Passing as a Work of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance impacted African Americans by giving them a new identity. This movement gave African Americans the opportunity to express clearly the experiences they had once endured. Through African American literature, art, and music, Americans were given the chance to learn about their differences in cultures and lifestyles. With this new found freedom and a better understanding from all points of view, African Americans found it easier to come to the North and live a life that was free as well as being considered a member of the sophisticated society. With this came a world of better social understanding.

African Americans now had a stronger sense of self determination which gave them a community that was able to stand and work together. But, even with this new found freedom, there was still discrimination and tough times ahead. The Harlem Renaissance gave African Americans an urban setting which allowed them to have the opportunity to understand and appreciate the different lifestyles and cultures of other African Americans no matter what their past was like.

While the Harlem Renaissance only had a direct effect on African Americans, all Americans saw how important it was for minority groups to have the opportunity to express themselves through literature, art and music. While the Harlem Renaissance did not end segregation, it did open the eyes of Americans to see that the ways of the “white man” were not the only way of thinking and creating. The Renaissance died down by the 1930’s, however the literature of the time still carries relevant messages.

Characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a social movement that took place in Harlem, a community in New York City. This movement was the first time that African American literature had been taken seriously as an art. This renaissance was introduced as African Americans became a part of the middle class due to their opportunities of better education and employment. The Harlem Renaissance movement mainly concerned literature, but also was fueled by enthusiasm in music, art, politics and racial issues.

Some of the areas that were covered through the arts were literature, music, drawing, and painting. The political and racial issues that were emphasized were areas such as segregation and other racial injustices. The Harlem Renaissance did not appeal to just a single audience but instead had a very broad range of audience members. The different arts intrigued the rich and the poor of both the white and African American societies.

Many literary styles came out of the Harlem Renaissance with the African American identity being the strong theme. This theme was one that was focused on bringing back more of the African traditions into the American culture. It also brought light to the social norms of African Americans that needed to be changed for a better unity of the white and black societies. Not only was the Renaissance about literature, music and art, but it also included some of the great philosophical minds of the time.

Famous novels of this time include Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing as well as George Schuyler’s Black No More and Slaves Today. Langston Hughes, Lewis Alexander, and Gwendolyn Bennett were poets of this time. Musicians from the Harlem Renaissance period include Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington.


Relationship between the Harlem Renaissance and Passing

Nella Larsen wrote Passing in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance. Her writing was influenced and encouraged during the 1920’s by some of the most influential names on the art scene during this time. Larsen’s work was introduced to a publisher by Carl Van Vechten who is popularly credited with promoting many Harlem Renaissance writers. Larsen’s work, Passing , was given great praise for “capturing, as did no other novel of the genre, the psychology of racial passing with ‘consummate art’.”

Nella Larsen’s literature is a prime example of the work that came out of the Harlem Renaissance era. She wrote two novels and as we can see, Passing is a story that brings up many of society’s conflicts concerning racial identity. This is a story that would have spoken to the black community in a very fundamental way. The main issue that Larsen’s work speaks of is racial pride and social equality. The act of passing would have been a controversial issue at the time because it meant a person was going against his roots and pretending to be someone that he was not. This idea of passing goes against the ideas that the Harlem Renaissance stood for, which were to unite and bring together the black community.




Works Cited
"Harlem Renaissance: Impact of the Harlem Renaissance." Harlem Renaissance: Impact
of the Harlem Renaissance. 9 Feb. 2009 .

"Harlem Renaissance," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/harlem/harlem.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBtN8h85F-I&feature=related


Post by:
Lindsey S.
Michael B.
Sarah B.
Shawn H.

Playing in the Dark and Popular Culture

In Disney Pixar’s The Incredibles, there is almost a role reversal. Luciusa Best, the only African American character also known as Frozone goes out with Bob Parr, a.k.a. Mr. Incredible to stop crime. Bob sneaks out of the house to reminisce of the days when he used to be superhero. When he sneaks out Luciusa joins him even though he is reluctant. He also saves the day in the end of the big battle scene. This is a counter example for some of Toni Morrison’s points. Luciusa is the voice of good and conscious opposite to the ideas of his white friend. In this example the African American does not have a major roll; he is in the beginning and end, but he is given an identity and voice.


The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is about “Will” a street smart African American teenager from West Philadelphia, who moves to live with his upper class relatives, the Banks, because he had some problems in the neighborhood in which he lived. In this TV series the viewer sees two types of African Americans; the stereotypical one played as Will and the Banks family who are an unconventional image of African Americans. The banks family in similar to that of the characters in Passing, they have a butler who is of darker skin than themselves and their mannerisms are those of a stereotypical upper class white family.


In the film Men in Black, there are two agents, Agent K, a white character, who has over forty years of experience and his new partner Agent J, an African American who is the comedic relief in this movie. There is a contrast between the serious and knowledgeable white character and the sarcastic wittiness of the black character. Agent J acts in a stereotypical way of an African American. Here is a link to the trailer of the movie.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1643381529/

Throughout popular culture and media, black and white have become synonymous with good and evil. In many scary movies when there is darkness something bad or frightening going to happen or it is at least given the sense of being unsafe and dangerous. Also with the clothing they wear, in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, the hero, wears white and his arch nemesis, Darth Vader, is dressed all in black. These connections are made and formed instantaneously and subliminally. These common formalities in culture have migrated into common ideas and views that are associated with these colors.


