LITR 5731: Seminar in
American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake,
fall 2001
Student Research Project
Jamie Grayson
Seminar in American Minority Literature: LITR 5731
Dr. Craig White
December 2001
Minority References to Flight
Night is an African juju man
Weaving a wish and a weariness together
To make two wings.
O fly away home fly away.
Do you remember Africa?
O cleave the air fly away home
My gran, he flew back to Africa,
Just spread his arms and flew away home. (Hayden)
Since the beginning of time all human beings
have had a fascination with human flight. Watching a bird soar through the air,
one cannot help but desire the same capabilities. Imagine the point of view of
the bird that flies high above the trees, among the mountains, over the ocean,
and high in the air, far away from the clamor of everyday life on the ground. To
have the freedom and power to release ones self from the tribulations
experienced with two feet on the ground, and spring up and away into the
peaceful, blue sky is a common human desire. Since ancient times, flight has
represented the opportunity to free ones self from the chains of oppression. For
example, in the Bible, Moses delivered the enslaved Israelites from Egypt and
the Lord instructed Moses to tell them, "You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself"
(Exodus 19:4). Not only does flight represent freedom from oppression, but it
has also served as a source of strength: "But those who wait on the Lord/
Shall renew their strength; / They shall mount up with/ wings like eagles"
(Isaiah 40:31).
Throughout history, Americans have grown up
admiring and desiring the many mythical figures with the ability to fly without
even having wings. Superman, with super human powers, had the ability to
circumvent the globe and save innocent people from harm with his ability to fly.
Santa and his reindeer could not possibly distribute toys to children all over
the world without the ability to fly. Peter Pan, the eternal child, lived his
life consumed in the childish pursuits and fun and he had the magical ability to
fly. However, for the minority American the desire for flight is rooted in a
great deal more than fancy and fairy tales. Flight represents more to the
minority than mastering nature or freeing ones self from the bonds of gravity.
To the minority, flight represents freedom. Freedom from the chains of
slavery, freedom from the trappings of this world, freedoms from that which may
cause them or their families harm. America, as a country, is made up of various
races and cultures even carries as its symbol of freedom the Bald Eagle.
Although there are differences in literary references to flight among
African-American, Hispanic, and American-Indian writers, the common thread among
them all is the powerful desire for freedom through flight.
To the African American, references to flight
almost always exclusively represent freedom. Whether these references are in the
form of novels, short stories, poetry, or music, the history of the African's
brought to America to serve as slaves is primarily based on the idea of freedom.
Just as it is stated in Course Objective 1a, forced participation was brought
about by the acquisition of slaves. They did not choose to leave their native
home of Africa, nor did they choose to live out their lives as slaves in a
foreign country among foreign white people who showed little compassion for
their plight. This left slaves feeling trapped and bound, spiritually, and often
times physically, therefore "flight is frequently exercised as a means of
escape for African Americans from their position of oppression in society"
(Flight). It is no wonder that the African American would cling to the hope of
breaking free, or of soaring away from the pain, fear, and horrifying lifestyle
that was common among American slaves. "Flying is associated with an
attempt to flee, an attempt to move away from the people or situations that
trouble them, sometimes even through death" (Flight). They were dependent
on their religious beliefs, finding comfort and hope in the Bible, religion, and
spirituality.
Evidence of the powerful desire for freedom
through flight is found in the autobiography of a former slave, Olaudah Equiano.
In a poem he composed, titled "Miscellaneous Verses or Reflections on the
State of My Mind," he writes:
Oft times I mus'd, and nigh despair,
While birds melodious fill'd the air.
'Thrice happy songsters, ever free!'
