Saturday, May 3, 2008

Bibliography for Harriet Jacobs

Blackford, Holly. "Figures of Orality: The Master, The Mistress, The Slave Mother

in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself."

Papers on Language & Literature 37.3 (Summer 2001): 314. Academic

Search Complete. EBSCO. Monroe Library, New Orleans, LA. 5 Apr.

2008 http://search.ebscohost.com

Gardner, Eric. "You have no business to whip me": The Freedom Suits of Polly

Wash and Lucy Ann Delaney. African American Review 41.1 (Spring

2007): 33-50. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Monroe Library, New

Orleans, LA. 5 Apr. 2008 http://search.ebscohost.com

01&site=ehost-live

Randle, Gloria T. "Between the Rock and the Hard Place:Mediating Spaces in Harriet

Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." African American Review 33.1

(Spring 1999): 43. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Monroe Library, New

Orleans, LA. 3 March 2008.

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

1986.

Yellin, Jean Fagan. "Written By Herself: Harriet Jacobs' Slave Narrative."

American Literature 53.3 (Nov. 1981): 479. Academic Search Complete.

EBSCO. Monroe Library, New Orleans, LA. 5 Apr. 2008

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

"Slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women," Harriet Jacobs wrote in 1861. At that time she was an escaped slave living in the north, but the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 meant that she could not longer consider being in the northern states a guarantee of freedom or safety. Her book is an eloquent recital of the suffering that is slavery. Families broken apart; promises of freedom made but never kept; whippings, beatings, and burnings; masters selling their own children - all are recounted with precise detail and a blazing indignation. Harriet Jacobs' master started pursuing her when she was fifteen; in disgust she continually refused and avoided him. Her first attempt at revenge and escape failed: she became the lover of a local unmarried white man and had several children, but even then her master refused to sell her. Finally, in desperation, she ran away and hid in an uninsulated garret, three feet high at its tallest point with almost no air or light. She stayed there for seven years, enduring cold, heat, and a crippling lack of movement, always hoping to catch a glimpse of her children through a crack in the walls as they walked by on the road below her. At last she had a chance to escape to the North. Her story is a remarkable testimony to her strength and courage, and an unrelenting attack upon the institution of slavery.

Book Review, Erica Bauermeister 500 Great Books By Women

Norcom's House

Runaway Slave Notice


www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/images/4rnhj18b.jpg

A Woman's Fight


The time during slavery and the period just after was a period of time ripe for people trying to tell their stories. These former slaves had traveled rocky paths to attain freedom and had interesting stories to tell about their journey. Each of their respective paths were lined with difficult situations. They confronted things we can only dream of and in that way, they are all extremely interesting. Many women were struggling to put their families and lives together during the Reconstruction. Harriet Jacobs faced the problems head on, while being a mother and eventually running away from her plantation to try and make it on her own and Jacobs was not alone. There are other women with the same tenacity and strength that she so diligently displayed. However, Jacobs is not the only woman whose narrative garnered attention from the nation and sometimes even the world; Lucy Delaney also wrote a narrative expressing the pain and anguish they had gone through, but managed to overcome.

These women wrote their stories to show a nation of people the hardships they had gone through. They do not seem to care about whether or not they receive fame and fortune. They are only concerned with doing the right thing according to what they know. It is also of interest that these women were even allowed the opportunities to tell their stories, because slaves had not been able to read or write because if they could then it might have empowered them even more.

Harriet Jacobs narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was written of under the pseudonym Linda Brent. Brent’s early life was not easy at all. She lost her mother at a young age and lived with her mother’s mistress, Mrs. Margaret Horniblow, a most agreeable woman. Upon her death, Harriet was willed to Mrs. Horniblow’s five year old niece, making the niece’s father, Dr. Norcom, Jacobs’ new master. As years went on, with Harriet as the slave for these people, she was mistreated more and more. Eventually she found a need to escape and from here her narrative begins to take shape.

