During the Harlem Renaissance era African Americans became more popular among the arts. Yet they were still seen as different even though the white people enjoyed their art they did not enjoy them as people. Though the African Americans seemed to feel pride in their arts being looked upon by the white people, in result they started to rely on the white people to properly judge them and their abilities, this is shown throughout many novels, stories, and poems including Battle Royal, Dust Tracks on A Road, and Incident. In the excerpt Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison the narrator is to deliver a speech in front of a group of important white people, and he so badly wants them to enjoy it. Bullying and degrading him throughout the whole story, but …show more content…
An invisible man the narrator describes himself as, but he feels like everything except invisible in front of the crowd. Exhibiting that he believes only the white man can truly see him and his abilities, and even after they do judge him, they tell him he is “..lead his people in the proper paths,” (paragraph 96). He is not to help the white man, but only to help his kind, who the white men degraded and hurt throughout the majority of the excerpt. This same theme of the white people judging the African Americans is shown in Dust Tracks on A Road by Zora Neale Hurston. White people come to visit and look upon the African American school, the school makes an event out of it, the children get cleaned up or sent home, the white people’s outlook on them is more important than their education (paragraph 6). Yet when the white ladies showed up without warning, the teacher seems flustered and anxious (paragraph 7). Though Zora still gets honored, and her and her brother are overjoyed when she receives a present from the white ladies, as this is an honor, instead of just a kind act (paragraph