African-American Studies

Forever Free by Eric Foner is a summary of the truth about the Black American status after the Civil War. Evidences that counters the conventional view about what really happened to the Black Americans during the post-Civil War were also shown. Moreover, many American historians found proof that African-Americans really did not experience true freedom.
   
In the beginning chapters of the book, Eric Foner presents the on-going struggle experienced by the Black Americans in a White-dominated society. Although some Blacks after the Civil War and during the Emancipation period were given positions in the government or have been successful in their life, still many Black Americans were considered inferior. As what Gartison Frazier had said, I would prefer to live by ourselves, for there is a prejudice against us in the South that will get years to get over (Foner, 2005). Black Americans still feel that they are not accepted in the American society ruled by the Whites.
   
The book also tries to figure out the meaning of the 19th century racial drawings, cartoons and photographs which represent the efforts of the Black Americans to gain their equal status in the nation. Also indicated in the book is the efforts of the Republican Party to give Black Americans the true freedom and justice they are hardly fighting for a long time. With the rise of the Republican Party, tensions were created between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups. During the rise of Abraham Lincoln in power as he was elected as the first Republican President of the nation, many White Southerners were threatened and resulted to the creation of the Confederate States of America. Southern politicians believed that supporting Lincoln will prevent slavery from continuation. As what a South Carolina politician had said, Slavery is our king. Slavery is our truth, slavery is our divine right (Foner, 2005). 
 
In the final chapter of the book, Foner expresses the idea that the nations quest for freedom is still not over but only at its beginning, as he states Yet the political, civil and economic status of the former slaves-and, therefore the very nature of the reunited republic- remained undetermined (Foner, 2005).
   
Forever Free, although appears to construct Reconstruction idea and equal nation building, still remains silent of the political struggles and class tensions. The book implies that the whites and blacks competed over suffrage rights without accounting the political policies and demands. The Whites who contest the Black suffrage believed that Black voters would support any candidate that will propose or promise any welfare law. With this view, suffrage became limited to those Americans who only pay their taxes by 1900. Regardless of whether they are Black or White, the determining factor is to own a taxable property. The idea begins with the premise that those who did not owned taxable property should not have any right to decide on how to spend the tax money.
   
Eric Foner in this book reminds the Americans of how to acknowledge the changes the American racial situation had changed and how it remains the same. The best example is the increase school segregation due to household patterns and division of suburban and urban schools. Moreover, many states have denied the right to vote of a person on probation and convicted of a crime. Considering that almost one-eight of the prison population only consists of Whites and the remaining are all Blacks, will create an impression that Blacks are hardly given their equal rights.
   
All in all, Forever Free is a daring and masterfully told history but is too straightforward for America today. However, its contributions to the reality and understanding of the untold stories during emancipation and reconstruction are all worth reading for.

Many a scholar has faulted the Arab society in Asia, and Muslims in general, over their real and perceived notoriety in oppression and subordination of women. However, oppression of women is also prevalent in the US and Europe, home to some of the oldest and strongest democracies. The decades of colonization planted the belief that the Europe and the USA provided the best opportunities for immigrants from Africa and Asia. Thousands of women take dangerous sea journeys every year to enter Europe illegally in search of economic refuge. Some travel willingly while many others are trafficked. While some are apprehended and sent back, hundreds of immigrants manage to enter Europe illegally. It is women from this class who are most vulnerable to oppression by western men and states. Most end up working in brothels and drug-running networks, working with law-breaking and drug-using men who often rape, beat up, maim and even kill the illegal immigrants. Violent European and American men take advantage of the facts that the womens illegal status makes it difficult, or impossible for them to report cases of abuse to the police as such would attract an arrest and deportation.

Black illegal female immigrant are also the target of much oppression at the hands of European state institutions where discrimination against non-whites. When arrested for whatever crimes, non-whites face harsher penalties and longer prison sentences compared to their white counterparts. The rate of arrest is higher among women of color and among white girls, not necessarily because black girls (or people) commit more crimes than whites but due to social weakness and moreover, the process of labeling. Black women are humiliated, abused and mistreated by police officers and prison staff, and are not even assured of justice in the courts.   Women of color are therefore the target of state oppression, as well as by individuals.

Question 2
One of the reasons why women join crime networks, mostly as transporters, is to protect themselves and members of their families from drug gangs which threaten to kill or maim them if the women do not transport the drugs. Although these women are paid for transporting the narcotics, their main reason for entering and remaining in the drug industry is the fear that they will be targeted for vicious attacks by members of the drug gangs should they defy or seem to defy the latters demands.

