Sample answers for Topic 2:
shorter, more focused essay on personal choice of topic

The Double Minority

            The plight of the African American has been an always arduous one from the initial days spent in bondage as American slaves to the days of the Civil Rights Movement when African Americans fought for the rights which had still not been awarded to them since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. As painstaking as this journey has no doubt been for the African American man, I am of the opinion that the African American woman’s voyage has been twice as devastating and that she has been afforded even less opportunity than have African American males simply because, not only is she black – she is also a woman, and therefore suffers as a sort of “double minority,” to borrow from course objective 2a.

            One way in which the African American woman suffers more greatly than the African American man is that, during times of slavery, her children are usually taken from her shortly after birth. No doubt an African American male slave may be torn apart over being parted from his newborn child, but because slaves were not legally able to marry, often times a man might not even be aware that he had a child. Additionally, because men do not give birth to children, they have not carried the child with them for months during pregnancy and have not become attached to the child. Men also lack the natural maternal bond that most women posses toward their children, which would make it extremely devastating for any woman to be viciously separated from her child. Furthermore, often times, slaveholders were the fathers of a slave woman’s child, and thus suffered in no way by the child being sent away, but often preferred it. Frederick Douglass explains in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass how he was separated from his mother at birth in the following passage: “My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom in the part of Maryland from which I ran away to part children from their mothers at a very early age. . . For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.” We see that because Douglass’ mother was forced to give up her child shortly after birth, her own son has never had a normal, loving affection for her. Even more devastating is the fact that we are led to infer that over time, because of the fact that she is never allowed to see him, Douglass’ mother’s affection for her own son dwindles, which must be a horribly sad and guilty situation for any woman to be forced to contend with.

            More effectively than any work of African American minority literature read this semester, Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl describes the daily trials and tribulations faced by the African American female slave. Jacobs explains how “That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave. . . My master met me at every turn, reminding me that I belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him.” While a white woman would experience joy and envy for being blessed with a beautiful face, the black woman suffers more for it, as she is at once desired by her master and therefore hated by her mistress. So, not only must she contend with the fact that her master is constantly pursuing her, and will likely even rape her, she must also suffer to be wished dead by her jealous mistress, who is subject and likely to attack her as well.

            While Marguerite in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is not a female slave, she suffers similarly to the female slaves by being both a female and of the African American minority group. When raped by Mr. Freeman, Marguerite describes the horrible event, “Then there was the pain. A breaking and entering when even the senses are torn apart. The act of rape on an eight-year-old body is a matter of the needle giving because the camel can’t. The child gives, because the body can, and the mind of the violator cannot.” At the young age of eight years, Marguerite is exposed to a full grown man who rapes her because of her mother’s neglect and poor decisions. Since Marguerite’s mother is also a black female, she too has suffered the plight of the African American woman. She has suffered from the restrictions placed upon black women, has spent much time in bars and night clubs for lack of exposure to better opportunities, but she is ultimately responsible for prematurely exposing her daughter to the realities of life for the black female by leaving her alone with Mr. Freeman. It is almost as though Marguerite never stood a chance at having a normal life simply because of the circumstances that surrounded her because she is a black female. [RF]

A Vicarious Experience

     As I read Objective 5a, “To discover the power of poetry and fiction to help “others” hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience, I knew this was my topic.  As I read the assigned poetry reading, heard the presentations and listened to class discussions and input, I gained a different perspective of the life of an African American.  Before, I was an outsider looking in, but while reading the poems I felt as if I was right there.  The three poems most powerful to me were, Blonde White Women, by Patricia Smith, Song No. 3, by Sonia Sanchez, and Hanging Fire, by Audre Lorde. 

      In Blonde White Women, the poem takes hold of me from the very beginning. The line, “I flip through my Ebony”, immediately puts me there with her on the morning train.  I myself, also, look through magazines at all the products for women.  But this is where relating to the poem stops.  As she describes skinny pink fingers that shiver under her scrutiny, I find that I have no experiences in my life that can recount to this.  My heart filled with pain as the poet described rubbing pink crayons across her hand until her skin broke.  I had to catch my breath as I could see the litter girl with her daddy’s white shirt on her head.  Again, I am naïve to the fact that African American females strive to this level to be white. 

