James Baldwin is considered one of the most important African American writer of novels, poetry, short stories and essays, as well as a civil right activist. ... The short story "Sonny's Blues" is considered one of Baldwin's amazing works. ... Sonny is a main character in this story. ... In the short story, the author uses the images of light and darkness to illustrate the theme of man's painful quest for an identity (Murray 354). ... "The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings" by Randall Kenan "is gathering of some sixty previously uncollected essay...

• Word Count: 1511
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American writer of sixteen collections of poetry, four collections of short stories, and four novels (Miller 393). ... He speaks or slavery, rebellion, misery, and freedom in his poems and short stories. ... He got a job, which bored him enough, that he began to write poems and short stories. ... He was entertained as a child with stories of the plantation houses which clearly had something to do with his poetry because he seems to write a lot on the slave days on the plantation houses. It is said that Dunbar played an important ro...

• Word Count: 1623
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

These were best presented in his most clear-cut and candid short stories. ... Hughes wrote novels, stories, poems, and plays about Negro life. ... This theme is evident in Hughes" short story "Thank You M"am". ... On his way out he said, "Thank you M"am" Langston had an interesting and strong theme behind the short story "Thank you M"am." ... "Red-Headed Baby" is a story set on the Florida coast. ...

• Word Count: 1559
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

As I go on, I will discuss the nature of the short story and how it affected me. ... The various hardships that the narrator must endure, in his quest to deliver his speech, are representative of the many hardships that the blacks went through in their fight for equality The narrator in Ellison's short story suffers much. ... The electrified rug is an important piece in this story. ... The dream that the narrator has at the end of the story is very important as well. ... Ralph Ellison's short story, "Battle Royal" is very significant. ...

• Word Count: 1491
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

His novels and short stories have been a wake up call for people. ... Although he wrote fictional stories, most of them were based on his own life. One of his best works was a short story entitled, Notes of a Native Son. This story may not be long in page numbers, but its power is limitless. ... This short story is just one of the many reasons why Baldwin is such an influencial autor. ...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Langston Hughes, a man of many things Langston Hughes is a standout amongst the most surely understood African American artist and short story authors in our nation today. ... Through his poems and short story composing, Langston Hughes had the capacity to fuse interesting thoughts, as well as social issues essential to him, individual family matters, African American way of life, and even types of music. ... " As evidence in short stories like, "The Little Virgin". ... The story closes with "The Little Virgin" ridiculously droning again and again, "He oughtn't to hit a lad...

• Word Count: 1762
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In short, they came face to face with reality. ... The story implied that Mrs. ... This story also shows how the views of a woman can change without restrictions. ... The "Story of an Hour" says, "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. ... In the end, she did get what she wanted all along, which was to live a short life if she was forced to live it with her husband. ...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Walker's short story raises questions about how identity, tradition and ideology are connected to each other and provides her own personal answer to it. ... The short story shows with humor, but little traceable compassion from the writer's part, how blind Dee's fixation with trying to claim her heritage makes her towards seeing the truth of the African American experience and how she only accepts what she has read about it. ... Cash argues that the real history, the real story of quilting is about kinship across generations between African American women as well as mutual coope...

• Word Count: 1911
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Magazines as The Crisis, a monthly journal of the NAACP, and Opportunity, an official publication of the Urban League, employed Harlem Renaissance writers on their editorial staff; published poetry and short stories by black writers; and promoted African American literature through articles, reviews, and annual literary prizes. ... The short story "Thank You Ma am- and the poem "Mother to Son-, both by Langston Hughes are similar yet differ in many ways. ... Both stories are also written using the same language. ... "Mother To Son- is a poem and "Thank You M' am- is a short story. ...

• Word Count: 1518
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The story of Langston Hughes" life is one of great success. ... Through Hughes" works that included: poetry, short stories, novels, and political essays, Hughes brought his words to life and educated many people. ... At night they would read him stories from such works from popular black authors such as W.E.B. ... He went on to write many more poems, short stories, and plays. ... He's a true success story because the power of his own life helped make the world a better place....

• Word Count: 1483
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Were a different story. ... On the plantations in the south, many African Americans told stories about traveling north. ... Some of the other men who worked with him told stories at the campfire at night of men who made forty cents an hour. ... His main complaint was that he wanted shorter hours. ... The men of this union decided to strike for better pay and shorter hours. ...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Were a different story. ... On the plantations in the south, many African Americans told stories about traveling north. ... Some of the other men who worked with him told stories at the campfire at night of men who made forty cents an hour. ... His main complaint was that he wanted shorter hours. ... The men of this union decided to strike for better pay and shorter hours. ...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The short story "Blood-Burning Moon", by Jean Toomer, is the final part in a three-part book called Cane. The story takes place in a rural southern setting during a time of strong segregation. ... Throughout the story, Toomer demonstrates racism through imagery. As noted in the title, the moon plays a foremost role in the scene of the story. The story opens and closes with the image of "The full moon in the great door" (Toomer 60) as an evil omen. ...

