LITR 4332 American Minority Literature 2013 Student Midterm Samples midterm assignment #2. Long essay

Jillian Norris

The Influence of African American Literature in Modern America

African American speakers and writers are renowned for being among the most influential and largest contributing cultural group in American minority literature. While Native Americans and Mexican Americans have also heavily contributed to minority literature, African Americans are perhaps the most widely read and that can be a direct result of their dark origins in this country. These people were forcibly taken from their homelands and thrust into a new and frightening world where they were made to live and work in the most brutal conditions. A proper education was not an option for African slaves, so they were forced to assimilate to their new way of life by learning English on their own. Learning to read and write that language was a whole other challenge because it was not a skill that could be easily acquired. It is because of the challenges and obstacles that African Americans had to overcome in order to speak and write English, that they have become such an influential power in these areas of literature and language, education, as well as society as a whole.

There are many African American individuals who are viewed as influential figures in the realm of literature and language, but there are two people in particular that we studied in this course that I believe to be among the most important leaders in that genre. One of our first African American reading assignments for this course was Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass, a pioneer for African American writers. Douglass’ Narrative was a first-hand account of life as a slave in America, and is one of the most widely read pieces of minority literature. In the Narrative, Douglass focuses heavily on his education, speaking of how he first began to learn to write from his master’s wife, but was left to his own devices after she was forbidden to teach him any longer. Douglass’ dedication to obtaining literacy is made very clear in Chapter IV when he says “though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read.” The challenges that Douglass faced when learning to read and write is the perfect showcase of just how difficult it was for African Americans to obtain literacy even and how coveted a skill it was to them.

If it weren’t for men like Frederick Douglass, and their determination to read and write about their experiences as a slave, African American literature may never have exploded into the cultural phenomenon that it has become. Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Olaudah Equiano’s works have paved the way for later minority authors such as Toni Morrison so that they may use their voices to represent African American culture.

            Toni Morrison is a highly respected African American author and speaker whose published works are some of the most popular novels in contemporary minority literature. As we discussed in class, Toni Morrison is a tremendously influential individual, not just in African American culture but in American society as well. Her unique expression of language and her demeanor as a public speaker is what really sets her apart. The video interview that we watched in class clearly shows her ability to command an audience and her incredible ability to communicate her thoughts and emotions through language.

Morrison does this in her writing as well, which can be seen in her first novel The Bluest Eye. In this medium, it can easily be seen that Morrison is a master of language and the ability to use it in order to evoke certain emotions from the reader. In this novel, I believe that her intention was to allow the reader a look into the world of African American culture in the 1950’s, and also to induce the feeling of discomfort in her audience. She is very much successful in this goal in that when you finish the book you aren’t really sure how to feel about it. In fact, it took me a long time to come to terms with this book after I finished it the first time because at the end I was just left with this feeling of unsettledness that is hard to describe. It wasn’t until our class discussions that I began to realize that it was okay to be so unsettled because that was how the rest of the class felt! In the end, it is Morrison’s skills as a communicator that has allowed her to become one of the most influential African American leaders today. In fact, her level of influence is so high that President Obama contacted her during his first campaign requesting her endorsement. This shows just how much African Americans, as well as African American literature, have achieved since Douglass’ time. Now, some of the most influential people in the world are African American individuals, and it is all because of their ancestors’ determination to obtain literacy and demand equal rights.

African American influence isn’t just held in the hands of specific individuals, but it can also be seen in the public school system. As we learned in class, America is a giant melting pot of different cultures, with people coming from all different walks of life. Therefore, it is highly important that minority literature be implemented into public schools. Today, many influential African American works are being taught at the middle and high school level such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and of course The Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass. These works are important to introduce to young people so that they are better able to understand our nation’s history. The fact is that slavery happened, and young people can often times be very disconnected with that reality because they are growing up in a time in which racism is not really an issue anymore.  

However, as we have learned in class discussions, certain problems are sure to arise when teaching African American literature, particularly to young people that can make teaching the subject more challenging. For example, when introducing minority literature, students often do not have a clear understanding of the culture being discussed. Some preparatory work must be done in order to determine any misconceptions that the students may have and acknowledge any stereotypes before they are able to take in the literature with an open mind. I won’t go into a lot of detail on this topic now, because I am particularly interested in teaching minority literature in the public school setting and have decided to do my research project on it, but I wanted to discuss how influential African American literature can be in schools. In most states, it is a curriculum requirement to teach African American literature in middle and high schools, which is indicative of how important minority literature has become in our society.

Finally, African American literature is a major influence on society as a whole. From the time of the release of Douglass’ Narrative to the latest Toni Morrison novel, African American literature offers the reader the chance to vicariously experience the lives of minorities. Narrative of a Life provides us a way of understanding the lives of slaves, including master-slave relationships, the introduction of mixed race children, and the struggles and desires for freedom. Additionally, Phyllis Wheatley’s poem On Being Brought from Africa to America gives us unique insight into a little girl’s assimilation to the dominant white culture. As a child, Wheatley was essentially kidnapped and brought to America, but because she ended up with a kind family who taught her to read and introduced her to Christianity, she eventually came to see her relocation as a blessing, which can be seen in the first line of her poem when she says “'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land.” With this poem, we get to see a side of slavery that is not commonly considered in the broad scope: the idea that some slaves were grateful to be taken from their native land and brought to America. African American literature is a massively influential force in our society because it allows us to see the minority perspective and to better understand the roots of African American culture as it existed then and now.

Overall, studying African American literature in this course has been a great experience for me because it allowed me to explore in greater detail just how influential the genre has become in our society through analyzing our assigned texts and researching specific individuals that we have discussed. Early African American literature has paved the way for some of the most highly respected minority authors and speakers to come forward and use their skills in written and oral language as a way of representing African American culture, it has become such an important genre that it has earned a place in public schools, and it is used every day as a tool to share the minority experience with other cultures, and it is a genre that continues to grow every day.