How blest were they compar'd to me! (147)
In Song of Solomon, a more modern work
of literature by Toni Morrison, references to flight abound. When insurance
agent Robert Smith jumped from the roof of Mercy Hospital, it marked an event:
the first black woman was admitted to that hospital when she went into labor
just outside. The expecting mother started into labor with her first son, who
would be nicknamed Milkman, when she "saw Mr. Smith emerge as promptly as
he had promised from behind the cupola, his wide blue silk wings curved forward
around his chest..."(5). Unfortunately, Mr. Smith lost his balance and
found that, even with wings, he could not fly. But, "Mr. Smith's blue silk
wings must have left their mark, because when [Milkman] discovered, at four, the
same thing Mr. Smith had learned earlier- that only birds and airplanes could
fly- he lost all interest in himself." The realization for the young
Milkman that he would "have to live without that single gift saddened him
and left his imagination so bereft that he appeared dull..."(9). But his
fascination with flying never really dies, and as a young man on a journey to
discover the truth about his heritage, he comes across a male peacock in the
parking lot of a Buick dealership. In that instance, "Milkman felt his
unrestrained joy at anything that could fly" (178). When Milkman asks his
friend Guitar why it cannot fly any better than a chicken, Guitar replies,
"'Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody
fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you
down'" (179). The meaning of these words could be compared to the situation
of the slave. They are involuntarily stripped of 'all that jewelry' and forced
to live with nothing. Perhaps this is why the legends of flying slaves are more
prevalent, than those for the free black man. According to one critic,
"...like Morrison's strutting peacock, many black Americans remain too
weighed down for flight" (Murray 131).
Milkman's first act of flying is an airplane
ride to an old town where his father's family once resided; it is his flight to
finding himself. "The airplane ride exhilarated him, encouraged illusion
and a feeling of invulnerability. High above the clouds, heavy yet light, caught
in the stillness of speed." Milkman felt immune to all the mistakes of his
past, as though they could not have ever existed. "In the air, away from
real life, he felt free, but on the ground, when he talked to Guitar just before
he left, the wings of all those other people's nightmares flapped in his face
and constrained him." Milkman is searching for freedom from his past
mistakes, from the baggage of the people in his life, and from the expectations
of his father. This first flight on an airplane grants Milkman the feeling of
freedom he has searched for all his life, at least for the short amount of time
he remains in the air in the "intricate metal become glistening bird"
(220).
Once Milkman arrives in the old town of his
father's past, Shalimar, he rests, and he dreams. "It was a warm dreamy
sleep all about flying, about sailing high over the earth. But not with arms
stretched out like airplane wings, not shot forward like Superman in a
horizontal dive, but floating, cruising, in the relaxed position of a man lying
on a couch reading a newspaper." During his journey to explore his past,
Milkman maintains that "sense of lightness and power that flying had given
him" (298). Milkman makes a discovery about his families past when he
learns that his great-grandfather, Shalimar, was infamous for his flight from
the town of his name. He simply lifted himself into the air one day, leaving
behind his wife and children, and flew.
Towards the close of Milkman's journey, he is
caught up in a conflict with his old friend, Guitar. At one point Guitar is
trying to shoot Milkman, and instead fatally shoots Pilate, Milkman's aunt and a
strong figure in Milkman's life. As her body lies on the ground at Milkman's
feet, a bird swoops down and flies off with Pilate's most treasured possession,
a homemade earring with her named enclosed inside. It is at this moment that
Milkman realizes "why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground, she
could fly" (336). As Guitar waits to take another shot, Milkman takes
action and:
Without wiping away
the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees- he leaped. As fleet
and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which
one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother. For now
he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride
it. (337)
Unlike Milkman's first flight in which he is
destined to learn about his family history and is dependent on the wings of a
man made airplane to soar through the air, his second flight is very different.
Milkman has made many discoveries about himself, and his heritage, and he is
able to shed all the expectations and "concerns of the material world"
weighing him down and lift himself into the air, just as his great-grandfather
Shalimar once did. "Shalimar's winged emancipation from slavery, Robert
Smith's suicidal take-off from a rooftop, and Milkman's final leap into the
killing arms of his brother are instances in which liberation from social
tyranny is represented through flight" (Murray 121).
Another modern novel in which flight, even
that involving airplanes, is represented as a source of freedom is Native Son,
by African American author Richard Wright. To the main character of this novel,
Bigger Thomas, flying is his ticket out of the ghettos of South Side Chicago.
Unfortunately, the privilege of flight in airplanes is mostly reserved for white
boys. Bigger Thomas desperately wants nothing more than "the freedom to fly
from his oppression, the freedom to hold control over his own life, just like
the white people who 'get a chance to do everything'"(Wright 19). For
Bigger Thomas flight represents freedom from the modern, invisible chains of the
black man. To fly as commonly and frequently as the white people do would be a
symbolic release form the oppression he experiences as a black man of today.
