African American Literature Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

1250 total results

The Impact of the Slaver in Beloved by Toni Morrison (1464 words, 5 pages)

In Toni Morrisons Beloved, we experienced the impact slavery had on Sethes mother character and the madness that played out in her story of despair. The two primary themes that we have decided to focus on have been Motherhood and Madness and how they relate to one another throughout this ... Read More

Sylvia as an Unreliable Narrator in the Short Story, The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara (1088 words, 4 pages)

When someone describes another person to be reliable, the correct definition for this type of person would be anyone with honest actions and words. (Dictionary.com) Being reliable can also be defined as being trustworthy. The style of words or the type of language someone uses has nothing to do with ... Read More

Societal Division in The Lesson, a Short Story by Toni Cade Bambara (767 words, 2 pages)

In the short story The lesson, Toni Cade Bambara wants to inform the reader on how divided the society really is. She wants the reader to Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to ... Read More

Understanding the Role of Faith and Religion in the Novel, Iola Leroy by Frances Harper (993 words, 3 pages)

Now, Captain, that's the kind of religion that I want. Not that kind which could ride to church on Sundays, and talk so solemn with the minister about heaven and good things, then come home and light down on the servants like a thousand of bricks. I have no use ... Read More

The Dilemma of the Family on Whether to Strive for the American Dream in Act 3 of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (987 words, 3 pages)

In A Raisin in the Sun Act 3 the author puts the character through a stressful time because they have to decide if they want to move to their dream home across town. Even though they where kindly told not to move there, by the community because they dont want ... Read More

The Symbols of Cowardice and True Courage in the Short Story, Punk by Zora Neale Hurston (1234 words, 4 pages)

In Spunk, the protagonist, Joe, is described as a meek man and is murdered in an attempt to get his wife Lena back from Joes polar opposite, Spunk Banks, who is seen by the townspeople a brave, courageous man. However, as the story progress, Spunk begins to breakdown and becomes ... Read More

The Metaphors and Imagery of Freedom in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a Book by Maya Angelou (587 words, 2 pages)

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed (Martin Luther King Jr.). Just like Martin Luther King Jr. said people who faced oppression couldnt wait around expecting to be given freedom. Instead, in order to earn it, they would need to fight and ... Read More

A Comparison between Student and Instructor in Theme for English B, a Poem by Langston Hughes (757 words, 2 pages)

In the poem Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, he struggles to talk about the truth because he explains that it's not that simple, so he states the obvious by sharing a similar relationship he has with his instructor. At the time the student and the instructor were separated ... Read More

The Motivation of Fear in the Novel, Native Son by Richard Wright (473 words, 2 pages)

How do you motivate yourself with love or fear? Being motivated by fear provokes actions that you may not have thought about. Some results can be good and others can be severe. The novel Native Son by Richard Wright speaks of Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of the novel, who is ... Read More

The Principles of Heritage in the Novel Everyday Use by Alice Walker (1933 words, 8 pages)

Dictionary.com defines heritage as something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth an inherited lot or portion. For my research paper, I would like to discuss the two stories Everyday Use, and Borders. The reason why I would like to compare these two stories is because after ... Read More

The Unexpected Racism in the Novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1176 words, 4 pages)

Racism in unexpected places in The Color PurpleRacism against African-American people began in 17th century in America, when people, kidnapped from various parts of Africa arrived as slaves. Since then the black people were forced to Christianize and work for people of the higher classes. White people, who dominated over ... Read More

An Important Lesson in Salvation, a Short Story by Langston Hughes (338 words, 1 pages)

In the short story "Salvation", Langston Hughens learns a lesson at the age of twelve about being saved. The fact of the pressure being put on him he ended up lying and getting up showing everyone at the church that he got saved, knowing he didnt feel the call from ... Read More

Culture and Heritage in the Story Everyday Use by Alice Walker (668 words, 2 pages)

In the story of Everyday Use by Alice walker where the author expresses the extreme importance of culture and heritage. The author uses the characters to explain how important culture and heritage are. The main characters of the story are Mama (Mother) and her two daughter Dee who also known ... Read More

An Analysis of the Article Champion of the World From the Novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (492 words, 2 pages)

The article Champion of the World is a chapter taken from Maya Angelos novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Champions of the World, is a narrative descriptive essay written by Maya Angelou with a view to claim that African-American people are the strongest people in the world. In ... Read More

The Influence of Family Environments on Characters in Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger and Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler (623 words, 2 pages)

The main characters in Hard Love and Fledgling have both been shaped and influenced by their family environments, but in extremely different ways. When people comparing those two books, nothing seems to show that there is any relation between the two. Furthermore, Hard Love seems to be better suited for ... Read More

The Discrimination of Afro-Americans in the Poem Theme for English B by Langston Hughes (1167 words, 4 pages)

