African American Essays

June Jordan’s essay entitled, “Many Rivers to Cross” talks about racism and injustice in the voice of Jordan herself.   It demonstrates her personal experiences to emphasize the reality of oppression that were prevalently being experience by most black women. The essays also contain several narration of Jordan’s life story that highlighted several instances of […]

Abraham Lincoln is known by historians today for his staunch determination to protect the Union, even if that meant using force. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that his public views on African American’s civil rights have been disputed – whether they were just a tool to protect the Union or whether he […]

After contemplating the problems that impact African Americans, I have come to understand that suicide is a major issue. This concern has become more widespread, leading to both attempted and successful suicides. Within the African American community, there is a concealed emergency in which suicide rates are on the rise. This could be attributed to […]

Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and […]

The Harlem Renaissance and its Effect on African American Literature Thesis: The literary movement during the Harlem Renaissance was a raging fire that brought about new life for the African American writer; its flame still burns today through the writings of contemporary African American writers. The Harlem Renaissance- Its Beginning and Development The Major Writers […]

The Boyz Next Door Up until the early 1990s, the decay of inner-city America largely went unnoticed by the general American public. However, the rise in popularity of gangster rap and the release of such films as New Jack City and Menace II Society drew the publics’ attention toward the largely ignored urban areas. Of […]

Many blacks contributed to the success of our country in every war that we as a people have ever fought. In order to properly thank them for their heroic effort, I as a Hispanic Caucasian must give credit where credit is due. In order to properly do so, I must begin with the contributions of […]

All three anti-racial activists share similar aspects on the way they view their community, but also have several differences on how they react towards it. From same backgrounds, different time periods, and different places of the United States, they each shared one major quality. They wanted to be heard and stand up for what was […]

In Berry by Langston Hughes, Milberry Jones is crippled by his race. For example, Berry is taken advantage of by being paid less. When Berry arrives by train at Dr. Renfield’s Summer Home for Crippled Children, Mrs. Osborn, the housekeeper at the Home, discusses Berry’s pay with Dr. Renfield, the doctor of the Home. Mrs. […]

The Identity of African American Men: How has it been displayed in the Media; negatively or positively? “No metaphor can capture completely the complexity of ethnic dynamics in the U. S. ‘Melting pot’ ignores the persistence and reconfiguration of the ethnicity over the generations. ‘Mosaic,’ much more apt for pluralistic societies such as Kenya or […]

Within African cultures, there is a common perception regarding the connection between humans and the spiritual realm. This perception emphasizes a deeply personal interaction. In the wider African spiritual sphere, individuals are believed to be constantly influenced by other individuals, their ancestors, minor deities, the Creator, and different natural forces. The belief in an interactive […]

Growing up during a time of widespread discrimination against African Americans, Jessie Adams fought hard for equality despite enduring years of injustice. She witnessed firsthand the denial of basic rights such as sitting at the front of a bus or eating at a lunch counter in the South. However, she found ways to move past […]

The film Ethnic Notions is a great and interesting documentary film that directed by Marlon Riggs. The film describes the history of anti-Black stereotypes and portrays various culture characteristics of African-Americans. In addition, it demonstrates different ways that African-Americans were presented during the nineteenth century. They were depicted as ugly, rude and inferior on the […]

Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys opens with explaining what genocide is, the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group (p. 1). The author, Jawanza KunJufu (2005), has been challenged many times in debates and by the media with the use of the […]

We four in Paris is a perfect example of using cubism as a school of art. Palmer Hayden used bold shapes such as squares, and circles, when drawing the characters faces, and bodies. Like many cubism painters, he used browns, blacks, reds, and dark oranges. The painting is of men playing a card game around […]

African American Theater started out, hundreds of years ago, as a foundation of amusement for the black community. The theater was a place where African Americans, equally men and women, could work, study, and perfect their expertise. The beginning of African American theater set in motion back in the 1830’s, and it eventually became one […]

Even after the Civil War was over African Americans were not treated as citizens. There were so many different types of limitations, which went along with their freedom. For instance, there were social limitations, political limitations and also economic limitations. When Black Codes were crated that was the beginning of all the different limitations. Some […]

Comparing Half Caste and No Problem   In the poem “half cast” John Agard explores the theme of racism through vernacular dialect in the repeated refrain “explain yuself” the word “yuself” uses Caribbean dialect to demonstrate Agard’s origins, the use of Caribbean dialect portrays Agard being proud of his mother country. The effect of this […]

In the Declaration of Independence of 1776 it was declared that ‘all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’. In 1791 the Bill of Rights reinforced this and stated that all men have equal rights and […]

Assessment Tanglewood prides itself on encouragement of diversity in the workplace. All hiring and promotion decisions should be made on the basis of character and quality of work. The ensuing lawsuit brings about a need to analyze Tanglewood’s selection strategies to ensure these practices are not hindering the promotion of diversity. In order to do […]

The front page of Freedom’s Journal, the first African American-owned newspaper, declared a desire to advocate for themselves after being spoken for by others for far too long. The publication, which emerged in 1827 in New York City and was produced by a group of free African American men, served as a response to racist […]

In comparison with the European urban heritage, which stretches back roughly 5500 years, the American transformation from village to city was achieved in an amazingly short space of time. From the eighteenth century on, Americans experienced the painful yet rewarding metamorphosis of an agrarian nation becoming an urban industrial giant that left few of her […]