Emilia Velasteguí

Professor Shodona Orissa Kettle

African American Literature
Monday, March 9, 2020
Midterm Exam:
Black and history

Access to civil rights and equality before the society of groups that do not have them
in this special case of the "blacks" was made possible by the movement of the thought of the
new black and everything expresses its being and collective memory. Under the three
questions raised, the context studied will be analyzed.

In the passage “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be
backwards enough to put them to everyday use.”
“I reckon she would,” I said. “God knows I been saving ‘em for long enough with nobody
using ‘em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a
quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of
style. Quilts mean keeping a memory.
The passage is important because it shows the appreciation of the devotion of the memory
of relatives, the African collective sense shows what to honor and keep clothes of their loved
ones is a function of honoring their memory, as a precious asset that each member must have.
Therefore, in reading, the quilts mentioned mean keeping a memory, it is an inheritance made
property. Property refers to making an object under the care of a person.

Another importance of the passage is that it shows that Dee feels that her sister does not
appreciate the bedspreads because she does not live with them, she dresses and acts
differently from her sister and mother therefore she cannot honor the memory of her
ancestors because she has different customs . This is shown when Dee responds to his mother
by saying:

- "Maggie would put them in bed and in five years they would be in rags. Less
than that!"
 - "She can always do something else, "I said." Maggie knows how to do
bedspreads." Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hate.

- "You just won't understand. The point is that these quilts, these quilts! " (Walker,
2019, p.132)

Dee refers to the family's relics being benevolent and taken as a custom every day
because it loses its significance, it loses the memory of its outfits and what it means to its
family.

The following excerpt are views of African Americans: “So for generations in the

mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being ⎯a

something to be argued about, condemned or defended, to be “kept down,” or “in his

place,” or “helped up,” to be worried with or worried over, harassed or patronized, a

social bogey or a social burden.”

This examines different ways that tried to challenge these views of African Americans.
The ways that defy this thought by the New Black Movement and the thought by the Harlem
Renaissance

The reaction ended the prejudices imposed on the old black. The new black manifests
from the inside to break stereotypes. Use any bodily and sentimental manifestation where it
encompasses the fine arts. Additional as the author says, Locke, of course, of balance and a
greater certainty of knowing what it is. From this comes the promise and guarantee of new
leadership. (p.52)

Thus, the Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of black art in the community of African
Americans residing in Harlem, New York during the 1920s.

Realistically face the facts. The author contemplates that migration is more widespread
and the adjustment problems are new, practical, local and not particularly racial. (Langston,
p.53) This suggests that this thought is part of the great industrial and social problems of
today. Therefore, it is unfair to treat black mass.

The author contemplates the fact that intelligent negro does not compare or lower with
white or others because it would be a self-discrimination on his part.
 Mutual understanding is basic for any further cooperation and adjustment. (Langston, 54)
Take this thought into account so that each racial group has better relationships with other
racial groups in the United States, as well as an attempt to repair a damaged group
psychology and reshape a deformed social perspective.

The next passage is from the author: Sojourner Truth, title: Ain’t I a Woman?
(1875/1881 version)
“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over
ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over
mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!”
Interpretation: The complaint of an Afro-descendant in the author's poem first portrays
the condition of not framing an Afro woman in society and secondly not taking her into
account in her rights.
Thus, under the context studied, it can be noted that the black movement was the first
fundamental pillar of feminism.
“Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men,
'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ
come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.” (Sojourner, p.47)
It can be noted that sexism, class oppression and racism are related. Defending that these
concepts are part of the same problem leads to the thinking of feminism and for the black
collective it would turn out to be black feminism.
It is fair to compare that like black he was considered more as a formula than as a human,
since the woman is in the same position.
The concept of being a woman inside and outside the Afro community seems to be the
same.

In conclusion, the first passage shows that the daily use of a memory removes honor
and esteem the memory of the loved one. The thought lies in taking care of the memory of a
family member as their own good, but not as an article that is prone to damage with daily use.
Furthermore, the next passage, the thought for the New Black Movement and the
thought for the Harlem Renaissance largely ended racial communities, and continues to do
so, the prejudices imposed by the thought built of the old black. It must be recognized that
breaking stereotypes is born a community that creates art for understanding and human
history.
 Finally, the criticism of the new black in front of the old is an encouragement and
thought that is reflected in art and also come from each racial group. However, the concept of
women inside and outside the movement has not yet taken a firm position and yet it is the
beginning of black feminism.

Works Cited
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. African American Literature Compendium. Ed. Scott Gibson.
Quito: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, 2019: 126-133.

Locke, Alain. The New Negro. African American Literature Compendium. Ed. Scott Gibson.
Quito: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, 2019: 51-59.

Langston, Hughes. Harlem (Montage of a Dream Deferred) African American Literature

Compendium. Ed. Scott Gibson. Quito: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, 2019: 51-59.

Sojourner, Truth. Ain’t I a Woman? (1875/1881 version) African American Literature

Compendium. Ed. Scott Gibson. Quito: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, 2019: 46-47