Writers like Zora Neal Hurston, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Dubois used their ability to write stories and poetry that expressed how they felt about what was going on in their time and how there were changes that needed to be made. Hughes sometimes talked about how African American culture should be celebrated because it is just as important as white culture or any other culture. Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston didn 't focus on racial inequality as the forefront, but it showed how African American slaves who were beaten by their owners resulted in them being abusive to others around them because that was all they knew. W.E.B. Dubois was a person who pursued social justice. He was also at the forefront of African American education.
In Hurston’s story Sweat some major themes were domestic violence and that fact that her husband was having an affair. This relates to the 21 century because recently there have been lots of cases of domestic violence. It’s not just in the African American community, it applies to all, it does apply to African Americans.
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Langston Hughes wrote about how African American culture should be celebrated like any other culture because it is just as important. In earlier times African Americans weren’t even considered people so there is no way that their culture would be celebrated. It later times when they weren’t slaves they were depicted as strange and wild creature and not so much people. So basically in that sense their culture was being denounced. When there was a show with a character that was black they would use a “blackface” which was a white man with his face painted black. The character was usually depicted as some type of savage which denounced the African Americans as a race. We celebrate the birthdays of famous African Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. We even have black history month to recognize African Americans who had a great impact on African American culture and their lives and our lives as a
The Impact of the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and cultural movement during the 1920s and the 1930s. It was sparked by a migration of nearly one million African-Americans who moved to the prospering north to escape the heavy racism in the south and to partake in a better future with better tolerance. Magazines and newspapers owned by African-Americans flourished, poets and music artists rose to their feet. An inspiration swept the people up and gave them confidence.
The Harlem Renaissance was an era when African- Americans brought their talents to Harlem at the end of World War I (Wormser). Out of that era, it brought authors, poets, and scholars (Wormser). Zora Neil Hurston came out of this era and became a well-known author. The Sweat is one of her well-known stories that demonstrated literary realism to show their everyday life and how they would talk unlike romanticism that used nature and “imagination” (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). The Sweat can be considered as a literary cannon which means a book that has been approved by culture ("A Literary Canon?") and that’s what Zora did.
In the short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston, she tells the story of a hard-working woman named Delia Jones and her abusive, cheating husband Sykes. Delia and Sykes are drastically different characters. Delia is an honest, church going woman, who cleans white people 's laundry to make ends meet and Skyes is a low-down womanizer who uses his wife 's income to support not only himself but also Bertha the woman he is having an affair with. After years of putting up with her husband 's mistreatment, Delia finally holds her ground. She defends her job with a skillet.
Through their works, the authors expressed their social and political view on the injustice within America. Famous authors such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois, and Zora Neal Hurston, made their mark within the world with the bold, self- conscious literature. Black writers subliminally provoked and challenged racial inequality to come to a
The struggle of the African American people was shown through the stories they told and wrote. An example is a story written by Langston Hughes titled, I, Too “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ Then.” (Hughes 8-14). Langston Hughes through this story communicates that he will start being seen as an equal
James Mercer Langston Hughes was the first African American to achieve national prominence, and the figure of such stature in the black community. His influence and ideas were inescapable, as he saw himself as a poet for an entire nation. Hughes role model, Walt Whitman helped to give him the ideas of the optimistic vision of America and how to achieve and accomplish some of the things he did in his life. Langston Hughes inspired many people and expressed the African American spirt and soul in his works.
Contemporary Black Biography). Hurston, like many writers, had struggled with her work. The subjects she wrote about were great, but she struggled to put them into words so the readers would understand what she was trying to get across to them about the black community and the struggles of being a woman during that time period. She would take long periods of time just sitting in her bedroom planning to figuring out the words to write with. She even did it when she was at parties.
During this rough time period, segregation was common and prohibition was recently introduced. Along with this, many other social and political issues played a role in Hurston's "Sweat." Consequently, a historical background of the early twentieth century would be ideal in order for the reader to better comprehend and appreciate the work thoroughly. In this story, Hurston writes about Delia and Syke's work lives. In the early 1900's, approximately sixty percent of African American woman and about twenty percent of men were employed (Mclaughlin).During this time period, men felt that they were vastly superior over women.
Writers and poets emerging during that time were recapturing the African-American past. Topics such as southern roots, new urban living, and African heritage were a few of their focuses. Langston Hughes was one of these poets transforming the Black image to the rest of the world. He was largely known for the raw emotions he emitted into his poems. Laced with Jazz and Blues undertones, Hughes’ poems that forced you clearly think about what he said.
In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.
The culture of most blacks was unwanted during this time. For this reason Hughes desired to make a change and illustrate such cultural identities in his poems. In doing this he caused a shift in ideas among all people. Although the change didn’t happen immediately it did eventually occur. With that said the African American people were given less of an opportunity at jobs, schooling, and most importantly culture.
Reflections: Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement Racism, killing of African Americans, evolution of music. These are all reasons why the Civil Rights Movement and the Harlem Renaissance has similar purposes. The Civil Rights Movement was lead by many activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, plus other leaders. The Harlem Renaissance had poets such as Langston Hughes and blues singers such as Louis Armstrong. Together these leaders made a difference in the way of African Americans.
During the 1900s, there were many famous authors who wrote about African Americans and Civil Rights. This was what was going on during this time period. Segregation and discrimination towards blacks was increasing. Two famous authors were Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Langston Hughes wrote the poem “I, Too, Sing America.”
Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.
The short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston takes places in Florida in the 1920s about the marriage of a black couple named Delia Jones and Sykes and how she is trapped in this marriage and is constantly being abused by her husband and uses her fears to his advantage to effect their relationship. There are many themes throughout this short story but the main one that stood out was the strong feminism. Feminism is portrayed in Sweat by the main character Delia Jones which is the breadwinner in the relationship and works as a washwoman and is stuck in a toxic marriage and has to provide for her insecure husband Sykes. Just like how Delia is not privileged due to her race and her gender in Sweat, African American women are also by the same reasons, since slavery they have struggled individually and in groups to overcome the multiple injustices that they and their communities face. The term Black feminism was not a widely used term until the Black women 's movement in the 1970s.