The poem “Still I Rise”, written by African American poet, Maya Angelou, portrays a powerful message throughout. In “Still I Rise”, the author talks about how people drag her down and put out false accusations about her, but she affirms that she will rise above all of the lies and hatefulness thrown at her. The author of this poem never points out her ethnicity, yet it can be inferred by the oppression she encounters and how unapologetic she came to be African American. This poem has been important throughout the years because she is not only speaking for herself, she is speaking out for all the people who have been ill-treated by society. This autobiographical poem has lead Maya Angelou to be one of the most important black female poets in America because it not only targets her initial adulthood experiences but her encounters with sexism and racism.
(Lupton 52). Many of the problems Marguerite encounters in her childhood stem from the prejudices o... ... middle of paper ... ...s of particular importance to women. Angelou's book, although it is meant for a broad audience, is also concerned with conveying the difficulties of being black and a woman in America. Angelou addresses these issues in such a way that they appeal to all her readers for understanding, and also speak to the particular segment of her audience that she represents. This piece of auto biographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction Works Cited Anderson, John .
In her poetry readers can tell how frustrated she was with the injustice that blacks received. In her poem Oblivion she speaks on death and says, “I should never hear the note of jealousy or hate” after she is dead. She calls oblivion “the shroud and envelope of happiness.” Overall, Jessie Redmon Fauset was one of the many great artists during the Harlem Renaissance that inspired many with her strong words of wisdom and truth. She wouldn’t have been able to do this without the Harlem Renaissance and the great inspiration it put on blacks to express themselves in ways that weren’t thought of before. The Harlem Renaissance gave her a chance to speak the words she was holding inside and she was noted for her honesty and humbleness.
Zora went on writing many publications that separated her from blacks; she was marked as a traitor. For this reason she spent her last days alone and in poverty working as a domestic until falling ill and dying of a stroke in 1960. However controversial, Zora will be remembered for her great contributions to the Harlem Renaissance and fine literary works. She has been a very influential and a true inspirational figure to many writers of today. One that comes to mind is a local playwright by the name of Mari Evans, who recently did a rendition of Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, titled “Eyes” Zora had a different outlook on life than most African Americans of her time but has remained the cornerstone of the Harlem Renaissance making black culture known and felt by all.
Alice Childress-a veteran dramatist Alice Childress has been described as a distinguished woman playwright of her time, a literary genius, a great collaborator and an inspiration for African-American women in drama. Her exceptional career in the theater has spanned more than half a century. She began her play writing career in the late 1940s. She wrote her first play because she loved theater, and black theater needed good material. Childress’ contribution to the American theater has been varied and consistent.
However, reality strikes as readers come to find out that he actually is just putting on a show. In conclusion, Hurston was one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance. She fought in protecting the rights of African Americans. She was known for her short stories, play, journal articles and novels. She achieved fame during her life time but she was later forgotten by the public.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin In The Sun, looks at the life of a typical African American family. The play takes place sometime after world war two, when African Americans were not treated fairly. In an interview with New York Times, Hansberry stated the purpose of the play was to “show the many gradations of even one Negro family, the clash of the old and the new, but most of all the unbelievable courage of the Negro people”. Hansberry does just as she intended, each of the family members were in different stages of life, which causes conflict between the new and old generations, but still they remain courageous during times of oppression. The family structure that Hansberry introduced in the play was a mother, daughter, and a son;
Ever since her rise to fame, Lorraine Hansberry has opened the eyes of many and showed that there is a problem among the American people. Through her own life experiences in the twentieth-century, she has written what she knows and brought forth the issue that there is racial segregation, and it will not be ignored. Her most popular work, A Raisin in the Sun, not only brought African Americans to the theater, but has given many of them hope (Mays 1461). Within this work, we find a “truthful depiction of the sorts of lives lived by many ordinary African Americans in the late 1950s” (Mays 1462). Though there is realism within her work, the idealism is never far away at all.
In addition to this Caroline, or Change is another influential show that explores the relationship between whites and blacks, more specifically the relationship between a black maid, Caroline, and her white employers. The musical does not have a clearly happy ending like Hairspray, with the eventual fusion between races against all odds, but rather an ending that causes the audience to contemplate the relationship between races and cultures. “Caroline, or Change is designed to make us think and, ultimately, act” (Dreisinger). Many shows about civil rights, while greatly influential in their own way, give the audience the ending that feels good, Caroline, or Change encourages its audience to contemplate the effects of racism and how to change for the better. Both of these inspiring musicals bring awareness to the racism that is still present even in the 21st century and, furthermore, educate upcoming generations on how to stop
Upon her arrival, Lily faces different racist situations and meets her first love, a handsome black boy named Zach. The novel The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates that although racism has a negative impact on everyday life, it also influences Zach and Lily’s development in a positive manner. The segregation in South Carolina happens everywhere and every day. Indeed, racism is manifested through the media, the law, which legitimizes segregation, and the perceptions that white and black people have of each other. Because of the laws against colored people, Rosaleen, as a black woman, lives with constraints in her life.