I Could ask for an A grade, but I think that all students want an A in your class. When I first come to your class, I was intimidated and thinking that I would not survive the semester, I got a bad grade in my primary essay, as a result I wanted to drop off. The prompt about the “City Mouse and the Suburban Mouse” was short, and it was hard for me to write an essay without summarizing it. However, I decided to stay and finish the semester, and I told myself that I would enjoy your class work harder and improve my grade.
The second essay, the topic about Africa got my attention, and I was so involved and enthusiastic about learning the subject. It was the fist time that I heard about King Leopold, who is a tyrant and vicious person. It was
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I realized that there was so much to learn in your class in such a short time. As a consequence, I did not see the time pass in your class, this is how much I liked. I found myself more focus on what I was learning than what grade I wanted to get. When you gave back the essay, I was choked that I earned an A. At that same night, I had to open a decent bottle of wine to celebrate, is not every day that I score a excellent grade.
As a Latina black women and feminist, I love reading and analyzing “Harlem of Shadows” by MaKay and “Black Women” by Senghor. I love how the writers talked about women in which is ignored most of the time in history, and that is why I related to the poem so much. I enjoyed reading it over and over, and the funny thing was that very time I read; I had different interpretation about the poem. The little poems had so much to say, to show and to make the reads to reflect about social problems that is targeting the black women. When I first moved to United States from Brazil, I experienced racism in first hand. It was a cultural shock to me, and the question that raised in my mind was, how a country that is supposed to be the first-world is so uneducated about race?
Malcolm X stated that the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected person in America is the black woman. Black women have long suffered from racism in American history and also from sexism in the broader aspect of American society and even within the black community; black women are victims of intersection between anti-blackness and misogyny sometimes denoted to as "misogynoir". Often when the civil rights movement is being retold, the black woman is forgotten or reduced to a lesser role within the movement and represented as absent in the struggle, McGuire 's At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power does not make this same mistake.
Women have always been viewed based on what is on the outside instead of what is on the inside. They were never handed anything but had to fight for what they believed to have. Sadly, though it’s been a struggle for women and for black women especially who want equality and a chance to do as they please. Criticized based on body parts and the color of their skin. Just as a resource stated, “ What did it mean for a black woman to be an artist in our grandmother’s time? It is a question with an answer cruel enough to stop the blood...the agony of the women who might have been poets, novelists, essayists and short story writers, who died with their real gifts stifled within them” ( Walker 2). Why is that? There is need to question society. The unfairness is out of control and the unexpected should be the expected. With the book Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston it breaks the chain of black women not credited for their extraordinary work. The Black Feminist Art shouldn’t be stopped in order to inspire young black girls to become more than what their hearts desire. Zora Neale Hurston did it, through the character Janie Mae Crawford and of reality intertwined. By writing a book not expected to be written by a black woman with a dialogue and concept so well crafted, it proves that women should be happy in any shape or
During times when racial tensions were high, many African American authors and poets began to rise and give consciousness to racial inequality and injustice. Famous poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes began to give a voice to African Americans. For example, in Maya Angelou’s, “Still, I Rise,” she speaks of overcoming her oppressors as a woman and expresses a great amount of self-love and self-worth. In Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” he states that he is an equal and emphasizes that being black does not degrade your beauty which allows the readers to feel empowered. Angelou and Hughes used similar means to raise awareness and fight for their rights through literature, even though, Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” also states the issue of sexism and Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” just focuses more on equality.
We live in a patriarchal society were inequalities amongst men and women are still very prevalent. We are improving, but every day we are striving to fight for more equality amongst the sexes, especially when it comes to voicing opinions. Women are often shunned from the thought of being outspoken, still based on the old beliefs that women should be “seen, not heard”. This collection of poetry is dedicated to giving a voice to one of the most silenced demographics in America, black women. All of these poems are written by African American women throughout various stages of their life. Within these poems, the inner thoughts, sentiments, and viewpoints that five women have on society will be showcased through their own narrative, similar to an entry in their diary.
Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to
Black Women’s Studies is not a twentieth century creation. On the contrary, black women have had a liberationist consciousness since the 1800s. At that time, black women began to develop “intellectual and activist traditions” which produced works that represent early black feminist ideals. It is important to acknowledge these early works, as they are antecedents to the field of Black Women’s Studies. In order to understand the trajectory of the field, we must start at the
The four poems by Langston Hughes, “Negro,” “Harlem,” “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and “Theme for English B” are all powerful poems and moving poems! Taken all together they speak to the very founding of relations of whites and blacks all the way down through history. The speaker in the poem the, “Negro” and also, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” tells the tale of freedom and enslavement that his people have endured, and it heralds their wisdom and strength. The poems “Harlem” and “Theme for English B” speaks to the continuous unfair treatment that the blacks have received at the hands of white people throughout the years.