     In Song No. 3, the poem attempts to talk directly to me; however I choose to try and place myself in the character of the African American girl.  The girl is defiant as if to protect herself from the rejection of the dominant culture because of her differences.  Another student wrote, “The author directly relates to class objective 5a.  She forces the reader to share in the minority experience by pointing out how she and other minorities are different from the dominant culture.  Not only does she see herself as different from others, but she sees herself as ugly.  However, her tone changes at the end of the poem during the last two lines.  She hopes that one day others will see her as a “pretty little black girl.” [KM] 

     In Hanging Fire, a fourteen year old girl struggles with adolescence and becoming an adult.  I myself have been a 14 year old girl and struggled with boys and clothes and braces.  Yet, this is another poem where it does not relate to me and I can only learn something about the African American culture through this poem.  When we read the line “how come my knees are always so ashy”, the class discussion of dry skin and the ashy color of it for African Americans that followed was significant to me.  I did not have to contend with ashy skin, but at 14, girls are very self-conscious and any flaws what-so-ever are magnified at this age. 

     In these three poems, as I related them to my life experiences, I found that it is naïve to do so.  My personal, day to day living is so different that the two cannot compare.  An African American has the normal struggles as any other person as well as the color of skin challenge.  [SB]

A Reality Check for the Dominant Culture

So far throughout this semester, I have truly been amazed at how I have lived within the dominant culture and was somehow so oblivious to the minority culture around me.  I, along with many other people, have brushed over the issues dealing with dominant/minority culture and said, “let’s just all be Americans.”  I think that I have tried to trick myself into thinking that there was not a true dominant culture.  Previously, I thought that a minority was just someone who was outnumbered.  I now see, that it is not the numbers that are important, because many immigrants, who are outnumbered, move to the country, yet they can easily blend into the dominant culture. The mindset that the entire country runs on is what is important.  Unfortunately, this mindset can be exclusive, disabling minorities to participate.  The literature that I have read so far this semester has made me carefully analyze the minority culture in contrast to the dominant one and see the lack of opportunities that exist.

In the poem that was read in class called, “Election Time,” there are some key lines that helped me see this issue.  The author writes, “Names will change/faces will change/ but not much else/ the President will still be white” (“Election Time,” lines 1-4).  These lines helped me see how the country really has been geared to a white, dominant culture.  The Declaration of Independence helped establish and make the dominant culture, and it set up the dominant culture to be white, wealthy landowners. Dr. Martin Luther King quotes this political document in his Dream speech when he says, he “[has] a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - - we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  Yet, the Declaration of Independence denies this same equality to the “the merciless Indian Savages” and offers no sympathy in taking away their land.   

The Declaration of Independence was written to favor certain people groups, which in America has left minorities with certain setbacks.  We see these setbacks in I Know why the Caged Bird Sings. In this account Maya spends some time fuming about the opinions that the speaker has given during graduation.  She says that the white man “had decided that if [her] brother wanted to become a lawyer, he had to first pay penance for his skin by picking cotton and hoeing corn and studying correspondence books at night for twenty years” (179).  Here we see the color code at work. In Objective 1d, “The Color Code” states that “Literature represents the extremely sensitive subject of skin color infrequently or indirectly.”  We see this in Maya’s thoughts and how her brother cannot become what he wants until he “first [pays] penance for his skin.”  We also see these setbacks when Douglass finally gets freedom in escaping to the North.  He writes, “such was the strength of prejudice against color, among the white caulkers that they refused to work with me” (The Classic Slave Narratives, 325). Even Momma, a successful African American business owner is faced with these setbacks.  She cannot take Maya to the white dentist because he refuses to server African Americans, even though she had lent him money during the depression. 

The authorities set up by the dominant culture also play a different role with minorities than they do for the dominant society.  Objective 2c asks the question, “Does the law make things better or worse” for the minority.  It is pretty obvious that the authorities placed over minorities do not make their lives better.  With Frederick Douglass we see all of the negative authorities placed over his life.  Though he had many mean slave owners, Mrs. Auld’s story sticks with me because he writes that “slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of her heavenly qualities.  Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness”(The Classic Slave Narratives 277).   Though she desired to teach him at first, her kindness melted into meanness. We see the authorities corruption towards minorities here as well as in Black Girl Lost, when the police men refer to her and Chink as “no better than a couple of [darn] animals, the way they act” (Black Girl Lost, 63). 

