Rumors
When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flowed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” to highlight the struggle toward equality.
On June 21, the city of Detroit exploded as racial tensions finally reached their boiling point. Various news organizations, such as Time and Newsweek, covered the story. At the time of the riots, none of the reported accounts of the uprising matched. The most disputed facts were the discrepancies regarding why the riot started, the number of deaths and injuries, and the exact time the riot began. Yet, most news sources reported that around six hundred people were taken into cu...
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...etimes these tensions exploded into riots, as in Detroit. Printed sources of the time recorded bits and pieces of varying data and left out other information. The public was finally beginning to become conscious of the racial inequalities in American cities. In addition, James Baldwin provided future generations a view of the injustices of the time.
Works Cited
Brown, Earl. "The Truth About the Detroit Riot." Harper's Magazine Nov. 1943: 488-498.
"Deep Trouble." Time 28 Jun. 1943: 19.
Momboisse, Raymond M. Riots, Revolts and Insurrections. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas,
1967.
“Notes of a Native Son.” 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Person's Index: Facts On File. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1943.
"Riotous Race Hate." Newsweek 28 Jun. 1943: 42-43.
Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Christopher Paul Curtis wrote The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 throughout the course of 1995. The novel follows the Watsons, a black family living in Flint, Michigan during the Civil Rights Era. In a historical context, 1963 and the early 1990s have far more in common than one would expect. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 following the church bombing in Birmingham, and yet race-based discrimination remains a problem even in our modern society via passive racism. This paper will analyze the ways in which Curtis’ The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 draws parallels between the time in which his is writing during and the time in which he is writing about. This analysis will also shed light on what can be called the “white standard,” wherein all things white are “good” or “better” and anything not-white is “bad.”
Reilly, John M. " 'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community." James Baldwin: A Critical Evaluation. Ed.Therman B. O'Daniel. Howard University Press. Washington, D.C. 1977. 163-169.
In 1955 a civil rights activist by the name of James Baldwin wrote his famous essay “Notes of a Native Son”. James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York during a time where racial tensions where high all throughout the United States. In this essay he highlights these tension and his experience’s regarding them, while also giving us an insight of his upbringing. Along with this we get to see his relationship with a figure of his life, his father or more accurately his stepfather. In the essay James Baldwin says “This fight begins, however, in the heart and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair”. This is a very powerful sentence that I believe
Reuben, Paul P. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. Chapter 10: James Baldwin (1924-1987). 3 November 2011. April 2012 .
As it was stated in the book, many factors led up to the race riots of 1919. The single incident was a highpoint. It more or less triggered all of the actions and feelings that were preceded in the years leading up to the riot. It is amazing how the differences of a race can change in a few years. Also the importance of little factors that can lead up to becoming huge and having great implications on actions. For blacks and whites both the riot was just a built up accumulation of hostility that has been going on for quite some time. One thing can be said though that the Chicago incidents seem to be the more ruthless and aggressive when compared to others. It may have been because of the blacks’ resiliency not to lie down and to fight back. A lot of the time it causes even more hostility to brew when compared to a nonviolent approach. Nevertheless, the Chicago riots and the incidents that led up to it were monumental in status.
American minorities made up a significant amount of America’s population in the 1920s and 1930s, estimated to be around 11.9 million people, according to . However, even with all those people, there still was harsh segregation going on. Caucasians made African-Americans work for them as slaves, farmers, babysitters, and many other things in that line. Then when World War II came, “World War II required the reunification and mobilization of Americans as never before” (Module2). They needed to cooperate on many things, even if they didn’t want to. These minorities mainly refer to African, Asian, and Mexican-Americans. They all suffered much pain as they were treated as if they weren’t even human beings. They were separated, looked down upon, and wasn’t given much respect because they had a different culture or their skin color was different. However, the lives of American minorities changed forever as World War 2 impacted them significantly with segregation problems, socially, and in their working lives, both at that time and for generations after.
Throughout his literature, James Baldwin discusses the issues of racial inequality within America and discusses reasons for the conflicts between races, proposing his solutions to the problems. One of the most important and recurring motifs between his works is the idea of history; the history of whites in western society and its origin in European thinking and the history of the American Negro, whose history is just as American as his white counterpart’s. The importance of these histories as being one combined “American history” is integral to the healing process between the two races. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision is a landmark event for blacks and whites alike, and the events following three years later in Little Rock, Arkansas mark the beginning of a long journey to fulfill the promise of equal education made by the Supreme Court. The 1957 events in Little Rock quickly became the nationally covered story of the Little Rock Nine, a legacy that still lives on today despite a James Baldwin prediction made in his essay “Take Me to the Water.” Specifically, nine African-American students were given permission by the Little Rock school board to attend Central High School, one of the nation’s top 40 high schools, integrating a formally all-white campus. During the initial weeks, these students were prevented from entering the school by US military summoned by the Arkansas governor. The Little Rock case drew immediate media attention and became a nationwide symbol of the civil rights movement. The story of the Little Rock Nine embodies James Baldwin’s arguments and observations regarding necessity of education as a crucial step to achievin...
Baldwin, James. ?Notes of a Native Son.? 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
The 1920’s and 1950’s both shared the optimism that the conclusion of a war brings, and consequently both began very prosperously. While the materialism of the 20’s faded into the economic depression that followed, and the glow of the 1950’s was dimmed by the onset of communist fever, both decades proved to be successful and iconic in the way that they brought about massive prosperity, and because youth found new ways of expressing themselves and inviting progress. Unfortunately not all outcomes were good, and both eras triggered an onslaught of racial tension that would continue well into the future.
When Baldwin was three years of age his mother married David Baldwin, a Southerner who had made the journey to New York as part of the large stream of black migration north during the times following the First World War. James, t...
Advancing further into history, accounts in 1855 (A.B. Berard, School History of the United States) and 1856 (Harper’s School History, Narrative of the General Course of History) also offer different portrayals of the same events despite their close proximity to one another. The 1855 account has a different interpretation of how the event gained excitement and it goes on to say that it was a “negro who had excited the disturbance.” The reference to “negro” was...
Baldwin, James. ?Notes of a Native Son.? 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
...on.” 1956. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 606-613.
James Baldwin left Harlem and fled to Paris in 1948 to escape uneasy relations including difficulty with his stepfather, financial distress, and problems discovering his sexual identity (Roberts). He escapes to the ?Swiss village? to advance his writing career and, furthermore, find himself as a person....