Harriet Jacobs wrote about a character named Linda Brent. Brent’s life has several eerie similarities to the life of Jacobs, such as the mean spirited Dr. Flint, who unlikeDr. Norcom {Jacobs’ previous master} does not seek sexual advances toward Brent. Instead of wanting to disgrace her physically, he takes special notice in the fact that she can read and write, and therefore, he seeks to torment her emotionally and spiritually. Also, Mr. Sands seems to bear a resemblance to Samuel Sawyer, a young unmarried lawyer, whom Jacobs had children with. It becomes painfully obvious during the story that Mr. Sands is simply a way out for her for Jacobs because she cannot have the black man she truly desires, as Dr. Norcom has told her that he will not sell her. Since she had lost the love of her life, Brent must have felt like her entire life had been shattered. Eventually Jacobs does escape and make it to permanent freedom with a story that would last generations.

Jacobs narrative is described as being written in Edenic innocence (Blackford). Holly Blackford describes two children playing in a garden, one black and the other white. Jacobs likens this to the white girl growing up and remaining innocent and being protected, while the black girl is raped by her masters. These serpents are taking away perfection, just as the snake with Eve in the garden. For example, Jacobs descriptions of Dr. Flint (Norcom) attacking her as a predator would is in direct opposition to that of young innocent girl). These sentences portray an old man chasing a young girl. While it is true, it adds an even creepier side to it. Also, while Delaney’s narrative is a great example of a mother’s fight for her child, as she is allowed to do so, Jacob’s narrative speaks of the cook who was forced to eat dog mush and sometimes locked away from her nursing child. How else would a nursing child be able to survive without its mother to nurse it and take care of it? Dr. Flint obviously did not care, unless it was to benefit him and keep him looking good within the community.

The story of Lucy Ann Delaney is a much different story from that of Linda Brent. While they both had similar experiences and wrote about the same time, Delaney does not see a reason to give the people she encounters pseudonyms. She comes right out with everything that happened. Delaney, unlike Jacobs, was born to a free family and as the laws went, whatever the mother was, so would be the child. After so long, her mother sued for ownership and she was freed. [But Delaney was “born to a free family”—explain this point more clearly] After this ? she went on to live a life full of pain and sorry, as her first husband was killed in a boiler explosion and with her second husband she had four children, two of whom died as infants and the other two, a boy and a girl died during their 20s. Delaney states that she and her husband have been married for forty-five years, yet we do not know any thing in particular about her death and the circumstances around it.

Also, while Delaney’s narrative is a great example of a mother’s fight for her child, as she is allowed to do so, Jacob’s narrative speaks of the cook who was forced to eat dog mush and sometimes locked away from her nursing child. How else would a nursing child be able to survive without its mother to nurse it and take care of it? Dr. Flint obviously did not care, unless it was to benefit him and keep him looking good within the community.

What is most interesting about the story of Lucy Delaney is the fact of a suit being filed to gain her freedom. While not a lot of work has gone into analyzing her actual plight, it is obvious that her case is somewhat similar to that of Dred and Harriet Scott. Secondly, Delaney’s case was solely based on the fact that her mother was no longer a slave. It is based on the fact that once you are no longer a slave, neither should any of your children. However eight months are? the suit of her mother it is ruled that Delaney cannot be a slave because “once free, always free” (Gardner 1-4). Furthermore, just as Jacobs had been separated from her kids, but able to hug or show affection to them, perhaps Delaney’s mother, Polly could not bear to be separated from her daughter yet again. Garner also takes notice of the fact that after the attorney who was helping her, a D.D. Mitchell, posted bail for her. Then, he had her jailed so that she could not run away. Not long after that there was a court petition stating that Delaney was suffering from colds and illness because of the awful conditions in the jail, including but not limited to: limited clothing and no heat (Garner 7).

