Comparing Fire Next Time And Jesmyn Ward's The Fire This Time

The election of Barack Obama as America’s first Black president in 2008, and his re-election in 2012, was a pivotal moment in American history. His presidency marked a significant step toward racial equality, symbolizing and setting a powerful example of Black leadership on the global stage. What this really showed was progress, in Black America. This has been talked about for a while now, with gaining more and more rights and acceptance but also taking great setbacks. From 1789 to 2008 there has only been one Black President, yes this shows progress but it is very, very slow. In this 219 year span, Blacks were “freed” and have slowly gained more and more rights. Now whites and blacks have the same amount of rights, but only one African American

Both books talk about the achievements and setbacks of Black America. Baldwin, who is writing in the year 1963, shows his frustration on the slow progress of change when he says "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them,"(42) illustrating the constant impact of historical injustices on modern society. He goes on to emphasize this slow progress by also stating "Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise. If we... do not falter in our duty now, we may be able... to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world." Baldwin continues to argue about the ongoing job of pushing for change over the struggle. Similarly Jesmyn Ward's anthology The Fire This Time was published decades later, reflecting on modern racial acknowledgments the progress made while compelling the continuation of systematic issues. “We are still battling the same monsters, sometimes in new forms, but with the same heart,” (54)This displays the constant nature of racial challenges despite historical achievements such as the election of Barack Obama. Both Ward and Baldwin argue that the Black community has faced barriers to their skin color to silence their achievements. While these events, like the election of Obama, are significant, they are not indicative of comprehensive

The Tulsa massacre of 1921 was a major setback where white mobs attacked, looted, and burned down businesses and homes. The result was the significant deaths and displacement of residents. In an essay called Where Do We Go From Here? In the book The Fire This Time by Ward, Wikerson says “We seem to be in a continuing feedback loop of repeating a past that our country has yet to address. Our history is one of spectacular achievement followed by a violent backlash that threatens to erase gains.”(59) The quote reflects a negative view of American history, suggesting that conservative forces constantly threaten meaningful progress. Also, that our country can not move beyond its past mistakes because it does not fully address the root cause of these recurring issues. James Baldwin in The Fire Next Time says “To accept one’s past—one’s history—is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought. How can the American Negro’s past be used? The unprecedented price demanded—and at this embattled hour of the world’s history—is the transcendence of the realities of color, of nations, and of altars.”(39PDF) He is saying that us as a nation is getting caught up in the past, what is over and