Throughout the development of human civilization, discrimination is always a realistic and important topic. It will remain controversial in the future and in far-away places. People usually tend to create the outsiders by giving others who are different from them an inferior social identity that carries low social value. This ... Read More

Freedom and Slavery in the Poems Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Lift Every Voice and Sing by James Weldon Johnson (719 words, 2 pages)

In the poems Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Lift Every Voice and Sing, by James Weldon Johnson both authors, speak about freedom and use various metaphors and other figures of speech to describe the journey of black people during the times of slavery and even this present day. Even ... Read More

A Day in Sylvia’s Everyday Life in the Story The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara (856 words, 3 pages)

In the story The Lesson through the eyes of an under privilege young girl by the name Sylvia. Were taking a look of her day in her everyday life. We quickly see how Sylvia believes that only her and Sugar are the level headed ones among her peers. For Sylvia ... Read More

A Personal Review of the Play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1116 words, 4 pages)

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that has been shown on Broadway in 1956. The title of this play come from a poem Harlem by Langston Hughes. The story of this play tells us about a black family experiences in the Washington Park Subdivision of ... Read More

The Concept of Racial Panning in the Novel, Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral by Angela Murray (1302 words, 4 pages)

Novelist Langston Hughes once said, Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Racial passing occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of a different racial group. The concept of ... Read More

The Issue of Racial Segregation in Countee Cullen’s Poems Saturday’s Child and Tableau During the Harlem Renaissance (1218 words, 6 pages)

The theme is the main idea of a poem a passage, or any form of literature. The theme is what the writer uses to explore the subject behind a literary work. The word sonnet comes for the Italian word little song, in a poem a sonnet is generally a fourteen-line ... Read More

An Analysis of the Annotated Bibliography of Zora Neale Hurston (1075 words, 3 pages)

Annotated BibliographyTopic For my research paper I plan to focus on Zora Neale Hurstons essay How it Feels to be Colored me and Langston Hughes essay Bop to look closer into African American lives during the Harlem Renaissance. With using these two authors, I plan to address the issues of ... Read More

An Analysis of the Racism in the Letters A Letter to My Nephew and A Letter to My Son (664 words, 4 pages)

DifferentRacism has been around for centuries. It can be defined as a belief that ones own race is superior to another. Authors such as James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates were affected by this belief. The writers wrote letters about racism and how it affected them greatly. The letters were titled ... Read More

An Analysis of in a Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1045 words, 3 pages)

Drama Essay A Raisin in the Sun A Letter From Birmingham JailThe short story A Raisin in the Sun portrays a very typical, working class, black family struggling to make ends meet. At the time the story takes place, many black families were in similar situations. Life was difficult enough ... Read More

Each Writer’s Unique Way of Using Poetic Devices in Sekou Sundiata’ Poem Blink Your Eyes and Natasha Trethewey’s Poem History Lesson (1539 words, 6 pages)

For a long time racism has been a big issue in American culture, and many poets used this issue as a theme for their poems. A very good example of this would be the poems called Blink Your Eyes, by Sekou Sundiata and History Lesson, by Natasha Trethewey, because they ... Read More

The Allegory of the Life of an Animal for a Woman in a Bad Marriage in Zora Neale Hurston’s Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (955 words, 4 pages)

The literary theme of unfulfilling marriages fills a third of the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The clever author, Zora Neale Hurston, uses the life of an animal as an allegory for a woman in a bad marriage. Readers tend to glance over the mule, however if the reader ... Read More

The Different Views and Conflicts Between a Mother and Her Two Daughters in the Short Story, Everyday Use by Alice Walker (686 words, 3 pages)

Alice Walkers short story Everyday Use discusses many different perspectives and conflicts between a family of a mother and her two daughters. The author has made it apparent that both the daughters, whose names are Dee and Maggie, have been raised and grown into two completely different women with different ... Read More

The Values of the Characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (285 words, 1 pages)

While reading A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry one learns much about the values of the characters in the story, especially of Mama and Walter. Through the dialogue and actions of the two characters, we learn that the value systems of Mama and Walter are extremely different, and ... Read More

An Analysis of the Elethia New View (434 words, 2 pages)

English III Honors6 September 2015Elethias New ViewSome things are only learned through experience. There are some things in life that a person will not learn in the media or through other people. It is interesting to see something that may seem insignificant to some, can be life changing to others. ... Read More

An Essay Outline for Evaluating Alice Walker’s Beauty (333 words, 1 pages)

Alice Walker's "Beauty When the Other Dancer is the Self"Essay Organization StrategiesWhat are the different ways the narrator defines beauty? I. As a child, the narrator looks to her family for the definition of beauty. II. While in her teens, the narrator turns to her peers for the definition of ... Read More

African American Literature Essay Examples