The desperation among these coerced women is exemplified in the case of Beverley Fowler who opted to commit suicide rather than get deported to Jamaica where members of a drug gang had raped her and killed her partner. In countries lacking strong security structures, dancing to the drug gangs tunes offer the only practical chance of survival for these women.
Women choose to enter the narcotics trade to escape the harsh financial realities facing most women in the developing world.

The economic ill-health of most third world economies and the grossly inequitable distribution of available resources ensure that millions of women have very restricted access to the resources. Unable to provide sufficiently for their families, some women are lured into drug trade by the huge financial rewards associated with the narcotics underworld. The income earned from this trade caters for the womens everyday needs, childrens school fees, utilities and housing.  Many women are therefore willing to overlook the risks of drug trade as the income offers them a survival chance. The criminalization of these acts of survival mean that women charged with the crimes are faced with hefty post-conviction penalties which make it very difficult, if not impossible, to re-integrate into society.

Lockdown is an economic process that encourages the usage of prison complex facilities that have tentatively allowed the states to apply capitalism and military dominance in their justice systems in order to incarcerate those individuals that are opposed to the new world order-therefore many colored feminists are calling for the integration of anti-globalization and anti-prison praxis (Sudbury, n.d.).  Construction of private owned prison facilities megaprisons have benefitted from racial based criminal justice systems that lead in warehousing of surplus population of women. Whereas the government insists on usage of psychological and individual terms, the women want to have a qualitative and hand-on research method that can easy subtract the internalized psychological impacts from the real personality of the people. Fallen economies have promoted many immigrants seeking jobs thus ending up in prison facilities through the anti-trafficking laws.     
   
Sexual humiliation has been put on notice by women detainees who have to contend with the issue of being released in the pretext of accepting sexual slavery. According to Angela Davis, strip search conduct that all incarcerated women are calling on against has humiliated women sexual depriving them their privacy besides intoxication of prisoners with drugs such as Haldol so as to male them adopt to prison conditions is assumed to unconstitutional. Character of deviance that comes about due to unfair trial is further complicated by the psychological assimilation of the prison bitter environment that encourages violence that is in leads to further incarceration for questionable behavior. Repressive character coupled with gendered sexual abuse can be especially in private prisons have exposed women prisoners to terrifying experiences such as anal and vaginal assault whereby officers use authority in provision of goods and services to decide whom to be their sexual slaves.

Therefore imprisonment that takes away the rights and liberties of persons make the constitution almost obsolete for prisoners therefore  Angela Davis suggests that demilitarized school programs, better health facilities for all persons, revalued education system that creates opportunities for all and a positive justice system can easily reconcile the society together against criminality. Humanistic views are also encouraged in case of attention to women who have run away from oppressive relationships by inter offering of education and job opportunities besides proper medical care. Scholar views are suggesting that criminals are social individuals who are really indebted by their commission of crime and ready to rectify if the right measures like reparation instead of retribution are offered democratically.    
   
Shooting of innocent victims in cold blood by the police departments of the world has brought about concerned women who meet to train their children on how to approach and interact with the police and strangers. Mothers ROC have come up with a suggestion to put a halt to communist police tendencies that exploit justice. Ruth Gilmore details a case of a young man who stole a pack of razor blades and instead of a petty crime he was granted a third-strike felony with a bail amounting to  650,000 that was way off the portfolio of the young man-thus the constitution allows loopholes that work against segments of populations especially Latinos and Colored people. Consequently, the prison theory is a capitalist state of keeping surplus population that is widely viewed to hold diverse political and social options other than the prevalent set culture. 
   
Gender inequality and racial discrimination is said to bring about irrational imprisonment of the victims of the systems especially domestic violence. Therefore in response to that governments developed punitive measures to counter crime instead of alleviating the root causes of the crimes. Therefore women are calling on organized and structured justice through participation in activism and advocacy to reform legal scheme in introducing vigils systems that would allow early release of women who have killed their husband through domestic violence (Lisa, n.d.). Criminalized imprisonment for abortion and other reproductive agendas has withheld women from their children leading to disarrayed family upsets that can be done away with if prisons were done away with if abortion is decriminalized. Therefore human rights-among theme of abolishing prisons and introducing community service as suggested by Debbie Kilroy. Community service can be coupled up with training to alleviate ignorance as the main cause of criminal activities.
   
In conclusion the life terror that occupies the minds of women in prison can be change by the society in conjunction with activism for proper proponents to legitimate judicial trials with an overview of introducing a more cohesive social approach instead of incarceration. The cost of prisons is overwhelming to taxpayers and therefore a better theory about criminal correction should be addressed by the new 21st century.

