure that her life wasn’t. Amanda America could ave been freed in another state, but would not have been able to return back to Georgia, so Elizabeth, and David decided to keep her as a slave.

This subject of my essay is Lucinda Davis, a former slave owned by a Creek Indian family in what was then the former Indian Territory. She was approximately 89 years old when she was interviewed during the summer of 1937. Her story was quite an interesting one, as she was a witness to the Battle of Honey Springs during the civil war, an era that I am very interested in, which is the main reason why I chose to write about her. Another reason I chose her, is that she lived in Tulsa Oklahoma, and to me that brought the issue of slavery closer to home. I have always associated slavery with the southern states, not Oklahoma.

By employing themes such as psychosexual fantasies, race, gender, and violence, artist Kara Walker reconstructs and explores the history and effects of American slavery on American culture. Although being called names like notorious, revolting, anti-progressive, and shameless, she continues to be a pioneer of bringing the unspeakable aspects of American slavery that are not commonly discussed and are left out of the history books to the foreground of public discussion.

Deck, Alice. "The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, Related by Herself."African American Review, Vol. 30, No. 2. (Summer, 1996), pp. 297-299.

Physical violence wasn’t the only hardship that she endured in her early life. Her family became severed when three of her sisters were sold to other plantations that were far away. A trader from Georgia approached interested in buying her youngest brother, but their mother successfully resisted, preventing further

When you think of Marigolds, you would probably think of summertime, or yellow flowers. Would you think of a transition to adulthood? The fiction story “Marigolds”, is about an African American girl named Lizabeth who lives in an impoverished community in Maryland. Over the course of “Marigolds”, Lizabeth transitioned from childhood, to adulthood. Lizabeth overhears the financial struggle her family is going through, and hears her father cry. After hearing this she destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds in a fit of rage. Lizabeth then stops, and see’s Miss Lottie’s face, and feels as if she lost her innocence. Lizabeth, going through a time of hardships and uncertainty, lost her innocence, and transitioned from childhood to adulthood.

Harriet Jacobs’s story informs the reader of her experiences and transformative tribulations she had to undergo from childhood to adulthood. No one in today’s society could come close to comprehending the amount of heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery women had to suffer and endure during slavery. However, we can all learn from Jacobs’s heartbreaking story to understand the true meaning of a slave’s quest for freedom and the inalienable bond a mother has for her children.

My objective for writing this essay on the black family was to examine and interrogate a myriad of stereotypes surrounding this family structure. Slavery and its inception need to be explored because it enables one to acquire a better understanding of the modern day black family. It is my hope that once we achieve this level of understanding, if not acceptance, that we may be able to start the healing process that is so necessary.

No one in today’s society can even come close to the heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery suffered by women in slavery. Many women endured this agony their entire lives, there only joy being there children and families, who were torn away from them and sold, never to be seen or heard from again.

“Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, female slaves had the least formal power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of Americans.” (Gray, 70) Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman? is a much needed insight into the realm of the enslaved African-American woman, whose struggles transcended that of any other peoples. In her narrative, White explores the multifaceted identities of enslaved women in the South. She explains the prevalent images of the “Jezebel” and the “Mammy” that were designated to African American slave women. Each chapter in her text is accumulative, adding to the story and experiences of the archetypal enslaved African American woman.

The essay "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" by contemporary American novelist Alice Walker is one that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage in my mind. It is an essay primarily written to inform the reader about the history of African American women in America and how their vibrant, creative spirit managed to survive in a dismal world filled with many oppressive hardships. This piece can be read, understood, and manage to conjure up many emotions within the hearts and minds of just about any audience that reads it. However, Walker targets African American women in today's society in an effort to make them understand their heritage and appreciate what their mothers and grandmothers endured to

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

As a symbol of long lasting commitment to your one true love until death do us part. My great grandmother’s wedding ring has been passed down and is currently in my mother's possession since she is the oldest daughter. I hope that on my wedding day the ring will be passed down to me even though my sister is the oldest between the two of us. It’s very special to me because I love nothing more then imagining my own wedding someday in the near future and hope this heirloom that signifies long lasting love and commitment is passed down to me.

     The essay “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” by contemporary American novelist Alice Walker is one that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage in my mind. It is an essay primarily written to inform the reader about the history of African American women in America and how their vibrant, creative spirit managed to survive in a dismal world filled with many oppressive hardships. This piece can be read, understood, and manage to conjure up many emotions within the hearts and minds of just about any audience that reads it. However, Walker targets African American women in today’s society in an effort to make them understand their heritage and appreciate what their mothers and