Fields, Dubois, And Oliphant Essay

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Graves, Fields, DuBois, and Oliphant’s perspectives of Black American treatment in the United States are all from different time periods. Although each piece is from a different time, all four perspectives unveil the oppression of Black Americans to expose how Black Americans feel restricted from their natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ultimately causing Black Americans to feel psychological scarred and to not feel human. Graves and Fields express simple, yet powerful descriptions of life as a slave. In Graves’ narrative, she explains how slaves were allotted and rented to other slave owners like property. In addition, Fields states that slaves wanted to be educated, but there were many punishments if slaves …show more content…

In “Of the Passing of the First-Born,” DuBois elegantly writes about “the Veil” that lies between whites and blacks about forty years after the end of the Civil War in connection to a first-born son dying. DuBois’ writing shows that some Black Americans were able to progress especially in education; however, when blacks try to be part of society, they still feel the oppression and the traumatic effects of slavery. In the end, the narrator states, “Surely there shall yet dawn some mighty morning to lift the Veil and set the prisoned free. Not for me,—I shall die in my bonds” (DuBois 14). Though slavery is no longer practiced, DuBois still claims to feel restricted and held back from achieving natural rights. DuBois also discusses whether it is a good thing the baby died, so the baby did not have to live in “the shadow of the Veil” (DuBois 3). Black Americans do not know whether it is worth to live in the world of the Veil that limits them from life and liberty. Presently, these feelings of frustration and sadness have not faded away. In the video, young Zianna Oliphant holds back tears while giving a testimony in front of the Charlotte City Council. Oliphant exhibits the same psychological trauma of Graves and Fields, and the same doubt of

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