African American 2 page research paper

Suggested ideas to help you form a claim or viewpoint: Capture these key terms in your thesis statement.

Possible texts

The landscape of the South-symbols of struggle, and race and gender identification

Jean Toomer selections from Cane “Cotton Song” and “Georgia Dusk,”poems; “Fern,” short story

“The color line,” intraracialization (prejudice within the race)

Charles Chesnutt, Chapters from Plum Bun (Angela, Virginia, and Mrs. Murray)

Male-female relationships

Abuse

Domestic violence

“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston

“Like a Winding Sheet” by Ann Petry

Struggles due to a “Negro problem”

Charles Chesnut

Richard Wright, Black Boy

Socio-economic oppression and its impact upon characters

Rural versus urban: the impact of the Great Migration as represented by …

Richard Wright, Black Boy

Religious domination and overbearance

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”

Police brutality, and/or the increase of crime in urban areas

Richard Wright, Black Boy

Sin, transgression, repentance, redemption, and salvation

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” along

An evangelistic tone

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”

The rhetoric of a sermon: teaching

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” along with The Amen Corner if attended

Black music and the vernacular

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” along with The Amen Corner if attended

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Use of biblical allusions and imagery

James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” along with The Amen Corner if attended

The condition of the African American family through the struggle for civil rights:

Father-son relationships

Mother-daughter relationships

Sister-brother relationships

Toni Cade Bambara, “Raymond’s Run,” 2077

The voice of protest in Black arts poetry /fiction: Explain your interpretation of the messages in the lyrics of poetry or rap, or in a short story or chapter.

Amiri Baraka: “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,” “ A Poem for Black Hearts,” and “Black Art,” p. 1939-1943

The Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

Nikki Giovanni

Duke Bootee , The Poetics and Legacies of Hip-Hop Literature and Urban Realism

The use of radical language by Amiri Baraka in “Black Art”: Effective or destructive?

Expressions of black power in the poetry/fiction/speeches of…

Amiri Baraka: “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,” “ A Poem for Black Hearts,” and “Black Art,” p. 1939-1943

Womanism

Women’s voices and portrayals

Feisty girls

Bonding

Ann Petry, “Like a Winding Sheet,” Chapter 1 from The Street, “The Apartment”

“Raymond’s Run”

Toni Cade Bambara, “Raymond’s Run,” 2077, from The Salt Eaters, 2082

Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place, pp. 2585-2611

Black on black man conflicts

Pick a text where applicable

Gender differences

Ann Petry, “Like a Winding Sheet,” Chapter 1 from The Street, “The Apartment”

Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place, pp. 2585-2611

Sexual identity, lesbianism

Angela Weld Grimke

Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place, pp. 2585-2611

youngbloods vs. experience, generational differences in the struggle to overcome oppression, racism, etc.

Ralph Ellison, Chapter 1 from Invisible Man, “Battle Royal”

In what ways does the work articulate a cry for change?

Tupac

Saul Williams, slam poetry

Duke Bootee , The Poetics and Legacies of Hip-Hop Literature and Urban Realism

Can contemporary poetry/fiction reflect upon the past?

Hip-hop literature, power, social justice, and poetics

Natasha Trethewey

Rita Dove

Harryette Mullen, “The queen of hip-hop hyperbole” (quote by Sandra Cisneros) pp.2636-2644, 2nd ed.; pp. 1382-1391, 3rd ed., Vol. 2

Kendrick Lamar’ as literature