 I think Langston Hughes’ poem, “A Dream Deferred,” references these ideas well.  He writes, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?”  Here, he is commenting on the allusiveness of the dominant culture for minorities. Their longing for equality has been so long awaited it has the possibility of just shriveling up.  Even so, the hope that one-day equality will be achieved for all people in America will still persist. 

I think if I was teaching these materials I would incorporate Mr. Luther King JR’s dream speech and this Langston Hughes poem.  I would try to challenge the young adults (high school) students to think about how the American dream is truly a dream deferred to the African American people.  The biggest thing that I would want to show students is that racism today still exists.  Perhaps it is not as big and loud as in years past, but it is still showing up, just in a different form. [KR]

Topic 2: Minority women

            One topic that continually grabs my attention is the difference between the way minority women express their battle for equality versus the way men do so. I think this would be a nice addition to Objective 2. In Donald Goings Black Girl Lost Sandra and Chink, although fighting the same battle, experience two different kinds of struggle. Chink is faced with the financial aspects of the Dream. He sells drugs in order to find financial freedom and therefore breaks the law of the dominant culture.  When he is arrested the book mentions the black officer’s pity for boy because he knows he is just trying to feed himself. This seems to be the struggle for the minority male. In Fredrick Douglas’ narratives, the struggle is the slightly different but the objective is still very similar to Chinks. He fights to get to the North where he knows he will have a better chance at making money for the trade he has learned. He also breaks the laws of the dominant culture to accomplish the Dream.

However, the women seem to fight a different battle. Both in Black Girl Lost and Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl the women’s battle is portrayed as one against their own bodies. Sandra is attacked at the beginning by a stranger, in the middle by a friend, and in the end by two more strangers.

Linda talks extensively and repeatedly about the curse of not just being black but being a black woman. This is the essence of Objective 4: women are a double minority but it should be extended to include the internalization of this factor by the women involved. Several of the women we have read about, including Sonia Sanchez’s “Song #3”, talk about their skin betraying them and their black features keeping them from excelling in society. The men we have read about do not express their frustration in this way. There battle tends to be externalized. The men fight other men, the laws, and behaviors while women focus their frustration on their aesthetics. They compare themselves with white women to decide between what they want to see as beautiful versus what the dominant culture sees as beautiful. We have read the poetry they use to express these insecurities and feelings so I think this aspect should be studied deeper. (Objective 5) [MF]

Most of the material in this class have helped me relate to several events in my own life.  My grandparents lived in the deep woods of East Texas and became extremely close to a patient from the local mental institution.   Both of them were employed there and decided to remove this women from the only safe haven she had ever known.  Once she was relocated to my grandmother’s home, we were all very intrigued by the color of her skin.  She was an African American.

            As in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, we must have acted like those children that were constantly poking and prodding try to get a rise out of her.  “Gertie”, as we called her, would just smile and never seem to mind.  Throughout the events of Gertie’s life several similarities in our readings elude to her lifestyle. 

            One in particular would be the singing that Frederick Douglass spoke of in his narrative.  We could always hear Gertie singing, “Swing low sweet chariot coming for to carry me home.....” throughout the house.  Douglass stated that most slaves did not sing for joy, but because of sorrow.  We were never able to retrieve any information on Gertie’s family so now I am wondering if she was longing for them.  Gertie loved her church hymns so much that we decided to provide her with the last name of Chapel. 

            Another similarity would be need for any kind of affection.  I noticed similarities not only in our novels, but our poetry as well.   Most young African American women just wanted to feel loved and meaningful. Gertie was no different.  She loved nothing more than for someone to hug her.  To me this goes back to our earlier topics on the minority identity and the African American dream.  A little goes a long way.  Some have such a strong desire for affection that they have trouble differentiating between natural affection and unnatural affection.   “Finally he was quiet, and then came the nice part.  He held me so softly that I wished he wouldn’t ever let me go”(73).  In this passage from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, we see an example of this indifference.

            Throughout Gertie’s life my family ignored her identity, but accepted her for who she was when she arrived at our house.  We never degraded her, but we also never gave her a voice.  It is through my experience with her that I will forever be grateful for my dear friend, Gertrude Chapel. [TG]

Topic 2:       Reasons for Not Forgetting the Past

When studying African American literature, a question that keeps occurring in class is "why can we not just let go of the past?” This question of letting go of the past seems to have two different meanings. On one hand, the question is about forgetting the past history of slavery so the current dominant culture, living in a world where slavery is nonexistent, will no longer be accused for inhumane acts. On the contrary, the question may be a plea to forget that African Americans were ever treated unequally so that racism and discrimination can end all together.  The two meanings of this one question reveals two answers concerning assimilation and resistance from objective 4.  First, the African American race cannot fully assimilate with the dominant culture . .  . . Second, the African American culture is resisting assimilation with the dominant culture . . . .

