The Importance Of Race And Colorism In Literature

For my research project I chose the topic of Racism in Children's Literature. I chose this area of study because it is something that bothers me and I know as a child in school I was very uncomfortable with assignments that dealt with racism. One day I would like to make a difference to all the people who are affected by racism. My hypothesis states that if educators are better trained to deal with the delicate subject of racism in children's literature, books would not be banned, yet actually teach the lesson the authors of these books intended for all of us to learn.

Humans define race by how they conceive and categorize different social realities. Thus, race is often referred to as a social construct. The differences in skin color and facial characteristics have led most of society to classify humans into groups instead of individuals. These constructs affect us all, and they often result in situations where majority racial groups cause undue suffering to those that are part of the minority. The understanding of race as a social construct is best illustrated by the examination of racial issues within our own culture, specifically those that have plagued the history of the United States.

This is an essay i wrote for English Literature. My examples are from two short stories ‘The Test', and ‘After You My Dear Alphonse'.

Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant made me readjust my understanding of race by definition and consider it as a new phenomenon. Through, Omi and Winant fulfilled their purpose of providing an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they shape and permeate both identities and institutions. I always considered race to be physical characteristic by the complexion of ones’ skin tone and the physical attributes, such as bone structure, hair texture, and facial form. I knew race to be a segregating factor, however I never considered the meaning of race as concept or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporal and phenotypic makers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences, in which in turn create the oppressing dominations of racialization, racial profiling, and racism. (p.111). Again connecting themes from the previous readings, my westernized influences are in a direct correlation to how to the idea of how I see race and the template it has set for the rather automatic patterns of inequalities, marginalization, and difference. I never realized how ubiquitous and evolving race is within the United States.

Race is a hot topic in our world. We all think we know what race is. After all, we are constantly being bombarded with it whether it be from media, politics, or sports. The truth is that race does not revolve around the idea of biological traits or characteristics. It is a modern concept that we as a society have created to divide people into categories. I will argue that race is socially constructed from a biological, political history, and sociological standpoint, and how it may impact other areas of our society.

In society, race clearly affects one’s life chances. These are the chances of getting opportunities and gaining experience for progression. The social construction of race is based on privileges and availability of resources. Looking at society and the formation of race in a historical context, whites have always held some sort of delusional belief of a “white-skin privilege.” This advantage grants whites an advantage in society whether one desires it or not. This notion is often commonly referred to as reality.

In these lines from Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker emphasizes the natural human tendencies to “inflict pain.” Similarly, in his poem, “Sympathy,” Paul Dunbar explores pain from the point of view of a bird being trapped in a cage. It flaps its wings and tries to escape but it cannot. The bird symbolizes an African American bound by slavery and unable to escape. On the other hand, in Claude McKay’s poem “The Harlem Dancer,” the dancer feels as if

In the twentieth century, the world has become so corrupted with racial discrimination that people have become accustomed to solely interact with people of their own race. This complication is predominantly found in schools and has become increasingly problematic. About one-third of all schools in New York has a population that is dominated by a single race, usually African American or white. Academic studies show that segregation in school has diminished academic performance and failed to equip students for the interracial world that awaits them. Explore Charter, a k-8 public schools 502 students from kindergarten through eighth grade consisted of a population of 92.7 percent black students, 5.7 percent Hispanic, and a scattering amount are

The cartoon raises issues of dominance, racist bias, and paternalism. These issues were used to legitimize the rise in imperialism during this political cartoon. First issues were dominance because of influence over the states and territories (i.e. California, Texas, Mexico, Arizona and Alaska) that the U.S. has had for a while now are labeled “the modeled students” that eventually became civilized. The second issue was racist bias because of “the model students” are portrayed as white, perpetuating the idea that White-Americans superiority was more civilized and governed better. However, dark-skinned people have portrayed two different ways. For example, African Americans and Native Americans were portrayed stupid because one had a

Though it has become less of an issue in recent times, distrust of foreigners has always been an issue. This can be easily observed in Willa Cather’s My Ántonia. Within the first few pages, a statement is made about ‘alienating foreigners’. Jake, a friend and fellow traveler, tells the main character, Jim, that while Ántonia Shimerda has “pretty brown eyes…”, he points out that you are “…likely to get diseases from foreigners.” Jim’s first impression of the Bohemians is that they are illiterate, uneducated, disease-carrying people. Even after Jim learns to accept the Bohemians’ culture, the society around him continues to look down upon the immigrants, proving throughout the book that a culture with outsiders will always scorn those

What is race? In Milloy’s interview of high school teacher Julian Hipkins III, when asked, many students believed race to be default. Conjuring a definition similar to that of ethnicity or culture, most people do not understand the origins nor the purpose of “race” in America. Race is not biological nor is it cultural, it is a social construct used to divide and manipulate white Europeans and Africans. Furthermore, it was used as a platform to divide the poor White class and the slaves from uniting against the affluent land and slave owners, by telling white America that it is superior, in every way, to their Black counterparts.

Racial issues today are rooted in the literature of colonial America. Slaveholders sought to drive a wedge between the free white class and enslaved blacks. The immorality of slavery was at odds with the economic power of free labor that sustained the colonies’ increasing agricultural production. In an attempt to stifle social concern over slavery, slaveholders differentiated blacks and whites to project blacks as inferior. Language was an effective medium for diminishing the humanity of enslaved Africans. The word choice of Some Memoirs of the Life of Job by Thomas Bluett contributed to racial formation in colonial America by subtly suppressing the moral argument against slavery and encouraging the division between whites and blacks.

You know when you watch a movie and there is a scene where they are picking teams for basketball and they ignore the white guys and automatically pick the black guys? That is a stereotype that black men are always good at basketball. But not all of them are! We just categorize all black men under that statement. What does the word “stereotype” really even mean? This judgemental use of a word means that we make fun of someone just because of their physical features that they can’t change!

When I began reading the introduction to “In Living Colour: Race and American Culture,” I found the preponderance of Omi’s standpoints to be akin to my own, thus stirring feelings of anger towards the predicament persons of colour face. Caucasian Americans

Even in children, White’s dominate over minority races and participate in many lead roles in advertisement