African American literature is an extremely dense and rich form of literature that contains many types of similar tropes. These tropes can be seen throughout many of African American works of literature. ... Double-Consciousness Double-consciousness is a major theme that courses through many African American literature works. ... Dubois and is defined in the focus of African American literature and the African American experience as "an individual whose identity is divided into several facets.... This idea of double-consciousness comes through in almost any African American work of lite...

• Word Count: 3543
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It began in the early 1920's where African American literature, art, music, and dance began to flourish in Harlem, a neighboorhood in New York City. ... The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that publishers and critics took African American literature seriously. ... The literature appealed to the African American middle class and to the white book buying public. ... The Harlem Renaissance changed forever the dynamics of African American literature in the United States. The writers that followed after the Harlem Renaissance found that publishers and the public were more open to Af...

• Word Count: 1369
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

African American actors play the voices of Mufasa, Sarabi, and Nala, yet the hyenas are the only ones who speak with African American vernacular English. ... The idea that ethnic misrepresentation in the creation of fictional characters may have an impact on children is supported by literature concerning the impact of television on minority children. ... " In part due to its setting in Africa, the hyena's segregation mimics Apartheid South Africa. ... Amina Luqman's African American son struggled with the same issue. ... The misrepresentation of African Americans in Dumbo is s...

• Word Count: 1585
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

But what exactly would have made such a young African American man aspire to be as white as possible? ... While he could never change the fact that he was indeed African American, what he wanted basically was what all the other African Americans who trudged the land like him desired and that was a sense of belonging and respect in their person. ... Very often there is a lack of curiosity about the lives and feelings of the African Americans and their past. ... Zora Neale Hurston claims that this lack of interest and gap in the national literature and information is causing a strain on world af...

• Word Count: 1560
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

However, such issues as the relationship between the Harlem Renaissance and mainstream American culture, especially the relationship between African-American literature and white American culture and how white people have influenced the Harlem Renaissance have not been explored into. Nevertheless, white critics, patrons and publishers in the era of the Harlem Renaissance were critical for the growth of African-American literature, and its new role in the whole American culture. Whites had an important role in supporting the Harlem Renaissance through financial support, how white intellectuals ...

• Word Count: 1512
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Since the time of slavery, African American women have endured many hardships. ... The historical and social experiences of African women since slavery resulted in numerous images that defined African American women as deviant. For centuries, African American women have been contrasted with white women. ... A heightened sensitivity to some of the mythic constructs can be useful in interpreting other textual sources, such as diaries, letters, and literature, as well. ... They have assumed a prominent place in the culture of our times both in the United States and abroad, contributing gre...

• Word Count: 1267
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

For example, Toni Morrison, in her critical text Playing in the Dark, has argued that everything that constitutes whiteness as a racial identity--from the national literature of the United States to its Constitution to the daily practices of its citizens--is a response to the absent/objectified presence of the black Other or, in her words, "to a dark, abiding, signing Africanist presence" (5). She goes on to say: Just as the formation of the nation necessitated coded language and purposeful restrictions ... so too did the literature, whose founding characteristics extend into the twentieth...

• Word Count: 301
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This statement summarizes a significant issue that most African Americans recognized and sought to change during this era. ... However, both men left behind a legacy that contributed in paving the way for equal opportunity for African Americans today. ... DuBois combined his knowledge of literature from his educational background, his understanding of American Culture as a result of his numerous studies, and taking direct force by protesting for equality to represent what he believed would solve racial discrimination of blacks. ... In this article, he described the dreadful effects of segr...

• Word Count: 1561
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

White wrote a very important piece of literature in the 70's he argues that traditional psychology uses an Anglo middle-class frame of reference, which is true. ... They are developing a psychology that has its roots in the African worldview which is opposite to the European worldview. ... All of these psychologists go on to show their view of psychology and apply/trace them back to African culture. "Her thrust is to define and implement as a critical framework for understanding and achieving maximum mental health a theory of psychology rooted in and reflective of African culture."(Pg ...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Although somewhat unappreciated by the general public, this work is held to be a classic work of literature despite its taboo themes and figurative language for its time period. ... It demonstrates how maintaining a stable character and possessing a strong passion for literature can help conquer racism and internal trauma. ... The community's involvement in forming the young girls' identity is significant because it "contributes to a discursive trifecta that shows the importance of communal affirmation in maintaining the African American community" (Ero). ...

• Word Count: 673
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Yet, whose labor were they living off of freely, exploiting and breeding them as if they were mere animals (and depicted as such in various art and literature)? ... Where does that leave African Americans, who when this was published, had just been absolved from slavery thirty years prior? ... African Americans show one side of the darkness of this idealism of Americanization. ... The dehumanization of African Americans is completely horrific, and sadly, it is not the only terrible reality that breaks the idealistic strong American values so many writers tried to envelope over the past few cen...

• Word Count: 1871
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it shows, "that only 6 percent of African Americans have used cocaine even once in their lives" (98). ... Literature during that time was meant to devalue the character and race of blacks and credit the white Americans such as the Ku Klux Klan. ...

• Word Count: 955
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

I am just a poor boy, Though my story's seldom told, I have squandered my resistance For a pocketful of mumbles, Such are promises. All lies and jest. Still, a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest. - Simon & Garfunkel, The Boxer, 1970 Pudd'nhead Wilson & Those Ex...

• Word Count: 3141
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate