ipl-logo

Black Men And Public Space By Maya Angelou Analysis

694 Words3 Pages

Have you ever been affected by race in your life? Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior is an outcome of racism. Racism is a big conflict in today’s society and effect many lives. In the two stories “Champion of the Word” by Maya Angelou and “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples , race was the big social view being discussed. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. In “Champion of the World” Angelou describes play by plays of the fight and the confidence among the crowd of listeners. “I ain’t worried bout this fight. Joe’s gonna whip that cracker like it’s open season.” Joe Louis represents every African American at the time and Angelou compares his victory to their race overcoming all the horrible things that have happened to them, but then the fight changes and Louis is pinned against the ropes. The confidence of the crowd disappears. It seems as though Louis is going to lose the …show more content…

He wrote this piece to express his important opinion about the effect of racism and how he’s viewed as a man of color. He talks about his first encounter of racism when he was young man in college and was assumed to be a mugger or killer just because of skin. “It was in echo of that terrified woman’s footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I’d come into the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” I feel that the author is trying to connect to his vast audience of people who don’t understand what it is like to a black man in society. Later he contemplated that he rejected or shunned by the white race collectively as a dangerous man. “After a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Staples And Just Walk On By Frederick Douglass

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    Every individual is born with a specific culture and color. Respecting each and every person is society’s duty. Society fails in doing so by treating each individual based on their color. Society has two ways to see a person and that is black and white. Whites are given the higher position and well treatment whereas blacks are treated in an opposite way than whites.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In The Battle Royale

    526 Words  | 3 Pages

    Battle Royale Battle Royale is a short story about the life of young African American boy with outstanding academic capabilities that saw him excel in his studies in harsh colonial times. The story brings to the fore the significance of power and wealth in the society and the advantage that those with wealth and power possess over those that lack the same. From the story, it is evident that the wealthy and powerful White men had the power control the fate of the Black people in the society and did what they pleased to them even orchestrating a fight among the black men just for the sake of entertainment. Their wealth allowed them to demand savage fighting among the blacks and the one young man in the story was only able to access his scholarship

    Read More

  • Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Literary Devices

    721 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literary Devices and How They Affect the Reader “Black Men and Public Space” is an essay written by Brent Staples in which he describes his struggles in the public as a black male. Throughout this work, he uses many literary devices to make the reader sympathize with his experiences. For some, they may empathize and feel themselves in his shoes. In “Black Men and Public Space”, Staples is very descriptive and remains on subject with the issue at hand throughout the essay.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'Just Walk On By: Black Men And Public Space'

    821 Words  | 4 Pages

    I have heard countless information on racism, but it is always appalling to read it from a first person experience since I have not dealt with it on a personal level before. By providing his own personal stories, it allows the reader to be brought into his world. He leaves details that allowed me to picture him walking down a busy street with an uneasy feeling. He shares “over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal” (397) which illustrates the emotion behind racism. It must have taken a tremendous amount of will to not give into his rage.

    Read More

  • J Louis Barrow Research Paper

    1357 Words  | 6 Pages

    It is was known that Barrow’s achievements and reigns were a strong symbol that stood out to represent an African American boxer who worked out his professional career and fought for African American’s equal rights. “Joe Louis, during his reign as heavyweight champion of the world

    Read More

  • My Dungeon Shook By James Baldwin Analysis

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    “You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence”. His letter also discussed the idea of discovering one's self not through the sentiments of others, but rather through the conclusions of oneself. I feel like he is not just cautioning his nephew, but the black community in general of such society. I believe that his letter was a plea to the black community to “accept the whites with love” for “they are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand”, while in the same token, not giving in to their stereotypes of black identity like his father did.

    Read More

  • Essay On Does Race Matter

    1385 Words  | 6 Pages

    While researching this topic one may ask themselves ‘Does Race Matter?’ If the answer is no then why do we continue to see images of races outside of the White race being discriminated against, stereotyped, and destroyed in the media? The importance of this research is to see how different ethnic groups view racism and their individual experiences with them. Many times when it comes to conversations about race we tend to generalize the experience.

