However, Wilson puts an interesting twist on this theme by giving his audience a perspective in African traditions and mystical beliefs. ... In his article, Ghosts on the Piano: August Wilson and the Representation of Black American History, Michael Morales argues that the piano is a direct link to the past that serves as both a "sacred ancestral altar" and a tool used to "transmit" oral history. (106) The only way this illiterate civilization could pass on their history and traditions were through art and oral history. ... The songs played on the piano by Boy Willie and Whining Boy are als...

• Word Count: 732
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In her essay, Marshall identifies with her mother and the African-American tradition that her mother expressed. ... Marshall equates her being a writer to the oral heritage of her mother and explains how they both transcend the everyday. Through identifying with her mother, Marshall finds that they have things in common because they both express their creativity in an art form: one in the oral tradition and the other in the written tradition: The role of art in this tradition unifies the seemingly disparate themes of motherhood and orality. Mother love physically ...

• Word Count: 3271
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

One of the most interesting similarities and coincidents between these two regions was not a relationship between people or traditions, but more simply, a geographic correlation. ... Kumba's oral and musical presentation provided many aspects of African music and its influence on America. ...

• Word Count: 578
• Approx Pages: 2

In the stories "Raymond's Run" and "Gorilla My Love," Toni Cade Bambara, writes about unusual heroines - both called Hazel. However the character in "Raymond's Run," is known as and is referred to as Squeaky, mainly because of her voice, and because of the way that she is presented. To the reader, it seems to fit her personality as well as her appearance. Both girls are, to a certain extent unusual because of the way they express themselves and the way that they behave. Trust and respect are also very significant issues raised in both of the stories. ...

• Word Count: 2209
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

In the beginning of the 1900s, many African-Americans living in the South moved to the North to find jobs. Many came to a large black area of New York City, Harlem. This migration changed their image from rural to urban, and from peasant to sophisticate. This is where the beginnings of a new culture...

• Word Count: 925
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Dream Yet to be Realized. Almost fifty years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court declared, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that laws separating the races in school are unconstitutional. Hundreds of lawsuits later, black and white students were bused back and forth to desegregated schools in cities across the United States. ...

• Word Count: 6633
• Approx Pages: 27