Sure, not just African American families get the short end of the stick.  Some of the dominant culture belongs to a lower class, such as the poor white children from Caged Bird, however they still maintain a higher status than Mama and Maya and are still given the opportunity to assimilate to the dominant culture with no objections. The poor white children may have little chances such as Maya, but they probably attend a better school and live in a slightly better area, giving them access to "the American Dream".  When Fredrick Douglass worked as a carpenter, poor white men refused to work with "free" black men because "their reasons for this, as alleged, was, that if free colored carpenters were encouraged, they would soon take trade into their own hands, and the poor white men would be thrown out of employment" (412).  This situation with Douglass is still noticeable today with African Americans who are denied assimilation and forced to resist it by a vicious cycle designed by the dominant culture to keep them in a place known as the ghetto.

Sandra and Chink from Black Girl Lost are perfect example of minorities living in a free world, one in which they are supposed to be equals when the boundary between their ghetto and the suburbs of the dominant culture is clearly drawn. When Chink dies he is finally "free at last". Chink and Sandra do not have much of a chance to escape the ghetto and assimilate with the dominant culture. The families of Chink and Sandra are subjected to poverty by not being allowed the chance to become a part of "the American Dream".  When denied the "American Dream", their families are forced to live in the ghetto and work a minimum wage job where they are subjected to addiction, drugs, and illegal activity. The families of Sandra and Chink can then no longer care for their children, forcing them to care for themselves. Chink would probably not find a legal job so easily, one that pays enough to survive, because of his color and gender. Drugs become an unbeatable market for a child of the ghetto. Chink saw the only path to "the American Dream" was to sell drugs.  If Chink and Sandra would have had kids, they would have probably turned out in a similar way because in the ghetto, choices are limited, as MAC states from the 2005 midterm answers, "the absence of choice equals the absence of a dream". 

 African Americans are not offered "the American Dream". Sure, it would be nice to forget about the past and put aside the hurt and discrimination against minorities but it cannot be forgotten because it still occurs. Equal opportunities to excel in life are not offered to each member of society.  Regardless of the class, the dominant culture remains one step ahead of the African American culture because they are allowed to assimilate while the African Americans are forced to resist on account of their environment, education, and racial discrimination. [CH]

Home is nowhere and everywhere

            Whoever originated old adage, “blood is thicker than water”, evidently had no concept of what it means to be painfully ripped away from your family, involuntarily shipped to other states and be emotionally forced to create ties with strangers for survival. From Equiano to Goines, the need to have a home and family, whether ascribed or created, is a universal need for human beings. As noted by SL, Some of the similarities include the abuse of women requiring vigilante justice, the value of the family, and searching for a home. . . . [SL].  For almost every story read, there is the heart-tugging saga of children who struggle to retain ties to relatives. When that becomes impossible, new versions of alternative families are created. This survival technique does not discriminate against sex, race or class but its story is inextricably bound to those in slavery and therefore increasing found in the literature of African Americans.

            There are many reasons as to why slaves were shipped from place to place. Masters died and willed those left in service to other relatives and if there wasn’t sufficient room then they were separated. Whites at that time also felt it was necessary to maintain control of those in service and separating mothers from children created unfamiliarity with the intent of suppressing the idea of belonging. But more often than not, relatives died in response to the harsh environment and in connection with other separations, created a different concept of what home should be, such as in the case of Frederick Douglass, “My mother was dead, my grandmother lived far off, so that I seldom saw her. I had two sisters and one brother, that lived in the same house with me; but the early separation of us from our mother had well nigh blotted the fact of our relationship from our memories” (ch 5). This story is also common to Linda in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, whose mother and mistress die and then she is sold off.

