Minority writers from the mid- and late-twentieth century focused on the struggles facing African Americans. Many writers used speeches to address these issues while others focused on their culture and heritage to bring awareness to the issue.
Martin Luther King, Jr., influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, used a strictly nonviolent manner to evoke equality for African Americans. The Bible is “ever present as a source for allusion and a confirmation of value” in his speeches which can be seen in I Have a Dream when he says “the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together” (NAAL 1397). His speech peacefully inspired African Americans to “rise from the dark and desolate valley of
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He agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that it would take both blacks and whites to combat racism when he says in The Autobiography of Malcom X that “both races, as human beings, have the obligation, the responsibility, of helping to correct America’s human problem” (HAAL 3090). Unlike Martin Luther King, Jr., in his younger years as a Muslim led by Elijah Muhammad, he believed that white people were devils. He negatively portrays the whites that truly wanted to see blacks treated equally. He said that “white people who want to join black organizations are really just taking the escapist way to salve their consciences” (HAAL 3090). He also said “I never really trust the kind of white people who are always so anxious to hang around Negroes, or to hang around in Negro communities” (HAAL 3091). He uses a violent nature when he talks about whites that the reader can see when he says he could suddenly die because of a white racist but that the white man “will make use of me dead, as he has made use of me alive, as a convenient symbol of ‘hatred’ – and that will help him to escape facing the truth that all I have been doing is holding up a mirror to reflect, to show, the history of unspeakable crimes that his race has committed against my race” (HAAL 3094). By always reflecting on the past and not moving forward, this shows that he is not interested in blacks and whites being united, instead, he seems to keep reminding …show more content…
Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream that one day “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed – we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (NAAL 1397). Authors during this time were more direct in their hopes of trying to end segregation. African American women writers were becoming more successful and Native American writers were also beginning to receive recognition. Instead of focusing on inequality, these writers focused more on their heritage and culture. They helped redefine reader’s understanding of the world (NAAL 1081). An example of this can be seen in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use and how it focused on the heritage of African Americans through the use of a quilt made by the main character’s ancestors. Many of Louise Erdrich’s poems focus on the historical devastations of Native American life. This can be seen in “Dear John Wayne” when she reflects on the Native Americans being attacked in the movie she is watching, “There will be no parlance. Only the arrows whining, a death-cloud of nerves swarming down on the settlers who died beautifully, tumbling like dust weeds into the history that brought us all here together” (NAAL
During the Reformation, both Martin Luther and King Henry VIII desired to reform the Church, but in substantially different ways, and for very different reasons. While Martin Luther wanted reform in order to achieve freedom from the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII solely wanted reform for personal reasons and to gain power. Luther acted towards the good of all and Henry VIII acted towards the good of himself.
on ways to be civil but disobedient, they have opposite ways of convicing you. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Cornel West both want the same thing; peace and proper freedom for all African Americans within the United States, and even on a worldwide scale. Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his letter while imprisoned in Birmingham that; "Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it again." (Luther King Jr. 1963).
During the time of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr., freedom for African-Americans was relative terminology in the fact that one was during slavery and the other during the Civil Rights era. “Civil Disobedience,” written by Thoreau, analyzes the duty and responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against such corrupt laws and other acts of the government. Likewise, King conveys to his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” audience that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as an instrument of freedom. Both writers display effective usage of the pathos and ethos appeal as means to persuade their audience of their cause and meaning behind their writing, although King proves to be more successful in his execution.
U.S. you are never considered an outsider. King also believes that no one is weak and
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an argumentative persuasive essay, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963. King had written this letter to address and respond to the criticism made by the white clergymen. The letter was an approach to end racism and hatred in a non-violent manner. The non-violent movement was organized by King and his pro-black organization called “The Southern Christian Leadership Conference”.
Walker and Marshall write about an identity that they have found with African-American women of the past. They both refer to great writers such as Zora Neale Hurston or Phillis Wheatley. But more importantly, they connect themselves to their ancestors. The see that their writings can be identified with what the unknown African-American women of the past longed to say but they did not have the freedom to do so. They both admire many literary greats such as Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Jane Austen, but they appreciate these authors' works more than they can identify with them.
This paper will discuss the different stages of thought processes the former Nation of Islam minister, Malcolm X went through during his lifetime in terms of how he viewed white people, but more specifically “the white man” in America. The reason the focus is on White Americans is because these were the people outside of the Nation of Islam that shaped his life good or bad and put him on the path where he eventually transformed from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X who was one of the most polarizing and controversial figures during his lifetime and even nearly 50 years after his death the name Malcolm X causes certain people to shudder. Malcolm X became a well-known figure during the 50’s and 60’s during the civil rights movement which involved figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. This was a pivotal era in American history because for the first time that there was major push towards full rights for African Americans. When Malcolm X came on the scene he put fear into White people because they weren’t used to hearing the truth about race relations in America and many of them felt that things were just fine because they themselves were living life high on the hog while at the same time exploiting Blacks. Because this type of talk from a black person was new to them they misinterpreted his views as “hate speech” and accused him of trying to incite violence when he was simply trying wake his people up to properly deal with what was happening to them.
Martin Luther King's use of alluding to other historic documents, which also deal with equality issues, helped his speech reach the listener. These allusions were probably geared more towards the white listeners than it was towards the black because it provided textual evidence from past documents which stated that all men were created equal and all people should have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. King also makes a few allusions to the Bible; "Let us not seek to satisfy thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred," is the first allusion to the Bible in his speech.
Although president Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation in 1862 that gave an end for slavery, white people persisted in oppressing and segregating black people. Life was segregated between blacks and whites: Black people had separate schools, restaurants, theaters, and even transportations. As the oppression increased, some black people started to refuse such harassment. Thus, many movements and marches were launched to bring equality for blacks (Patterson).
Both of the speeches, Martin Luther King's and Cesar Chavez', are powerful peices and communicate one vision: equality. King and Chavez have two very different styles of writing but the message from both is simmilar. for example both king and chavez discuss how their people are discriminated against because of their skin color, and how their people have neither the right to vote in the the south, nor the will to vote in the north , and in Chavez' situation, to have their vote counted. however similar their message's may be, their writing styles are different. Chavez talks about statistics, about why and how his people are treated. king held that the atrocitys commited against his people were self evident and as such did not need to be proved to anyone. kings message was meant to encompass the entire Uninted States while Chavez' was directed primarily at California.
Throughout his education, Martin Luther King Jr. tried to find a way to demonstrate his belief of racial equality with the most effective means possible. He quickly realized that the best strategy to end segregation was to use nonviolent forms of protest. At Crozer, Morehouse and Boston University, he studied the teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolent methods to help India claim its independence from Britain. King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that his methods could be employed by African Americans to obtain equality in America. King knew that any violence on the part of African Americans would lead to violent responses from segregationists, which would lead to injury or maybe even death for his followers. He had to teach his followers not to respond violently to cruel attacks from segregationists. King decided to sponsor workshops to train African Americans in nonviolent beh...
Smith, Valerie, ED. African American Writers Second Edition. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001. Print. The Scribner Writers Series.
Thesis: Actions, beliefs, and patience are characteristics that are comparable in both the lives of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
The emergence of black women writers on the American literary scene was not a sudden or a fortuitous event.Their bursting on to the scene was a result of the new found consciousness of black American women.They were increasingly becoming conscious of the racist and patriarchal oppression that they were being subjected to in America.By the 1970's the black women had the knowledge that both-The Civil Rights Movement and The Feminist Movement were neglecting the issues relating to black women.Despite being active participants in both the move...