• Word Count: 1343
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Hughes's poems, short plays, essays, and short stories began appearing in the NAACP publication Crisis Magazine and in Opportunity Magazine and other publications. ... He wanted to tell the stories of his people without personalizing them, so the reader could step in and draw his own conclusions. ... He wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of "editorial" and "documentary" fiction, twenty plays, children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts and dozens of magazine articles. ....

• Word Count: 2112
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the late twentieth century short story, "Everyday Use,"" African-American author Alice Walker depicts the bonds among three women in rural Georgia in the 1970's. ... Throughout the story, utilizing comparisons between people and animals portrays animal imagery. ... Each of the main characters in the story is compared to animals that have characteristics similar to their characters in the story. ... The objects in the story show the connection between the people in the present and their ancestors. ... In the story "Everyday Use"," sisters Maggie and Dee have different understandings o...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The short stories "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Sonny's Blues" are different in many respects. ... However, the stories' similarities are greater than their differences. In each story, the protagonist is an artistic soul, and each struggles to fit into the "normal" world. ... As the story continues, we see that the wife is isolated from family and friends and confined to the room most of the time. ... In both of these stories, artistic expression is the only weapon an oppressed individual has to cry out. ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The short stories "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Sonny's Blues" are different in many respects. ... However, the stories' similarities are greater than their differences. In each story, the protagonist is an artistic soul, and each struggles to fit into the "normal" world. ... As the story continues, we see that the wife is isolated from family and friends and confined to the room most of the time. ... In both of these stories, artistic expression is the only weapon an oppressed individual has to cry out. ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Harlem Renaissance was a very important African-American cultural and social movement during the early twentieth century. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that African-American artists and authors were taken seriously by American society. During the Harlem Renaissance, African-American music, theater, art, and politics flourished. The African-American artists and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance were some of the most famous of the twentieth century. The Harlem Renaissance was the single most significant event in modern African-American history (McKissack 11). ...

• Word Count: 2498
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Jose Vargas reminds me of when I came to this country and the dreams I had in his short story "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" because he shows how tough situations can lead us to have different dreams and aspirations. ... In this short story Barbara Ehrenreich decides to leave all her luxuries a side and go into being a low wage worker. ... Christina Boufis gives a great example on her short story "Teaching Literature at the County Jail....

• Word Count: 2444
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Comet and Aye and Gomorrah are two science fiction short stories that discuss racism and sexuality in post-apocalypses, respectively. ... Additionally, both Du Bois and Delany make use of apocalyptic language and set stories in post-apocalyptic situations; however, their apocalyptic language is presented differently and used for different purposes. ...

• Word Count: 2007
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"It had tacks in it" describes carpet tacks: short, thin nails designed to hold carpet to the stairs with the least amount of damage to the wood (line 3). ... In a short, yet powerful 97 words, in 20 lines, Hughes shows how a climb on a decrepit, rickety old wooden staircase can be an extended metaphor for the complex life of a Black American woman. ... The metaphor of the stairs not only evokes the image of a stressful climb of a Black woman's life but also can be applied to the courageous life stories of many African Americans. ...

• Word Count: 1328
• Approx Pages: 5

It was in 1948 that Baldwin received his first publication of one of his short stories (Als 140). ... His most famous novel, Got Tell It on the Mountain published in 1953, is an unusual depiction of a coming-of-age story of a fourteen year old boy, John Grimes. The story involves John's aunt, mother, stepfather, and biological father. ...

• Word Count: 2437
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

What is interesting about the class divisions and naming in the story is that is goes both ways. ... When Willie appears in her life a short time later, she is disgusted and frightened by him. ... The story flows very well, with strong plot setting and characters. ... The story is written about black culture, black people, and interactions among black and whites, men and women, and the value of love. ...

• Word Count: 1878
• Approx Pages: 8

The Many Aspects of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes, an author of many writings, uses his voice well, the most important tool an author has. To understand Langston Hughes, the reader must first understand the time-period he wrote in, and the movement he was a part of. Hughes was part of the "Har...

• Word Count: 1296
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In "She's Gotta Have It", Spike Lee attempts to re-appropriate the misogynistic jezebel stereotype by imbuing Nola's character with self-assurance and positive traits, but ultimately falls short in his execution through flaws in supporting detail. ... What Lee does with the movie's outlying characters is what presents a deeper message in the story. ... While his intentions are good, Lee falls short of eschewing the typical Jezebel stereotypes in his lack of character development because he simply doesn't have the tools or experiences at his disposal to create pr...

• Word Count: 1928
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography