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Naomi Long Madgett Analysis

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MAIYA: Hello and Good morning to all our fellow listeners, I hope you are having a wonderful morning! Today we have a special guest who is a renowned poetry expert, Leila Vailepa who is here to discuss the poetry of Naomi Long Madgett, a popular civil rights poet. Her notorious poem ‘Midway’ written in 1959 explores the discrimination of the African American Negroes am I correct? LEILA: Good morning Maiya, it’s an honour to be here today and yes that is correct! ‘Midway’ is most definitely about how the African American Negroes were discriminated during the 1950s. MAIYA: Sounds very interesting! So Leila, tell us more about Madgett. LEILA: Madgett was born on July 5th 1923 and was the daughter of a Baptist minister and spent most her childhood …show more content…

In that era it was extremely unfair and the Negroes faced many disadvantages. They were at the bottom of the social ladder, they could not vote, they were under paid, they had to go to integrated schools which were extremely poor, had to walk on one side of the road, had designated water fountains, the list could honestly go on and on. MAIYA: The white seemed very harsh towards the Negroes. Does madgett write about these injustices? LEILA: Oh indeed she does, nearly every single book she has published explores the lives of the Negroes. ‘Midway’ shows the brutality of the hardships they faced and how they fought for freedom. MAIYA: What attitudes does Madgett create throughout this poem? LEILA: Now obviously the poem is written from an African Americans point of view. So in this poem we get a sense of determination and freedom for example madgett writes, ‘I've come this far to freedom and I won't turn back’. It portrays how the African Americans have laboured for the majority of their lives and how the movement towards freedom has begun and that there is no turning back. The poem expresses the courage that the Negroes have and how they stand up for their morals, overlooking the hardships they’ve

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