The struggles of the African community throughout the history of the United States have been appropriately chronicled. From the days of slavery to the days of systemic racism, segregation and the Civil Rights Movement era, these struggles against cultural, political and economic oppression are the experiences that have shaped the black community. Right from the Harlem Renaissance era, the community has used art, music and literature amongst others to portray its sufferings, dreams and aspirations as well as to highlight its plight to the rest of the world. Hip hop music today is a representation of this struggle it is a contemporary youth tool that is furthering the dreams and aspirations of the Civil Rights Movements.
   
A look at the kind of music that dominated the scenes during the Civil Rights era reveals that it was in tandem with the day to day sufferings of the community it verbalized these sufferings while urging for the change in status quo. This music carried with it the desires of millions of blacks rotting in poverty and highly disillusioned by the post-industrial era in America. This was the message that was taken up by the pioneers of Hip Hop such as the Furious Five and Kool Here who took the struggle to a higher level. Through their music, they articulated the sad situation that most African Americans found themselves in, leading a life revolving around drugs, endemic poverty and struggling against a system riddled with endemic racism. Micheal Franti is another example of one such Hip Hop artist that has managed to tackle the core of the African Americans problems by focusing on issues that have been the centre of attention of activists for ages. Through the use of a rap-reggae fusion, Michael Franti analyses the issues of oppression and discrimination experience in capitalist America.

This artist, as do other socio-political rappers, borrows a leaf from the Harlem Renaissance when a flurry of literature began to flow from the African American community starkly highlighting the issues afflicting the population and urging for a resilient struggle. Bessie Smith and Clarence Williams are profound examples of artists who took the black struggles to a higher level during the Harlem Renaissance through their Blues song Jail House Blues. The starting line of their song, Lord, this house is goin to get raided, yes, sir, sets the tempo of this great hit and reflects the enthusiasm and hope brought forth by the Harlem Renaissance age, the passion of which was represented in music. (Angela, 1998, p302)
   
An argument that Hip Hop is a continuation of the struggles of African America however recognises the deep-seated conflict that has arisen between the Civil Rights era generation and the contemporary struggles. The Civil Rights Movement was more organised and dramatically changed the existing social and political structures in conjunction with organisations such as CORE and NAACP, a fete that is yet to be accomplished by Hip Hop. Other than this possible point of departure, Hip Hop shares similar objectives with CRM and also a similar ideology. A look at Lauryn Hills The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album for example demonstrates her struggles, hopes and also the desires to find her own destiny where she says But deep in my heart the answer it was in me and I made up my mind to find my own destiny (Lauryn Hill, 1998). Although possibly talking about her experiences, this song captures the imaginations of millions of blacks caught up in similar difficult situations those entangled by a web of derailing factors brought about by the environment they find themselves in.
   
Undoubtedly, Hip Hop is a strong modern tool that represents black struggles. There a number of pitfalls however that stands in its way of striking a popular chord with the populace like the CRM. The demeanour of the Hip Hop artists for example has been cited as one of the factor that has put it into loggerheads with some of the senior citizens who find the mannerism of the contemporary artists too offensive for the popular taste. Hip Hop is also seen as introducing a culture that is contradictory to the aspirations of the African American population. The prevailing perception is that Hip Hop culture preaches violence, glorifies instant wealth, sex and drugs at the expense of other social and politically constructive ideals such as education. Kanye West for example prides himself of being a College Dropout while other rappers such as DMX are constantly in and out of jail. It is this image that is seen to contradict the ideals of CRM and can be seen as the main point of departure.
    
Today, the dreams and aspirations that have characterised the struggles of the African American population are being presented through Hip Hop music. The African American community continues to be afflicted by the problems of poverty, racism and policy brutality that have been the concern the community for ages. Like the CRM that used demonstrations and riots to highlight the plight of the black community, Hip Hop has encompassed the use of lyrics, graffiti and poems amongst others to illuminate on the raging inequalities in America.

The civil rights movement was at its peak from the 1950s to the 1960s (Tuck, para 2). It was a struggle that took place in America which demanded equality between the white and black people living in America at the time. Most of the rights that were being fought for were based on race. The movement used various means to get their message across which were both violent and non violent. The non violent means were the most common and they proved to be more effective. This included protests, boycotts and marches. One of the most effective non violent approaches was the Montgomery Bus boycott that took place between1955 and 1956. The boycott was initiated by Mrs. Rosa Parks, 42, when she refused to move after being given the order by James F. Blake who was the bus driver. She was arrested for breaking the law and was later charged 10 fine (Encyclopaedia of Alabama, para 3).