Flight references among folktales and short
stories by African American writers are also prevalent. In one common folktale,
of which there are many similar versions, there is a particular group of
Africans that are capable of flying. According to the popular folktale, a young
slave woman, who carries her infant child in a sling on her back, is hard at
work in the fields. The cruel Overseer sees her slowing down (because she feels
weak) and he whips her back, striking the child. Toby, an old slave also at work
in the fields, goes to help her. Toby and the young slave woman know she cannot
take any more abuse, especially at the cost of her child's welfare, so Toby
speaks the magic African words. It is said the young slave woman then
"lifted on foot on the air. Then the other. She flew clumsily at first,
with the child now held tightly in her arms. Then she felt the magic, the
African mystery. Say she rose just as free as a bird. As light as a
feather"(Hamilton 169). The Overseer ran after her, but she was too high
and she escaped into the sky. The next day was extremely hot, and a young male
slave fell in the heat and was whipped for it by the same Overseer. Old Toby
went to him and spoke the same magic words. Soon all the slaves "rose on
the air. They rode the hot breezes." They flew "way above the
plantation, way over the slavery land. Say they flew away to Free-dom"
(Hamilton 170-171).
African American writer Eudora Welty tells
the short story of an old black woman's journey through the woods into town to
retrieve her grandson's medication in "A Worn Path." The old woman's
name is Phoenix; a possible reference to the mythical Arabian bird that rose up
from it's own ashes. During Phoenix’s journey, she crosses paths with a
hunter. The hunter unknowingly drops a nickel from his pocket and as Phoenix
bends to pick it up without the man catching her, a bird flies by. "Then
she slowly straightened up, she stood erect, and the nickel was in her apron
pocket. A bird flew by. Her lips moved. 'God watching me the whole time. I come
stealing'" (1645). To Phoenix, the bird flying overhead is a spiritual
representation; her connection with God.
Another short story filled with references to
African American flight for freedom is "The Sad Sweet Story of Sugar Lips
Shinehot and The Portable Promised Land." This is the story of a man who
makes a deal with the devil, which takes away his ability to see white people. A
former musician whose lips were mangled by a beating by two white men, Sugar
Lips searches for a way to attract attention from his fellow Harlem friends once
he can no longer do so in the jazz clubs with his saxophone. In order to
accomplish this he decides he is going to fly.
'So tomorrow,'
Sugar Lips said when the uproar calmed down, 'I'm gonna show y'all what freedoms
Negroes can acquire if you can get the white man out of your life! I'll show you
how light you'll feel without that weight!' Sugar Lips paused, and then he said,
'I am going,' he said, then paused, 'to fly.' (Toure 324)
Sugar Lips ‘gift’ from the devil may have
tainted his view of reality, but he seems to truly believe in his ability to
fly, despite the fact he has never done so. He continue to rave on with
confidence and conviction: "'I'm going to show y'all what a Negro can do
when he's freed of the burden of having to deal with white people! I'm gonna
fly! Tomorrow, at noon, y'all be out in front of the Apollo, and ah, tell a
friend! I'm gonna fly!'"(Toure 324) Yet, the people in the crowd that
gathered to hear Sugar Lips rave was not quite as certain of his abilities as he
was. One of the people in the crowd replied, "ain't no man that can
fly." Another of the crowd responded, "Ain't no man flown. Don't mean
no man can fly. Sides, that boy there some kinda Negro superman or somethin,
walkin round not havin to see these ofays. Wish I could do that" (Toure
324). More than anything, the people of the crowd wanted to see a black man fly.
Just because it has never been done before, did not mean they would give up hope
that it might one day happen.
The next day Sugar Lips and the crowd gather
in front of the Apollo Theater. Sugar Lips is on the roof, and the crowd,
"they wanted him to fly. For him to fly would be to do in front ah they
eyes somethin he useta to do and somethin Bird Parker still did wit a horn: to
throw off them white man shackles and fly. And jus as when Bird flew, if Sugar
Lips flew, somethin in all of them would fly" (Toure 334).
For the Harlem crowd in front of the Apollo
"his actual flyin wasn't as important cuz his believin he could fly was
inspiration nuf. That a Negro could get that much good feelin bout hisself made
em feel good. Others felt him flyin would put back some of the glory
Harlem was losin and remind the world where was Negro Heaven" (Toure 334).
Similar to the folktales about slaves that could fly, just the thought of a
human black man being capable of such a feat was inspirational and uplifting.
