Essays on Black Community

Debate of Washington v. DuBois v. Garvey During the early 20th century the three famous African American leaders including, W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Marcus Garvey had compelling visions for the African American community. The reconstruction of the civil war did not come with the desired hope of the complete right of citizens to be free of slavery. In the 1980s a terrorist group known as the Ku Klux Klan played a significant role in realizing changes that were expected since they introduced racial segregation laws, lynching, and voting restrictions compromising the rights brought about ...

Black Lives Matter

I find social activism as a modern and more effective way to create awareness about an issue or initiate a protest against one. This is because social activism promotes mass movements in societies in which it is initiated, and as such, important matters that call for everyone’s attention can be addressed with urgency and the level of importance that can bring about social change. The social activism movement: ‘Black Lives Matter’, initially originated in the U.S. and later on replicated in the U.K., is one that I am particularly interested in. Spearheaded by the African-American community, the movement ...

Abstract

Martin Luther King Jr., is among the greatest civil rights leaders that the world has ever had. Throughout his life he was able to portray various characteristics of a good leader. In cases that an individual is able to study the way Dr. King carried out his activities and the various issues that he took into consideration before making a decision would really help to mold an individual into an ideal leader that the world would be proud to have. In addition, to this, the various challenges that he faced as he made his decisions and the various barriers ...

While previously the holistic development and wellbeing of the population of the United States of America has been thwarted by the social ill of racism, the modern era sees a different kind of problem that might be surmised to have found its root in the long dark history of racial discrimination in the country’s milieu. Legal steps and general awareness have ensured that racism is not practiced or advocated in the country in any manner. Nonetheless, the series of events where people of the black community have repeatedly come to be on the receiving end of undue violence ...

There is a considerable population of Africans in Europe. It is estimated that close to 4.6 Africans are permanent residents of Europe with France being the most-African dominated country in Europe followed by UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey in that order among other countries. Nearly 8 million Africans are seasonal occupants of Europe. The following literatures evaluate African’s presence in Europe through different lenses. In his works, Ivan van Sertima give a historical perspective of how Africans found their way into Europe and their role in world civilization. In this book, there is major ...

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For centuries humans have looked for a higher power to worship. The question is: Why are there so many religions? Are those religions similar somehow? Even though, religions have some aspects in common – there is a higher power, they believe in a creationist theory, they all have a printed version of their beliefs, they act by faith, among others. The reality of living in a multicultural world influences what people believe and how they manifest it. Societies have shaped their religions in accordance to what their ancestors believed and what they have experienced in their own reality. One cannot ...

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a powerful and paradoxical piece of literature, which profoundly explains the trials and tribulations, both physical and emotional influences, on the Black community in a society living in pretense of newly received freedom. The narrator’s name is not revealed throughout the book, one of Ellison’s strategy of highlighting his invisibility. At the opening section of the book, Ellison introduces the narrator as a lost and naïve individual, struggling to find his place in the society. He indicates that he had to learn that he was invisible. The meaning behind ...

Book Review

Introduction Black Like me is a unique nonfictional book that has the author as the main character. Motivated by the socio-political dynamics John Howard Griffin take a bold but unusual step. He sets out to explore the experience of the Black people, but he could not just find it in books. The central themes to be dealt with in this review include racial profiling by the judicial system and the baseless segregation of the blacks. John frustration takes him to Mansfield in Texas. Black like me is Griffin’s own story while coexisting with the black community. The book ...

The history of African Americans is an essential part of the whole history of the United States. Starting from the sixteenth century and the beginnings of slavery, Blacks had experienced a lot of struggles and had traveled the long path in order to achieve the social and political equality with western people. During their presence in the United States, they underwent a lot of events that contributed to their rise, supported their pride, and highlighted their racial identity. This paper aims to discuss four of such events and to analyze their mutual influence and significance for the establishment of ...

Today we are in the middle of a seeming “race-war” between civilians and law enforcement. Allegations are flung wildly, almost on a daily basis, concerning the use of excessive force by police officers as headlines continue to report abuse, and even deaths at the hands of those who are sworn to protect. It is considered more disconcerting because it is over twenty years after the 1992 L.A. riots, which brought the public’s attention to serious issues within law enforcement, and demanded change. Today, we are not seeing much of that change and the majority of the violence, if ...

