...Name Professor’s Name Course Date Analysis of Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan in ‘The Help” (2011) This paper is set to take a detailed look at Skeeter in the film known as ‘The Help’. In the movie Skeeter is presented as a 22 year old white lady who has recently graduated from Ole Miss College. In addition, she is a fortunate daughter of a large scale cotton farmer at Jackson in Mississippi. Her nickname, Skeeter is given to her by her older brother due to size at birth. He thought she took after a skeeter. Upon her return from school, she realizes a degree of modifications based on the issue of racism. To be precise, she has a changed perception on the relationship between the members of the white households and afro American maids. She wonders why her society adopts a double standard notion at looking at individuals. For instance, she is surprised at the fact that the whites would not let their maids use the same lavatories as them, yet entrusting them (black maids) with the care of their children. Her attitude is heavily attributed to the absence of her favorite maid. She feels it was unfair for Constantine to leave without informing her. As a result, she suspects that something awful must have compelled her to part ways with her family. She later realizes that Constantine had been relieved off her duties upon her act of reuniting with her daughter, Lullabelle Bates. Another change worth noting in Skeeter revolves around the nexus between education...
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...Mario Holley June 20, 2008 SPCH 1315- M. Lewis Topic: Do we still need Black History Month General Purpose: To Persuade Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to view black history month as more than just a small lesson. That black history is not just for blacks, that it’s more than a month, and how it’s everyone’s history. Central Idea: Black history has been single out to one month as a way to make sure that blacks are remembered in history. Blacks has always been apart of history. Therefore is it reasonable to set a side just one month to illustrate the participation of blacks in our countries history? Introduction I. In Media That Matters Film Festival, August 2005, tittles A Girl Like Me by Kiri Davis a 17-year-old film student of Manhattan’s Urban Academy a doll test was duplicated. Kiri Davis who participated in the Reel Works Teen Filmmaking program, a free after-school program was supported by cable network HBO. A. In this documentary a female voice asks the child a question: “Can you show me the doll that looks bad?” The child, a preschool-aged Black girl, quickly picks up and shows the Black doll over a White one that is identical in every respect except complexion. B. Why does that look bad?” “Because she’s Black,” the little girl answers emphatically. “And why is this the nice doll?” the voice continues. “Because she’s White.” “And can you give me the doll that looks like you?” The little girl hesitates for a split...
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...FACTS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY I. Introduction to Afro-American History A. Central theme-Quest for 1. Freedom, 2. Equality, 3. Manhood/Women Suffrage B. Reasons for the Afro-American Movement-1. Record sake, 2. Inspirational Sake, 3. Fight for the concept that blacks are inferior. C. Africanism-anything that has an African origin D. Eras of History- Ancient (Stone Age), Medieval (Dark Ages History), Modern (Reform), & Current II. Discuss the four group of Black Historians. - The Author of Black Historians is Dr. Thrope. -The Beginning School-Rope to justify Emancipation -The Middle School-Builder of Black Studies -The Layman School-Untrained Historians -The New School-Professional Historians The first historian was George Washington Williams. John Rustwrum was the black undergraduate historian to graduate from Harvard. III. Fathers of History A. Carter G. Woodson-Father of Negro History ( Founder of Black History Day) B. Charles Wesley & Monroe Clark-Father of African American Studies C. Herodotus-who was Greek, Father of History in General-He wrote his history in Hodge Podgy, meaning something thrown together. D. Thucydides-Father of Scientific History IV. Review of the Browder Files by Anthony T. Browder. A. Introduction-Why can't African American reunite as a race? 1. We don't know our heritage. 2. We fail to produce the thing s we need. 3. We have a loss of sense of family. 4. We sell our land. ...
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...Not until I started researching racism in Disney films did I understand this was even an issue. As a little kid you most likely don’t pick up on these things but as an adult being aware of it, do we allow our children to continue watching such films? My dice identity role was in perspective of an African American person. Disney does a great job of stereotyping against this race in several movies, the Jungle Book being just one. In this particular movie, they have portrayed gorillas and orangutans to sound like black people. In their slightly ever more popular film, The Lion King, they made the hyenas speak in a clear street manner such as an inner African American dialect. (“Stereotypes”) Another issue came into light once the film The Princess and the Frog was released. Why had it taken Disney so long to come out with its first African American princess film? This film’s original story line had the princess character named Maddy who was a chambermaid. This caused uproar about the character starting the movie as a slave and having the name Maddy that sounded too much like Mammy and changes were made. Mammy is defined as a black woman engaged as a nurse to white children or as a servant to a white family. (Evans) When it comes to gender, Disney does another awesome job of drawing a distinct line between female and male characters. The female characters were typically shown in a position of queen, homemaker or princess such as Cinderella who goes from a maid to a princess. Male...