Before jumping into the air, Sugar Lips
decides to mark this day as something special, as an African American holiday
called "Flying Day." Just before jumping off the roof, Sugar Lips
"shut his eyes then, knowin that through feelin hisself able to fly, he
could die happy even if he didn't fly." As the crowd below holds it’s
breath, desperately wanting Sugar Lips to fly, he suddenly begins to fall.
Luckily, Fat Jimmy, a white day manager at the Apollo, breaks his fall.
"For quite some time after, Sugar Lips did believe he could fly, and that's
a nice thing for a Negro to believe. Yeah, Sugar Lips believed he could fly even
after his untimely demise on the second annual Flyin Day"(Toure 335).
Sugar Lips never had a doubt in his mind that
he could fly, and although his two attempts to prove it were failures, he
maintained hope. Once he lost his ability to play his saxophone and provide
music for the soul of the Harlem African Americans, he searched for an alternate
way to bring hope to his people. This idea that music can bring hope to the
black man is discussed in later paragraphs in the form of the slave spiritual.
The desire and fascination with flight is not only prevalent in novels, short
stories, and music, but is also predominant in African American poetry.
Poetry of African American writers, such as
the poem "Flight" by Langston Hughes, focus’ on freeing ones self
from oppression through flight. "Flight" discusses a slaves departure
from the South and "documents how, for many southern freedmen, migration
had become more than a necessary socioeconomic resource; it was a way of life, a
means of preserving their safety, sanity, and dignity" (Patterson 657).
Therefore making flight in the figurative sense a necessary part of the
slave’s life as reformation into free society evolved.
In reference to Course Objective 1c,
African-Americans may have been "choiceless" but they would not remain
"voiceless" amongst themselves. The slave spiritual was the outlet
commonly used among the slaves to express their Christianity, their hope for the
future, and their desires as human beings. It was an outlet for the pain and
frustration constantly suffered, a way to sing out praises for their Savior, and
a way to express the pain in their heart. The slave spirituals were not only a
way to express hope, sorrow, and pride, but they also served as a way to pass
along history, express feelings, and discuss everyday life.
The following is an example of a typical
slave spiritual containing references to freedom through the ability to fly:
De Winter'll soon be Over:
I turn my eyes towards de sky,
An' ask de Lord for wings to fly;
If you get dere before I do,
Look out for me I'm comin' too.
Oh, de winter, de winter, de winter'll soon be ober, children,
de winter, de winter, de winter'll soon be ober, children,
de winter, de winter, de winter'll soon be ober, children,
Yes, my Lord:
Oh look up yonder what I see,
Bright angels comin' arter me.
Oh Jordan's ribber is deep an' wide,
But Jesus stan' on de hebbenly side;
An when we get on Canaan's shore,
We'll shout, an' sing forebber more (Fenner 244)
Often constructed and sung while working, the
slave spirituals "hope of liberation was also commonplace; it was expressed
in spirituals that were created from the books of the Old Testament and
from Revelations of the New Testament" (McElrath 1). At least while
suffering through the difficult work the average American slave was subjected
to, the presence of the slave spiritual served as a source of relief and hope.
African American contributions to novels, short-stories, poetry, and music come
together as a whole to "adopt the image of flight as one of collectivity
that gives hope of escape to the entire culture and keeps them connected to
their roots, tradition, and past" ("Flight").
Whereas the African-American turned to flight
as a way of escape, to look beyond the ground and soar for new heights, the
Hispanic literary references to flight take on a more ambivalent
attitude. As discussed in Course Objective 3c, the Mexican American suffers
contradictions in attitude and suffers from social dislocation, leaving them
ambivalent and unfocused, therefore not headed in any one direction. In fact, it
seems that in the literary references to flight they are headed in
absolutely no direction at all, but are either representative of magic and
mysticism or are simply a flight to a dead end, as is the case with suicide.
In the novel Bless Me, Ultima, by
Hispanic writer Rudolfo Anaya, there are flight references involving the main
character, Ultima. Ultima, a mystical healer, was trained in her healing talents
by a man who could fly. She also has a great reverence for birds, and is the
constant companion to an owl, who the reader later discovers acts as a carrier
for the woman's very soul. As Ultima reminisces on her surroundings, she
characterizes it using the eagle: "I dread to think of a time when I could
not walk upon the Llano and feel like the eagle that floats on its skies: free,
immortal, limitless" (228).