Her arrest was regarded as an opportunity to stage the protests against the segregation laws by the leaders of various civil movements. This led to the boycott that lasted for 381 days till 20th December 1956 when the ruling in favor of the boycott took effect. The boycott was seen as a successful non violent weapon that helped the people gain their dignity and destiny. The Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 was seen as the wedge that divided the nation regarding the right of a citizen. This paper discusses the different perspectives of the black and white people regarding the boycott and the civil rights movement. While both blacks and whites believed they were just in their causes, the blacks focused on oppression while the whites defended their status quo.

Black and White Perspectives
The Montgomery bus boycott played a significant role in the civil rights movement in the 1950s since it was able to catch the attention of the whole nation and it made people aware of the discrimination that existed between blacks and whites (Koeller, para 4). It set the tone for the other movements, especially the civil rights movement and proved to the people that non violent protests are as effective as the violent methods. The blacks were able to fight for their rights, freedom and equality after the boycott and they succeeded. There are various rights that they were fighting for which were being disapproved by the whites. The white people had a different perspective to the rights and the equality that the blacks were fighting for while the blacks viewed the treatment as oppression. These perspectives were based on the different discriminations that existed in the country at the time.

Segregation laws
The segregation laws especially in the buses were set to differentiate seating areas for the blacks and the whites. They did not allow for the whites and the blacks to interact. The segregation law that was followed in the buses ensured that the blacks sat at the back while the whites sat in the front of the bus. The blacks had to stand even though the bus was not full and had to give up their seats when the white section of the bus was fully occupied. This was the segregation law that was violated by Mrs. Rosa Parks and led to the Montgomery Bus boycott (Encyclopaedia of Alabama, para 1).

The whites were viewing it as their rights to be given the privilege of seating in the bus while the blacks stood. The law made sure that the blacks did not sit while the whites stood. The blacks were also not allowed to sit on the same line as the whites. The whites were reluctant to allow the blacks get their way during the boycott and stuck to their decision not to allow the blacks to have that right. The blacks remained steadfast in the quest for this right which led the boycott to last for over a year. Various attempts by the authorities to harass the blacks to disrupt the boycott were in vain. They got other means to get them to work and they even carpooled and united in forming organizations and in the churches to buy cars for transport. They finally got the segregation laws abolished in 1956 (Encyclopaedia of Alabama, para 4).

Access to Public Areas
In the 1960s the blacks were not allowed to access the same public areas that the whites were visiting. They were segregated from some of the private and public facilities that were viewed for the white people. These areas included restaurants, bathroom areas and even drinking from the same fountains. The blacks were fighting to be allowed to access such areas that they were not allowed to visit. The whites were reluctant to allow the blacks to access such areas as they regarded them as inferior. The whites considered themselves to be superior and they did not want to mix with the whites.

Right to education
Another area that the whites had differing perspectives with those of the blacks was in the right to education. The whites had their own schools and they did not admit black children. The blacks were forced to take their children to schools that were far off even though there were schools that were nearby that taught the same system. These schools were specifically for the white children. The white children were taught that they were superior to the black children. The reason for the whites to segregate education was that they were preparing the black children for the real experience that existed outside the schools and in their adult life. They also argued that the system was not harmful towards the black children since there were some black people who had achieved after schooling in the black schools. A certain case, Plessy V. Ferguson had allowed for separate but equal schooling systems for the black and white children. But in another case the Supreme Court overruled that ruling. In Brown v Board of Education, the Supreme Court made a ruling that made the permissive and mandatory segregation in the schools unconstitutional in 21 states (Rountree, pp 23). This among the blacks was considered to be a giant step towards the complete elimination of segregation in the public schools.

Right to vote
The blacks were not allowed to vote in the 1960s and they were fighting towards getting this vote. Without this vote, they argued that they did not have a power to design their future or their destiny. The whites used all sorts of excuses so that the blacks were not allowed to register as voters. They set up rules and measures that made it difficult for the blacks to register for voting. They required that the blacks pass a test and pay a certain tax that was referred to as poll tax so that they could register and vote. The whites knew if the blacks were allowed to vote, they would be able to change the people who govern them and the rules that governed them. The black people chosen in government would then help more black people register, so that they can vote for them to remain in government. This would lead to a revolution that the whites were not ready for. President John F. Kennedy was very supportive of the blacks and tried to get more blacks registered for voting by supporting students to help the blacks register.