    Read More

  • Black Men And Public Space Rhetorical Analysis

    621 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Black Men and Public Spaces” Diagnostic Essay Brent Staples in “Black Men and Public Spaces,” illustrates the inescapable prejudices and stereotyping that African-American men face in America. He does this by relating to his audience through his personal experiences with stereotyping, and sharing his malcontent on how these events have made him alter his way of living. From “victimizing” woman, watching people lock themselves away, and having to whistle classical music to calm the nerves of people around him; Staples builds a picture to help people better sympathize and understand his frustration. Although Staples describes himself as a college graduate, a journalist, and a softy in the face of violence, he details that the overall public deems him a dangerous criminal.

    Read More

  • Champion Of The World By Maya Angelou Analysis Essay

    476 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once again, Maya Angelou manages to touch our hearts again with her poetic skills in Chapter 19 titled The Champion of the World in her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She recalls a time in her life where the African American community gathered at her grandmother's and uncle's store to hear a boxing match via radio. The boxing match was between the former champion Joe Louis and a white boxer. Maya Angelou takes the meaning of a simple boxing match into something more complex; she demonstrates the suffrage of her people fighting against oppression during that time period.

    Read More

  • Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Summary

    841 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his essay “Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples explains that people often find him intimidating because he is tall and black. Staples shares his account of a number of personal encounters, arguing that in each situation, he was misinterpreted as being dangerous because of his daunting physical appearance. Staples asserts that as a result of this misinterpretation, he was continually mistreated. Staples begins his article by describing the events leading up to his life-changing realization that he has inherited “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways (183).” When he was twenty-two years old, Staples found himself one evening, walking behind a well-dressed white woman on a deserted street in a rather wealthy neighborhood.

    Read More

  • A Girl Like Me: Race As A Social Construction

    1199 Words  | 5 Pages

    However, he states, “I have often thought of myself as having two lives: my life as a black man and my other, real life” (n.d. p. 130). I think it is the shame of society that, “A black man, if he chooses to enter mainstream society, must manipulate many contexts, must alter his appearance often and change his diction and demeanor as circumstances require” (n.d. p.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On I Have A Dream Speech

    945 Words  | 4 Pages

    He really supports this idea using rhetorical devices to further strengthen the central idea as a whole. He uses ethos as shown in this quote, “ … our bodies, full of fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities,” to persuade his audience that there should be equality by explaining how blacks have a lower quality of life as whites in this supposedly equal nation. People

    Read More

  • Racism In Brent Staples's Black Men And Public Space

    1103 Words  | 5 Pages

    Racism is a topic that has been relevant for many years though our time. Brent Staples wrote "Black Men and Public Space," published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, where he discusses how he became "familiar with the language of fear" (614). Throughout his essay, Staples uses logos, ethos, and pathos to give a reader an insight into the life of a black man in society, which effectively reaches his intended audience, but not his current day audience. Brent Staples starts talking about his "first victim" (613) picking up her pace until she was no longer able to be seen.

    Read More

  • Biographical Analysis Of Maya Angelou's 'Champion Of The World'

    291 Words  | 2 Pages

    Biographical Analysis of “Champion of the World” In “Champion of the World”, Maya Angelou tells a story of her childhood where the success of one man changed the future of her entire race. Maya Angelou, an African American woman, took a stand against racial segregation in form of her writing and words. She experienced many of the hardships that the people of her race were going through, and she knew it needed to stop.

    Read More

  • A Black Man In Public Spaces Summary

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    The time period the essay was written in was 1986; so while looking back at the history during the late 70’s & early 80’s when many of his unjust treatments were bestowed upon him. Around this time period the black people community fought through barriers in many areas to achieve the equality they rightfully deserved. Likewise with civil rights activist groups like the black panthers protesting and rallying many people thought of the black community as violent or disrespectful which would have led to the maltreatment and inequality that many black men and women faced like

    Read More

More about Black Men And Public Space By Maya Angelou Analysis

Open Document