            Masters often frequently shipped off slaves who offend the master, runaway and are caught, imprisoned and then sold, sometimes to more violent care takers, which is mentioned also in Harriet Jacob’s story of Uncle Benjamin. Whatever the reason slaves were separated, the separation blossomed a new concept of what home is and who family can be. In the case of Frederick Douglass, “My connection with Master Daniel was of some advantage to me. He became quite attached to me, and was a sort of protector of me” (ch 5), he tailored his affections for those who could protect him and who would be of some physical and emotional use. Linda does the same when she enters into a sexual relationship with a white lawyer in order to get her away from the sexual aspirations of her employer Dr. Flint. While these acts are survivalist in nature, not like the close emotional bonds of family, they are re-shaped homes with loose bonds with which to belong and therefore creating some type of protection that comes with having a home.

            As the years grew and slavery was abolished the oppression associate with race continued to plaque those persons of color. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya was separated from her Grandmother by her Grandmother in order that her brother escape the violent physical assaults that were frequently committed by white men against blacks. Although she had a mother and father she was closest to her Grandmother, uncle Willy and brother Bailey. At one point in time, Maya made a temporary family with homeless juveniles in order to survive on the streets as long as possible to avoid her father. Her brother also found solace in new found friends which led him to leave home at a young age. Even though he had his sister, moving from place to place had forever impaired Bailey’s ability to establish and maintain familial connections. Once he had grown apart from his family, he now felt it was time to make a home according to his standards with new people. So while, he wasn’t forced to make connections with others in order to survive, because his mother was taking care of him, he struggled to find his place by connecting with other like minded youngsters. The same can be said of Sandra in Black Girl Lost.  Sandra’s had a home in the sense of shelter but not safety. Her mother was abusive and this forced Sandra to connect to others for survival. In response to her emotional need for closeness, she fell in love with Chink who was performing the best when it came to survival, albeit, illegally. Not only did her provide her with the material means to live a better life but he also provided her with a new home, physically and emotionally that was safe for her.

            When I think of home, I think of it as my safe haven, not a place I want tainted and violated. Basically, home should be a safety zone where one can be emotionally and physically nourished. When the nuclear family experiences a breakdown, whether it is through involuntary separation or dysfunctional, a new alternative family and home emerges. Whether it is with distant relatives or new found friends, the concept of home becomes redesigned, reorganized and reattached at the choice of the individual. Perhaps the old adage that home is where you make it may be more appropriate to describe the adaptations that African Americans have had to make through the years. [VK]

Topic 2

I chose to take American Minority Literature because of the important truths that the class can potentially reveal.  I have learned a great deal about the slaves of Africa and the deplorable conditions the whites forced them to abide by.  An excerpt from the Life of Frederick Douglass was particularly graphic.  “Now it was starvation, causing us to eat our own flesh; -- now we were contending with the waves, and were drowned; --now we were overtaken, and torn to pieces by the fangs of the terrible bloodhound” (405).  The stories about kidnappings and tearing apart of families is monstrous to say the least.  I have also learned that there is more to “the Dream” than I had once believed.  I always believed that we all inherently want and now have the same opportunities.  I had not approached the idea from an African American point of view.  Because I am part of the majority class and although I did not personally participate in the sins of my ancestors, I cannot deny that they occurred. 

One of the recurring themes of this course and the texts so far is Objective 3, “To compare and contrast the dominant ‘American Dream’ narrative – which involves voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and individuals or nuclear families—with alternative narratives of American minorities, which involve involuntary participation, connecting to the past, and traditional, extended, or alternative families.”  I find the concept of “The Dream” and “The American Dream” a wonderful concept but somewhat flawed.

In reviewing previous assignments for this course, I came across one from 2005 that I found thought provoking.  “This is not just an issue for African Americans; many of us can relate to this” (JJ).  This statement provided the basis for my area of interest that I feel would be beneficial for future classes.  The essay referred to African Americans not being able to achieve the “American Dream” and compared this to teenagers.  While teenagers are not my area of interest, I feel the author certainly brought a valid point to light.

While the majority has always had the right to pursue life, liberty, and justice, it is not always feasible.  A friend of mine recently applied for federal aid for school and the institution denied benefits because he does not have children and he is a single white male.  Recently, I went to an apartment complex to seek residence and was treated poorly and discouraged from renting a unit because of my whiteness.  At what point did society decide that redirection of discrimination is tolerable?  Have the minority decided that it is appropriate to continue this war amongst the races rather than accepting each other?  If we are all Americans, why is it that we cannot treat each other with the dignity and the respect we all deserve?  These are common questions asked by many of the majority.  Just as we cannot assume that the entire majority are responsible for the discrimination, we also cannot assume that the entire minority is responsible either.