In the end, both of the women wrote their narratives on the suggestion of someone else. Jacobs’ autobiography and narrative have had their authenticity questioned however, the series of letters she wrote to back herself up are almost certain that what this strong powerful, historic figure has said is unequivocally the truth. Secondly, we are able to verify the narrative based on the writings N.P. Willis, because after escaping 1842 she was a wet-nurse for his baby. At this time Jacobs did begin to write her narrative with the help of L. Maria Child, who became the editor of her book and William C. Nell .With all these things, the veracity of Jacobs’ narrative cannot be questioned further.

Finally, the women of the slave era had lofty ideas when they were emancipated regardless of how the arrived at this freedom. These two women were brave enough to write down the trials and tribulations they had been through without worrying too much about what people thought of them. The most fascinating thing is that they had the support of whites in the forms of editors, writers, or attorneys. Both women embody the post-slavery idea of trying to better yourself and aiming to make your family situation better than what it was before.

www.blackpast.org/.../jacobs-harriet-c-1815-1897 (Image)

Friday, May 2, 2008

bibliography for Shirley Ann Grau blog posts


Allen-Taylor, Douglas J. “The World According to Grau.” Metroactive Books. http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.26.98/cover/lit-grau-9808.html. (03 May 2008).

“Controversial writer reissued and revisited.” CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/books/12/29/shirley.grau.ap/index.html. (03 May 2008).

Ford, Nick Aaron. "the Black Prince and Other Stories Review." Phylon 16.2 (1955): 206.

Grau, Shirley Ann. The Black Prince and Other Stories. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1955.

---. Nine Women. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1985.

Rohrberger, Mary. "Shirley Ann Grau and the Short Story." Southern Quarterly 21.4 (1983): 83- 101.

Schlueter, Paul. Shirley Ann Grau. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers, 1981.

"Shirley Ann Grau." Contemporary Authors Online (2008): 3 May 2008. Biographical Resource Center. Gale.

“Shirley Ann Grau.” Contemporary Novelists (2001): 3 May 2008. Biographical Resource Center. Gale.

“Shirley Ann Grau.” Contemporary Southern Writers (1999): 3 May 2008. Biographical Resource Center. Gale.

Shirley Ann Grau's most prized work...


Published at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Keepers of the House (1964) is probably Shirley Ann Grau's most notable work. The story chronicles many generations of the Howland family, a Southern “dynasty” by any definition. For years and years, the family has “kept” the same house, passed through the Howland patriarchs, all named William. The story settles on the latest William and his rather controversial lifestyle. Set in the early to mid- twentieth century South, it is unheard of that an affluent and prominent white man would have an involvement with a black housekeeper. Yet William continues his 30-year love affair with his servant, Margaret, of which she bore three children, and he two more from a previous marriage. Williams and Margaret wanted the best for their children, so they tried their best their entire lives to pass them off as white, sending them to various parts of the country to pursue a life as a prejudice-free white. All three children go in completely different directions. Robert marries a white woman in Seattle; Nina marries a black man in the North. The youngest of the three, Crissy, lives in Paris and is able to accept her interracial identity more freely than any of her siblings.


Meanwhile, William's granddaughter Abigail, who is full-blooded white from the previous marriage-line, has returned from England and marries an up-an-coming politician, who is noted for his staunch segregationist platform, and has three children. As she learns of her grandfather's true nature and identity, she struggles with her own feelings on blacks, torn between superiority, resentment, and indifference. She looks upon her own mixed family with a cold nature.


Soon, the public learns of the illegitimate marriage between Robert and Margaret. At this point, both were dead, but is still a source of much controversy. As a result, Robert returns from Seattle and attracts much attention and press. Abigail is infuriated, and threatens to reveal to Robert's white wife his true family identity. Meanwhile, Abigail's husband's career is put in jeopardy, and he lives his wife and three children to continue his pursuit for public office. Soon after Abigail's husband leaves her, she is visited by an angry mob outside her home who wreak havoc on the property. In a backlash, she and her faithful black housekeeper, Oliver, set fire to the vigilantes' cars.