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...identify yourself as, what would you say? Would you say you are American, foreign, black, and white, etc.? In my opinion, being an American is only half of my identity. I Identify myself as a young, strong African American woman striving to make it in this stereotypical, unfair nation we call a country. Being an American means to come together as one, a “melting pot” and being proud of your country, or patriotism. Although I am an American, I am also a young African American girl who is not only considered a minority, but also trying to keep up with this ever changing, corrupt society. Being an American means coming together and taking pride in your country. Some describe our country as a melting pot; others would beg to differ, considering how different our country is as far as cultures and ethnicities. We may be one as a country physically, but mentally we are not. Mentally, we all see ourselves differently through our cultures and ethnicities. Different cultures come to America every day from across the globe. People, who are very close to their culture or religions, will only associate with those who have the same beliefs as them. For example, if someone practices Christianity, they would separate themselves, or refrain from associating with those who are atheists. This is only because Christians feel that they should only associate with those who are Christians as well, this is speaking from observation and experience. When I attend church, every Sunday, most of the friends...
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...Arnett Ferguson spent 3 years gathering research on African American youth in the school and how Adults, society, and the educational system views them. The superiors of these kids have a wrongfully prejudice conceptualization of them, more specifically the boys. Observations and stories of individual students help Ferguson make connections and find the underlying source of these kids’ preconceived notions to Adults and more importantly themselves. “In the course of course of my study it became clear that school labeling practices and the exercise of rules operated as part of a hidden curriculum to marginalize and isolate black male youth in disciplinary spaces and brand them as criminally inclined” Ann Arnett Ferguson, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity (University of Michigan, 2000) p2. Adultification does not have a simple definition. Ferguson theorized this idea while observing different kids during her case study. The term adultification describes the developmental process of youth and how outlying factors such as social and communal values are absorbed by kids. There is a prejudice that these observed teacher hold of these kids. These teachers use how the media portrays African American males to justify their views about all African American kids. This adultification is a distraction from the fact that they are kids, not criminals. “Adultification is visible in the way African American elementary school pupils are talked about by school adults”...
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...The New Negro Despite all the adversities faced by African Americans, one was still proud to be labeled a Negro. During the 1900’s African Americans had gained courage to fight back against those oppressors who attacked and proclaimed pride in his race. This great boldness stems from previous achievements made by African Americans throughout history. Such events lead Blacks to continue prosper by participating in the First World War and migrating to different parts of the North and Midwest, bringing with them a new sense of culture that would leave an everlasting impact. The “New Negro’s”, during and after the First World War, was considered self-confident as they no longer accepted black inferiority. Blacks’ participation in the Civil War, lasting from 1861-1865, resulted in African Americans having a sense of pride that one has never felt before. Now seemingly having an identity, they carried that courage to fight in the First World War. Blacks’ participated by “…distinguishing themselves as soldiers in France and as members of an international community of people of African descent, or African Diaspora. Blacks’ were skeptic about this war as it was proclaimed to be “a war to make the world safe for democracy”. African Americans were divided on whether to fight and support a war effort to assure equality for a nation while they still faced undemocratic experiences of segregation, disfranchisement, and lynching. Blacks’ looked for anti-lynching legislation, an end to...
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...Cultural diversity is the assortment of cultures and societies we have, either within a city, region, or the world itself. In this adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun” there were many cultures. The black women and the black men, the African American race as a whole, the rich white society, the have culture and have not so much culture. The diversity between the African American family and the Nigerian gentlemen Joseph who is interested in Beneatha and George shows that there are different black cultures and societies. Those being rich, foreign and those that have been here for generations and not been able to or have the opportunity to rise out of the situations they were brought into the world in. Benefits that Lena sees are the memories she has and the money coming and how it can change things even if just a little. But as the day goes on she sees that there is a strain on the household because of the money, and it is mainly her son. Walter sees everything as a drawback, how black people are treated, how they do not get the opportunities like white people and how they end up with service jobs, and he isn’t wrong for this time period. He sees his whole life as a draw back and the only benefit is the money his mama is getting in the mail. Because he is so blinded by his want to be wealthy and live better he trusts the wrong person with money his mother gave him; and money that was not just for him. Lena trusts her son, which ends up being a drawback because he loses it all to...
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...The television show Love and Hip Hop is a stereotype reality show on African Americans in today’s society. The reason for this is because it degrades African American women in such a negative approach. It shows a sign of low characteristics as well as respect. In the reality show it just shows how black women cannot get along, degrading each other with using foul language. Also, in the show it has this particular image on how a women is suppose to be shaped and living this fancy lifestyle of being rich. It has a lot of different approaches, which shows betraying a black woman’s images in the real world. On the other hand there are a lot of young girls who watch this reality show, and I believe that some young girls look up to these women as a role models. It shows in today’s society especially on social networks on how young girls copy these reality shows and what to expect in men. For example in the reality show the men treats the women badly by disrespecting them with using curse words etc. In addition, African Americans have been suppressed by the media. In most reality shows African Americans are portrayed negatively. Usually shows on African Americans involved topics such as violence, crime, and sexual behaviors. These negative images have made it hard for African American to earn lead roles in shows today. However, this seems to be the images that black’s today actors and actress are limited to. If you look at the history of Hollywood, you will notice that during the...