Right to proper housing
The right to proper housing was one of the issues in the 1960s that caused a difference in perspectives between the whites and the blacks. The blacks at that time were living in the poor areas of America while the whites were living in the rich and well developed areas. On the same note, the whites could not sell nice houses or homes to the blacks. They made sure that the blacks could not get access to the homes that were in the nice neighborhoods which had been segregated to the whites. Hence the blacks were stuck living in the poor areas. A Civil Rights Commission in 1960 reported that 57 of the non white houses were below standard (Pohlmann and Whisenhunt, pp 199). The blacks used the civil rights movement to fight for equality in housing and were seeking the same treatment from the banks, realtors and white homeowners to allow them buy nicer homes. President F. Kennedy made an executive order 11063, to allow the blacks get better houses and homes (Pohlmann and Whisenhunt, pp 199).

Right to join the military
The blacks had for long helped their masters and their employers defend their property in the Civil War and other wars such as the World War, the Vietnam and the Korean War, yet they were continually being treated unfairly and without respect. As the men went fighting, their women, daughters, mothers and sisters were being oppressed back at home. The blacks were fighting for equal treatment in the armed forces without basis on the race or color or their national origin. This was one of the achievements that the whites were responsible for initiating for the blacks. They eventually succeeded when President Truman made an order announcing that there should be equal treatment in the military without basis on the race, color, religion or national origin. This led to an increase in the number of blacks that were enlisted in the Air force and the Marines from 5-9 and 2-8 respectively, between the years 1949 and 1962 (Teelucksingh, para 35).

Prior to the Montgomery Bus boycott and the civil rights movement, the whites had denied the blacks their rights based on their own perspectives that made them maintain their status quo. On the other hand, the blacks were viewing the treatment as discrimination and they felt that the whites were oppressing them. They then decided to start fighting for equal treatment and avoid being treated as second rate citizens. The Montgomery Bus boycott and its success set the tone for the movements that led to the blacks getting equal treatment. The blacks finally succeeded when the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was started off by President F. Kennedy, became law. The Act was a way forward for the blacks to start getting equal treatment like that of the whites.

1. I feel that I am led by the same impulse which forces the un-found-out criminal to take somebody into his confidence, although he knows that the act is likely, even almost certain, to lead to his undoing.  I know that I am playing with fire. . .(The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. This sentence is located in the first paragraph of the first chapter of the book and provides the key to authors disclosing his own personal story. First of all, the secret lies in his identity as a black who is passing as white, opening the themes of racism, bi-racism, passing, and the crime of blackness. If the secret were divulged, the penalty would indeed be a liability in terms of social class, lifestyle, career options, and human dignity).

2. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self through the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. (The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois. This sentence encapsulates WEB Du Bois famous theory of racial double-consciousness where the Black (African-American) has no identity of his own. Instead, he sees himself stripped of true, individual identity, observes mainstream societys projection of him, and has to live with the worlds conception of himself where his image inspires either open hatred (resentment) or ridicule).

3. Nother thing.  Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid em.  Us oughta class off. (Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. (This quotation represents a declaration of intra-racism and underlines the principle of official racial segregation which was alive up to the pre-civil rights era. This comment is spoken by Mrs. Turner who is a high-yellow, light colored Negro who despises her darker-complexioned countrymen. She feels ashamed at the low class behavior that prevailed among Blacks. This conversation exposes the reality of the black bourgeoisie who classify themselves in another class from the poorer, less educated, and darker African-Americans).

4. I am an ordinarily successful white man who has made a little money.  They are men who are making history and a race.  I, too, might have taken part in a work so glorious. (The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. The main character, the ex-colored man who passes for white has gotten by as a mediocre businessman. He never stands out as an illustrious man in history or race and does not aspire to such.  He prefers to blend in with the dominant white culture and to retain a level of comfort and complacency, than  breaking with the mold and confessing his true identity with all its risks and stereotypes.

5. The songs are indeed the siftings of centuries the music is far more ancient than the words, and in it we can trace here and there signs of development (The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois. WEB Du Bois clarify the cultural songs that derive from African Americans which he calls Sorrow Songs. Du Bois traces the development of African American music true soul or folk music whose roots run deep in Africa and whose rhythm still throbbed within the souls of African slaves who passed the songs down through the centuries despite religio-cultural dilutions).

6. So this was a marriage  She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then she felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid (Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neales Hurston. This quotation summarizes the thoughts of Janie as she is out in nature looking at a bee pollinate and fertilize a flower. In her mind, she draws the connection between the birds and the bees, human sexual intercourse, and the consummation of a union).

