The Black Panther Party Essay -- essays research papers fc

"There is nothing more dangerous than a large segment of people in society that feel that they have no place or stake in it, who feel they have nothing to lose. People who have stake in the society perpetuate that society, when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it." Unknown As a culture, we are told how to act, think, and speak among other things. We are taught to do what is considered "right" and if we choose not to, we are punished, ridiculed, and considered a menace to society. We are considered thuggish and belittled and put down for living in an alternative way. Don't get me wrong, there is some good in having a controlled society because it brings some order and stability within our society. However, the questions at hand are, could there be a way for those who do realize that we're being controlled to free themselves from the power and control that causes them to become oppressed? Could it be that we are bound and constrained and unable to have some type of agency in order to be free? If we can free ourselves, what type of agency is used? These questions are the basis for my paper. I plan to present examples of control and oppression through the film Panther that shows the struggle of the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense. The film takes place in the 1960's and it shows the struggles that the members had to go through in order to form some type of agency to free themselves from the control and oppression that the government had over their lives and their community. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale were two African-American men growing up in the ghetto of California where they saw and experienced racism and police brutality. There voices weren't heard when it came to their communities and it took three young children to die by car crashes, and a peaceful candlelight vigil that turned into a fight between a neighborhood and the police (In which the police covered up their badges so that no one could report them to the police department) for them to want to make... ...oes have a place in society because without it, there would be no stability within our society and everything would be chaotic and confusing. However, for those who don't want to be controlled, and do have a form of agency which they feel will free them really don't seem to be free anyway. It seems to me that no matter what you do, say, or learn you are always controlled. I thought that the fact that the Panther Party becoming knowledgeable would have worked very well but soon some laws were changed such as the one concerning being able to carry firearms as long as they were in clear view. After all they went through they still weren't free. Many of the Panthers were either killed while fighting for the cause or are now political prisoners. So, from my observation, the only agency available to free oneself from oppression is, to become knowledgeable and that only works to a certain extent. I guess there is no plain yes or no answer to my question about whether we can free ourselves from oppression. It's as if you think you've won when you really haven't. Works Cited Panther. Dir. Mario Van Peebles. Polygram Video. 1995.

