The Black Language, Then Tell Me, By James Baldwin

The struggles of being an African American is not very well understood by the majority of the population. For hundreds of years, there every day challenges – that privilege people would not bad – have become their own normal. Many authors have taken it upon themselves to write about their experiences and to educate the public. They use different types of literary devices to reflect their true intentions. In James Baldwin‘s “Notes of a Native Son” and Brent Staples’ “Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Spaces,” the authors use language and punctuation to show their true emotion behind their words. The combination of syntax and diction allows Baldwin to develop his angry and bitter tone, in addition to Staples’ contrasting light-hearted tone.

Wendell Berry’s past is more than just his own in “My Great-Grandfather’s Slaves,” but his past is intertwined with the slaves that grew up with. A quick reading of this poem by Berry would not give the reader that he was connected with the slaves, but rather that they lived separate lives. Berry says he sees the slaves and their activities but does not ever write about how they are connected until the very last stanza. After reading the final stanza it gives the rest of the poem a new meaning and if the reader does not take the time to closely re-read the writing they will miss out on what Berry is really trying to portray. Wendell Berry is trying to show the reader how his past is linked with the past of his grandfather’s slaves with his

In his essay, “If Black Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?,” the author, James Baldwin, opens with telling his audience about the problem that America faces involving black English. Baldwin attempts to explain his methodology or theory about language itself but his explanation can be hard to follow. His attempt to tell the audience about the “concerning the use, or the status, or the reality of Black English is rooted in American History has absolutely nothing to do with the question the argument supposes itself to be posing (Practical Argument, pg. 814).” Throughout the beginning of Baldwin’s essay there no goals mentioned, or they’re very hard to find, as well as no specific topic that is mentioned. Baldwin’s essay was not only bad at persuasion it also lacked proper components it needed to thrive. To say the least, Baldwin’s essay was ineffective and unpersuasive. The “logic” he used was unclear and misunderstood. He also lacked significant evidence, as well as lacked many organizational methods used in a good essay.

Before using her Facebook as a means to connect young minds about civil rights movements and issues that still plagues the nation today, Sandra Bland used her social media like every other citizen. That is until just after Christmas of 2014 when she made the decision to speak up about “the economic crisis burdening young African Americans,” trying to, in her words, inform her readers about black history, or American history as she liked to describe it (Nathan). Sandra Bland, a 28 year old African American, had just received a job interview from her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. Her life seemed to be going smoothly, just received a job offering, rekindled her relationship with her mother, and seemed optimistic about the future to

Today, racist sororities and fraternities on college campuses have grown to be a public crisis. Recently at the University of Oklahoma, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity released a video including racial slurs and lynching of African Americans (Glionna et al.). This activity shows that there is racism among Americans even in the twenty-first century. There are many other publicized cases involving racism in American society which proves that racism is not just an issue of the past. The past contains elements of racial misconduct that can be explained by James Baldwin and Brent Staples. Baldwin, a preacher and published writer, writes “Notes of a Native Son” to emphasize his experiences and actions towards racism of a different time (50-71). Staples, a reporter and columnist who wrote “Just Walk on By: Black Men in Public Spaces”, describes difficulties and stereotypes from the nation and how he suffered through, yet, another difficult time in American history (394-97). Both have a way with words in describing past racial issues. But in comparison of Baldwin and Staples, one can see that the type of racism they experience, their age and maturity, and their response to racism differ entirely by noting the different time eras of racism that each encounters.

In If Beale Street Could Talk and “Sonny’s Blues,” author James Baldwin shows that embracing suffering, rather than being trapped by it, leads to growth and enlightenment.

Throughout Alain Locke’s works “Values and Imperatives,” “Pluralism and Intellectual Democracy,” “Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace,” “The New Negro,” and “Harlem,” I found there to be a number of reoccurring themes, such as absolutes, imperatives, values, and relativism and their place in pluralism. I am going to be focusing on all the aforementioned themes and showing how they are all intertwined into the principles of pluralism.

“To gaze into another person’s face is to do two things: to recognize their humanity and to assert your own” –Aminata Diallo. The Book of Negros was written by Canadian author Lawrence Hill. The Book of Negros is about a young girl named Aminata who is brought to London, England, in 1802, by abolitionists who are petitioning to end the slave trade. As she awaits an audience with King George to speak on her personal experience of being a captured slave, she recounts on paper her life story. Aminata was abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village, Bayo in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves. Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. Despite suffering humiliation and

The 1800s was a time of barbarity and cruelty in the United States. The novel The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, is a two hundred and forty-two paged composition of various essays written by W. E. B. Du Bois. The author guides his audience alongside himself during the historic events occurring in the South, and how both Black and White people handled this difficult time. The novel is written of the life of a Black man, Du Bois, during the time of slavery and inequality in America. He discusses slavery and inferiority effect on the African race and the process of the elimination of slavery and unjust laws. He utilizes the cruel language in which the White race slander the Africans with. Du Bois also describes the United States as being partitioned into two unlike universes. One world being of the White race, with the grant of unlimited rights and dominance. While the other is filled with tons of people who struggle to acquire a higher education, civil rights, and the right to vote.

“The Souls of Black Folk” was written in 1903 by William E. B. Dubois (4). Dubois was an activist for civil rights and an author of many pieces regarding the lifestyle, struggle and historic patterns of African Americans (4). Though Dubois was born after the abolition of slavery, he knew the prospects of the African American struggle were most likely formed due to the conditions of black lives during slavery. Dubois was also an educator and advocate for educational opportunities in black communities (4). Not only writing, reading and math but critical thinking, health and survival and extra sources that could uplift and broaden the mind to do what it has the potential to do. The first chapter of “The Souls of Black Folk” gave a depiction of two prominent intervals that are cultivated in black culture, the veil and double-consciousness. Dubois wanted to bring attention to them for the productivity of social equality. His audience was not the black community, but white Americans who judged, misunderstood and moreover controlled it. He aimed to clear the narrative of the African Americans being inadequate and bring forth the truth of black culture’s compromise.

Richard Wright uses language in his novel, Black Boy, as a source to convey his opinions and ideas. His novel both challenges and defends the claim that language can represent a person and become a peephole into their life and surroundings. Richard Wright uses several rhetorical techniques to convey his own ideas about the uses of language.

In the article, If Black English isn’t a language, then tell me, what is, James Baldwin talks about the use of language. He breaks down the use of language to serve two audiences. He emphasizes that, “language evolves to describe or control a circumstance” (Baldwin, 1979). There may be a common language, but how people dictate the vocabulary is what makes it distinctive between communities. Black English serves the same purpose as any other language. It supports, evolves, and protect community or culture it serves. Baldwin also hints that without the funkiness of African Americans, the American culture wouldn’t be as powerful as it is. It is important that we understand that Black English helped shape the English language and has affected our

To begin with, Baldwin introduces his literary piece of writing in arguing that Black English should be considered a language. He goes on to say that Black English has heavily influenced the American culture and possibly would be different if Black English never existed. A language is an extension of one’s identity and the expression of who they are. By

James Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet. In the essay ''If Black English Isn't a language, then tell me what is?'' James Baldwin asserts an argument as how Language is like the ID of people, it can identify, as well as define people. Due to the characteristics it has, it can be defined as a persuasive essay. It attempts to persuade the readers to be on the writer's side, or accept the point of view of the author. This significant essay was written in the 1970s. It indicates how language is not merely used for communication, but can be used to classify people with different social backgrounds and class. Baldwin used examples like how people in England talk make sense to their own people and not everyone else. He used this example to illustrate his thought of why Black English is not recognized as a real language. In addition, he thought that the white man never meant to teach the Blacks English. That is also the reason why he thinks black children are lost, and can't be taught by people who despise them. The inability of the salves to interact with each other made them create black English. Which was their own means of communication. Baldwin's article has a lot to say about the impact that language has on African American people and his positive approach is supported with strong historical events, and the author's anger behind this writing makes it stronger. However, the assumption about education makes the article weak, because it is not well

Racial prejudices plagued the minds of Americans during the 18th and 19th centuries. African Americans were viewed as intellectually and morally inferior to the white race. Black men were viewed as uneducable pack mules given value merely based on their strength and ability to work. Black women were viewed as lustful creatures that served the purpose of fulfilling a slave-owner’s sexual desires and for reproducing new “property”. A slave’s manhood or womanhood was diminished as neither gender had the ability to create a self-identity outside the gender roles assigned to them by the slavery institution. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs defy these stereotypes in their noteworthy slave narratives as they recount their struggles for self-discovery and freedom. Douglass proved that black men were capable of intellectual stimulation and self-identification beyond the field. Jacobs showed that black women could maintain moral respect and serve as a devoted mother simultaneously. Thus, Douglass and Jacobs were able to undermine the dominant racial theories of the 18th and 19th centuries through their powerful slave narratives.