Civil Rights

Civil Rights by Alissa Gray - Saturday, September 15, 2012, 11:53 AM

English 364OL - The Short Story Discussion: URLs to Civil Rights Sites Stories: "Sonny's Blues" & "A Worn Path" James Baldwin and Eudora Welty display a strong sense of place and heritage, directing our consciences to the inequities in American society. Both "aim" at unraveling the repressive myths of white society and at healing the estrangement in the lives of black Americans (Cassill & Bausch).For this forum, you need to respond to several items.  First, please search the Internet for historical and cultural information on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, The Harlem Renaissance, the Black Power Movement, etc. As you research the various Internet sites, consider the setting and identity of black Americans during the course of the 20th Century (including each story's setting).  Please post at least two URLS with a brief (5-6 sentence) description of each site. The Black Power Movement http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/africanamerican/blackpower/index.html This site is a wonderful URL to check out concerning The Black movement. Within the page that pops up it explains how some Black Americans stood up and gain power (sense of superiority) and pride represent their Black community after being suppressed and discourage violently from doing so in the past. It explains the development and unity of The Black Panther Party during wartime Vietnam and such. Martin Luther King http://www.thekingcenter.org/ This site is completely dedicated to the history of the legendary Martin Luther King. From the speech,”I Had a Dream” to where he was born and raise with his preacher father. Picture galore to show the greatness and change he inspired for US and breakthrough of equality amongst race. The Civil Rights Movement http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/ This site is wonderful to upkeep on the historical moments that had happen in our past. I really enjoyed going through this site and looking at all the wonderful pictures and moments, as harsh as they seem, we have come a long way from then. Second, consider Langston Hughes poem "Harlem" in regards to the plight of this week's characters and in regards to your Internet research. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? In addition to the initial analysis of your Internet urls, please write a 250 word response to the Hughes poem!  I think that this poem has is sad and depressing. He looks at a dream so the dark and distant like an illusion or gift he will really never receive just get teased by. The intolerance, racism, and discrimination he has gone through because he is a black american at that time gives him little hope for any of his dreams to come true. For him to even gain hope seems like a distant dream of it’s own. The raisin makes a great symbolism for a dried up dream, if a dream is put on hold or in other words neglected for too long it eventually dies out or as he said,”dries out like a raisin”. That’s extremely deep.  The sweet and edible insinuations are interpreted as ven if the dream is still sweet it’s smaller than it use to be; like a raisin shrunk from how it was which was a well rounded beautiful green or red grape. As the dream shrinks like a grape to a raisin losing sight of the grape, the dreamer loses sight of his dreams and hope. During the time the poem was written in the civil rights/post-WW2 the dreamers happen to be suffering Black Americans. I thought Hughes poem’s last lines were just as symbollicaay vgua and deep all at the same time. Clever and short words to put it. Saying ,”Maybe it just sags, like a heavy load.” Says to me that the dream and hope is getting old and worn out like their clothing and skin or even lost in the heavy load of baggage and enslaved labor that their force to do. The dreams and hopes get lost in the saggy emotional and physical baggage they carried from all this hardship. You may include both in one post OR you may create separate posts. Lastly, kindly respond to five (5) of your classmates AFTER you visit their website links!  In your responses to your peers, write at least 3-4 thought-provoking sentences. Good luck and have fun!   Re: Civil Rights by Yajaira Lopez - Saturday, September  15, 2012, 11:59 AM The two URLS you provided were really great. The first site provided us readers to explore different sections which I really like. I enjoyed it because we were able to concentrate on that certain event alone instead of reading all of the events at the same time. In the second site I found the exact thing like you did. I as well enjoyed looking at all the pictures and moments. We were able to see what truly happened. In addition, I agree with your interpretation of the dream. It was sad and depressing. It spoke about the feelings after not having any hope in that dream anymore or not being able to go after it. I also agree how this poem had great symbolism. Re: Civil Rights by Emilia Hovakemian - Saturday, September  15, 2012, 12:33 PM I've never really had what I would call a "hero." Since I was a very small child, I've always seen humans as being flawed (I was a strange child!), and therefore I guess I just never created an image of a "hero" in my head. As an adult, though, I've begun to have more "heroes," as I realize that a hero is not a flawless person, it's just one that stands up everyday for what is right. Martin Luther King Jr. has always fascinated me, as I wonder where in the world he ever found that amount of strength and courage. It's incredible to think that someone can look directly in the face of death or imprisonment or injury on a daily basis and still march on. It's pretty incredible. Re: Civil Rights by Madison Spielvogel - Saturday, September  15, 2012, 04:27 PM I agree with you Alissa. This poem is pretty depressing yet provides us with so much history from the civil rights movement. I love your analysis on how "the dream shrinks like a grape to a raisin.." That is very powerful and great deep thinking. My favorite link out of your 3 is the civil rights movement one. I love how it gives us an introduction to it and tells us the conclusion to it as well. Great job! Re: Civil Rights by Jivan Muradian - Saturday, September  15, 2012, 06:21 PM You can definitely feel a sense of lowered morale and a feeling of desperation through the words of the author. However, I felt like there was a brief sense of optimism in the last line of the poem. I found your view on the interpretation the "heavy and sagging" line to be very fitting. The baggage of fighting off such inequalities would definitely result in a depression of sorts. Re: Civil Rights by Benjamin Ringgenberg - Saturday, September  15, 2012, 12:09 PM Good work on finding those relevant URL's.  The Black Power movement is a portion of history that few understand and many should know about.  I too found the King Center online and discovered a wealth of information on Dr. King.  I agree with your idea that the raisin in the sun is a metaphor for a dream denied. Additionally, Hughes certainly represented the worries and frustrations of his people; especially during that period in history (1950's).