1) The document contains 4 poems that explore themes of racism and racial tensions in America.
2) The poems depict interactions between black and white people as well as the anger, indignation and discontent felt by black people due to the racism they experience.
3) The poems convey powerful emotions around racism through their imagery and language.
1) The document contains 4 poems that explore themes of racism and racial tensions in America.
2) The poems depict interactions between black and white people as well as the anger, indignation and discontent felt by black people due to the racism they experience.
3) The poems convey powerful emotions around racism through their imagery and language.
1) The document contains 4 poems that explore themes of racism and racial tensions in America.
2) The poems depict interactions between black and white people as well as the anger, indignation and discontent felt by black people due to the racism they experience.
3) The poems convey powerful emotions around racism through their imagery and language.
Or sinking 'neath the load we bear? Our eyes fixed forward on a star? Or gazing empty at despair? Rising or falling? Men or things? With dragging pace or footsteps fleet? Strong, willing sinews in your wings? Or tightening chains about your feet?
Tableau (Countee Cullen)
Locked arm in arm they cross the way The black boy and the white, The golden splendor of the day The sable pride of night. From lowered blinds the dark folk stare And here the fair folk talk, Indignant that these two should dare In unison to walk. Oblivious to look and word They pass, and see no wonder That lightning brilliant as a sword Should blaze the path of thunder.
Incident (Countee Cullen)
Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee; I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me. Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, "****." I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember.
White Houses (Claude McKay):
Your door is shut against my tightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent. The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet, And passion rends my vitals as I pass, A chafing savage, down the decent street; Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass. Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour, Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw, And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law!
Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate.
The Greatest Works of W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade, Darkwater, The Conservation of Races, The Economic Revolution in the South, Religion in the South, The Black North…