Life of a Mullato
In Society, there has been one common way through which an individual can differentiate himself and that is race/color. Consequently, once a person's color is determined, it seems a class structure is established, a structure that not only describes the individual's social, political, but also their economic standards. Throughout most of nineteenth century literature that we have read it's apparent, the class structure consisted of whites and blacks. Much of the literary works of the time stressed that to be black meant being despised and discriminated against by the white population. Moreover, the literature such as Our Nig portrayed whites as domineering and superior as they essentially controlled many black people's lives (slaves). However, authors like Harriet Wilson, Wallace Thurman brought into picture the emergence of another race that did not belong to either black of white race, which were the mulattoes. These authors in their work discuss the struggles and the intra racism faced by the mulattoes that are the offspring's of black and white parents. Moreover, even categorizing these people as mulatto has a hidden racist assumption to begin with. This is because the very word "mulatto" carries this animal connotation; it comes from the Spanish for "little mule." As a result, referring to these individuals in animal terms is usually not socially acceptable. If mulattos are animals, then by implication, so are blacks. Perceiving nonwhites as less than human is the result of the close connection with the Christian beliefs and thus the negative view of the society towards blacks and mulattoes. This impartial distinction of mulattoes foretells the various problems and prejudices that were exper...
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...ings of Chesnutt and Wilson were helpful in bringing out the reality behind the inequality towards these individuals. Both writers boldly wrote about issues that were highly controversial in their day and did so successfully especially Wilson who in the autobiographical novel stressed the importance of one's skin color as the measure of their power in the society. Overall, these authors presented the relentless challenges mulattoes had to undergo while at the same time describing the racial truths of the past as well as today.
Bibliography:
Chesnutt, Charles W. The House Behind the Cedars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Company, 1900.
Wilson, Harriet E. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a
Free Black. New York: Vintage Books, 1983.
Thurman, Wallace. The Blacker the Berry. New York: Arno Press, 1969. (c.1929)
The themes Chesnutt used in his work were a relatively good representation of the black mentality of the Reconstruction period. He demonstrated that this period was not just a matter of freedom for the black man but mostly a matter of being treated equally as the white man. Chesnutt emphasized his writing on two main themes, personal achievement and equal treatment. In his journal, he focuses on ambition and determination as the main keys to success. During the Reconstruction period, one of the main issues Chesnutt was affected by was the evident inequality between white and black writers. In one of his journal, this Afro-American writer give as an example the white writers who were really successful writing about t...
“I tried to demonstrate how both the cross cultural literature and the history of African American women gave the lie to the nation that gender inequality can be attributed to biological differences” (Mullings, page xvii)
The oppression of women in society has been evident throughout the history of the United States. However, African American women have been second-class citizens to not only both black and white males, but white women as well (64). Beginning with slavery, black women were objectified as objects as Thomas Jefferson subjected enslaved blacks to the same “scientific” observation as animals and plants. Jefferson than stated that this observation led to the conclusion that white women were superior to black women because men of the African American community preferred white women. Although this stereotype may articulate black women as undesirable to all men, there was a common belief across the nation that black servants would lure and seduce white males from their wives (56). With this myth the stereotype of hypersexuality of black women arose.
In D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation the interactions between black and white characters represent Griffith’s view of an appropriate racial construct in America. His ideological construction is white dominance and black subordination. Characters, such as the southern Cameron’s and their house maid, who interact within these boundaries, are portrayed as decent people. Whereas characters who cross the line of racial oppression; such as Austin Stoneman, Gus and Silas Lynch, are portrayed as bad. Both Lynch and Lydia Brown, the mulatto characters, are cast in a very negative light because they confuse the ideological construct the most. The mixing of races puts blacks and whites on a common ground, which, in Griffith’s view, is a big step in the wrong direction. Griffith portrays how the relationship between blacks and whites can be good only if the color line and positions of dominance and subordination are maintained. Through the mulatto characters he illustrates the danger that blurring the color line poses to American society.
Throughout the course of the semester we have read multiple books that have challenged our thoughts of the experiences faced by African Americans during the late 19th century. Aside from being shunned from their communities African Americans were considered to be of the lowest social class possible. Two books that expand on this notion are The Garies and Their Friends written by Frank J Webb, and Clotel written by William Wells Brown. Both novels share the story of mixed race families struggling to find their place in society. The 19th was a time of confusion and mistreatment among race’s, both The Garies and Their Friends and Clotel broaden our knowledge of life as a mixed-race slave as they figure their place in society.
“You’ve got to be right with yourself before you can be right with anyone else.” This is a quote that August Wilson knows all too well. In America’s beginning, there has been somewhat of a lack of a voice for the world that African-Americans live in. Whether it is in literature or in media, there is usually misrepresentation or some type of stereotype being shown to the public’s eyes about their culture. To rectify this situation, a numerous amount of African-American authors, poets, and playwrights write about their experiences throughout America’s inception. In his time period, Wilson was one of these voices who wrote out how he felt on the issues. His Pulitzer Prize winning play, The Piano Lesson, is an example of the literary depth he wanted to accomplish. However, with many things in the world changing how well does this man’s word resonate with today’s audience? How powerful are Wilson’s works and how do they teach his audience and be criticized by others?