7. And neither world thought the other worlds thought, save with a vague unrest. (The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois). This simple sentence carries much weight as WEB Du Bois outlines the demarcation between the world of the blacks and the world of the whites and the cultural wall which serves as a barrier to mutual understanding. Du Bois draws two distinct people in the Black and White community both called John and demonstrates the different lot that each had because of his racial extraction. 

8. I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them (The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. This extract from the novel shows that Blacks have acquired a survival technique by learning how to please white men by understanding their inclinations. This narrator points to the dualism or the double consciousness of the Black man, his ability to adopt certain identities in order to betray the white man into subtle confidence in his submission).

 9. The day of the gun, and the bloody body, and the courthouse came and commenced to sing a sobbing sigh out of every corner in the room out of each and every chair and thing.  Commenced to sing, commenced to sob and sigh, singing and sobbing. (Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This passage marks the conclusion of the novel where Janie recalls the day when she kills her own husband TeaCake, the proceeding legal trial, and the ambiance of the courtroom. TeaCakes murder is etched deeply in her mind and remains a climactic milestone in Janies life where she had to fight for herself as a woman and defend herself).

10. Would America have been America without her Negro people (The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois. WEB Du Bois poses this question in the concluding paragraphs of his classic text when he explains the valuable contributions and peculiar characteristics which constitute the African American culture song, oral tradition, labor in the sugar, tobacco, and cotton estates to which America attributes her wealth, and Negro spirituality. All of these aspects make America the land that it is today.

Section Two 
1.  Its uh known fact, says Janie to Phoeby, you got tuh go there tuh know there. 
Here Janie stresses the importance of the quest for individual experience for the African American. She further adds that neither mother nor father nor anyone can point the way since one has to come to ones own conclusions on history. Since the Negro was bound by several restraints which inhibited free speech, education, rights, and freedoms, the search into the past becomes more difficult hence the necessity of going back there in order to recoup what has been lost. The construction of the Negro identity has already been warped because of the imposition of another language and the hindrance of education.

These barriers have obstructed articulation and clouded historical and cultural understanding for the ancestors of the slaves. Janie introduces in her speech the concept of sankofa in which one has to look back in move forward. Retracing ones steps to the past will enable further direction in the future. A personal retrospection in order to know invites practical understanding instead of indirect information transference via mainstream historians who may offer a representative of their views through biased lenses. As Janie works in the Muck of the Everglades in Florida, She discovers new elements of the black way of life that she never experienced herself. Over there in Florida, offers her a close-up and intimate view of the working class blacks their culture and tradition. Janie learns something exceptional working and living alongside the blacks of darker hue.

Witnessing the destitution, the vibrancy of African-American culture at the marketplace, fields, and African music and dances enable Janie to appreciate, grasp, and embrace the identity of her people. Hurston provides the reader with an image of un-depressed people living in depressed circumstances. On the other hand, not everything in the Muck is joie-de-vivre, Janie gets insight into the notorious, violent gamblers, experiences the taint of domestic violence at the hands of TeaCake, and has her eyes open to the sub-racial categories among the black bourgeoisie. As a result, Janie becomes a sort of historian who transmits what she lives as one who is socially deprived like the other Blacks around her. When she returns, Janie summarizes the attainment of this personal experience by her words Two things everybodys got tuh do for themselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin fuh theyselves.

2.  Louis Armstrongs performance in a cartoon. 
The coupled ideas of joy and sorrow, satire and song, are expressions of the African American which flourished in African American entertainment. Louis Armstrong uses both humor and pathos to parody whites and betrays an undercurrent of resentment at American society who painted him, as in the cartoon, as an uncultured, cannibalistic, barbarian who never will be fully integrated within mainstream culture. Black minstrelsy as an art portrays the Negro as a person who feels and expresses joy and sorrow based on his American experience. The expression of Negro joy and sorrow dominates in the cartoon as Armstrong grins, sings, and plays his music while terrorizing the white characters. Indeed, clownish joy and underlying grief play a major role for the African American since through his practical experience and artistic expression, these sentiments pervaded the atmosphere. Some critics see Armstrong as confirming the stereotyped view of the Negro as a pathetic, colored buffoon however, others view him as a revolutionary who skillfully wear a mask similar to Caliban of Shakespeare to deliver a biting message in the masters own language. This dual mask awakens the concepts of W.E.B. Du Bois idea of Double Consciousness in which Black Minstrelsy gave the Negro the stage literally and figuratively to communicate joy and sorrow, humor and pathos, joke and criticism. Looking at the cartoon has aroused the offensive racial nature of the characters portrayal however, in the background, Armstrong plays the tune, Ill Be Glad When Youre Dead.