Ambivalence is the prevalent form in relation
to flight references in The House on Mango Street. The narrator, a young
Hispanic girl named Esperanza, remarks on her neighborhood and the fact that no
one notices anything any more. "Nobody looked up not once the day
Angel Vargas learned to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut, just
like a falling star, and exploded down to earth without even an 'Oh'"
(Cisneros 30). Angel Vargas' flight may have represented freedom from personal
anguish, a flight towards Heaven and salvation, or simply a dead end to a dead
end life. In any case, no one really cared what his flight represented, showing
that it did not stand for any elevated feelings of hope or spirituality, as
Sugar Lips flight did to the people of Harlem, or Robert Smith's flight did to
the crowd surrounding Mercy Hospital.
For the American Indian, flight represents a
unification with nature and a spiritual bond; freedom from the physical world.
Flight and spirituality are oftentimes equated with the eagle, which is held in
high regard among the American Indians. The eagle is sometimes considered the
Indian's connection between earth and the spirit world, making it highly
respected and regarded as a holy symbol. The Golden Eagle in particular is held
in high esteem, "because it is the Golden Eagle who flies higher than any
other creature in the world, it is he who carries our prayers closest to Creater/Createress"
(Runnels). In fact, the feather of a Golden Eagle is the highest symbol of honor
bestowed on an American Indian, and it is said that "a warrior may give up
his horse and his wife but he will die before giving up the feather of a Golden
Eagle" (Runnels).
Creatures of flight are extremely important
to the culture of American Indians not only for spiritual reasons, but also in
relation to other aspects of Indian life. For example, corn, a staple of the
American Indian diet, is said to have been brought to earth by a bird. According
to the Choctaw Indians, a crow brought a single grain of corn to this country,
gave it to an orphan who planted it and named it tanchi (corn). This
single grain is said to be the source of all the corn in this country (Lankford
145). According to the Catawba Indians, a great flood came and washed
away all the people, with the exception of a few whom climbed trees. A dove left
these trees and returning carrying a leaf. The dove flew off again and brought
back corn, therefore signaling to the people of the trees that there was dry
land to go to. This story, similar to that told in the Christian Bible, is
valued as the story that chronicles the Indian’s source for corn. The Arapaho
and Dakota Indians believe corn was brought by a duck "from which comes all
the corn of the world" immediately after the creation of the land by
the Turtle (Lankford 146). The American Indians are not only grateful to
creatures of flight for things like food, but as a source of help. The Yankton
Nakota Indians, of the Dakotas area, believe that man must look to the animals
of the earth for guidance. According to them, "no man can succeed in life
alone, and he cannot get the help he wants from men; therefore he seeks help
through some bird or animal which Wakan'tanka sends for his assistance."
This idea is reminiscent of Ultima and her owl in the Hispanic novel, Bless
Me, Ultima. Kiya'ka, a Yankton Nakota, has a vision of who his guardian
animals will be. He is summoned to a large tent by a man who turns into a crow.
Inside the tent another man turns into an owl and above him fly butterflies,
dragonflies and small insects, and above these fly birds. "All the birds
and insects I had seen in my dream were things on which I knew I should keep my
mind and learn their ways" (Stewart 11).
Flight references, not only of eagles and
other typical creatures of flight, are common among American Indian literature,
but so are references to human flight. In one of the visions of Oglala Sioux
Indian, Black Elk, he describes himself as "a spotted eagle soaring
over" the people and animals in his vision of the future (Neihardt 37). In The
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian
Sherman Alexie, there were several stories of human flight circulating on the
Spokane reservation. Basketball is a favorite pastime on the reservation, and a
common story often reminisced on is the story of reservation basketball player
Silas Sirius. The main character, Victor, asks a friend if he remembers the
play:
'Do I remember? I
was there when he grabbed that defensive rebound, took a step, and flew the
length of the court, did a spin in midair, and then dunked that...ball. And I
don't mean it looked like he flew, or it was so beautiful it was almost like he
flew. I mean, he flew, period.... And he didn't grow no wings. He just kicked
his legs a little. Held that ball like a baby in his hand. And he was smiling.
Really. Smiling when he flew.' (47)
Even Victor's childhood friend, Thomas
Builds-the-Fire is said to have flown. As the story goes, "he jumped off
the roof of the tribal school and flapped his arms like a crazy eagle. And he
flew. For a second, he hovered, suspended above all the other Indian boys who
were too smart or too scared to jump." While one of the boys on the ground
searched for "trick wires or mirrors," Thomas Builds-the-Fire came
crashing to the ground, breaking his arm, or breaking his wing according to
Victor. "They hated Thomas for his courage, his brief moment as a bird.