Mass Media before 1940: The Rosewood Massacre of 1923

American journalism can trace its humble beginnings back in the 1800s as it was initially used as a vehicle for political campaign in gaining the American independence. Journalists were guaranteed freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which helped in advancing the role of the American press in society and the political scene. The American press became a major support element to various political parties in the country, including other organizations and groups such as the religious institutions. American journalism experienced what could be called technological advancements during the 1840s as the telegraph and other fast printing presses ...

Police brutality has sparked up a lot of tension and chaos in the recent past. This form of brutality refers to any unnecessary excessive force applied to victims by the police (Bird and Smith, 93). Members of the black community are often the victims of this brutality. Young black males have been killed in cold blood by the police who claim that the former are armed and are a threat to their lives. What has sparked a lot of anger is the fact that some of the slain men are usually unarmed is and a non-threat to the police. ...

Muhammad Ali

Everyone has their own prototypes to follow such as idols, parents, friends or neighbors with motivating and inspiring life experience. World history has various examples of the famous persons’ biographies and after its reading people are inspired for accomplishing any goals. It can be people who lived a century ago or our contemporaries. Someone considers sportsmen to be successful, others find politicians, entrepreneur or singers more inspiring. However, they are united by the common trait, which is leadership. Nowadays, when the world is changing rapidly, the ideas of those leaders continue to be relevant and contribute to the people ...

The Post War society was going through a transition period. The milestone document of the United Nations in the history of mankind is The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). With this document, the United Nations have protected human rights regardless of gender, race, religion ethnicity etc. The United Nations agreed that every person is free by born and he/she should be respected. He/she must be considered as human being and thus her rights of freedom must be protected. The two incidents were very important in the world history; first is the Civil Rights Movement and the feminist movement. ...

There can be no denial about the fact that poetry has immense power to inculcate the masses with the revolutionary thoughts that have the potential to bring out the immoralities or shortcomings of the society. The literary artists grip over the form of art to appeal to the readers of their poetry and incite their minds with the revolutionary thoughts that have the capacity to bring change in the society or the system. As such, one can look into specific texts that embody this passion of subversive attitude. The paper aims to explore the potential of the form of ...

English 64.01

A Research Proposal: Revolutionary Poetry A General Framework There can be no denial about the fact that poetry has immense power to inculcate the masses with the revolutionary thoughts that have the potential to bring out the immoralities or shortcomings of the society. The literary artists grip over the form of art to appeal to the readers of their poetry and incite their minds with the revolutionary thoughts that have the capacity to bring change in the society or the system. As such, one can look into specific texts that embody this passion of subversive attitude. Nazim Hikmet’s ...

“The Lesson” is a book authored by Toni Cade Bambara. It is set out to depict the contemporary life of the African Americans. It is a narrative of a black girl, Sylvia laments on the inequality of life after Miss. Moore takes her and her friend to the areas dominated by the wealthy. This paper aims to highlight the various valuable lessons that Miss. Moore, an educated and sophisticated black woman, teaches the young adults that they should view life beyond their nose as there is much more to life than they are accustomed. One of the major issues ...

The representation of Black race in music video “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah The music video “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah from 1993, which I have chosen for the demonstration of Black identity, illustrates how Black women describe their position in relationships with Black men and the whole society. The song lyrics is provocative with using the filthy language, which perfectly reflects the common attitude of Black race; it demonstrates that people are free from the society frameworks. Queen Latifah represents herself as a strong independent woman. She raps about losing respect for women within Black community; that point is significant ...

There can be no denial about the fact that poetry has immense power to inculcate the masses with the revolutionary thoughts that have the potential to subvert the immoralities or shortcomings of the society. The literary artists use their aesthetic quintessence and grip over the form of art to appeal to the avid readers of their poetry and incite their minds with the revolutionary or subversive thoughts that have the capacity to bring change in the society or the system. As such, one can delve into specific texts that embody this zeal of subversive attitude and affective charm. Nazim ...

Rosa Parks – the Rebellion

What would you do if someone told you that you are not good enough because of the color of your skin? Would you be upset and humble or chose another way and would fight for your rights and place in our wonderful world? I would rather choose the second direction, because according to the history, there are powerful people who can change their life in the best possible way. My inspirational person who made an outstanding contribution to history is Rosa Parks. She became an icon for great changes in the black community. As for me, this woman is ...