The black woman, she is as diverse and as beautiful as the billions of humans she gave birth to. The first homo sapiens to appear in the fertile land of East Africa were nurtured from her bosom; the wisdom and strength that is characteristic of the black woman today is not a recent acquisition but qualities that were honed over thousand of years. Every woman on this earth has mitochondrial DNA (mitochondrial DNA is the DNA transferred from mother to child and the only genetic material that stands the test of time)from Lucy, the small black woman found in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Lucy is her English name but I prefer the appellation given to her by the Ethiopians, Dinkesh, which means "you are beautiful" or "you are wonderful." Her dark skin, beautiful lips and course hair is not a sign of shame or inferiority but of the dominance of her genes. The fact that any baby born by a black woman and a male of another race will more likely resemble its mother is a testament to that dominance, a testament that within the veins of a black woman lies the blue print to life. However, put aside all that I have stated and yet the black woman is still not given the respect that is due to her. A travesty has been committed that leaves the black woman dying alone and her offspring fatherless. Single black mothers are ubiquitous to every black neighborhood and casts a negative cloud on a whole people who have lost the basic atom of what makes a people a people: family.
These constant feelings of discontent, and annoyance were seen frequently by African Americans who suffered from injustice acts from the white majority during these times. Many of the poems written during this time showed some sort of historical reference of maltreatment, or inequality. For years, African Americans were not allowed to have a voice, and if they did they wen’t unheard. However, when poems got published, the deep emotion, and rage that African Americans lived through for many years was released to the public, and shocked a majority of people when they quickly became influential to society.
This class was far more intense than what I expected but I was able to make it through the semester. I learned a lot from this class that I will carry into the future and use in other classes. All of the revision and feedback I have received during the time in the class helped me in the end. I feel like I am gradually becoming a better writer. I will take everything that I have learned in this class and use it for future reference when writing papers. I overall have enjoyed this class this semester.
...ach day in class I participated to my fullest extent answering questions, maintaining eye contact, and staying attentive and alert during class each day. I stayed after class to arrange meetings with all three of my essays and showed up early each time. In which I read over comments made before hand and digested them myself and walked in with an idea on how to make my paper better, answer questions you may have had towards my paper, and had questions on what I could do to make my paper better. While my work in the class my not have reflected an A I feel my time and participation are well on the track to excellence in the world of academic writing. “Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.” (Nelson Mandela) I am determined to hone my skills of writing and make an impact where ever I grace the strokes of a pen or keyboard.
Our second essay we wrote was a Comparative Analysis essay. It was a five paragraph essay comparing and contrasting Feudalism and School
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.
Clenora Hudson-Weems wrote “Africana Womanism: An Historical, Global Perspective for Women of African Descent” and it was about womanism. Another word for womanism is feminism, and feminism is defined as the empowerment of woman. In the era of women’s rights, women were not treated as equals, especially black women. Colored women could not get any equality or any empowerment unless they live in a community which they can establish their own racial and cultural integrity. White women and Africana both have the same amount of rights but white women had better accommodations as far as restrooms, water fountains, swimming pools, and everything else that is segregated. I think that Africana women were oppressed more than white women. I believe that black women should be treated just as equally as white women. Africana women are fighting for civil rights and women’s rights. Africana women have been more concerned for the whole Africana community. Their main priority is “…race empowerment, with class and gender following…”(Weems, 80). Womanism was important in the Africana community because the Africana women was trying empower not just themselves but empower the whole Africana community. For example, Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad conductor), “risked her life time and again in freeing Africana men, women, and children in slavery, thereby establishing her commitment to racial parity”(Weems, 80).
As a senior student of Mansfield High School, I have learned to appreciate school administrators, teachers, and other faculty for their sufficient effort to making me succeed. I have taken it upon myself to take an English Composition class in high school rather than taking it in college. I have always had in interest in English, I had heard this was one of the hardest English classes you could take and so I accepted the challenge. This class does have many challenges and sometimes i get quite stumped, but I always try to get through with my work in a decent manner. All there is to do in this particular class is type up essays and revise them, nevertheless, book assignments in between. My instructor does great job at keeping things put together, making sure we know the adequate methods to succeed in the class and making the class as straightforward as possible.