(1-21, w&w) CHAPTER 2 The first line in the poem ("you may write me down in history / with your bitter, twisted lies") refers to the way that attitudes towards African-Americans have been embedded within our nation's history. ... Neither History nor the law was kind to African-American slaves (the 1640 John Punch ruling exemplified the inconsistencies of the time [2-36, W&W]). ... "Out of the huts of history's shame I rise" The "huts of history's shame" in stanza eight also makes an allusion to the oppression that African-American women faced. ... False science ha...

• Word Count: 4173
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

"The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.... Du Bois reminds us that former slaves had "a brief moment in the sun" before returning to a status akin to slavery. ... Any researcher of American history must acknowledge that racism is a highly adaptive system. ...

• Word Count: 4144
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography

The same Anthology goes on to say that major happenings in the history of African Americans such as the slave trade and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment are times in which African American people collectively adopted an identity as a path to restoration and healing (Gates and McKay, 1996). ... The importance of this is to understand that when reading a novel such as "A Raisin in the Sun" or "The Souls of Black Folks", you cannot immediately assume that this story represents every single African American family across the United States. ...

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

The time it was published in was a very difficult period of American history, namely the period of Post-Reconstruction. ... "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson- is introduced by a description of a peaceful, calm town seemingly harmless and full of harmony: "In 1830 it was a snug little collection of modest one- and two-storey frame dwellings whose whitewashed exteriors were almost concealed from sight by climbing tangles of rose-vines, honeysuckles, and morning-glories When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there-in sunny weather-str...

• Word Count: 3258
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School