Trethewey's Poem 'Miscegenation'

During the Civil War, women and slaves were the most oppressed beings in the world. African Americans were looked down upon and seen as a lesser human only because of the color of their skin. Likewise, women were looked down upon only because society said they were to be. In Desirée’s Baby, Desirée has a child, and as the child grows, Desirée notices a change in her baby that changes her entire life. She was watching her baby one day when she noticed that her baby was not of pure caucasian descent and, “the blood turned like

1920’s society offered a prominent way for blacks that look white to exploit its barrier and pass in society. Visible within Nella Larsen’s Passing, access to the regular world exists only for those who fit the criteria of white skin and white husband. Through internal conflict and characterization, the novella reveals deception slowly devours the deceitful.

Jaswinder Bolina uses his identification as Other, to describe difficulties within the writing and speaking community related to what is commonly identified as “white” English in his essay, Writing Like a White Guy.

The author establishes her ethical appeal, by providing the reader with a vivid image of how her childhood was growing up colored. She let the readers see through her eyes by providing common grounds, with people of color. Growing up in an exclusively colored town, and only seen whites occasionally, gives the author no reason to see herself as colored,

The book I read this quarter was Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood. Its Lexile level is 680. This book is about a 11-year old girl named Gloriana Hemphill, who now comprehends how much racism is a problem in her hometown in Mississippi in 1963. In this book Glory is overwhelmed with how her town is handling people who are different than they are. She realizes that her favorite local pool is closing down so colored people can’t swim with the whites. Glory becomes an activist herself and writes a letter to the newspaper lining which makes her preacher father proud. Therefore, the theme of this book is to treat everyone equally, such as when Glory’s friend Frankie from Ohio drinks out of the “colored fountain”. Also, when Glory’s sisters boyfriend that he was arrested for sitting with a “colored friend” at the white table. Finally, when Glory’s African- American maid helped her the most when it comes to maturing.

In the poem Heritage by Linda Hogan, Hogan uses the tone of the speaker to demonstrate the shame and hatred she has toward her family, but also her desire to learn about her family’s original heritage. The speaker describes each family member and how they represent their heritage. When describing each member, the speaker’s tone changes based on how she feels about them. The reader can identify the tone by Hogan’s word choices and the positive and negative outlooks on each member of the family.

“If a man, or a woman, aged twenty-one or older cannot vote… then how on earth can he be human”(Highway, 187). To be able to vote, one had to be aged twenty-one or older, however, in the case that they were Cree, they could not vote. Under the circumstances that they could not vote, Native citizens were considered not human. The act of voting has tremendous symbolic meaning in “Hearts and Flowers”; voting gives people an opportunity to convey displeasure and eagerness, happiness and unhappiness; it allows them to feel involved. Tomson Highway uses the literary technique, symbolism, as an illustration, which distinguishes humans from nonhumans. Native citizens were stripped from their rights and were considered below humans. Without knowing what their values were, let alone who the Natives were, the white people in the community forbid the Indians from voting. American poet, Maya Angelou, once said, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible”. People have become so prejudice to the point where they make judgments without proper knowledge, and as a result, this leads to harmful outcomes. In addition, if people have the proper knowledge, discrimination wouldn’t be as present as it is

1)Hurston’s opening paragraph in “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” functions as a joke that aims to lessen the stigma around discussing race in the 1920s. The phrase “extenuating circumstances” is defined as lessening the seriousness of a situation and therefore reducing any consequence that may emerge from her controversial stance. Hurston’s assertion that her “grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief” is intended to bring humor to the African American tendency to claim Native American ancestry in order to raise their social status. Her sarcastic juxtaposition of accepting her color versus colored people distancing themselves from it creates a colloquial tone that illustrates her defiance of social stigmas and norms. This biting opening paragraph intrigues the reader and allows her audience to grasp the overall purpose of the

Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter. According to Politidou, “before 1967 interracial marriages were illegal in sixteen states and children born of these unions were regarded as illegitimate” (13). One of these sixteen states was Mississippi, which the speaker indicates that there is something wrong in this place making use of a pun with the State’s name. The wrong thing was that African-descent people were treated as second-class citizens and that they did not have the same rights as white citizens in this place. Furthermore, for the population of this place an interracial marriage went against all the social precepts that were established. Consequently, the Trethewey’s

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee contains various examples of racism and prejudice throughout the novel. The story takes place in the 1930's, a period when racism was a part of everyday life. Prejudice and racism in this book are represented by acts of hate towards others because of the color of their skin. In this novel, prejudice and racism was dominantly pointed towards blacks. Acts of racism can be discreet to the point that you can easily miss them. Yet alongside those, there are conspicuous demonstrations of racism that would never happen in today's society. Lee illustrates many of these behaviors in her novel.

Everyone defines and identifies themselves in different ways. Whether it’s by our names, our religion, or our sexuality, we all have something different that make us unique and that we identify ourselves as. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” an African American woman tells the story of her daughter Dee’s long awaited visit. Upon her arrival the mother and her other daughter, Maggie, discover some drastic changes in Dee: she has changed her name to Wangero, she has also arrived with a mysterious man who calls himself Asalamalakim, and has adopted an African style of dress; all of this in an effort to depict what she sees as her heritage. During the course of her visit, Dee tries to take several items important to her family’s heritage.

This poems speaks of the author’s religion, past, and her experiences with race in America. This poem is a rarity because most of Wheatley’s poems do not explicitly mention race. This poem, however, is an exception. Wheatley’s poem states, “Some view our sable race with scornful eye, ‘Their colour is a diabolic die.’ Remember, Christians, Negro's, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.” This gives the reader a first hand look into what it was like to be an African American during the Revolutionary era. These people were viewed as a lesser race only because of the color of their skin, or as Wheatley states, the speaker’s “diabolic

In order to change history, people must learn from their mistakes. Segregation in North America has been a big issue in North America that unfortunately still happens in the world today, however, it is not as bad as it once was. In the poem “History Lesson” by Natasha Trethewey, the author uses mood, symbolism and imagery to describe the racial segregation coloured people faced in the past compared to more recent times, where equality is improved and celebrated.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of revolutionary styles of music, dance, and literature that presented the hardships and culture of African Americans. The “Trumpet Player,” by Langston Hughes portrays the theme of the therapeutic effects of music through the development of an African American trumpeter’s music. The free verse poem “Trumpet Player” epitomizes the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz through the unique use of inconsistent rhymed and unrhymed lines mixed with the use of colloquialisms.

The roles of “protector” and “protected” in stories is often tied with implications of racism, sexism or patriarchal traditions. From the white man’s burden to chivalry to motherly protection, societal and fictional stories are colored by hegemonic forces and norms. The stories Kindred and Dark Benediction complicate and reinforce these hegemonic forces involved in their means of defining of “protector” and “protected” as their protagonist protectors move through their stories and evolve in relation to their charges. In Kindred, Dana’s begins her story as a Protector fitting into the role of motherly, caring womanhood for her ward Rufus. However, the looming tension of racial hierarchies and sexual manipulation through her and Rufus’s relationship