Ego Tripping Poem Analysis

The famous figure from contemporary society that I have selected is Alice Walker. Alice Walker is a political activist and author made most popular by her fictional work, The Color Purple in 1982. She was born in the American south in 1944 to an impoverished family of sharecroppers. At the time of her birth, America was in the middle of World War II, African Americans had not yet won their right to vote, segregation was the norm, and the roles of women generally centered around domestic and family life. Women, especially African American women rarely attended any post-secondary education or pursued work outside of their homes.

Most of her writing were based on historical Figures that she admired, such as George Washington, and she often wrote about the Revolutionary war and shared her opinions about them. “Wheatley’s poems reflected several influences on her life. For example, the famous poets she studied, such as Alexander Pope and Thomas Gray.” As shown about Phillis wrote about topics that she felt very strongly about and who she had the utmost respect

In the poem “Ego-Tripping” by Nikki Giovanni, she normalizes her worth by continuing to royalist herself as a black woman who is essential to mankind. Giovanni creates a vision throughout the poem, which leaves a thought in mind of how woman should look at themselves with much confidence as Giovanni does. “Ego Tripping” was written by Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, Jr. who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 7, 1943. G9iovanni is a writer, poet, activist, and educator whose work was influenced during the Black Power Movements and the Civil Rights Movement. The poem was released in 2002.

This Amendment’s goal was to make sure that every person would have rights and equal opportunities. Alice Paul’s She dedicated her time to think of others and their rights. Paul’s actions had a long lasting effect on history, and because of her, all American women now have a voice in politics. Without Alice Paul’s advocation towards the nineteenth amendment, the United States would not allow women to vote, and the nation would not have a woman candidate running for president.

Biracial and silenced: The Cultural Influences of Natasha Trethewey’s Childhood within her Poetry Natasha Trethewey, undoubtedly one of the most well-known southern modern contemporary poets often expresses her feelings of poetry, stating, “I think there is a poem out there for everyone, to be an entrance into the poetry and a relationship with it” (LeGro). Trethewey began writing as a child, and uses poetry to convey an untold story from her culture. Trethewey was born on April 26, 1966 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Her parents, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough and Eric Trethewey, were both prestigious workers in the community as a biracial couple. Trethewey’s childhood during the twentieth century was unlike any childhood during the twenty-first century.

Isabel is a thirteen-year-old African-American slave working under Madam Lockton, a dirty loyalist, in the novel Chains. Throughout Chains, Isabel changes from an intimated and gloomy young girl to a confident and proud young woman. Many events all through the book help shape Isabel’s character, but a few things were very important to Isabel’s development. Those things are reading Common Sense, realizing that Madam cannot chain her soul, and discovering that Ruth had been “sold”. Before reading the pamphlet Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Isabel kept thinking that she would never have a shot at gaining her freedom.

Throughout human history, cases of racism, segregation, and the denial of woman’s suffrage have made ubiquitous appearances in America; in simpler terms, the natural rights of African Americans and women have been ignored. In these times of injustice, two obscure American citizens, a poet and a speaker, made monumental influences on the rights that people have today. Paul Laurence Dunbar, a great African-American poet, and Susan B. Anthony, a woman’s suffrage activist, each wrote a great piece of literature that showed their struggles for equal rights. Although Dunbar’s poem, “Sympathy,” and Anthony’s speech, “After Being Convicted Of Voting In The 1872 Presidential Election,” have the same theme of having equal rights among everyone, these authors’ purpose and expression of these two texts have different aspects to it that set it

Rising Above Oppression Being different and having fear of rejection is something we all experience at some point. “Still I Rise,” a poem written by Maya Angelou in 1978, expounds the indomitable spirit of African Americans, who have risen from slavery and every kind of humiliation. In it, the writer uses the motif of the image pattern “I Rise” to illustrate the way people have overcome great obstacles and oppression with enduring pride and grace, retaliating against discrimination of races and gender, and offering hope to the readers suffering from the same ordeal. In “Still I Rise,” Angelou speaks not only for herself; in fact, the poem 's scope is not limited to one person but to all the downtrodden individuals.

In Patricia Smith's’ What It’s Like to be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t), she eliminates the use of stanzas in her poem, which makes it appear as a miniature short story to the reader. Without the stanzas, the reader is encouraged to read the poem straight through, only breaking where there is punctuation. Her powerful words keep the reader attentive and truly capture the essence of her life. She begins her poem with the line “First of all”, the F in first being the only capitalized letter in the poem. She does not use other transition words like then, next or second, which one would expect, however, with each line, she takes the reader as she transitions from childhood to womanhood for a young black girl.

The civil rights movement was a non-violent protest to renew black rights. Great Leaders fought in peace with people without using their fists. History.com states, “Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence.” First, racial segregation in the South made it hard for African Americans to live and or do much of anything in white communities. In 1955 racial segregation continued in the Southern region of America.

Lucy Terry was a person that did not take no as an answer in her fight for equal opportunity, qualifying her as a perfect candidate for the Council for Change. Lucy Terry is the first known African American woman poet, as well as argued a case in front of the Vermont Supreme Court. The case was a disagreement about some land in which she is said to have won against false accusations by Colonel Eli Bronson. Terry has also Appealed to the Governor and his council for protection against familial threats by neighbors as a given a three hour speech in front of the Board of Trustees at Williams college for the rights of her son to attend Williams College in Williamstown Massachusetts. After reading Lucy Terry’s “Bars Fight” I would have to say the

Socio-economic status of women and the lack of control over their bodies. Today in the United States women have easy access to contraceptives, however, during the Comstock Era from 1873 to 1965, women did not have the rights to contraception. In fact, they were being controlled by men. Around this time Congress is mostly made up of men and they had the control of making new laws, in this case the Comstock Law In the first wave of feminism, women’s bodies were only viewed as a vehicle to procreate.

This impacted African Americans greatly in being able to get an equal and non-segregated education. Also it was a major key to advancing as far as civil rights. The most influential act in African American, no doubt, was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act proclaimed that there could no longer be public segregation or employment discrimination dealing with race, color, sex, religion, and national origin.

Women’s Suffrage Movement If you had lived in the 1800s, would you have fought for Women’s Rights or would you have decided to be a bystander? Throughout history women have always been ruled by men. At the start of the 1800s, women would have had only one right and that was being a housewife. Although women had no rights, women later raised their voices in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

The right to vote was a major, if not the most important issue on the agenda but so was the right to property and Labor Laws. A “Government by the people for the people.” was a term that these women did not take lightly. In the state of Texas these organizations fought for the right for women to hold political office with the same stipulations as men, the right to serve on a jury. The purpose of this paper is to report on the organizations that helped set the course for Texas Women and the right to vote.