I have often heard individuals claim that it is easier to be white.  I cannot speak for other individuals nor will I claim to have a deep understanding of their ancestry.  However, I find that it is simply hard to be a human being despite our origin or class membership and that we all meet challenges.  People that are of a different color, size, gender, and sexual preference from that of what our society deems acceptable and beautiful become the minority.  I feel that these people also have a story to tell.  I feel that for the purposes of this class and for the purposes of discussion and learning, we should explore all sides. 

The dreams we have studied are for some unattainable.  We have the opportunities that individuals of the past did not, but it is important to remember that having the opportunity does not mean having the means.  If you are without means, are you without opportunity?  If you are without opportunity then you are outside of the “American Dream”.  Therefore, I feel it would be beneficial to clarify these gray areas and frankly to discuss the reality of today’s society.  In addition, we should acknowledge the advancements made towards closing the gap between the “American Dream” and “The Dream”.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the texts.  However, I found Black Girl Lost to be quite emotional and fascinating.  I was not able to put the book down and although it centered towards a young black girl and the hardships she endured, I felt that it is applicable to any race. The following quote particularly touched me, “’Don’t worry, Daddy,’ they heard her say in a husky whisper. ‘You’re free now, honey. They’ll never lock you up again’” (Goines 183).   I do think it would be beneficial to incorporate current texts on this subject to demonstrate a progression over time in American Minority Literature.  King and his ability to see beyond color and beyond differences mesmerized me. I share his dream, and with this class, I am closer to fulfilling it.

Martin Luther King wrote, “…when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last.  Thank God Almighty, we are free at last”.

[JM]

Topic 2

Limited Respect

            The Declaration of Independence documents the “American Dream”:  the “unalienable right” to choose.  As a document it is the voice of the people.  Dr. King’s Dream speech declared that the Declaration of Independence was, for minorities, a “promissory note […] marked ‘insufficient funds.’”  If voice equals choice then it logically follows that voiceless equals choiceless.  In this course we have focused on the extreme lack of voice and the journey toward finding a voice: Douglass’ need and determination to learn to read, Marguerite’s loss of voice after her rape and Sandra’s initial lack of voice due to her poverty.  But, there is also a subcategory forgotten among the extremes in the freedom argument: limited voice equals limited choice. In the background of the texts there are African American characters who have found a limited voice.  While they are considered to be successes among their community they still limited by the prejudices of the dominant culture.

            In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou describes several people as influential in the black community of Stamps, Arkansas, including Momma.  Momma was described as “[…] the only Negroe woman in Stamps referred to once as Mrs.” (39).  She was a landlord to white people even if they were only “powhitetrash.”  She was a businesswoman and able to support herself.  While in her community on the wrong side of the tracks, she was respected.  In the white community though, her voice was limited, as was her choice.  She had limited respect. When Marguerite’s teeth needed to be pulled Momma tried to broker her limited standing in the community into a kindness on Doctor Lincoln’s part, only to find that her limited voice did not extend that far (159-60).  Because her voice is limited by the society in which she lives Momma can only partially partake of the “American Dream.”

            Donald Goine’s Black Girl Lost also contains characters whose voice is limited.  The black officers who arrest Sandra and Chink at the school must have white officers with them.  They are not fully trusted by society even though they are moderately successful within it.  Even though it is a black officer who initiates the arrest, it is obvious that the white officers are in control of the actual procedure (63).  Later in the novel, Detectives Fisher and Horner are pursuing Chink after his escape.  The white detective, Fisher, is portrayed as calling the shots.  Horner, a black man, must follow Fisher’s lead despite fatigue (146).  Horner also recognizes the lack of choices in Sandra and Chink’s lives.  He attributes his success in leaving the ghettos to a strong and caring family (165).  Even though he has gained a limited voice, Horner is still limited in where he can go from there.

            “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  Dr. King’s Dream will never be complete until limited voice becomes a fully realized voice. [PR]

Assimilation and the African American Woman

            I am interested in exploring the relationship between African American women and the role assimilation plays in their lives.  I would like to examine whether they attempt to assimilate or not, and the voices which play into their decision.  As a member of this group, I am personally affected by this very issue.  Assimilation factors into my life.  Therefore, I want to further explore this idea and ponder its place within my life and my sisters’ lives.  To help me develop this topic, I will rely upon works from Safiya Henderson-Holmes, Sonia Sanchez, Lucille Clifton and Maya Angelou. 