Everybody has dreams about flying. Thomas flew"(70). Not only are there
references to Thomas Build-the-Fire flying in Sherman Alexie's novel, but also
in the movie version of the book titled Smoke Signals. According to the
movie, the infant Thomas Builds-the-Fire flies from the burning house his
parents die in, landing in Victor's father's arms.
Human flight references are not only found
among modern American Indian writers. They are a part of the American Indian
heritage, and many stories of human flight have been passed down through their
history through verbal story telling, and now through the written word. There is
the story of "Swift Hawks and the Buffalo Women" from the Wichita
Confederacy that tells of a young man who sets out to hunt for food one day and
is met by two women in buffalo robes. They question him on what he would do if
an enemy attacked him and he replies by saying he would command himself to turn
into an ant. If that did not work then he would command himself to turn into a
small bird to hide in the grass. If that failed, he would then create a bow and
arrows that would carry him. As these women approach a herd of buffalo, they
suddenly turn into buffalo and try to trample him. He turns into an ant, they
stomp around almost trampling him, so he turns into bird. The buffalo women
stomp around some more almost trampling him again, so he shoots his arrows and
flies with them carrying him far away. He climbs a tree and his saved by his
dogs who ran from his home, sensing he was in danger. Because of this
occurrence, his family feels unsafe so they move away and turn into Swift Hawks
(Archer 96-99). This is the story of their flight to safety. Flight is used by
the young hunter to escape the buffalo women, then again by his family to escape
future danger
A common story of human flight among the
Tanaina (Dena'ina) Indians is titled "First Eagle Story." The story
tells of two young and handsome brothers were wanted by many women in
their village, but they weren't interested in girls. They would rather go into
the woods, drape themselves in eagle skins and shake furiously, and turn into a
pair of eagles. "They would rise into the air and glide for hours above the
woods or out over the sea, hunting. They were proud of their young strength and
beauty." An older woman of the village who was not married wanted one of
them for her husband. Although she was attractive, they were not interested. She
tried many times to get them and one day followed them into the woods and saw
them turn into eagles. So the old woman turned into a sparrow hawk and followed
them into the air. The old woman sparrow hawk attacked the eagles fiercely,
weakening them and being very cruel. Luckily, one of the boy’s father's felt
uneasy, sensed that there was something wrong, and turned himself into a giant
eagle. "Then, as a huge eagle, he climbed into the air and circled higher
and higher, while the feeling in his heart grew stronger."(Penn 166) Just
as the two young eagles were on their last leg, the hawk still slashing at them,
she was suddenly rammed from behind by the large, more experienced eagle. He
destroyed her, she fell dead, and he carried the two young eagles home on his
back (Penn 167). To the young Indian’s the ability to fly served as a source
of freedom, while the ability of the father to fly to their rescue is
representative of salvation.
The prevalence alone of flight references
among African-American, Hispanic, and American-Indian writers, is evidence of
the fact that a powerful desire exists among them for the freedom one may only
experience through flight. Whether that desire is rooted in the quest for
spiritual freedom, physical freedom, or freedom from oppression, the fact
remains that freedom is the key. The natural human desire, amplified in the
hearts of the American minority will always remain a fascination. Hopefully,
through literature, music, and other forms of creative expression, these
minority groups will find their way closer to experiencing the freedom they
desperately search for in their longing to spread their wings and fly.
Works
Cited
Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993.
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New
York : Warner Books, 1972.
Archer, Jane. Texas Indian Myths and
Legends. Plano: Republic of Texas Press, 2000.
The New American Bible.
Stephen Hartdegen, gen. ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987.
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango
Street. New York : Vintage Books, 1984.
Equiano, Olaudah. "The Life of Olaudah
Equiano." The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
New York: Putnam, 1987: 1-182.
Fenner, Thomas P. (arranged) With the
Slave Songs. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1874.
"Flight in African American Film and
Literature." http://www.oxy.edu/~tigger/flight/home.html
(19 Nov.
2001).
Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly:
American Black Folktales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
Hayden, Robert. "O Daedalus, Fly Away
Home." Collected Poems. New York: Liveright Press, 1985.
Ed. Lankford, George E. Native American
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