It seems by the end of the story Abigail has gained a new perspective (maybe even pride?) in her interracial family. Abigail takes revenge on the city that has betrayed her and her Howland name by shutting down many major businesses around the town that her family had acquired over the years. As a result, the town enters economic hell.


This story is quite dynamic and parallels many of the stories we have read in this class. Abigail initial attitude towards blacks remind me of Manon in Property, yet it seems she evolves considering the potentially strong opinion-shaping events that take place in The Keepers of the House. Moreover, many of the stories we've read dealt with the white supremacy and the struggle for blacks to gain upward mobility, using interracial affairs and mixed origins in order to “pass-off” as white. As mentioned, this is Grau's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, which caused quite a rift in Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Segregationalists backlashed, while progressives praised. In this auspicious work, Grau highlights the hypocrisy and lunacy of the Southern racist culture.
Photograph provided by randomhouse.com

Shirley Ann Grau and the Short Story: Who says a white woman can't write about black souther culture?

Shirley Ann Grau is no stranger to controversial topics. Born and raised in the South, residing in New Orleans, she was quite aware of the racial issues swarming during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, especially below the Mason Dixon line. While her novels were primarily told though and about white Southerners of both rural and wealthy backgrounds, her short stories cross color lines into a realm few white writers have dared venture. Though a Pulitzer Prize winner, her stories have not been widely reviewed due to her relative anonymity, and Grau continues to elude her readers because, as Rohrberger notes, “for we have consistently failed to understand the complexity of her statements and the excellence of her forms (Rohrberger,1).” Despite this low-key success, Grau has received much attention and praise for her works of short fiction. Considering the time and place in which this white Southern, woman writer wrote her short stories, Shirley Ann Grau displayed great subtlety and tenacity in her ability to write through the point-of-view of both black and white characters.

Although she has written a great deal throughout her career, one can appreciate the range of her use of black and white points of view by comparing two collections of short stories spanning a thirty year divide: The Black Prince and Other Stories (1955) and Nine Women (1985). Through a critical analysis of these bold works, Grau's readers will find she has many thoughtful insights of the perspectives and perceptions of black and white culture.


There are five stories out of nine in The Black Prince and Other Stories that are told through the eyes of black characters. “White Girl, Fine Girl” is a story following the return of Jayson Paul Evans who has just been released from prison. Upon his arrival back into society, he sets out to find his ex-wife, Aggie, the reason he entered prison in the first place. Though it is not clear what he seeks in Aggie, she and her daughters (only one of which is Jayson's) do not allow him near her. After some effort, he settles for a prostitute who looks like the “Jax Poster” girl who is “white or nearly white.” This is the only instance in the story in which the reader can clearly detect the main character's race; it is in the way they talk about the girl's color, as if being “nearly white” was exotic.


In Nine Women, Grau employs a similar technique in letting on the race of the main character in “The Beginning.” The story follows a short period of time in the life of a young girl, whose mother treats her like “the jewel of the lotus, the pearl without price, [her] secret treasure (Nine Women, 5).” The story generally lacks a plot, but is rather just a memoir of a young girl whose mother enjoys “dolling” her up in fine, girly clothes, despite being the bane of the nuns in her school. Considering the fine clothing she describes, we only find out at the end that she is a young, black girl. Grau clearly concealed this information in hopes that we would assume she was white, given the character's refined nature.


Some stories, on the other hand, are not so elusive. The story “The Black Prince,” appearing in its self-titled collection, follows the progression of the relationship between Alberta Lacy and Stanley Albert Thompson. The reader is made aware of their race within the first couple of pages: “She was a handsome girl, taller than most people in her part of the country, and light brown—there had been a lot of white blood in her family...(The Black Prince and Other stories, 40).”


Yet, few of Grau's short stories actually deal with the issue of race, save “Miss Yellow Eyes,” which also appears in The Black Prince and Other Stories. This story is told through Celia, a young black girl in early adolescence with her mother, brother, and sister. Her sister, Lena, is much sought after by boys in school, but shows no interest in them until meeting her brother Pete's friend, Chris. As Chris is drafted into Vietnam to undoubtedly take the front lines because of his skin color, he heroically accepts his call to action. Moreover, he promises Lena he will return for her soon, upon which they will move to Oregon where they can “cross over” the color line. Pete, on the other hand, takes an entirely different view of the situation, as he ardently maintains that blacks are sent to war only to die for white men, and he resents Chris for his desire to be white. Saving himself from what he feels is inevitable death, Pete tries to cut off his finger to avoid the draft, but instead accidentally takes off his entire hand. He is extremely bitter over this result, and over Chris. Unfortunately, Pete's predictions are met. Chris is in fact killed in war. Upon the news of his death, the entire family is broken apart, except Pete, who can only say (and rather hysterically), “Even if you black, you good enough to get sent off to die...Chris, you a man, sure... sure... you sure cross over... (The Black Prince and Other stories, 113).”


There are two remaining stories told specifically through black characters in The Black Prince and Other Stories: “Joshua” and “The Way of a Man.” Both are sort of “coming-of-age” stories in which the two main characters, who are poor and uneducated black boys, realize what it truly means to be a man. In “The Way of a Man,” William matures into “a life of crime and debt” after being practically abandoned, emotionally and financially, by his parents (Rohrberger,1). At the end of the story, William is broke, headed to New Orleans on the run from the law. He justifies many of his poor judgments, citing what “a man's” got to do. On the other hand, Joshua is a bit younger, yet lives a relatively crime-free life. He matures on his own and becomes quite responsible for himself (much unlike his counterpart, William). Interestingly, the “initiation” of William and Joshua ensue upon their discovery of the dead, white corpses. These complete the “roster” of stories about blacks.


The story “Ending” in Nine Women takes a far less direct approach to race. The story profiles a crisis of relationships in the family of Barbara Eagleton. Upon her daughter's wedding day, Barbara and her husband decide to get a divorce. This story is not nearly as colloquial in diction as the other stories about black characters in The Black Prince and Other Stories; one is only really led to recognize the race of the characters when Barbara is cited as looking “so much like Diana Ross (Nine Women, 107).” In this story, it seems Grau is demonstrating that it is not necessary to make the story about race, even if her characters are black.


These stories have been received in many ways. Yet it is safe to say that almost every one of Grau's reviewers were often primarily interested in the way she wrote in a point of view of blacks, which was thought to be so unlike her own, being a white, Southern woman. Her ability to narrate through a situation in which she can never fully realize is indeed intriguing. For Grau, it is about the distinction between “the direct and the subtle (Rohrberger,1).” While some stories are quite cleary issues of race, others are far less clear and easy to decipher, thus pulling out distinct racial boundaries.


Not everyone is entirely convinced by her boldness in her depiction of black characters: “But, on the other hand, her southern upbringing has imposed certain limitations on her ability to endow her Negro characters with reality. Although she tries hard to enter into the minds of her Negro characters, she fails miserably (Ford, 206).” As this review was written shortly after the publication of The Black Prince and Other Stories, it seems her unique topic did not resound with everyone, as it seems to now. On the other hand, Shirley Ann Grau's own literary biographer Paul Schleuter felt differently on her ability to portray black character: “In general, the stories in this collection that are concerned with blacks are more effective than those concerned with white; the former seem imbued with a sense of mystery, with echoes of folklore and myth often emphasized (Schleuter, 107).” Schleuter feels that she handles the dialect of the rural black culture well while maintaining a very objective and indifferent point of view.


Both books contain stories of both black and white characters, though it is sometimes not certain until the end. Yet there is a clear distinction between the two collections. While many selections in The Black Prince and Other Stories are quite blatantly about black culture in the rural South, there is clearly dwindling interest in the subject by the time Nine Women is published. What may bring about this change in focus? There is no secure answer, yet it still important to note the time period in which she chose to address the topic initially. The 1950s fostered the onset of the Civil Rights Movement, and Shirley Ann Grau was no doubt a part of that.
Photograph provided by aaabooks.com

Alice Walker Recalls the Civil Rights Battle

Alice Walker on NYTimes.com

Alice Walker talks with Herbert Mitgang about how she came to work within the Civil Rights Movement, some of the dire consequences she faced as a result of that work, and how the Movement itself inspired some of her greatest poetry.

