Devona Hardin

Racial Liberation Racial liberation is:  the opposition to age-old social injustices and prejudices.

Racial Equalities Racial equality is:  the demand of ethic, gender liberation, and literature in America.

A Quest for Racial Equality  The most heinous liberation movement in the twentieth century addressed the issue of racial equalities.  This issue was reflected in the African-Americans experience, dubbed “The Race Era”.

A Quest for Racial Equality Continued…  The Constitutional Amendment guaranteed the rights of black people; however the lives of black people “African Americans” continued to suffer there after …

Harlem Renaissance Era Harlem Renaissance (originally called the Negro Movement):  Was a literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the 1920s and 1930s.

Harlem Renaissance Era Cont…  The Renaissance era was a heritage expressed through art, literature, music, and dance.  The birth of jazz, blues as well as gospel was very popular during this time.  Harlem Renaissance - YouTube

Harlem Renaissance Era Cont…  Zora Neale Hurston ( )- a writer and the leading figure of the Renaissance movement.  Best known for Author of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”  Langston Hughes ( )- whom spoke with such poise, was the eloquent voice of the Renaissance era, and the first African American to support himself as a professional writer.

Harlem Renaissance Era Cont…  Gwendolyn Brooks ( )- a poet born in Chicago that drew on the dialect of jazz and street slang to paint a picture of the black ghettos in her city.  “The first black to win the Pulitzer prize for poetry”.  Brooks bought the struggles of black people in American society to attention.

Harlem Renaissance Era Cont…

Civil Rights Movement  During the 1950s and 1960s the Civil Rights movement was made.  Leading the movement was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ( )- a protestant pastor and civil rights activist whom practiced the tactics of nonviolence, modeling after Gandhi.

Civil Rights Movement Cont…  One day while marching, Dr. King was jailed in (Birmingham) for marching without a permit.  Detained in jail, King wrote a letter to the Christian Century on June 12, 1963, coined “Letter from Birmingham Jail” discussing the debate of the civil rights.  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech - YouTube

Civil Rights Movement Cont…  Malcolm Little better known as Malcolm X ( )- in 1963 addressed a conference of black leaders in Detroit, Michigan.  In his speech, later to be call “Message to the Grass Roots”, spoke so intensely and with poise of violence totally opposite from Dr. King.  In 1965 X was assassinated. MALCOLM X: THE HOUSE NEGRO AND THE FIELD NEGRO - YouTube

Literature of the Black Revolution  In 1964, the passage of the Civil Rights Act provided a end to official segregation in public places.  Discrimination of some civil rights groups provoked more violent phase of protests during the late 1960s and thereafter. 14

Literature of the Black Revolution Cont…  Franz Fanon ( )- was a French, west Indian essayist revolutionary.  A writer whom defended violence as being necessary and desirable in over coming the abuse of whites over blacks in the world.  Franz felt that violence was a cleansing force for blacks over whites.

African-Americans and Jazz  Romare Bearden ( )- a artist and writer.  Music provided subject matters for some of Romare’s most notable works, such as “Train Whistle Blues” (1964)

Africa-Americans and Dance  Alvin Ailey ( ) was a choreographer that founded Ailey’s Revelations (1960).  The revelations drew on his Texas Roots, affection for African-American spirituals, songs-sermons, and gospel music, a long lasting tribute to our cultural history of the American South.

Conclusion… It’s sad that our former great black leaders had to endure so much pain and heart ache just for all races to be treated as equals. Luckily we can say some good did come out of the situation. Even though we still have some much more needed work to do.  We no longer have segregation.  After forty years we have a black President in office.  No more inferior education, restricted jobs.  And generally no low living standards.

Work Cited Literary Credits  Gloria K. Fiero Sixth Edition, The Humanistic Tradition Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Global Perspective  Chapter 36  36.2 (p )  (p )  (p )  p. 108, p. 109, p. 115

Work Cited Picture and Video Credits  Google.com  Harlem Renaissance – YouTube  MALCOLM X: THE HOUSE NEGRO AND THE FIELD NEGRO – YouTube  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech – YouTube Microsoft.com  The Unseen movement  Think Progress by: Pat Garofalo