Throughout the history of the United States of America, the country has always been divided by race. No matter the century or decade, there has always been an issue present dealing with this problem in some shape or form. Though the value system of the United States has always been based on equal rights for all, there have always been those individuals that cannot except that all men are created equal. There is no supreme race. Everyone is entitled to his or her natural rights given at birth. Every person should have the same opportunity as the other as long as they are willing to work for what they receive. In Charles W. Chesnutt’s novel, The Marrow of Tradition, racial riots in the South are the key issue present in regards to racial tension. Through the results of these riots, elements of society are exposed so that change can be made.
Sprouted from slavery, the African American culture struggled to ground itself steadily into the American soils over the course of centuries. Imprisoned and transported to the New World, the African slaves suffered various physical afflictions, mental distress and social discrimination from their owners; their descendants confronted comparable predicaments from the society. The disparity in the treatment towards the African slaves forged their role as outliers of society, thus shaping a dual identity within the African American culture. As W. E. B. DuBois eloquently defines in The Souls of Black Folk, “[the African American] simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and
Some African Americans view their race as inferior to the white race. Even though the author may not hold this same opinion, it is still important that he or she understands that part of his or her audience does, especially when writing about racial identity. Zora Neale Hurston understood
America and Race have a long and entangled history. The concept of Race, like America is a recent invention. Race is an idea constructed by society to further political and economic goals. Race was never just a matter of how you look, it's about how people assign meaning toward how you look. It is ironic that a nation that takes great pride in one the foundation “All men are created Equal” can at the same time portray the idea of Race in such a scale that would repress and kill so many people. In this essay I will address what necessitated the creation of the story of race in American history.
Wilson, Harriet E., and Henry Louis. Gates. Our Nig, Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black:
First, he breaks down the idea of race as a biologically constructed fact. He argues that race as a biological construction was used to set up a system of oppression that benefitted whites. He counters this construction by claiming that race can be constructed many different ways. Tommy Lott’s article "Du Bois and Locke on the Scientific Study of the Negro” further deconstructs the idea of race as a solely biological construction and establishes that race can be biologically, socially, and culturally constructed. Lott explains how each construction further perpetuates a racial caste, but he explains that the social and cultural construction of race, although false in its ideology about races, is how society is able to allocate a status of superiority or inferiority. Societal statuses are accompanied with privilege and economic advantages. Furthermore, Du Bois explains that white society clings to the established constructions of race because of its ability to create a caste system that affords whites with exclusive economic privileges.
For Example, the mulatto and slave William Wells Brown comment “During the time that Mr. Cook was overseer, I was a house servant - a situation preferable to that of a field hand, as I was better fed, better clothed, and not obliged to rise at the ringing of the bell, but about half an hour after. I have often laid and heard the crack of the whip, and the screams of the slave”. Brown was the son of the plantation owner where he lived on and even though he was a slave he did not have the same obligations as the other slaves. He was simply a part of the family, but his father did not take his mother into consideration. She was still working in the field and getting whipped by the plantation’s overseer. In contrast to Brown being light skin and the son of the plantation owner, the mulatto Moses Roper had a total different experience. Roper’s father was also the plantation owner, but he was not considered a part of the family, he was simply another slave. Mr. Roper’s wife knew about Moses birth and she attempted to kill him after knowing that Moses was white. As Moses narrates, “she returned back as soon as she could, and told her mistress that I was white, and resembled Mr. Roper very much. Mr. Roper 's wife being not pleased with this report, she got a large club stick and knife, and hastened to the place in which my mother was confined”. Moses’s mother and him were not welcomed anymore in the
In conclusion, this book shows us that slavery is against mankind and all people are equal concerned of the race. Racism has become an wide-ranging in many of the countries mostly in northern Europe and Russia. Skin colour means nothing but just an identity. Many people use it to discriminate others whereas they got equal intelligence and sometimes the person being discriminated upon could be having sharper brains. This book also written for kids and immigrants to learned more about the past of where they lives. I recommend that every person should see the other as a partner but not as superior than the other and by that there will not be any discrimination in our society.
“Black, white and brown are merely skin colors. But we attach to them meanings and assumptions, even laws that create enduring social inequality.”(Adelman and Smith 2003). When I first heard this quote in this film, I was not surprised about it. Each human is unique compared to the other; however, we are group together based on uncontrollable physical characteristics. Eyes, hair texture, and skin tone became a way to separate who belongs where. Each group was labeled as having the same traits. African Americans were physically superior, Asians were the more intellectual race, and Indians were the advanced farmers. Certain races became superior to the next and society shaped their hierarchy on what genes you inherited.