“Piano Lesson” Analysis Essay

A title of a work is carefully chosen to not only strike interest but also to give some sort of clue as to the significance of the work. In the case of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, the title, though a play on words, reveals how important the piano is to the message Wilson is trying to convey. The piano, as an object, moves the plot of the play along since the conflict is the two main characters fighting over it. On the other hand, the piano, as a symbol, represents the perseverance of history in an individual’s lives. It’s presence and symbolism work hand in hand to communicate the lesson that family history remains with a person and it’s their responsibility to decide how to use it. Looking at the different character’s and their views on the piano provides evidence of this message. The play begins with Boy Willie barging into the house where his sister, Berniece, lives with his uncle, Doaker. Boy Willie’s purpose for being there is to sell the piano that Berniece keeps so that he can buy the land from his relative’s former slave owners. He knows the importance of the piano but views it as an object and a means for achieving his own success so that he can prove that he deserves as much respect as the white man. He says, â€Å"The only thing my daddy had to give me was that piano†¦I ain’t gonna let it sit up here and rot without trying to do something with it† (1.2). In his mind, keeping his family’s legacy isn’t with remembering them through the piano but using the piano as a means of making money, which to him will honor them in the long run. He tells his sister, â€Å"I’m supposed to build on what they left me†¦now the kind of man my daddy was he would have understood that† (1.2). He does acknowledge though that the past is something to be proud of. He lectures Berniece, â€Å"You ought to mark down on the calendar the day that Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house†¦and every year when it come up throw a party. Have a celebration. If you did that [Maretha] wouldn’t have no problem in life† (2.5). Boy Willie’s sister, Berniece, takes an entirely different approach when it comes to her choice of how the piano is used. Berniece is a character that lives in the past in an unhealthy way. The past has hardened her and it shows in the way she raises her child, Maretha, telling her not to go off â€Å"showing [her] color† (1.1). When Doaker comments on Berniece keeping the memory of her deceased husband saying, â€Å"she still holding onto  to him† (1.2) is further evidence of her clinging to the past but not using those memories in a productive manner. Unlike Willie, she views the piano as a symbol of her family’s heritage but fears it. She scolds Boy Willie for trying to sell it when she says, â€Å"You always talking about your daddy but you ain’t never stopped to look at what his foolishness cost your mama†¦cold nights and an empty bed†¦For a piano? To get even with somebody?† (1.2). She shows her resentment to the past by refusing to play the piano and refusing to tell her daughter of it’s history. Berniece is also afraid of the piano because of those who died because of it. Her mother died honoring it and her father died trying to get it. She explains to her suitor, Avery, â€Å"I don’t play that piano cause I don’t want to wake them spirits† (2.2). She faces that fear when Boy Willie comes to the house bringing a ghost with him; however, the ghost isn’t their dead relatives but Sutter’s. The presence of the ghost forces Berniece to face the past and Boy Willie to acknowledge that the past matters just as much as the future. The play concludes when Avery, who is a preacher, comes to the house to get rid of the ghost. The ghost protests and â€Å"fights† with Boy Willie. It is then that Berniece plays the piano to call on the spirits of her dead relatives singing, â€Å"I want you to help me† (2.2). By doin g this she learns the lesson that the past isn’t there to burden her but to give her strength for the future. Boy Willie also learns the lesson that the past is alive and that using it doesn’t have to be materialistic. It can simply be used to remember who you are. The lesson that the two characters learn is Wilson’s way of communicating to the audience how important family legacy is. The character’s growth in terms of their views on the piano display how easily one can lose sight of what is important in terms of being a person. Boy Willie thinks being somebody is materialistic while Berniece hides from being somebody at all. Though the main characters take a big part of the play the piano’s reoccurring presence and symbolism is the central focus of the play since it is through it that the conflict comes together, through it that the characters learn their lessons, and through it that family history is brought to life.