Novel adaptations into a film are quite a common practice seen these days. Cardwell (11) defines the term adaption as the process of adapting one text into another text. It is a process of modifying a thing so as to suit new condition. Many beautiful and award winning novels have been adapted in the films periodically by the Hollywood directors. It is a question of debate whether the original one is better or the adapted version is better. Among these several novels, one famous novel and the film adaptation is The Color Purple. A comparative analysis is done between ...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was considered to be one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights era. In his letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is writing in response to a letter that was written to him by eight Alabama clergymen. In their letter, the eight clergymen expressed a dislike for the activism of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They believed that the demonstration that Dr. King was participating in was “led in part by outsiders” (Carpenter et al.) Additionally, the clergymen seemed to praise the police of Birmingham. In ...

Scholars agree that films are useful tools that can be used to unveil the realities of varied societies. This is evidenced by John Singleton in the film Boys N the Hood where he offers an important account of real experiences of the black community, and, particular, black males who reside in the poverty-ravaged South Los Angeles neighborhood. The core of this film is an interaction and relationship between three black males and through them, the audience can view with clarity the reality of racism, indifference, increasing disintegration of the black community and rampant violence. This film, when examined on ...

Barack Hussein Obama serves as the president of the United States of America. Obama is notable because he is the first African-American to be elected to be president. In a country with a history of racial prejudice and a struggle to progress to inclusivity after the banning of slave trade, Obama is a representation of the growth of this nation. Obama is notable for his mixed race identity, and lack of a particular ethnicity; factors which he has embraced and use to work his way to being accepted in the American diversity. Focusing on the first primary identity of ...

“Poor single mother on welfare tell me how you did it?” rings the famous lyric of the late Rapper-Activist Tupac Amaru Shakur. The son of a former Black Panther, this ode to his mother provides a glimpse into the conundrum of surviving in the wake of being poor and black on public assistance. What Shakur unknowingly reveals is the image of welfare in a more empathetic and realistic way that illuminates instead of ignoring the lived realities of its recipients. While Shakur’s lyric is compassionate in it’s depiction, conservative lawmakers are less considerate in their elucidation of ...

The article, Equality Still Elusive 50 Years after Civil Rights Act by Richard Wolf, describes the current situation of racial discrimination in America. The fight for civil rights began during the slave trade era, with various laws and policies coming up over the years. The inclusion of Civil Rights Act in 1964 was a key feature in the change of segregation in major institutions and public facilities. It provided better opportunities for the black community across the country, especially in the south. According to Wolf, the act is yet to integrate into the society as per various polls conducted ...

Racism and Classism

Introduction Environmental crisis may be defined as a current state of our surroundings which is constantly being subjected to unnecessary elements such as air pollution, water pollution, global warming, soil erosion, natural disasters, depletion and exploitation of resources etc. The definition of environmental crisis has been ever-changing with time depending upon the changing face of man’s inflictions on the environment in every stage of history. From satisfying basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, to uplifting of living standards in the name of technology, advancement and sustenance, man has always turned to his environment in almost every ...

Television has profoundly influenced the understanding of pop culture and people’s intellectual development in the sense that it takes other powerful texts that have to be read, that has to be interpreted, and that has to be consumed. This self-understanding to ascertain degree both shaped by and articulated against the images, ideas, and ideologies on television, as they enable an on sight and site negotiation of black identity. The evolution of television along with the evolution and influence of film, sport as well as music has coincided with the development of thepopular conception of black people in the ...

Toni Morrison uses the literal mode of magical realism in Beloved as a decolonizing agent for the post-colonial context as narrated in the story. Morrison uses both magic and realism to narrate the experiences and life of African Americans during the post-colonial period. It focuses on the experience of ex-slaves trying to rebuild their lives in the United States after being freed from slavery. Morrison also uses the narrative as a way of addressing some of the silent experiences about the African Americans under the slavery of the white man. Sethe, the protagonist in the story is from the ...