The attribution is you is ambiguous and can be taken in either Armstrongs desires to see the white racism dead or the characters of the cartoon. Armstrong employs the musical rhythm and blues and incarnates this conflict of emotions in the Negro minstrel. The viewer witnesses Armstrong as he beats the drums like the African, or the cartoons close comparison with his wide mouth and lips, wide eyes, ostentatious grin, and the inarticulate language conducive only to the barbarian. Armstrong knew his white audience and was able to understand and humor them for he had a firm grasp on the internal workings of the American culture and the expectations of him.

On stage, the Negro jester becomes a crucial figure which helps the Negro to transition from a passive person who simply expresses feelings to an active person who acts on his feelings as his sense of injustice grows and deepens. Minstrelsy, music, and black entertainment take centre stage as a means to an end. Not simply for the fun of it, but for the achievement of dignity has the Negro has filled his work with meaning and making it utilitarian. It was this feat that Armstrong accomplishes while doing the cartoon.

1. I feel that I am led by the same impulse which forces the un-found-out criminal to take somebody into his confidence, although he knows that the act is likely, even almost certain, to lead to his undoing.  I know that I am playing with fire The passage is found in James Weldons The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. p.g 5. It describes the state of mind of the character regarding a certain crime that he committed. It shows the doubt and confusion in his mind.

2. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self through the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. The passage is found in DuBois The Souls of Black Folk p.g 12. The statement shows the contempt in a young mans soul it portrays the hate he feels for being perceived as different by the society around him.

3. Nother thing.  Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid em. Us oughta class off. The statement has been derived from the book Their Eyes were Watching God by Hurston and Pinkney p.g. 169. It depicts the hate of a colored woman towards the black race. The woman dislikes the color saying that she has class unlike the black folk.

4. I am an ordinarily successful white man who has made a little money.  They are men who are making history and a race.  I, too, might have taken part in a work so glorious. The passage is from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man p.g 93 by James Weldon. The statement depicts a choice made by the character the choice made is some what less compared to what he might have chosen that other men chose. Though it is a good choice, the character wishes he had more.

5. The songs are indeed the siftings of centuries the music is far more ancient than the words, and in it we can trace here and there signs of development. The statement is found on page 164 of DuBois The Souls of Black Folk. The passage shows the importance of music to the black folk the songs they sung showed their despair, sorrow and pain experienced over time. In their music one could see their souls, it was moving.

6. So this was a marriage  She had been summoned to behold a revelation.  Then she felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid. Extracted from Hurston  Pinkneys Their Eyes were Watching God p.g. 15. The statement depicts a young womans understanding of life and the mysteries of life all around her. It shows the revelation of something of importance to this character.

7. And neither world thought the other worlds thought, save with a vague unrest. Extracted form DuBois The Soul of Black Folk, p.g. 151. The statement shows deep seated differences between two worlds, a black world and a white world. Both societies exist together but share different opinions about each other. It is this thought and opinions that the two worlds dont want to think about lest it affects their own thoughts and dreams of the future.

8. I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them. The passage has been borrowed form James Weldons The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man p.g. 12. The statement shows us the mind of a colored man as he made his way through life he is considered neither black or white and therefore his thoughts are his own. The white man in particular found these coloreds hard to comprehend they often kept to themselves never divulging their thought for fear of being sidelined by either race.

9. The day of the gun, and the bloody body, and the courthouse came and commenced to sing a sobbing sigh out of every corner in the room out of each and every chair and thing. Commenced to sing, commenced to sob and sigh, singing and sobbing. The passage can be found on page 231 of Hurston and Pinkneys Their Eyes were Watching God. The passage depicts the thought of a young womans love. Either the husband or lover is gone. The process was painful and sad but she is determined to keep him alive in her thoughts he will always be around that way.

10. Would America have been America without her Negro people  The passage is from DuBois The Soul of Black Folk p.g. 170. A question that questions the existence of the great America if the BlackNegro failed to reach the America when they did, the negroblack people have definitely contributed a lot to the development of the nations as seen in the passage. But still the Negro is being persecuted and treated with disdain they are unappreciated.

Section II
I   
Janie is the daughter of a slave who abandoned her as a child she was consequently brought up with her grandmother Nanny. Nanny had great hopes for Janie and therefore when she came of age, Nanny arranged for her to be married to Logan Killicks a farmer looking for a wife as a helper in the farm. Janie on the other hand has a different idea of marriage this is depicted and shown when she describes her experience under the pear tree one summer, she saw the bees pollinating the pear tree and the experience to her was revealing. To her the tree shivered it supposed with the pleasure of love this natural process to her was how marriage should be a union between two people who are in love.
   
