African American Studies The Underground Railroad - 1375 Words

African American Studies: The Underground Railroad (Essay Sample) Content: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIESNameCourseDateAfrican American StudiesThe Underground RailroadIn the African American studies, the Underground Railroad plays an important part in black history and road to freedom. The Underground Railroad gained national recognition in the 1830s to refer to the channel of deep routes followed by slaves in the process of finding freedom in the northern states and Canada aided by slave abolitionist and well-wishers such as Harriet Tubman. Although it is called the Underground Railroad, there were no physical tunnels or rails used by slaves, but rather it is a coined term to refer to the secretive nature of their activities and routes of lines used by southern slaves to move to northern states. Harriet Tubman is a prominent figure in the African American history since she aided in freeing many slaves from their masters and gave them freedom in Canada and northern states. In addition, the help of the Quaker people, the Underground Railroad became successful and the daring slaves escaped the hands of their ruthless owners and gained freedom.The activities in the Underground Railroad was risky and challenging, and only the brave succeeded to gain freedom. The process involved a chain of events before reaching the promised land of Canada or other better states. First, the abolitionist and Quaker people played the role of sneaking out the slaves during the night and the secretive routes and positioned them in the stations or safe house along the road. On the other hand, the conductors were vital in ensuring the slaves find the next stop and avoid the abductors who collected the slaves back to the owners. The Underground Railroad showed unity among the blacks and white and serve a significant mark in antislavery movement and road to freedom. In addition, the road network made the society realize the problems slaves underwent and brought them together to fight and abolish slavery in the southern states thereby changing history.[L arry Gara, the Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. University Press of Kentucky, 2013.] Moreover, on the other hand, the slave masters were angry for losing their property which threatened their institution. The slave owners hired slave hunters to collect their assets and bring back to the farms. The Native Americans who experienced the same fate of discrimination by white majority aided the slaves by killing the slave hunters thereby extending the railroad networks. In American history, the Underground Railroad serves as a union of African-American, Native Americans and white to join and fight for a common purpose. The slavery was harsh and ruthless, and the union of the three race to fight wrong things unites the American people. Under the governance of Abraham Lincoln, slavery was abolished, and blacks could live in freedom. However, the scars of slavery took years to heal since the enmity between the blacks and whites stills cripples progress of the United Stat es.The Harlem RenaissanceLangston HughesIn the book, Creating Black Americans, Nell Painter shows how the Harlem Renaissance brought together black arts and literature in Manhattan. The Harlem Renaissance was a period in the 1930s where black artist and poets rose to fame and change history with songs, literature, and arts. Harlem was a black neighborhood comprising of African Americans who had fled the southern states after the world war ended. In this place, black American were free to express their pride of culture and present a new hip-hop movement that rocked the United States. The common Harlem Renaissance persons include Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and James Johnson. My focus will be on the writer and thinker of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes. His contribution to black culture and literature have inspired many black artists and made the hip hop culture famous in the U.S.Langston Hughes is the prolific writer and thinker of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes celebrated the black culture and was the pride of his race. Similar to another active person in the African American artistic movement, Hughes expressed himself through poems, arts, plays and children books to teach the black culture and condemn inequality and racism in the nation. According to a painter, Hughes was a prolific writer and poet that aired the difficulties of black people during a time where African American experienced hardships and suffering from Jim Crow rules and white supremacist. Hughes, born in 1902, spend most of his adult life in Harlem, the largest African American community during that period. During this time, Hughes was passionate to represent the black community in a positive manner through poems that praise the black culture.However, his poem, Fine Clothes to the Jew received negative praise from black critics since they viewed it as a disgrace to the black race and hanging racial defects for everyone to see. Hughes strongly advocated for his race and was proud of his color at a time when blackness was demoed. Hughes central theme of his poets was black is beautiful and explored the culture in depth which not always brought him in good terms with other African Americans. Moreover, Hughes contributing in the Harlem Renaissance put him in the African American literature as one of the prolific writers and thinkers that aspired for equal rights and pave the way for black artists and poets to express themselves freely about their oppressions and needs. Painter argues that the Harlem Renaissance was a period of reflection for all the suffering and hardships slaves experienced and express themselves through songs and send a message of hope for future generations.[James Trotman, Langston Hughes: the man, his art, and his continuing influence. Vol. 29. Routledge, 2014.] Civil Rights MovementMartin Luther King JrIn the United States, the civil rights movement refers to the struggle of the African American to achieve equal rights with the majority whi tes. A century after the emancipation proclamation, the black Americans faced many forms of discrimination especially blacks in the south states. In this movement, many black activists rose to fame for fighting and defending the freedom of the Negroes. Martin Luther King Jr. is among the activist that led in nonviolence fights for liberty and equal rights. The African Ameri...