Abstract

“Song of Solomon” is the third novel written by Toni Morrison and is a very remarkable and rich piece of fiction. Its power lies not only in the representation of African Americans century but also the author’s insistence on the necessity of healing the alienated and broken protagonist, Milkman Dead. His journey to the recognition of the cultural past can be viewed in the context of the mythic quest, as he follows it, first for gold, and then for knowledge about his ancestry. Significantly, in the novel, the writer employs classical myths, specifically that of Icarus and the ...

If one delves deep into the course of human history, it would be understandable that the forms of human communication have been developed and transformed over the ages. While verbal communication has come to become the widely accepted and used form of communication among people of the society, kinesics or body language holds a place of paramount importance when it comes to communicating as well. Often it has been seen that the nonverbal form of communication are used for subversive actions by people so as to register strong protest. Now, it needs to be noted that such body language ...

Introduction

For many years, the American racial problem has seen discrimination in various aspects which lead to underdevelopment among the black community. Racial segregation has seen discrimination of the African-Americans within the society which increasingly leads to harassments and mistreatments to the people. The issue needs to considered as important to the society due it magnitude and effects on the people and their lives. Racism has resulted to the rise of activists and nationalists looking to fight for the rights of the black people. Initially, the black community was not considered as a voter population in the United States thus ...

Summary- Tar Baby (Toni Morrison)

The novel Tar Baby, by Toni Morrison, explains the story of the extremely debatable quandary of the racially separated African-Americans in America and the inherent practice of social discrimination inflicted on then due to racial prejudice. The novel uses the character of the Protagonist, Jadine, who faces the communal allegations of betraying her own race because she abandoned her real culture and gave up her racial heritage to pursue her dreams. This reflective summary of the novel focuses on the part (pages 231-275) where Valerian (the white owner of entire household and master of all the blacks) realizes about ...

In this chapter, the author gives an accurate definition of the black sociology as the study of structure and functioning of the black community (249). This study encompasses values, groups and race relations among black people. The centrality of this study cannot be gainsaid because it focuses on understanding the black community in order to raise their voices and values. I believe that the chapter has highlighted the conditions that characterized the lives of black people. These people lived in ghettos in which they experienced poverty and isolation. Black people had little or no voice, leading to the struggle ...

Advertisement can be defined as a form of marketing communication that is used to sell or promote a brand. David Morse wrote “Multicultural Intelligence” which explains the 8 rules of multicultural marketing. The rules include boosting your MQ, dividing and conquering, not trusting the experts, don’t allow the joke to be on you, don’t get lost in the translation, make up don’t cover up, market on a wink and prayer, push their buttons (Morse, 2009). The black community is one of the most influential advertising target in the United States. The last census reported a growing ...

I agree with you that Malcolm X knew a life full of hardships but he did not want any of the hardship, or past experiences get in his way of being an influential and valued member of the society. This man was an idealistic believer of social change especially at the time when the black people were experiencing unfair treatment as members of the community. He decided to stand up for himself and the rest of the community and advocate for the rights of the black community. He was significantly influenced by those who came before him including his ...

Beyond doubt, D.W. Griffith is one of the stalwarts in the domain of cinema who has left an immortal mark in the minds of the film critics and the audience with his seminal works of art that have been deemed to be among the best the medium of art has ever seen. The primary importance of Griffith’s cinematic works lies in the use of innovative filmic techniques that went on to define the language of cinema in the future years. A close scrutiny of the films like The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916) would enable ...

Part A

Financial literacy is influenced by various elements among different races. Select structural reasons cause these inequities that cause economic disparities. Oppression, discrimination and inequality play a critical role in how various races are financially literate. Blacks, Spanish and whites do not have the equal distribution of literacy in finance. The factors are significantly influenced by several social-economic variables in the outcomes (Ciment, 2006). These variables include; education access, income levels, empowerment of individuals and prevailing social-cultural perspectives. These factors are under the structural elements discussed above, and as addressed by community invention project. The community intervention project in this ...

The novel by Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, is a tale of the disputable plight of racially segregated African Americans and the underlying discrimination based on the racial prejudice and biases. The conflicts presented in the novel are portrayed in the character shades of the protagonist, Jadine, who is charged with an act of racial sedition as she pursued her dreams by abandoning her true culture and racial heritage. The novel uses the polemic viewpoints present in the character of Jadine to delineate the racial prejudice which exists at a different level of interaction within the society. Morrison’s primary ...

