The Black Ball By Ralph Ellison Analysis

DuBois's quote, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," tells a great deal of how Americans in general felt towards segregation -- each side had suspicions about the goings-ons of the other race. Blacks had a stronger sense of such hesitency because of their history with Whites, and Whites were generally afraid of anything different than themselves, thus the enslavement. Hughes, as a writer, dealt with this problem in a way that few had done, and fewer had done successfully --

African American’s experience prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 can be explained with the use of the sociological imagination. African American people were troubled. Troubled by the inequalities of their fellow man, some trying to survive and some looking for self-advancement. The feeling of inequality is what led Rosa Parks to refuse to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in 1955. Rebelling against inequalities such as this by the African American people is what drove the Civil Rights Movement. The greater issue was not that Ms. Parks was not allowed to sit in the front of the

The issue of racism in the mid twentieth century played a huge role in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Throughout the 1960’s he gradually became a civil rights activist, participating in multiple boycotts and riots against

Ralph Ellison narrates the portions of his earliest days in the semi-autobiography “On Being the Target of Discrimination”, where he recalls the effects of racism had on his life. Though his chronological writing, he uses the timeline of his childhood as personal evidence of the effects of racism in the upbringing of an African American child in a Post-Reconstruction Era America. A creative narrative written in second-person, all his arguments are supported primarily through anecdotal examples that inspire emotions instead of statistics or other hard proofs. His work has two central arguments: discrimination is an institute supported by the actions of adults, and the best solution to the issue of discrimination is with laughter and

In the short story "The Black Ball" by Ralph Ellison, a father named John is desperately trying to hold onto his job as a hotel porter to support his child and initially ignores the entreaties of an eager white man who would like John to join a union. Ellison uses the symbolism of a child's toy to indicate the psychologically and economically constrained world of African-Americans. Despite his apparent intelligence, John has no hopes of finding an occupation other than menial labor. He is afraid to aspire to greater heights, and is saddened by the lesson he fears his child must learn in American society, that black is inevitably regarded as inferior to white. However, over the course of the story, John gradually learns that he must put his old fears aside.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

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.

Whereas for Hughes, he strived to connect and unite enslaved, black people. The similarities in both authors are the cultural obstacles they had to surpass to be the successful writers they became.

Oppression has been a problem in this country, dating all the way back to the Europeans traveling to the New World, and forcing themselves on the Native’s and famously the British oppression of the thirteen colonies. Oppression is still a serious problem today, with almost all minorities, such as women, African-Americans, and the LGBT community feeling it’s pressure. Although these groups have gained seen many changes in their freedom, they are still being oppressed. Oppression is a common theme throughout American Literature, weaving in and out of many that are seen as classic American novels and poetry. Some of these books include Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the poetry of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright’s Native Son and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. The form of oppression that is evident throughout all these works, is racial oppression, and narrowing it down even further, the oppression of African Americans.

Racism in the United States is without a doubt one of the most gruesome forms of inhumanity. This disease generated the dehumanization of slavery which has taken the lives of innumerable innocent African Americans. It has also robbed a whole race of their identities, heritages and cultures. Throughout the myriad of novels, excerpts, poems, videos and other forms of literature that we encountered in this course, it is unmistakable that the African American literary tradition demonstrates that the past (the unbelievable sufferings of African Americans) can never be arrested and forgotten. The many that have perished at the feet of racism are the history of African Americans themselves, and the African American literary tradition makes it a

Both Brown and Hughes show the similarities and differences of white men and black men from two different angles and they allow the reader to compare races in different ways. They both show styles of writings that were expressed by poets of the Harlem movement.

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.

Is that The narrator and the other guy who are two African American men are plagued by the discrimination in their area especially from white supremacy. Similarly, John and his son come face to face with much discrimination throughout the story from many white people especially John's boss. In contrast to “The Black Ball”, “Why, You Reckon” takes place in Harlem in the winter so these stories take place in different regions than each other.

Racism is perceived as a very negative aspect of society. When most people think of racism, they see hatred, evil, and ignorance. It has always been around since history has been recorded, and probably before that. There are many different forms of racism, but when one thinks of racism in America, they most certainly think of the struggles that the African-Americans have faced for hundreds of years. American literature has been noted for its sometimes controversial, but outspokenness of issues faced by people and minorities. Ralph Ellison is considered one of these authors after his novel Invisible Man. It was published in 1953, before the Civil Rights Movement really got strong. Ellison confronts the various forms of racism in this novel.