Opposition of Societal Ideals in Hawthornes Stories - Literature Essay Samples

Nathanial Hawthorne, in the two different, yet morally similar stories, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and â€Å"Artist of the Beautiful,† displays his opinions on dominant doctrines of society. Hawthorne expresses that the protagonists in each of the stories struggle to succeed within their emotional and social identities as they chose unconventional paths within their societies. Though Brown and Owen are able to succeed individually as they pursue their own ideals, they fail in the eyes of their surrounding societies.The society in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† strictly follows the rules and principles of its religion. To become an honorable Puritan, one is required to always mistrust himself and any others (4). The entire community abides by this Puritan doctrine, which requires that each person undergo a conversion experience in which he acknowledges his internal faults and sins. Brown, a Puritan awaiting official membership to the religion, begins his trial on the conversion experience. As a Puritan, Brown must acknowledge his unworthiness of God’s Grace and constantly reexamine himself to make sure that his sins are not forgotten (1). If Brown gains membership as a Puritan, he will join the rest of his society in living by the Puritan doctrine.Similar to Brown, Owen Warland exists in a society that adheres to the ideals of a specific doctrine. Throughout the course of his career, Owen is the subject of skepticism and scorn as a result of his efforts to create an interpretation of the Beautiful. His passion for creating the Beautiful interferes with his life in a society completely dominated by the utilitarian lifestyle. The utilitarian society follows the ideal that all men strive to produce goods which serve a useful purpose in everyday life. The Utilitarian doctrine is so widely accepted in Owen’s society that even his family hopes â€Å"that his strange ingenuity might thus be regulated, and put to utilitarian pur poses† (361). Robert Danforth, a blacksmith in Owen’s community, is a direct symbol of the Utilitarian doctrine. As a blacksmith, he produces many useful goods, unlike Owen, who struggles in completing his single invention. Because of Robert’s consistently manufactured goods, society sees the product of his work, and therefore values his utilitarian lifestyle much more than Owen’s lifestyle of creating platonic beauty.Throughout Brown’s journey, he expresses his hesitance in proceeding into his meeting with the devil. At the beginning of the conversion experience, Brown is very ashamed to continue into the forest, in which â€Å"‘the devil himself should be at [his] very elbow!’† (27). Brown is fearful that someone may catch a glimpse of him interacting with the devil, showing his shame for going on his conversion experience. Despite all of this concern, he continues forth in the Puritan journey of finding the Satan within h imself. However, as Brown reaches the finale of the conversion experience and prepares to become an official Puritan, he cannot accept the Puritan belief that man is always evil. His wife, Faith, is the influence in Brown that keeps him pure of the devil. The innocent pink ribbons that she wears, along with her spiritual name, symbolizes her purity. However, at the end of Brown’s conversion experience, he is shocked to see that Faith is interacting with the devil because he considers her to be the most pure person in society. Nevertheless, Brown resists Satan despite his love for Faith, and he escapes the conversion experience.Though Brown is unsure of proceeding on the conversion experience, Owen suffers a more internal dilemma. He is quite unsure of himself as a person. His progress stalls at moments of depression brought on by his lack of confidence; a brief comment may even put an end to all of Owen’s determination to build his invention. As Annie illustra tes, Owen’s â€Å"ears are as delicate as his feelings, and you know how easily disturbed they are† (359). Annie is the one force in Owen’s life that provides him with inner stability. A friend of Owen’s since childhood, he believes that Annie holds the key to the completion of his invention and â€Å"this young girl possesse[s] the gift to comprehend him, better than all the world beside† (369). Despite the fact that she is the daughter of a man who is critical of Owen, Owen believes that with her support, he could prove his success. However, as Owen learns of Annie’s engagement to Robert, his rival, an internal strength builds within him. This strength leads to an inner development within Owen, allowing him to â€Å"[lose] his faith in the invisible, and now [pride] himself† (376).By choosing the unlikely, yet brave decision of exiting the conversion experience, Brown makes it clear that he stands against the Puritan doctrine of his fellow townspeople â€Å"reject[ing] the society which has nurtured him† (4). It is clear that this decision makes him a failure in the eyes of the surrounding society because he disregards the most central beliefs of that society (1). Brown is a failure by the standards of society, yet he becomes highly successful at a personal level. Brown defies his peers’ beliefs, knowing that he is the only one to stand up for his personal beliefs. His unlikely decision brings him personal success because he holds the insight of the Puritan principles by which his neighbors live, while he himself lives a life free from Puritanism. Even though Brown lives a dark life â€Å"because an anthem of sin rush[s] loudly upon his ear and drown[s] all the blessed strain,† (36), he is relieved that he doesn’t have to continue his life abiding by the Puritan doctrine.Meanwhile, Owen presents his invention to Annie and her new family, and he realizes that he no longer needs Annie’s encouragement to be happy. Owen â€Å"glance[s] sidelong at Annie, to discover whether she sympathize[s] in her husband’s estimate of the comparative value of the Beautiful and the Practical,† and he â€Å"rises out of the region in which such a discovery might have been torture,† (382). Owen gains a rare confidence within himself that allows him to personally succeed. As he overcomes the utilitarianism principle, he learns to disregard anyone’s opinion but his own. Although Owen succeeds at a personal level, Peter Hovenden, Annie’s father, â€Å"bursts into a cold and scornful laugh† symbolizing Owen’s failure in society (385). Because Peter used to be a watchmaker, he is a symbol for the utilitarian society. Therefore, his negativism towards Owen symbolizes society’s disapproval of Owen’s completed creation of the Beautiful. Even though Owen has a finished product of his tedious work, Peter ’s mockery expresses that this product is frowned up because it is platonic and does not pertain to the utilitarianism doctrine.As Brown and Owen face like challenges of choosing their personal ideals over the ideals of their societies, they obtain similar results in terms of succeeding. As evident through the characters, Hawthorne displays that although both men are able to personally succeed, they fail in the eyes of their societies. Nonetheless, both of the protagonists overcome dynamic experiences, becoming internally strong and willing to continue forth with the pursuit of their own beliefs.