During the sixties, the civil right movement has spread, throughout United States, recognizing awareness everywhere in the world, as the Black Americans’ socio-political and economic revolt against the white treatment. Years after the end of slavery in United States, the status of the African Americans knew little changes, as they had no democratic rights, such as the right to vote, and they were publicly humiliated and brutalized, while the segregation still disallowed them to enter restaurants or other public spaces, despite the avid work of activists as Martin Luther King Jr. (Malcolm X “The Ballot or the Bullet”). Blacks ...

Until recently, African Americans constituted the single most predominant ethnic minority in the United States. Defined as the ‘black people who trace their ancestry to migrants from Africa who were shipped to the U.S. to work as slaves’. While the American society was once viewed as consisting of whites and blacks, this ethnic makeup has changed to a considerable degree recently. The 1990s decade witnessed a crucial shift in the ethnic composition of American society, since an increasing number of voluntary immigrants from areas outside America – such as the Caribbean Islands – began migrating to the U.S. in search of ...

In the mid-1800s, females have been subject to much pressure. While white women were seeking freedom from white male domination, black women had been struggling to gain the most basic social rights. It was the era when education began and first universities were built (Frierson and Tate 151). At that time black women existed “at the intersection of race and gender”, and this issue had been greatly challenged (Frierson and Tate 151). From the beginning of the 17th century slavery had spread all over the country (Brezina 9). While the northern part of the state gradually became slaver-free, in ...

Ethnicity and cultural identity is a major issue caused by cultural differences in our society today. Ethnic and cultural differences arise when people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds interact with each other. Culture is reflected through traditional ideas as well as values, and our response to various situations in life . Culture is deeply rooted in race and, as a result, different races have different ways of reacting to various situations such as parenting. This paper will examine the African American community in relation to our values, norms and beliefs and the role played by my immediate environment and ...

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Race Matters by Cornel West

Summary Race Matters by Cornel West is a book which peeks into the new meaning of black conservatism in America. It gives us a glimpse of how racial discrimination was defined earlier and how it is defined today in the modern world. At the beginning, the author talks about several works by famous authors who wrote about the black community. Thomas Sowell’s Race and Economics is an aggressive black intellectual conservative assault on the traditional liberal idea of blacks. The Pittsburgh Courier by George S. Schuyler and the letters of the famous Afro-American woman Zora Neal Hurston ...

Summary

Race Matters by Cornel West provides a detailed account of the African-American history within the United States. The book presents various controversies regarding the African American advancement. In chapter two and three titled The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning and The Crisis of Black Leadership respectively, West discusses racial reasoning, its effect on African American leadership as well as how it reflects on the entire black community. According to West, racial reasoning is a concept that is based on the belief that for the struggle for equality to be effective, blacks have to speak with one voice and concentrate on ...

Human communication in the society can take the strongest form if a person involves kinesics along with the spoken language. The physical domain of existence provides the scope to the individual to use verbal and non-verbal communication in unison to communicate some idea or matter. Now, the physical attributes that are used in such communication can very well be subversive in nature. One needs to delve into the matter in context to explore how the physical gestures work as symbols of subversion in various situations so as to accentuate the vehemence of opinion and expression by the individual engaging ...

Various authors attempt to discuss issues that affect the race, religion, culture, politics and other elements experienced in the survival of human beings. ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ by W. E. B Du Bois talks about the burden and prejudice that the people from the Black community experience. The book focuses on the celebrations and reflection of the Black experience in just fourteen essays. Du Bois considers the political, religious, racial, economic, and cultural implications in the Black society. The Black community has continuously faced racial discrimination issues for a very long time. Du Bois expresses the tribulation the ...

Historians make history

There is a common perception that history is not truth. Even though it forms the base of our knowledge about the world, History is nonetheless only a version of events. It is shaped by the perspectives and interpretations of the individuals who recorded it. Prominent examples exist that give credence to this fact. For example, in Ed Baptist’s Book “The Half Has Never Been Told”, He argues that the increase in America’s economic output in the 19th century was mainly due to black worker’s innovations in the cotton fields. However, critics have strongly disagreed claiming that ...