Photo: Bettmann, 1960

Shirley Ann Grau's visit from the KKK


Controversial writer reissued and revisited.

In this article from CNN.com, Grau tells us about her "run-ins" with the Klu Klux Klan, who attempted to burn a cross in her frontyard 4o years ago when her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Keepers of the House was published.

This work is set in Alabama and tells the story of an affluent white man and controversial 30-year love affair with his black housekeeper. Needless to say, "the Klan" was not pleased. Yet their efforts proved futile: "The men apparently forgot to bring a shovel, and couldn't drive the cross into the ground. So it burned lying flat on Grau's yard -- not a terribly intimidating sight." Grau's work has often been the source of controversy, as many of her stories showcase black & white relations in the South.

Photograph provided by CNN.com

Shirley Ann Grau: A Life's Work

List of Major Publications:

The Black Prince and Other Stories (1955)
The Hard Blue Sky (1958)
The House on Coliseum Street (1961)
The Keepers of the House (1964)
The Condor Passes (1971)
The Wind Shifting West (1973)
Evidence of Love (1977)
Nine Women (1985)
Roadwalkers (1994)

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Alice Walker: Seeing Purple in a Field

Walker was educated at Spelman College in Atlanta, and later at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, during which time she became actively involved with the Civil Rights Movement. In June of 1966, she began her most effective Civil Rights activism work through her involvement with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., commonly referred to at the time by its members as “The Inc. Fund” (White 136). Through The Inc. Fund, Walker and several others helped those whose rights were revoked as a result of attempting to register to vote. Because of her outstanding writing skills, Walker was assigned to take depositions by those sharecroppers who had been evicted from their homes in various lawsuits against whites who acted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which overturned the Jim Crow laws already in place in the South. She also worked closely with the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which played a major role in such monumental Civil Rights events as peaceful sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and the 1963 March on Washington (Carson). As SNCC was founded by and primarily organized and run by African-American women, Walker fit right in as a productive part of the team, promoting the ideology behind the activist organization in the face of a highly segregated and sexist South. The pairing of her small town upbringing and her extremely public and political work in the Movement allowed Walker’s sympathies for low income African-Americans – most specifically women – to become prominent components of her literary work.

Photo: Dennis Whitehead, 1982

Maya Angelou In Her Own Words

http://www.biography.com/broadband/main.do?video=mf230_courage_96

Maya Angelou discusses the affect of the Civil Rights Movement around the world.

Sue Monk Kidd - Her wonderful achievements


It has been a real joy doing hours and hours of research on Sue Monk Kidd's life, achievements, and books she has written. There are six books and stories that she has written and Kidd has put her heart and soul into these books and their stories. They are as follows: God's Joyful Surprise (nonfiction), When the Heart Waits (nonfiction), The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Journey from the Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (nonfiction), The Secret Life of Bees (novel), The Mermaid Chair (novel), and Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd (nonfiction).

Sue Monk Kidd has recieved many awards and achievements throughout her writing career. Here are just a few writing awards that she has recieved:
•2004 Book Sense Book of the Year in paperback for The Secret Life of Bees
•Winner of the 2003 SEBA Book of the Year for The Secret Life of Bees
•Nominated for the 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for The Secret Life of Bees
•Finalist for the 2003 Book Sense Book of the Year Award for fiction – The Secret Life of Bees
•Citation in “100 Distinguished Stories” by Best American Short Stories 1994 for The Secret Life of Bees
•Finalist for the 2003 Boeke Prize in South Africa for The Secret Life of Bees

Photo by www.suemonkkidd.com

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Shirley Ann Grau breaks-down racial boundaries




J. Douglas Allen-Taylor of Metroactive.com, a website highlighting news, music, arts & events in the Silicon Valley (much like NOLA.com), interviews Grau on "cross[ing] the color line" in her novels.

