The Language Police, by Diane Ravitch, meticulously documents the authors search for solving the political mystery behind the unorthodox reasoning behind K-12 education. She always believed that textbooks were designed to help students gain beneficial information, and that tests were assessed on the knowledge from what they had learned throughout the year. Over many years, testing was reflected on a controversial language of screening and affairs that negatively were associated with all personable groups. What once had been commended had now developed far beyond the method of censorship. It was now, restricted as an approach for masking the reality of literal knowledge from students.
Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class. McCarthy chose to enter her study without any sort of hypothesis, therefore allowing herself an opportunity to better understand how each writing assignment related to the class specifically and “what
In discussing Black English, John McWhorter talks about the theories of the origin of the language. McWhorter talks about how people have made claims that Black English is related and comes from African languages. He also tells how their research on this subject is unreliable and “sketchy.” These people making these claims are outside of linguistics, meaning they practice things such as education and speech pathology. People like Dr. Smith, a teacher at a medical college, suggested that Black English is a mixture of African languages with English, where these African languages have altered English into a new language.
The View from Black America by Kenneth Hardy, describes the struggles that the African American community still faces currently. The article outlines the lives lost by violence and shootings by police. The reading emphasizes the lack of resources the African American community has access to. The misconceptions about black people have also contributed the racial hostility. These attitudes affect an individual's mental health.
In the 21st century, Native American culture is largely represented by mascots. Issues of isolation, education, and alcoholism continue to plague Native American reservations, but these issues are largely ignored by the general public. Instead, much of the battleground relating to Native American rights has centered on where they are most visible--sports. In “Racism American Style…,” Elizabeth Delacruz presents the problems with the mainstream portrayal of Native Americans. She uses four examples of problematic mascots to support her claim that racist imagery depicting Native Americans continues to be prevalent in American society.
Professor George Lipsitz’s lecture was about the collective intelligence and gathered from centuries of struggle for black people in America and how it is key for Black survival and dignity. Black Studies can be applied to this topic through our exploration of these centuries of struggle, from the Atlantic slave trade to the Reconstruction period to the events in Flint, Michigan and Ferguson, Missouri which Professor Lipsitz highlights. Throughout these centuries we see various tactics and crises that contribute to the continued subjugation of black people, whether this was enslavement, lynching, or legislation. Black Studies also applies to Professor Lipsitz’s lecture through what we learned about notable people who resisted the endless cycle
This is shown when she says, “…racial caste system do no require racial hostility or overt bigotry to thrive. They need only racial indifference, as Martin Luther King Jr warned more than forty-five years ago.” (Alexander, 2010, p.14) As mentioned earlier, the one of the central themes of the book is racial aggression even though the “overt racial hostility” does not really exist in the Jim Crow era. People very easily believe in conventional information rather find out if the information is legitimate or not.
The excerpt I chose to reflect on is called “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” by Claudia Jones (1949). Jones express the concerns that women of color in her time suffer from the neglect and degradation they receive throughout their lives. During this time, the reason many African American women go through the struggles in their community originated from the notion that the “bourgeoisie is fearful of the militancy of the Negro woman” (108). In my opinion, they have every right to be afraid of African American women. As Jones stated nicely "once Negro women undertake action, the militancy of the whole Negro people, and thus of the anti-imperialist coalition, is greatly enhanced" (108).
A big island stand in the East Coast of Africa. The island of Madagascar is the largest island in the African continent. And 3rd largest island in the world. And here a story of Kingdom would begin.
While Zora Neale Hurston associates race with identity in her essay, “How it Feels to Be Colored Me,” Gloria Anzaldúa similarly relates language to identity as well in her essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” In Hurston’s situation, because she’s black, she is forced to succumb to society’s views and standards on African Americans; growing up, she never realized her race was treated differently until she moved to a new town. Segregation was occurring at the time, and throughout her essay, she comes to terms with the realization that being black is a part of her identity. Correspondingly, Anzaldúa realizes that her language is also a part of her identity when she is forced to forfeit her native tongue to accommodate English speakers rather than them having them accommodate her. Although both authors have gone through
Susan Hill’s Woman in Black is about Arthur Kipps, a lawyer in London, who has been given the task of filing the papers of the dead Mrs. Drablow. While on his journey and at Eel Marsh House he experiences some interesting and eerie happenings. In Chapter 10; “Whistle and I’ll Come to You” Hill uses a variety of literary techniques to create an atmosphere of fear and foreboding. Hill uses sensory imagery to create fear and foreboding.
The Fight Against Colorism in African American Communities Colorism is defined as a practice of discrimination among African Americans against other African Americans because of their skin complexion, for instance being too light or too dark. Colorism plays a large role in the low self-esteem in the African American community, from individuals, relationships, and employment. Colorism can cause psychological effects. Children are more affected because skin biased develops at a younger age.
Poe Performing the Reaction on Margaret Fuller’s Article “How to Write a Blackwood Article” (1845) by E.A.Poe first appeared as a short story in American Museum of Science in 1838. The original name of this story, as it published in the first place was “The Psyche Zenobia. ”As the only one scholar of that particular work – Thomas H. McNeal – identifies in his essay Poe’s Zenobia: an Early Satire on Margaret Fuller, the major character of the sketch (surprisingly, it is miss Zenobia) is a caricature of Margaret Fuller. By no means, the majority of the following critics assured McNeal’s evidence without further exploration.
The Harlem Renaissance was a development period that took place in Harlem, New York. The Renaissance lasted from 1910 to about the mid-1930s, this period is considered a golden age in African American culture. This Renaissance brought about masterful pieces of music, literature, art, and stage performance. The Harlem Renaissance brought about many prominent black writers such as Richard Wright. Richard Wright is a highly acclaimed writer, who stressed the importance of reading, writing, and words.
Dear Mr. Cosby, I have heard your speech regarding African American Vernacular English, how it influences the youth and how the blame must be places on the parents for not teaching or encouraging their kids to learn “proper English” for the Brown v. Board of Education, and I don’t fully agree with the arguments you made that night. Firstly, I don’t think African American Vernacular English is the cause of the high dropout rates or the reason the African American kids are going to prison, or failing school. And with all due respect, I don’t think you are the person to complain about dropout rates, since you yourself have dropped out of high school after failing 10th grade.