The New Negro of Harlem Essay - 495 Words

nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Between 1910 and 1920, in a movement known as the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of African Americans uprooted from their homes in the South and moved North to the big cities in search of jobs. They left the South because of racial violence and economic discrimination. Their migration was an expression of their changing attitudes toward themselves, and has been described as quot;something like a spiritual emancipation.quot; Many migrants moved to Harlem, a neighborhood on the upper west side of Manhattan. In the 1920s, Harlem became the worlds largest black community; also home to a highly diverse mix of cultures. This unprecedented outburst of creative activity exposed their unique culture and encouraged†¦show more content†¦Visual artists were also a significant force in this era. One of the popular artists of the movement was Henry Ossawa Tanner, an man of international acclaim whose exhibits included the famed Paris Salon. His noted oil painting, quot;The Banjo Lesson,quot; is a valued piece of the collection of the Hampton University Museum in Hampton, Virginia. During the 1920s, he was recognized as the most important black artist of his generation. nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;A few of the notable writers and poets were Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston. Langston Hughes was the most popular and gifted of all poets during this movement. Many of his poems described the different everyday lives of working class African Americans by adapting the rhythms of their music to his poetry. Some of the poems moved to the tempo of jazz and the blues. Another major figure was poet Claude McKay, a Jamaican immigrant whose militant verses urged African Americans to resist prejudice and discrimination. His poems also expressed the pain of life in the black ghettos of the 1920s, and the strain of being black in a world dominated by whites. nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;The most accomplished writer of the Harlem Renaissance was Zora Neale Hurston. Hurstons many novels, books of folklore, poems, and short stories portrayed the lives of poor, unschooled Southern blacks, whom, in her words, were the greatest cultural wealth of the continent. Much of her work celebrated,Show MoreRelatedThe New Negro Of The Harlem Renaissance879 Words   |  4 PagesThe New Negro Movement, also known as The Harlem Renaissance, was a time in the early twentieth century where African Americans embraced literature, music, theatre, and visual arts (Alchin). They were inspired and gave inspiration to many blacks in the community. The Great Migration was the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance – it is, where it began the most significant movement in the black history. After World War I, â€Å"more than six million African Americans† traveled from â€Å"the rural South to theRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance : The New Negro Movement1008 Words    |  5 PagesThe New Negro Movement, also known as the Harlem Renaissance, spanned in the 1920s in which African American culture attained unparalleled political and social recognition despite the ongoing horrors of being black in America. New Negro was coined during the Harlem Renaissance indicating a more open advocacy of dignity and a refusal to submit to Jim Crow laws and racial segregation. The movement weakened the notion of the African diaspora as an event of forced migration isolated in the past andRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance : The New Negro Movement1459 Words   |  6 Pagesas the Harlem Renaissance. The main focus of the era for the African Americans was to establish some sort of identity and self-expression through literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts. 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As a cultural movement, the Harlem Renaissance brought changes to America that would have long term effects on how art is created, viewed, and accepted. â€Å"The Renaissance was more than a literaryRead MoreBlack Lives During The Harlem Renaissance1373 Words   |  6 PagesBlack Lives During the Harlem Renaissance New Negro Movement, the elegant roaring times of the Billie Holidays’, Dorothy Wests’, and the Augusta Savages’. The rebirth of African American arts, took place in Harlem, New York in the early 1920’s. The New Negro Movement was utilized to describe African American as artistic, conscious, sophisticated. The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African Americans who began to move from the rural southern parts of the United States to the NortheastRead MoreWhat Was The Overall Impact Of The Harlem Renaissance1110 Words   |  5 PagesWall Street Crash of 1929 considered the beginning of the end of the Harlem Renaissance? The financial support of African Americans by rich whites came to end after the Wall Street Crash. 22. Who is the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God and when was it published? The author of Their Eyes Was Watching God is Zora Neal Hurston and was published in 1973. 23. What was the overall impact of the Harlem Renaissance? The Harlem Renaissance help to how American view African American and their cultureRead MoreJohn Altoon s Jazz Players From 19501396 Words   |  6 Pagesart deco style with his use of bold contour line outlining geometric shapes along with his use of strong saturated colors. Altoon’s Jazz Players reflects Modernism by exemplifying cubism as well as Harlem Renaissance art through the use of angular, geometric shapes and the depiction of the â€Å"New Negro.† John Altoon was born in 1925 in Los Angeles and died in 1969 at the of age 43 due to a massive heart attack (Orange County Museum of Art Website). Altoon’s other works were known for being involvedRead More`` Walls Of Jericho ``999 Words   |  4 Pagesgo out on the floor to dance I am lost in a sea of white faces†¦Time was when white people went to Negro cabarets to see how Negroes acted; now Negroes go to these same cabarets to see how white people act.† African-American physician, radiologist, musician and novelist Rudolph Fisher was coupled with the Harlem Renaissance, whose fiction credibly illustrated black urban life, particularly in Harlem. In his first novel, Walls of Jericho, Fisher humorously and satirically presented a hopeful visionRead MoreAnalysis of the New Negro Essay1605 Words   |  7 Pagesbeginning Alain Locke tells us about the â€Å"tide of negro migration.† During this time in a movement known as the Great Migration, thousands of African-Americans also known as Negros left their homes in the South and moved North toward the beach line of big cities in search of employment and a new beginning. As Locke stated, â€Å"the wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of Northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedomRead MoreThe Negro Movement1364 Words   |  6 Pagesthe history of the culture that has risen from the ashes; one may be quite surprised just how far the African American culture has come. The progression of the African American culture is indeed one to be proud of. From cotton fields to Harlem, â€Å"The New Negro Movement†, sparked a sense of cultural self-determination, with a yearning to strive for economic, political equality, and civic participation. This was a movement that sparked a wide range of advancements in the African Amer ican culture