In her work, Grau has created much debate over a white woman's ability to accurately portray black characters. Although it seems a quite audacious attempt, her objective, even indifferent, attitude toward her characters open up boundaries that may have hindered a Southern white writer in the past. As a New Orleans native and former Alabama resident, she is no stranger to both black and white cultures, rural and affluent. The question remains: Do her characters really translate to actual life in the mid 20th century South?

The Illuminating Black Madonna by Sue Monk Kidd


National Cathedral - Washington, DC
Sue speaks before an audience of more than 800 at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on the Black Madonna in The Secret Life of Bees.
Windows Media PlayerTime:
1:09:04

Monday, April 28, 2008

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou In Her Own Words

http://www.biography.com/broadband/main.do?video=mf229_childhood_138

Maya Angelou discusses her childhood.

Maya Angelou: Poet, Activist, and Phenomenal Woman


Maya Angelou was born as Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. After the divorce of her parents when she was three years old, she moved to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou’s life changed at age seven when she went to visit her mother in Chicago. Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, and the man was beaten to death by one of Angelou’s family members. The trauma of the event prompted her to become mute. She did not begin speaking again until age thirteen because she felt that her words had killed her attacker. Angelou credits her teacher, Bertha Flowers, for helping her to speak again and for introducing her to classic literature. The double bonds of being black and being a woman was something that Angelou certainly faced throughout her life. Growing up, she was a victim of the bitter racism of the south. She also understood from an early age how brutal the world could be for women after her assault. Angelou's life experiences have been a major influence on her work.

Angelou’s work reflects her involvement and commitment to civil rights. A recurring theme in Angelou’s work is racial pride, despite the demeaning way in which society has sometimes portrayed blacks. Her works are often centered on the evolution of the black community, as well as the challenges of being a woman. In Angelou’s personal life, she was extensively involved in activism. To combat the injustice that she saw, she became very active in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Angelou met and became close to some of the most influential civil rights activists of all time. While living in Ghana, Angelou became friends with civil rights leader, Malcolm X. She planned to return to the United States to help him to launch a new organization called the Organization of African American Unity, but their plans were thwarted when he was assassinated in 1965. Angelou was also very close to civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because of her role as northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Although Angelou was devoted to civil rights, the movement was largely based on the ideals of black men. Sexism was prevalent in the Movement. It was sometines thought that the women of the movement should only be doing “women’s jobs” instead of being in the forefront. Women were often not taken seriously, and many of the jobs available to them were things like working as secretaries for the men who lead the movement. Moreover, feminism was largely a movement for white women, so black women were excluded from the Women’s Movement as well. Black women were put in an awkward situation. In a time in which people were seemingly so enthralled in achieving equality, the black woman had no one fighting for her.

In Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she tells stories of racism that she and her family endured while living in Arkansas. She was blatantly harassed, treated with contempt, forced to sit in “colored only” sections in public, and sometimes refused services because of her race. During an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Angelou was asked how she dealt with the racism that she has faced throughout her life. She replied, “The truth is, you cannot get rid of it. It is there. What you can do is put positive things in there along with the negative. But it’s a given that you will remember that the rest of your life.”

Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” is one of her most beautiful and eloquent condemnations of racism and prejudice. The pride, sassiness, and inspirational message of the poem has made it a favorite of many. Angelou has said that she reflects on this poem when facing challenges or difficulties. She has also written a poem specifically for women. “Phenomenal Woman,” Angelou explains, was written for all women. The poem is meant to be inspirational for women of all races, backgrounds, and body types. The poem evokes the same sense of pride found in “Still I Rise.” Angelou puts power in the hands of women, challenging the notion that women should be defined by men and that women should be judged on the basis of their looks.

