Thus, the theme of independence and womanhood helped raise the status of African-American women, but inversely pointed out the inadequacies in the lives of non-African-American women. 4) SECTION 2 - Maya Angelou CHAPTER 1 "Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise" These first two lines of the last stanza of STILL I RISE showed that African-Americans could be in control of their own environment by influencing the system of hierarchy that was established in slavery. ... The "race man" encompassed the ideals of Angelou's final stanza in STILL I RISE. ... Angelou uses each...

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

because I believe humor expresses one's humanity, and laughter is after all, as the wise Maya Angelou said at convocation, the universal medicine. ... Angelou emphasized this aspect of becoming aware of my humanity and the humanity common to us all, regardless of racial, religious, and other distinctions. ... Angelou put it, "we are more alike than unlike." ...

• Word Count: 2564
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

The Works of James Baldwin We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only forces that can change it. James Baldwin was born in Harlem on August 2, 1924. Shortly after his birth his mother married David Baldwin, a factory worker and Pentecostal minister. Baldwin was the eldest of nine children. Because of his troubled relationship with his strict stepfather, Baldwin turned to reading as a way to escape. ...

• Word Count: 2618
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

What was the Harlem Renaissance? What is a renaissance? A renaissance is a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity. There was a famous renaissance in Europe during the transition from medieval times to modern times that is still taught today. The Harlem Renaissance wa...

• Word Count: 2619
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The United States was founded upon diversity. Racism in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. These slaves were not brought by will, but by force, and they faced great oppression while giving the dominant white race the blue collar resource that they so essentially needed in order to stake their claim in the new and soon to flourish United States of America. Plagued by hundreds of years of slavery, discrimination, segregation, hatred, and victimization, ...

• Word Count: 3113
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School