            Objective 1c considers the “alternative identities and literary strategies” minorities employ.  I would like to extend their strategies to African American woman and her writings.  Firstly, Safiya’s poem Failure of an Invention speaks against complete assimilation.  The title suggests that someone fails.  Perhaps, that someone is Safiya herself as she opens her poem with, “i am not any of the faces/ you have put on me america” (60).  Her writing is distinctly different from the dominant writing.  I think she applies this technique to underscore her disassociation from the majority.  Similarly, her tactic calls attention to her work, ensuring it receives greater consideration.  Safiya meticulously employs an alternative mode of writing to “help others hear [her] minority voice and vicariously share [her] minority experience” (Objective 5a).  Her personal language depicts her personal situation.  She is an isolated subject.  Reading Failure of an Invention leads me to question: if assimilation failed Safiya, will it fail me too?  

            Poetess Lucille Clifton also speaks to the African American womanly experience.  Her Song at Midnight turns inward and outwardly voices her private laments.  The body of her poem is directed to her “brothers” (111).  Yet, her prologue calls out to another lamenting sister, Sonia Sanchez.  By calling out to her “alternative family [she enhances] her writings and experience” (Objective 6a).  Her poem conveys the cries of many women like Lucille.  She voices the hidden cries of African American women, who cry when “among strangers” (111).  We are dissimilar, we are not the norm.  Song at Midnight voices her sorrow, my sorrow, and our sorrow.  It is our cry, the outsider’s cry. 

            The African American woman’s experience peaks in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents In the Life of A Slave Girl.  In her conclusion she writes, “The dream of my life it not yet realized” (513).  Despite freedom, she remains enslaved.  Complete assimilation is not an option, “yet, like the "Dream" narrative, they do not give up hope” [NL, Midterm 2004].  Jacobs’s life holds similarities to my own.  Like Jacobs, I will always be the minority, or dissimilar, yet I too will hold to my dream.  [AR]

Who Am I to say I Know Me.

During this course we are reading stories and narratives from brave and courageous immigrants and minorities struggling with a plethora of things in common.  The main idea that keeps shining brightly is objective four, the minority dilemma of resisting or assimilating.  When I look at this concept it is hard for me to even imagine that someone would expect for me to give up and relinquish all that I have come to know and the values I live for solely to become like everyone else.  Therefore, African American culture intrigues me because they have fought so hard to maintain their separate identity no matter the cost and keep their struggles alive and available for those who are willing to accept what has happened to them in the past.

 In general, it is safe to assume that almost, if not all, immigrants tend to assimilate more readily than the powerful group of African Americans.  It’s just how history has written the book.  The American Dream encompasses the concept that all minority groups should assimilate into the dominant culture or fail miserably at success.  The Dream though, addresses these ideas to the tee.  “I have a dream that one day this nation will live out the true meaning of its creed--… all men created equal.”  Thanks to multicultural education these different and distinct cultures that have maintained their identities and are able to be appreciated and explored by those of us who are not part of that particular group.  When I am reading African American literature it is eye opening and sometimes downright aggravating.  The Slave Narratives give the words life and meaning far beyond the black and white text.  As objective five sates, as outsiders we are able to “hear the minority voice” and “vicariously share the minority experience” through these biographies.  Black Girl Lost and I Know why the Caged Bird Sings are both prime examples of minority groups standing firm with the ideal of not becoming part of the dominant culture. 

As a Hispanic American I can’t help but wonder what life would be like had my grandmother not married a white man and assimilated with the overbearing dominant culture.  I can’t even say that I truly know who I am because everything I know is what the dominant white American culture has taught me.  I wonder if my values would be different.  What about my religious beliefs or holiday customs had my ancestors stayed true to their roots. Would I be rebellious like Sandra or like Harriett Jacobs and deal with an abusive master because that was life?

 As a future educator of literature and reading I believe that it is my job to keep the African American stories alive.  I hope to expand my students’ minds to include Minority and especially, African American writing.  It is important for our children today to realize that just because everyone doesn’t go to the same church, shop at the same designer stores, and eat the same food doesn’t mean that their way of living is wrong or below us.  We are all struggling for pride and success and those who we discriminate against only have it harder for no apparent reason at all. [MR]