Terry Mcmillian's Report

In Elise Johnson McDougald’s essay “The Task of Negro Womanhood,” she elaborates on the difficulties of being a black, working woman in society. In order to understand the struggles of a black woman in America, “one must have in mind not any one Negro woman, but rather a colorful pageant of individuals, each differently endowed” (McDougald, 103). This is because to be able to understand the problems they face as individuals one must think of black women as a collective unit. McDougald focuses on the women living in Harlem because they are more free and have more opportunity to succeed than in the rest of the United States. Though they are considered more

I find the book to be very constructive in its presentation of the themes and styles. Essentially, the author manages to provide several subjects to the reader through Janie’s experiences (McMahand 70). I tend to believe that the experiences of Janie are synonymous with those of many other people especially women of African American descent. So, the book perfectly epitomizes the quest for fulfillment and the inherent price towards the achievement of such an endeavor.

The Woman in Black (TWIB) is a story about isolated people in an isolated place. Not least TWIB before she died. Janet Humfrye was isolated by her plight as a mother of an illegitimate child, which was frowned upon by society in the early 20th century when the story is set. Even the town’s people of Crithin Gifford were isolated on the marshes and almost described as though they lived in another dimension, another part of the world set apart from the rest of society. The sense of isolation runs like a thread right through the whole book. Hill does this by creating vivid pictures in the reader’s mind. She uses detailed descriptions or imagery with frequent use of metaphor, simili and personification techniques. She also uses short and

“In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” written by Alice Walker refers to three points in the essay: the first is black women writers, second is the Civil Rights Movement, and the third is her own advice for future generations of women. Walker uses the poem from Jean Toomer as an example to show the black women from Reconstruction of the South time period. The women are slaves and kept in their places. They have little hope of their own freedoms of choice, speech, or livelihood. Phillis Wheatley is an example of how women can overcome their situations and indeed have freedom of creativity. She chose writing and the women that have learned

     Alice Walker is an African American essayist, novelist and poet. She is described as a “black feminist.”(Ten on Ten) Alice Walker tries to incorporate the concepts of her heritage that are absent into her essays; such things as how women should be independent and find their special talent or art to make their life better. Throughout Walker’s essay entitled “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” I determined there were three factors that aided Walker gain the concepts of her heritage which are through artistic ability, her foremothers and artistic models.

Even though her mother was a light skin black woman, she did not want to live her life as a lie, by living as a white woman. Her mother embraced her blackness, which forced her to find work as a maid; her employers did not treat her with the same dignity as a white woman would receive. After seeing what her mother went through for accepting her blackness and living her life as a black woman, she knew that was not the life she wanted to live.

The plot, or basic storyline, of this short story is about a black woman, Annie Johnson, based in the United States before 1905. Her marriage had collapsed due to her husband leaving her to pursue religion in Oklahoma and leaving her with very little money. The plotline develops on to show her struggle to support herself and her two sons and how she has to use courage to support herself and her family.

The Portrayal of the Plight of Women by the Author, In Their Particular Period of Time

Brendan Flynn was recently let go as a Priest at St. Nicholas. Brendan Flynn uses his powerful speaking skills and big persona to connect on a personal level with churchgoers and students alike. A few Sisters at St. Nicholas have noticed Brendan taking a particular liking to a new black student named Donald. Donald is an innocent kid who is looking for some sort of belonging. He is easily swayed and has been spending a lot of time with Flynn. Sister Aloysuis Beauvier became worried about the relationship between the Priest and Donald. Priests have a certain level of respect from the students and this respect could be used for the wrong purposes. After gym class one day, Sister James became worried. She witnessed Flynn placing a child’s size white undershirt into Donald’s locker. The shirt looked worn as if it was recently removed. Sister James reported the inappropriate behavior by Flynn to Sister Aloysuis.

Some call this novel an “African-American feminist classic” The novel takes place in the early 1900s. It was about a story of Janie Crawford, an African-American women whose life is a quest to find true love and her journey of self-discovery. The novel narrated main character Janie Crawford’s “ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless teenage girl into a woman her finger on the trigger of her own destiny” It was not an easy time for African-American race. The story talked about Janie and her discovery of love and identity. She first became obsessed with finding true love because she saw a bee pollinating a flower in her backyard pear tree. The novel then documents

The journey across geopolitical, cultural, and Ideological borders constitutes one of the most frequent crossings in black women 's fiction. Interpreted at one point as the movement from 'victimization to consciousness ' and from 'division to wholeness, 'the journey was perceived to be as much personal as psychological as political and social. (13)

With a time period of unjust treatment of people of color, and a childhood filled with trauma from inequality, it is easy to see that Malcolm X’s time and place he resided in having a great influence to his beliefs and ideas. Not only had Malcolm X been greatly influenced by the time period he lived in, but also living in Harlem, New York brought him closer to the people who endured all of the nauseous history of racial inequality. Mia McKenzie was also influenced by time and place, as she too grew up in a time of American history of Anti-gay and Anti-sexual orientation. Mia grew up in Philadelphia, and why not subjected to segregation, she was highly exposed to racism. In her book Black Girl Dangerous she speaks of the hardships and struggles she has undergone as a queer person of color such as …………….. With these problems still prevalent in modern society, it is clear that the time period and place she lives in have attributed to her ideas and beliefs. Her childhood of bullies and racial slurs adds on to her influence of beliefs. Mia McKenzie also fights the new version of segregation which is a sexual orientation, giving her the same values and credibility to speak on the subject as Malcolm x has in racial inequality. Together both of these critical thinkers share a common influence of time and place even though they are over fifty years apart.

The novel, Maud Martha, written by Gwendolyn Brooks, is constructed from a series of vignettes focusing around the title’s protagonist. Maud Martha portrays the difficulties encountered with growing up as an African American female in the 1940’s in Chicago, through episodic plots. The milieu of the story is presented through chapters that envelope Maud Martha’s thoughts and aspirations as her trajectory shifts from being a daughter, to a wife, and then finally to a mother. Throughout the engrossing storyline the central character, Maud Martha, ethereally describes her reveries and her internal contemplations about her day-to-day life. She is unceasingly conscious of her lack of beauty, status, and charm, however; she constantly discovers ways

The novel presents a story of an African American woman, Janie Crawford. It shows her struggle in which she fights for acceptance and a sense of security. Throughout the novel, her growth into womanhood is presented. At the beginning, Janie is depicted as a shy and withdrawn woman who is not inclined to speak about her emotions and feelings. Her voice is often stifled, and, as a result, she remains unheard and unnoticed. She feels that her community ignores her. She could not define herself as a woman, and, in turn her inner self is not integral (Fard & Zarrinjooee, 2014). Miller writes that Janie`s character can be considered as a canonical figure from the feminism`s point of view because of the fact that she wants to free herself from men`s

Jacobs autobiography which is known by the name of ‘Incidents in a Life of a Slave Girl’ gave a true account of the treatment that black women faced during that time and also throwing some light on a perception which has been kept in shadows from the society. While writing the story of her life, Jacobs though focused on her defeat due to obstacles like race and gender, gave voice to something which was hidden from society regardless of the presence of patriarchal society of the nineteenth century.