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Cultural Norms In The Works Of Paul Robeson And Allen Ginsberg

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Paul Robeson and Allen Ginsberg challenged the American cultural norms in the mid 20th century. Robeson, also known as a black American actor/singer testified before the house of representatives. Ginsburg, or American poet, wrote critically about middle class values. Together the both of them demonstrated how important it is for things to change for the future. Paul Robeson, also known as a black American actor/singer testified before the house of representatives, which back in the day was a huge deal. Throughout Robeson‘s testimony, Robeson only answered what he wanted to, and what he felt comfortable with. Robeson did stick up for the communist party in multiple points of the testimony. “ What do you mean by the communist party? As far as I know it’s a legal party like the republican party and the democratic party. Do you mean a party of people who have sacrificed for my people and all Americans and workers so that they can live in dignity.” This quote here shows how Robeson thinks of communists as equal people to any other party. Robeson also states how he invokes the fifth …show more content…

Throughout the poem “America” by Allen Ginsberg he expresses his despair about the financial situations in the way the country was engaging in war he did compare the time of the communists ruling. In the poem, and also makes fun of people who blame every mishap in America and Russia. In the 1950s after the world wars, America faced a terrible economical surge, and that’s when this poem was written so throughout the poem, there were many points Alan Ginsberg makes to prove this point. “ America, when will you be angelic? When will you take off your clothes? When will you look at yourself through the grave?” (lines 8-10) these poems here gave us an idea of howl Alan Ginsberg felt while reading this poem. Specifically about the middle class values as well as the economical

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Both Douglass and Walker maintained that the nation had failed to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence but their reasoning was diverse. Walker believed that the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was a racist. He encouraged blacks to violently resist their masters and he wrote that blacks when faced with possibly enslavement should “kill or be killed” (Levine B: 792). Walker despised whites, categorizing them as “unjust, jealous unmerciful, avaricious and blood thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority” Walker B:

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The idea of communism arose from The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto was a political pamphlet that gave an approach to class struggle and capitalism. The pamphlet soon after became popular across the world. Over a 100 years later, an African-American civil rights leader by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. would read this pamphlet and use similar idea's to achieve his dream of integration and equality. King, a minister, was known for using somewhat communist views in reference to Marx in many of his speeches and letters.

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As the document “Life and Liberty” said, “but he shall not be free to dine and drink at our table - to serve on a jury - to be a witness in court - to represent us in the legislature - to be a doctor - to join us at a concert, a lecture, the theater, or the church, or to marry our daughters. We are of another race, and he is inferior. Let him know his place - and keep it.” This evidence just shows what a majority of white men from that time period thought of African Americans and where they stand socially. Which can be represented when the Charles Mackay says, “we are of another race, and he is inferior.”

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America in the 1950’s was a prosperous time. It marked a time, post-World War II, when American citizens were, finally, thinking that life moving forward was

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“This is the basis, and I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in this United States of America.” said Paul Robeson. Paul Robeson is important to the culture, history, and legacy of African Americans because he was an advocate for the civil rights of people around the world. He rose to prominence in a time when segregation was legal in the United States, and perhaps the first U.S. communist to be so honored.(Paul Robeson remembered." ) When he was just a young man he had realized he could do something better for the people and he rose to becoming an inspirational hero.

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Two important cases or groups that advocated towards political activism within the African American community are Paul Robeson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Paul Robeson used music activism to speak on the “issues of race, labor, and internationalism in the spirited political culture” of the Black Popular Front. The used of the song “ Ol’ Man River” had a noteworthy marked on his development as a political figure. Fisk educated former slaves with the support and “donations from the Peabody Fund and assistance from the Freedmen's Bureau for construction and building repairs.” Over the five next years donations declined and Frisk ended in bankruptcy.

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The Communist Manifesto was intended to be a statement of the communist league with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that had an influence to a great extent on politics and economics, affecting workers and their employers and all of society. This quote is said to be the marxist concept of economic class, status and power, occupational and income class. According to Karl Marx, in the first portion of The Communist Manifesto, entitled the “Bourgeois and the Proletarians” it’s saying all of history is represented and repeated by struggles between different socioeconomic classes. Marx labels these new classes that he is referring to as the Bourgeois and the Proletariat.

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Marx and Engels then follow with a series of rhetorical questions: “Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not been hurled back from the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries (1)?” Combined with the notion that holding power leads to corruption and immorality, the questions asked presents the reader with the impression that the communist party is being purposefully targeted by influential authorities. Marx and Engels further appeal to the emotions of their readers by adding that “The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has… left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment”(4).”

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As an individual reads the poem written, “America” ,by Allen Ginsberg they can identify the close representation to several historical events happening during that specific time. During this time period, the initial major event was the dropping of the first atomic bomb during war. Following the dropping of the atomic bomb, a highly criticized war broke out in the nation of Vietnam. Amongst this war torn era, two nations found themselves in the middle of what they would call a Cold War. Throughout the poem the author shows his dissatisfaction toward America.

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