Underground Railroad Rhetorical Devices

I will specifically focus on how modern media coverage continues to serve as a mechanism to deny African Americans personhood. This will blend into a brief critique on black conservative theory initially championed by Booker T Washington, and still present today through figures

Reverberating the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. of the Civil Rights movement, Black Lives Matter calls for further equity, attempting to deconstruct institutional racism in America. The revival of movements for black empowerment has brought back a civil unrest to the public that needs answers. The presence of racism never left America, it hid in the shadows and stayed silent for decades. For these reasons, in order to fully stop racism in America, the public must be ready to awaken itself to a reality of negligence. Silence allowed ignorance, but with the rise of social media and technology, America at large can no longer keep its eyes closed and must confront the issue at

These conflicting emotions show that while Douglass is physically free, he is still a slave to fear, insecurity, loneliness, and the looming threat of being forced back into the arms of slavery. Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and repetition to emphasize the conflict between his emotions. Frederick Douglass’s story as told by himself in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is still relevant today. The book challenges readers to see slavery as a complex issue, an issue that impacts the oppressed and the oppressor, rather than a one-dimensional issue. Douglass goes beyond the physical impacts of slavery by choosing to recognize the tortured bodies of slaves along with their tortured souls, leading him to wonder what it takes for the soul to experience freedom.

Wright portrays characters such as Olin and Pease as evil people, but also—and more chillingly—as bit players in a vast drama of hatred, fear, and oppression. An autobiography, Black Boy represents the culmination of Wright’s passionate desire to observe and reflect upon the racist world around him. Throughout the work, we see Richard observe the deleterious effects of racism not only as it affects relations between whites and blacks, but also relations among blacks themselves. Wright entitles his work Black Boy primarily for the emphasis on the word “black”: this is a story of childhood, but at every moment we are acutely aware of the color of Wright’s skin. In America, he is not merely growing up; he is growing up black.

But we continue to live and love and struggle and win. I draw on my experience or image to clarify and magnify this truth for those who must ultimately be changing the world; not for critics or librarians.11 “America is killing us” is the kernel statement made by Sonia Sanchez. It denotes her cultural awareness of the ever-present white marginalization of the black race. The perennial aim she keeps in mind is to bring home the fact that the black national feelings must be painstakingly aroused in order to establish a black-specific identity and nation. Like the poet, the dramatist must be “a creator of social values.”

As, Abraham Lincoln said: “When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” Mark Twain, in his book continually criticizes the cruelty of human beings. One of the main themes that Mark Twain worked in his novel was the cruelty involved with Slavery. The life of a slave depicts that human beings are not always as benevolent as they appear to be. Twain in this novel exhibits the perfidious ways of slavery in America by ridiculing slavery’s outlandish ways.

In a society where one’s country has the ability to enforce the seclusion of the “equal and unalienable rights” of its people based on the color of their skin is one in which change has to be demanded. Having to be constantly petrified of the idea of walking down the street due to the possibility of being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan and the constant stigmatism of the “Jim Crow Laws” provoked Martin Luther King Jr. to fight for this change. Consequently, Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and leader of the civil rights movement, impressively delivered his prominent “I Have a Dream” speech. His passion was not only noticeably demonstrated on the day he delivered his ideas, but also on the written words that can be seen today. In this work, Dr. King effectively uses the rhetorical appeal, Pathos, with his implementation of anaphora, parallelism and metaphors.

However, although the second part of the title creates immediately a sense of empathy with the idea proposed, - especially remembering that the African Americans Civil Rights movements are still fighting strongly today for rights written in the constitution in theory but unachievable in practice - a strong critical analysis should be made on the first part of the title. In fact, Zinn unveils in the worlds of the chapter a sense of struggle between the slaves and the master, giving to the reader a sense of active resistance. Similarly to a sort of Central American “lucha” against the tyrants, the slaves fought silently the system and always imagined an prayed for a better future. In addition, Zinn reports that many slaves actively excogitated a work schedule that allowed them to work only the necessary amount to avoid whipping, for doing too little, and die, for doing too much. Especially in the first part of the chapter, the author reports many stories of hopes where slaves without any doubts recall to a better future for themselves.

To show the historical truth that collective struggle is the only practical solution for African People, Morrison writes a historical novel, Beloved, which explores most oppressed period of slavery in the history of African people. The novel portrays successful development of the "black identity" in times when a black person was denied it. Morrison reveals the horror of slavery in explicit detail, elaborating upon the physical and mental abuses suffered by Sethe, Paul D, and the other Sweet Home slaves. Beloved not only speaks for the slaves whose voices were silenced, but also contributes to Morrison's critique of the aesthetics that has dominated American culture and its canon of

Where do we draw the lines between adoration and mockery, influence and appropriation, and individuality and stereotyping? Accordingly, the racial subject has always been a touchy topic to discuss, but with the lasting effects that the black minstrelsy has left in the society, we most definitely need to deal with the racial subject. Only this way can the American society move forward both as a nation and as a species, and through such efforts, only then can we ensure that such history can never repeat

Learning from our past history, how can slavery still go on today? Today, slavery takes many forms, but the slaves are treated poorly, yearn for awareness, and seek help. Naturally the slaves were treated like they were below everyone else. Malala was shot in the head because she wanted the gift of an education.(Fox 1)Additionally, freed slaves are asking for awareness.

Austin Karisny Dr. Looper English 1101 04-07-17 Theme in “Homeless”         Michael Crowley’s “Homeless” centers around him as a child living in Corbin, Kentucky. Corbin is a small town with a racist history to it’s name and not much else. The story focuses on the struggles of living in a community full of prejudice that targets anyone different. Crowley’s essay is about portraying bigotry in the appalachian mountains making it the theme: which is the purpose for writing a story to begin with.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Discrimination Essay Throughout the 19th century discrimination was a serious problem, and it has affected how people lived because it created segregation and made it difficult for people to interact with one another. Life was difficult for the colored people since they were seen as being less than the whites and were so segregated against. As said by (Bagwell, Jason “Segregation.” America Studies, 3 October 2017, Scottsburg High School), “By 1907, every southern state required segregation at: churches, schools, hotels, restaurants, and theaters.”

What is the American Dream? Many people have tried to explain the dream, or how they feel about the dream. Most try to be all patriotic and country loving like Walt Whitman... But others like Langston Hughes reveal a darker side of the dream. Whitman hears America Singing.

According to Heather Andrea Williams, an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Access to the written word, whether scriptural or political, revealed a world beyond bondage in which African Americans could imagine themselves free to think and behave as they chose” (8). This quote reflects on a classic topic utilized within slave captivity narratives. A slave captivity narrative is a variation of narrative that addresses the life of a person held in captivity who manages to find his or her way to liberation. The captivity narratives I have selected to review and compare are those of: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass which was published in 1845, and The Interesting