Half Past Autumn Analysis

The ongoing problem of discrimination due to appearance has affected many, specifically black people. One of the most unusual things with no point or definition. This prejudice against black people has caused much unification within the United States. The lives of these black people have been severely affected, as it has affected their acts, appearances, and ways of life. As Brent Staples explains in his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” black people deal with many problems, from discrimination, and he explains these points in an orderly manner and each very thoroughly.

In “Do The Right Thing”, there are many racist stereotypes portrayed by the characters, and show destruction towards the neighborhood consisting of trash talking, police violence, and riots. This same concept is also portrayed in “The Black Power mixtape”, where many Black activists explain how African Americans fought for their rights through the help of the Black Panther Party that started in Oakland, California. Both films illustrate the struggle African Americans went through, and shows that even with all of the violence and brutality, they still had pride and power. The issues portrayed in these films are extremely important because they highlight cultural differences and problems that still go on in the world today. Racism is still very present in todays society through out all races, and police brutality is still a huge issue that may only get worse.

This exact storyline is what our children are learning to follow at such a young age. Children are not aware of gender stereotypes and objectification. Fairy tales act as almost a role model for them. Children want to lead the same lives they see in their favorite fairy tales. They start to believe they have to act according to the gender standards they see in these movies.

The year 1919 was the most horrific year in American history in terms of racial violence. David F. Krugler clearly describes the horrendous events that occurred during this year in his book 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. According to the book, "Between late 1918 and 1919, the United States recorded ten major race riots, dozens of minor, racially charged clashes, and almost 100 lynchings as white Americans tried to enforce the continued subjugation of black Americans in the postwar era" (Krugler 3). Extremely violent mob attacks and the lynching of African Americans were very common occurrences throughout the entire country with some states having more acts of violence than others. I thought Krugler's book was an incredibly informative read because it gave honest, raw details of anti-black acts of violence and was focused on various African Americans' perspectives during this critical time.

Throughout history, individuals have deliberated on social issues faced in society through their works of literature. During the 1960’s, the United States consisted of sparks of change that impacted an individual or the society. George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, constructed a document of contemporary social changes by addressing social issues, such as women’s right, race, and the media. First of all, George Romero produced a document of contemporary social changes by incorporating the women’s right. To begin with, the 1960’s was a time period that changed the life of a woman because they began rebelling for what belonged to them.

Many people listen to him and use him as a source of hope to fight against racial issues. He is a symbol to African Americans as Wapshott stated, "Africans found a particularly poignant message in King’s plea for racial tolerance and his declaration that “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” " His speech put forth the harsh realities African Americans face and wants to fight against them. King realizes that his people are wrongly treated and that they should not be put into separate schools and bathrooms just because of the color of one's skin. The beauty of King's speech is that he did not incite violence to fight against the horrible treatment of African Americans as he explained, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to

5). Since that era, the stereotypes America has labelled African Americans became a natural expectation to any person with dark skin tone. Throughout the years, Africa American appearances in mainstream films developed majorly as well as the number of independent African American filmmakers. Donald Bogle is an author of his well-known book about uncovering the five main stereotypes that African Americans have been stereotyped for years. As mentioned earlier, Birth of A Nation (1915) was the main film example Bogle explored these negative stereotypes.

“Africans in America” part IV “Judgment Day” is a PBS documentary that uses quotes, journal entries and photographs along with commentary from historians to discuss slavery in America. This documentary does a good job of relaying the anger and pain that slavery brought to America. “White people want slaves, they want us for slaves, but they will rue the day they were born.” This quote from David Walker helps set the mood and the emotions festering in the black people of America.

We start with the very important and always needed the characters of the story. The characters themselves brings out the reasons behind the identity crisis that African American faced at the time and highlights the hardship they faced as well as how importance it effected then as people in the play. The characters are the focal point that brings the play to live and shows the loss of culture and the search of who they are in the land that doesn’t

The book is a great tool used to open up hard racial conversations. Its historical accuracy makes it even more of a necessary read. Twain wrote Huck Finn to inform about racial issues through the eyes of an innocent child. Although the novel may use derogatory terms over and over again that is more of a reason as to why it should be read. Racism in America was pervasive during the time of the novel.

He talks about the history of the civil rights movement and how it had changed in the mid-1960s after the with the quote “The 1964 civil rights act and the 1965 voting rights act were, on one level, admission of guilt by American society.” (Steele 455)And mentioning the Rodney King verdict to give the effect of why and how the diversity changed. The quote is a good persuasive mechanism because it is an example of the history Steele employed to also gain his credibility with his audience and persuades them in particular because it is about the minority and the change thereof. The quote is used in his article because both groups knew they had wronged and been wronged with the admittance of and the laws passed because of it, and stating that the past is why the programs are the way they are today. Steele’s reasoning behind the use of these historical facts are to show to the people currently under the collective entitlements of how and why they were formed giving him credibility as an author, and to persuade them since he is credible to move away from the collective entitlements and to change the programs to be fair for all .

Joel Sternfeld, an American photographer best known for capturing memorial landscapes (places where something tragic occurred). Many of his photographs capture the emotions and severity of the events that occurred in these places. Sternfeld’s 1993 image Gibson Street is a prime example of an image that captures these things. In this photograph Sternfeld captures the spot where Christopher Harris was shot in 1991, and he connects this event other issues that were happening in America at the time. Through photograph’s compositional arrangement, the apparent vacancy, and the color pallet of the image, tragedies that occur in inner cities and other places of poverty are displayed.

There were too many segregated at this time and the educations. Brown v. Board of Education was even become at a point in history because there was still racism. Brown v. Board of Education was warmed people that what they have done was wrong as well as changed the way they felt about the different races and colors. The Brown v. Board of education was

In Slavery and the Making of America, James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton presented America’s slave-driven history through a series of stories that portrayed the inhumane acts that slaves suffered through. Together, the husband and wife have extensive knowledge in American studies as well as history. In fact, James Horton is considered one of the most important contemporary African-American historians. He is the current Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History as well as the director of the African American Communities Project at the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution. Along with his teaching profession, Horton was a historical consultant on various film and video productions on programs like ABC, PBS, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel.

African Americans in the early part of our history were treated extremely poorly and faced a lot of public neglect. Lynchings, public violence, and harassment haunted many colored people of that time. The Ku Klux Klan were behind most of these acts of injustice. From these events, as we progressed through history, different groups, social movements, and acts of integrity helped shape African American’s futures for the better. Within this paper I will be hitting on some key moments that impacted how colored people lived and are viewed from then to now.