Negro National Anthem Analysis

I was abandoned. I was surrounded by people who took away my freedom. They took me away from my family and friends.

My verbal visual essay is based on the novel The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. The aspect of the novel I decided to focus on is the protagonist, Aminata Diallo.

As kids people get taught what is wrong and right from a parental figure or experiences of life teach us how to react to different situations. When we finally turn adults no one is there to remind us of what’s good and what's bad so we have to use our past experiences and our knowledge to help guide us. Each adult shapes their societies for their generation and many more generations to come. Mohandas k. Gandhi and Susan B Anthony’s speech along with the article Selma to Montgomery March on history show that civil disobedience is a moral responsibility.

I used to go, every Thursday at 7:30 p.m., to choir rehearsal and, while there I would sing praises to God along with other choir members, It never appealed to anyone to ask about the origin of these songs and how Gospel music came to us. We just sang what we were taught to sing. Well, one day while in choir rehearsal, I decided to ask about the origin of Gospel music. My choir director shouted, “It comes from black folks’ soul.” After he said this, I decided to research more about the origin of Gospel music and found out that African Americans started it and that it is then a music that African Americans feel, experience and sing. When African Americans sing Gospel music, it comes from deep within. It comes from the soul and from experience. It is thus, this experience of Gospel music by African Americans that I will discuss

From the first day that children enter a school system, they are taught how to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and how to honor and respect their country. Good citizenship should be an integral part of our lives so that we can live harmoniously in our society. This is what patriotism should symbolize in our country. However, in the article "Understanding Black Patriotism", Michael Eric Dyson reminds us that sometimes people can take patriotism too far and we can become very critical of people in America. He suggests that black people have been misunderstood and misjudged throughout history. In extreme cases, black people can be perceived as being unpatriotic and disloyal to America.

Colorism is defined as a practice of discrimination among African Americans against other African Americans because of their skin complexion, for instance being too light or too dark. Colorism plays a large role in the low self-esteem in the African American community, from individuals, relationships, and employment. Colorism can cause psychological effects. Children are more affected because skin biased develops at a younger age. This form of racism dates to slavery and has been passed through various elements of our culture. Since the American slavery, darker skinned African Americans have always received harsher treatment than those of lighter complexion. Differences in skin color,

Throughout chapter three of The Myth of the Negro Past, Melville Herkovits writes about the African culture back before slaves were brought to the Americas. He refutes many previously thought ideas that African Americans have no past or shared culture which the myth in the title of the book. In chapter three entitled, “The African Cultural Heritage,” Herskovits argued that African Americans descended from a people with a rich series of cultural traditions (Willaims 3).

About twenty years before Francis Scott Key put pen to paper at Fort McHenry, the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise" was written – and the stories behind them are remarkable similar. Both anthems were written by young revolutionaries, in the midst of a fierce war. The Star-Spangled Banner was written in 1814 as the Americans fought against their former British rulers, and Claude de Lisle wrote "La Marseillaise" in 1792, to rally the troops in their war against the Prussian and Austrian invaders, who threatened to squash the French revolution.

Luis J. Rodriguez has written a poem called, “Race Politics”. This piece shows that the diversity between two parts of the town he grew up in and how it affected everyone. Rodriguez helps his readers learn that diversity isn’t an ‘old’ problem and that it didn’t end after the civil war, but that it still happens and it can affect people strongly. “Race Politics” can help prove that diversity is still going on and it’s still a major problem.

According to Slavery and Public History by James Olivier Horton, the collective memory of slavery in the United States has often neglected in creating a full narrative of the past. The painful and unflattering practice of slavery has been thoroughly neglected and misrepresented. Consequently, there is a divided collective memory of slavery amongst Whites and Blacks in the United States. While Black Americans remember the event with great pain, Whites do not acknowledge the harmful of effects of slavery. The effects of slavery have had a significant effects on Blacks which have translated in political, economic and social barriers. Unfortunately, due to a distorted retelling of the past has resulted in the assumption that slavery no longer affects

Music is not only used to capture peoples hearing but it is used to power peoples minds through the power of an individuals voice. Music served a critical role in the African American’s lives, as it was used to uplift their spirits as well as providing them with hope and strength to fight for civil rights and overcome segregation between white superiority and the unfair treatment of the inferior black.

Dr. king talk about a lot of hardships during this speech. The way that Dr. king showed the African Americans is by discrimination, racism and not getting any rights. For example Dr. king talks about a "Promissory note" which were suppose to give every person human rights but made them suffer more. Another example is "One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination" quoted by Dr. king. This shows that even after the "Promissory note" which is the declaration of independence they were stuck in this same place and being treated different because of their color. In conclusion the hardships that African Americans went through or suffered were racism, discrimination

In 1859 an abolitionist led a raid of 20 men to a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to supply slaves with weapons and provoke a slave rebellion (B). This man was named John Brown. Born to an evangelical Christian family, Brown deeply hated slavery and favored military tactics to abolish it (C). Viewed as a martyr in the North and a murderer in the South, he had a great impact on the abolition movement. People even today continue to debate on how to define him. Although many consider John Brown a terrorist since he led a premeditated attack on the South, he is a freedom fighter since he increased abolition support and he lived up to the revolutionary principles of America.

The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the national anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but, then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey's drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it

1857, it was a beautiful evening in the town of Boone, North Carolina. The birds were singing their beautiful songs to the harmony of the wind chimes. I had just finished picking the cotton fields. I was exhausted, sweat dripped down the side of my temple. My legs were aching; it felt as if they were going to give up and collapse. Unfortunately for me, there was another cotton field that I had to pick. If I decided not to pick it, I wouldn’t be given any food so, I found the slightest strand of strength and continued to the next field.