Angelou's pride in being a black and being a woman is evident in her writing. Her personal life and involvement in the Civil Rights Movement has made her work what it is today. She has an unrelenting hope and confidence, despite the abuse that she has endured. Angelou’s life is proof of the futility of racism and sexism. Her work is a testament to what can be accomplished, no matter what society may insist. As a black woman, Angelou is theoretically considered to be the most inconsequential of citizens; however, she continues to break down the barriers ascribed to her, and she serves as an inspiration to many.

Shirley Ann Grau's objective perspectives




Grau was born on July 8, 1929 in New Orleans, LA. As an adolescent she moved to Montgomery, Alabama and went to Booth (elementary) School until her high school years, when she moved back to New Orleans and attended Ursuline Academy. She continued her studies as an English major at the Newcomb College at Tulane University, graduating with the class of 1950, and later completed one year of graduate studies. Grau's original career plans were to get a Ph.D.in English and teach and write, but the university had different plans. Grau explains, “It seemed like a good idea... But, anyway the head of the department said no women would be teaching assistants in his department... Just about the time my free-lance pieces began to show. So I said, O.K., follow where the doors open.”



From these free-lance works came a well-received debut publication, The Black Prince and Other Stories (1955). A book in which most of the stories were centered around black characters was almost unheard of at the time. “When I started writing black stories," she says, "it just was not done.... And then there was a flip-flop after the 1960s, and that's all they wanted." On August 4th of that same year she married James Kern Feibleman, a Tulane professor, and with him bore two sons and two daughters: Ian James, Nora Miranda, William Leopold, and Katherine Sara.



Three years later she published The Hard Blue Sky. In this novel, Grau showcases her ability to describe nature; where critic Ann Pearson notes that even the title “indicates the dominance of the elements over the lives of the...fishermen.” The story is set on a primitive island, Isle aux Chiens, at the mouth of the Mississippi. This book does not carry a traditional plot set-up. On the other hand, Grau writes “interwoven episodes and flashbacks to dramatize a series of crises in the lives of individual islanders." Drama laden with the passions of love and sex ensue as these island citizens await the first hurricane of the season.



One could describe Grau as a “novelist of manners” in that her approach to her characters is unsentimental which allows her to exercise perfect objectivity. The House on Coliseum Street (1961) was indeed “a novel of manners.” As she often does, Grau “explores the perversion of ethics in modern society." This story of “divorce and sexual promiscuousness” is meant to criticize the moral hypocrisy of the Southern upper-class.



One of the more prominent themes in Grau's work is the interaction between whites and black in the South at a time when the two were separated by law. She is a “white author who deals with... the black subculture,” an “anomaly” of her time. Yet, unlike many novels of the genre, her black characters are not mere caricatures of servants and house maids. Rather, she writes of the deep South, where interaction between races is inevitable and almost always controversial.



Her next work would be the most famous to-date. In 1964, her novel The Keepers of the House received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In this story, Southern white widower Bill Howland, after his late wife dies, secretly marries an African American woman, Margaret. They have three children and even more grandchildren that are “mired in racial politics." Grau achieved such noteworthy acclaim by separating herself from the usual genre of female Southern writers. Time magazine critic R. Z. Sheppard said, “...Grau has usually played to her strength—a cautious application of talent to Southern traditions and people she knows best.”



Grau followed with The Condor Passes (1971) and Evidence of Love (1977). Her most recent work is Roadwalkers, published in 1994. This story follows the life of Baby, a black girl growing up in the Depression-era South. Her journey begins by wandering the countryside for food and shelter. After a confrontation with a white land owner, she is sent to an orphanage where nun Rita Landry takes over the narration for her teen years. After leaving the orphanage at 18, Grau's books takes a bold shift to the first person in which Baby gives the account to her daughter, Nanda, who grows up with all of the privileges her mother lacked. The story ends with the despairing story of her unfortunate marriage. While the critics looked to the story with “a mixture of admiration and puzzlement," the story nevertheless adds to her collection of racially controversial, yet objective portraits of the old South.
Photograph provided by washingtonpost.com