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...American culture as the root and foundational source. field and subject that deals with and is devoted to the study academic subject.  Black studies is critical due to the fact that so many supposed authorities on black studies only know half of our history themselves. We must go deeper and start right from the beginning and critical dissect, study and “peel back the layers“ that are continuously evolving in thought and practice of African and African American people. Dispora is the dispersing of people from their original homeland, in this case African people. African diaspora is the dispersing of communities throughout the world as a  result of the movement of peoples from Africa, predominantly to America, the Caribbean and South America,...
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...participated in theater for centuries now, American Theater is one of the newer traditions agmonst us. Theaders have evolved from countries all over the world. “From the African roots of Greek tragedy to contemporary Shakespearean plays, the diverse enviorment is what created the power behind stage production. During the start up of American Theater, it reflected the lives of namely white, property-owning, Christian men”(Kertin p5). As time pasted, the popular dramas came from Europe. In the 1820's Black artists were creating, staging and performing for both black and white audiences, performing both existing and original work. “The first theater company to attempt the performing arts production from an African American perspective was, The African Grove Theater in New York”(Abel p1). In 1820, an African American man named, William Brown and a West Indian man named, James Hewlett created the African Grove Theater. “Both of these men traveled by ship throughout the Caribbean, where story telling, performance, dance and music were essential to the culture and survival of the slaves working on sugar cane and tobacco plantations, salt flats and mines. The company performed tragedies and comedies from Shakespeare to American playwrights”(Welsher p2).The African Grove Theater was the first African American theater in the United States. Full playrights were presented on this stage which included, Shakespeare and eventually the first plays by African American. Although the intension was to...
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...EN.101.105 Fall 2014 Kiara Calhoun-Shearn Dr.Kitenge N’Gambwa September, 30th, 2014 “The Etiquette of Police Brutality (An Autopsy)” What society can do to help stop Police Brutality is to stand up for what they believe in, organize strategies, and gather facts. Police brutality has become very relevant. In our country African Americans have been targeted for merely no reason except for the fact that they are black. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Stated that “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice”. What this means is that if we do not put a stop to actions that should not be acted out in the first place then there will be no solutions to the problem. We as a nation can come together as one and fight for a new law so that innocent people can feel protected. Police brutality will still take place if our nation does not speak up. Organizing strategies such a monitoring the police, educating the public, and building coalitions would be such an advantage towards stopping police brutality. The number of African Americans killed by the police is absolutely outrageous. African Americans are always the first to be looked down upon as a suspect. For instance the shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August, 9th, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Michael Brown, a young black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer while his hands were up; he was surrendering. Many believe this was a racial...
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...that Black males in the United States are viewed as inferior, brutes, Black rapist, perpetrators, suspects, mug shots, dark and scary figures, and uneducated thugs deserving to be killed. They are often seen as so suspicious that law enforcement often shoot first and ask questions later. This is an all too familiar reality for the Black male living in the United States and it has been since the beginning. In 2008, we as a nation elected our country’s first African American President. You would think that would have changed our view on racism, however, that was not the case. A Capitol Hill blue article states, according to a psychologist, Obama’s presidency has triggered the inherent or latent racism in America. (Racism, Still a Hot-button, 2010). The foundation of this country was built on racism and those ideologies still stand true today. Along those lines the Black male has borne the brunt of this. In a book titled Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement, Jack Bloom quotes An African American mother talking about how she taught her children to survive during Jim Crow. “It’s like with cars and knives, you have to teach your children to know what’s dangerous and how to stay away from it, or else they sure won’t live long. White...
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...having their own purpose for African-Americans. White is an extraordinary artist who has changed history and affected many African-Americans for the better. Charles White Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 2, 1918 to the parents of Ethel Gary and Charles White Sr. At a young age, White realized his passion for art and it was only fueled more when one day after school he met art students from the Art Institute of Chicago who taught him how to mix paint. Not too long after did White begin to skip school because of...
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...America Beyond the Color Line Shanna Armstead ETH/125 1/20/2013 Lydia Kerr The video America Beyond the Color Line: Streets of Heaven gives people an outlook on life in a housing project in Chicago. It shows examples of how black people struggle to survive in the environment or to get out of it. This video gives good insight on the mindset of individuals who only this way of life. Dr. Henry Louis Gates delved seep into the lives of the people and exposes what it is like to grow up, to live, and to escape this type of environment. In the beginning of the video it offers the statistics of the African American community. These statistics stated that one in five Black men in their twenties is in prison on probation or parole, sixty-nine percent of all Black children are raised in a single-parent household, the average lifespan for an African American man is 59, and only 45 percent of Black adults are working in any given week. I believe that the real life stories from the video support these statistics. The video itself showed examples of each statistic. When Dr. Gates visited the prison the video showed mostly black men behind those bars. In his interview with Eric, Dr. Gates asked him why he thought so many black men were incarcerated and he told him that it was because of the lack of positive role models in the black community. When interviewing Marlon, Dr. Gates asked how old he was when he started selling drugs and Marlon said “fifteen”. The statistic that says...
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