The Good Life: The African American Woman

African American women have long been stereotyped, discriminated against and generalized in this country. They have had to face both being black in America while also being a woman in America. African American women encountered and still do encounter double discrimination of both sex and race (Cuthbert, 117). Women like Elise Johnson McDougald, Marion Vera Cuthbert and Alice Dunbar-Nelson all tried to shed light on what it was like to be an African American woman living in the 20th century yet literature often portrayed them as emotional, hypersexual, unintelligent and of lesser worth. The literature highlighted that African American women have to serve both their employer and their husbands and families. They are not supposed to have an opinion or stand up for themselves, especially to a white man. ***Concluding sentence?

	Living is about making choices. The choices people make shape their lives for better or worse. Even the decision not to choose has its effects, often not wanted. But the individual who chooses to make positive choices and to act accordingly is more likely to see his or her life reflect his or her beliefs and desires. Usually the individual who chooses to take action is also willing to face the risks and obstacles that such choices involve.

Family dynamics across all races are complex. For the state of the black family is made even more complicated by a history rooted in slavery. Fractured families were born out of a system where husbands were taken away, jailed or killed, leaving the family weakened with a mother and/or grandmother at the helm. While these historical facts may be true; that the black family is weak, can be argued. Yet, the family for many in the black community and other communities of color extend to include a large number of kin. On the other hand, it can also be argued that since families were ripped apart during the slave trade it created an opportunity for setting up networks of support and family units to include members who may not be blood related. You often hear black people refer to an elder as “aunt” or “uncle” these networks were put in place as protective factors in the event that parents were sold there was an assurance that someone would care for the children. To an extent this behavior continues to this day as we see many fathers sentenced to long jail terms for petty crimes or killed. The family structure makeup may be a blood relative and it may also be kin of another kind. LaShawnDa Pittman discusses how these factors shape the African-American family and how slavery impacted the role of the mother and father within the family system. During slavery there wasn’t any possibility of childhood. Children were socialized to begin work at the age of

Life is a gift in which many have the great experiences that come with it. As children, most have loving parents, helpful teachers, a good education, and friends that encourage us to fulfill our dreams. We become teenagers who think we know it all, strictly care about having a good time, and make memories that we can carry with us throughout our lifetime. Eventually we must grow up. We get a job, marry someone, and start a family. If you haven’t noticed already, I am describing an ideal life that many don’t have the privilege of living. Adult years begin to tear you apart and build up stress. Learning to live a life on your own can and will lead to tears and mistakes. Although everyone makes mistakes some can be more

In life, there are many ways you can live, however, the manner in which you live is your choice. In most peoples’ lives, they want to leave this world and say that they were happy and enjoyed every single moment of it. People feel like if they lived a happy life, then that is all that matters. But what if life has more to do than just being happy, what if it was meant for you to change the world or the lives of others? If you changed the life of another person and made them happy, you made a difference. A happy life is a good one, but a meaningful life is fruitful.

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass mentions that slaves do not have the privilege to have an education. In “Nicomachean Ethics,” Aristotle explains that without happiness, doing something good will not really matter because you will not be happy. In “Slavery,” Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions that war is not the key to end slavery because war is only for states not against man to man. In “Thinking in Education,” John Dewey says that thinking is another method in learning because it will help students reflect on things. Life can be wonderful if people learn to find ways to keep that happiness in them.

The African American experience is one that is quite different from other racial/ ethnic groups. The majority of the first African American came over, unwillingly, on ships from various African countries. They were brought to America by white, European settlers to be used as slaves in an order to plant and harvest their crops and make money for the white man. This racial group was treated as if they were property and not people. However, with the ending of the American Civil War, African Americans gained freedom, freedom that not all white American were quite ready to handle. After gaining their freedom came the need for education, jobs and suffrage rights. Now in America this racial group has come a long way, having elected its first African American present for two terms, yet still there are many issues that are very prevalent. This racial group has been fighting their way to equality since the birth of this nation. African Americans have experienced an array of conflict, violence, stereotypes, prejudice acts, and discrimination against them throughout their history in America.

their life. However, in today’s popular culture, the media wants us to believe that happiness and

Life is a complicated twist of suffering, laughing, and learning all merging to tell a great story - or great many stories. Based on this view, "it is not the end goal or outcome of life that gives life meaning but rather the quality of the story, the quality with which one lives out and develops his or her role."

When reading “Long Hope to Freedom” by Nelson Mandala demonstrates a person who had the will to fight for the social injustice. This book inspires hope towards people going through hard times. Everyone once in a while will experience a difficult time in life, but that is not the time we should throw in the towel. It is the time to revolt, defying the odds, struggle, and fight through straight to the path and/or goal that you want to accomplish -- to me that is the good life. My definition of the good life is the

A good life is a term for the life that one would like to live. It's a life in which one has the freedom to self direct their own life. Truman has the perfect wife, the perfect house, perfect job and perfect friends but does that really matter if he doesn't have freedom? In The Truman Show, Weir expresses that without freedom the good life is unattainable, one can never truly be happy and content with their life unless they have freedom. We see this most clearly when Truman is so determined to Thrive in life and escape from the dome that the good life Christof has endowed for him doesn't matter.

A “good life” is an expression that is used to describe an ideal life for one to live. There are many different interpretations of what exactly a good life is. That’s what makes our country great, we’re all different. What may seem ordinary or peculiar to someone could be someone else’s aspiration or fantasy. As Mark Twain once said, “the two important days in life are the day you’re born and the day you find out why”. It is quite simple, this life is a game we endure, the journey begins the day we are born, but it takes time and experience to figure out the game. Whether it’s a janitor or a CEO of a large company has nothing to do with living a good life. Like Johnson explains in Unspeakable conversation, not matter if you’re big, short, intelligent, disabled or healthy everyone has a place in life and once YOU find it nothing else matters. Singer in Unspeakable Conversations agrees that disables people aren’t worth the money, care and emotional stress, but people are blinded by the actual disability itself. Disabled or not everyone laughs, loves, accomplish and succeed one way or another. Like disabled people, children in less developed parts of Africa might have different views on what a “good life” is, they vision the "good life" as having an education, a safe place to live, clean food and water, and a more promising future. People who life a good life in my opinion are ones that live a healthy lifestyle, motivations to accomplish and set goals to strive and help others.

To lead a happy and fulfilling life, I believe we should all discover our own philosophy of life. Exercising the ability to rationally use our thinking and reasoning abilities is essential. We should all strive to be honest, good people and live our lives as well and happy as possible. Through experience we learn about ourselves and the world around us. I still have

There is no definite explanation for what a happy and healthy life consists of. It is possible to construct a list of qualities that one desires for a “good” life, though many may come from a bad source. Profound philosophers Jean Kazez and Chris Heathwood develop both subjective and objective theories to help define the true meaning of a substantial life. Jean Kazez is responsible for the objective view of well being, where life requires fundamental goods or necessities for a good life. On the other hand, Chris Heathwood explains in a subjective view that satisfying your desires will promote well being. In the movie D’Jango Unchained, two African American men, Stephen and D’Jango, experience contrasting lifestyles and confront each other eventually. During the time period the movie transpires in, it is extremely rare for a African American man to have a “good” life. Most African Americans are slaves, but both Stephen and D’Jango have better lives. Stephen has a bad quality of life, and D’Jango aspires to live a “good” life based on the objective and subjective views of well being.

For you to know how to live a contented life, you should know first the dissimilarity between what is right and what is wrong. Then, you have to choose to do things the right way.