Consequently she eloped with Joe Starks to Eatonville a sleepy town with no ambition whatsoever. Starks consequently bought some land and using the locals build a store through which he ran a small business. This made him very popular his store front was the venue of many social contribution, many of which Janie was forbidden from participating. This did make Janie very happy Joe Starks wanted to use her image as the perfect wife to gain favor from the people who had elected him as mayor of the sleepy town. Joe Starks kept Janie as a trophy wife instead of a wife to love and cherish, from the book Starks must have been a very strict man. Janie consequently found herself in a situation that she could do little about and she hated it. Her experiences in life and her perceptions were completely contradicted she did not love Joe Starks but she believed in the sanctity of marriage and would not be found going against that union.
   
Joe Starks eventually made a name for himself and apparently a lot of money but all those did not stop the inevitable as Joe Starks eventually dies leaving Janie a fortune. She was alone again. She needed to find herself her true feeling and believes this to Janie was her ultimate goal it was the place she had longed to reach all her life ever since she experience the pear tree pollination, it was there. After turning down a lot of suitors she eventually fell for Tea Cakes Vergible Woods, after he played for a song over the harmonica. This signified a man who will adore her for her and always treat her right. Therefore Janie decides to sell of everything that she owned and move to Jacksonville with her new found love. They get married and start their lives together. The marriage is defined as one that had its own ups and downs but it was full of love Janie had found what she wanted in life she was finally there.
   
Their troubles seem to have no end. While in Jacksonville, the Okeechobee hurricane strike land and threatens everything within sight. Janie is trapped and Tea Cakes goes to her rescue which he managed but to a great harm he is bitten by a rabid dog and he gets infected. Despite all efforts to control the situation it gets worse and Woods tries to kill his wife Janie fortunately she beats him to the act and kills him using a rifle a tragic end to a great love. This shows that when it come down to it practicability come to the forefront. She had to choose between her life or the life of her husband who was rabid she chose hers because it was hers. She gets persecuted for this action and the town condemns her. The men support Tea Cakes and want her sentenced for defending herself the women support her for obvious reasons. Fortunately Janie gets acquitted and the whole town forgives her but she decides to move back to Eatonville and continue her life.

II   
Louise Armstrongs performance of Jazz you rascal you in the animation of Betty Boop is considered both astonishing and inspirational. To begin with the songs relation with the comicalanimation depiction has been considered as both weird and to an extent revolution. Weird because the song was being sung during the animation of the cartoon where the characters are running from African natives while Armstrongs head keeps appearing at various points and circumstances.  The performance was great as the song has been among the most appreciated pieces from the Jazz artist.
   
The animation depicts the thoughts of the aggravated man who took in another who was pretending to be his friend only for him to discover that he was wooing his wife behind his back. The character of Armstrong in the animation therefore appears in different situations to show that the friend has been cornered by Armstrong and is being forced to leave his wife alone and to leave and never come back better still the Armstrong character sings that he will be tickled to laughter if the friend died. The relevance of the song and Armstrong character in this situation is to show that one should not expect much out of a situation. It also tells us not to trust anybody because it is the same people who will end up betraying our trust therefore affecting our whole being.
   
The character of Armstrong is also used to show anger and disappointment it even shows a bit of regret Boy, I brought you into my home you wouldnt leave my wife alone Ill be glad when youre dead, you rascal, you. The character regrets why he even brought his friend into his house in the first place. They were friends and he trusted him to behave himself around his family only to discover that he was fooling around with his wife. The head keeps appearing therefore to show anger, disappointment and regret. In fact the head keeps bobbing to show all this emotions together.
   
The song can also be taken to depict the nature of the society at that time and age the title goes like Il be glad when you are dead you rascal you, it reads of anger and disappointment. The song then goes to describe a situation while an animationcartoon keeps performing as the song continues. The cartoon shows us the clear picture of a society that is distorted, by distorted I mean confused and infiltrated by everything that is wrong, it is a society where friends will sleep with their friends wives or spouses just because they can, a society that is mainly ruled by anger and desperation why else would some ones wife sleep with the husbands best friend if not to seek attention. The performance therefore questions the morals of the society at that particular point in time. It can also be described as the performers state of mind at that point in time his friend had betrayed his trust, he is a dog.
   
All in all it was a much appreciated performance that has been valued over time it portrayed a lot of emotions within a single performance.