Playing in the Dark

Playing in the Dark, written by Nobel-prize-winner Toni Morrison, consists of an introduction and three essays on the role of race, specifically with Africans and blacks, in American literature. The subtitle for the book, Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, is exactly what the three essays are about: whiteness, not blackness. Morrison looks at what is placed at the center of the American Literary stage: the white hero and the construction of their world. She comes at the topic from a different angle; instead of looking at what it means to be black she looks at what it means to be white.

Morrison looks at the classic virtues of the hero in American literature — self-reliance, power over their surroundings, control over their life, confidence, and independence. She shows the degree to which those virtues are built, within the story, on the ubiquitous and unremarked presence of servants, slaves, racial inferiors, and people over whom the heroes can have, gain, or exercise power. It's surprising, once pointed out, how unsubtle this undercurrent is and how much the construction of the classic virtues of the American hero require a subservient other.

It is remarkable at how much of the mythology of the American hero is explained by adding the hidden or assumed Other to the picture. In order to be powerful, one must have power over something. In order to be in control, one must have something over which to exert control. One demonstrates independence by one's ability to ignore or disregard others; one gains confidence from having power and control over one's life. It's not always that simple, of course, but in the simplification of life into stories, the hero's triumph or control over the Other is a simple way of establishing those virtues.

The idea Morrison explores is that the concept of inequity and power of white over black heavily influenced the way that whites imagined their roles in the world, and that imagination is reflected in literature. Slavery didn't only affect the enslaved. It also distorted the self-image of the slave holders, intensified the focus of being on top and in control of social hierarchies, and created a need to exert power in order to be seen as powerful. That emphasis on personal power, which so characterizes American literature, may be due in part by the effect of the culture of slavery and racial dominance.

by:
Caroline Betancourt,
David Odenwelder and
Clayton Mandly

Nella Larson’s Passing is the second and final novel written by the noted Harlem Renaissance author, originally published in 1929, which focuses mostly around two main characters, Irene and Clare. Passing refers to a person, usually classified as being a member of a certain race or social status, choosing to identify with another race or social group. In the case of this novel passing can be seen in a few different ways. First, and most obviously there is Clare, a black woman, or part black rather, who passes as a white woman, and is married to a white husband. Then there is Irene. Irene is a black woman, who by all accounts could very well pass for white, but does not. However, Irene is from the south side of Chicago, which historically not exactly the nicest part of the city, who appears to be somewhat obsessed with being a part of the high society of the black community in New York. So, throughout the novel the reader is constantly given examples of the different ways in which people are “passing” making it not so much a book about race, but a book about people and middle class culture.
The book begins with Irene sitting at home, going through her mail, when she discovers a letter with no return address. Irene immediately knows who it is from, and is somewhat displeased by the fact the letter has a New York post-mark on it. Irene reads the letter and is immediately reminded of her childhood. As it turns out, Irene and Clare grew up together in the same neighborhood. Clare’s father was the janitor or maintenance man for the apartment complex in which they lived. Also, Clare’s father was a drinker. One night, Clare’s father was killed in a bar fight, and Clare moved away, never to be heard from again (for the most part), or so it appeard.
In Clare’s letter to Irene, she mentions a time in Chicago, and Irene remembers this too. It was summer, and Irene was in Chicago visiting her father, she was out shopping, and almost fainted. So, she got in a cab and headed to the Drayton Hotel to have some iced tea. While at the hotel, Irene sees a woman, whom she can not ignore. After a while, Irene notices the woman is staring at her. This woman turns out to be Clare. They sit and talk for quite some time, and after Irene invites Clare to Idlewild for the weekend to meet up with all of her friends, and Clare declines, it becomes evident that Clare is indeed passing as a white woman, and has been for years, since she left the neighborhood. Clare then insists that they meet up again before Irene leaves, and that they should have tea on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, the day Irene is supposed to meet with Clare. Clare calls Irene’s house numerous times but every time Irene has her servant answer and say she’s not in. Finally Irene get so annoyed with the repetitive calling that she finally answers and agrees to meet Clare even though she did not want to.
They met in the hallway of the Morgan and when they entered the room Irene was surprised to have found Gertrude sitting on the couch. Gertrude was a girl they all went to high school with who had, as well as Clare, married a white man and was considered to be “passing”. Irene was annoyed, not so much by Gertrude, but by “a feeling of being outnumbered (Larson 167),” because she was the only one out of the three who married a dark man. After talking for a while amongst themselves, they spoke of their children and their husbands and it shocked Clare and Gertrude that Irene had a dark son as well as a dark husband. Irene found out quite quickly that she was very much different from Clare and Gertrude now that they were all women.
After all this talk we soon meet Clare’s husband, John Bellew. Both Irene and Gertrude were shocked when they heard him call Clare “Nig”. We find out that he has no idea that Clare is part Negro, and that he also hates Negroes. He had no idea that he was surrounded by three Negro women. We learn that Clare has created a life of lies for herself.
After leaving Clare and her husband, Irene and Gertrude conversed about how Clare was leading a life of lies and how they could not believe she put them in that position. They realized that she is always taking a chance and does not care about other people’s feelings. Soon after Irene and Gertrude parted ways, Irene thought to herself for the rest of the day how rude Clare was to have put her through all of that. She ends up blaming herself for her unfortunate afternoon because she knew all along that she should have never gone in the first place.
The next section of the novel begins with Irene’s thoughts of Clare. She is very upset with Clare and her husband John Bellew. She can not get over his hurtful words and she thinks of someday being able to reveal Clare’s race to Bellew but it is something she cannot do. Even after the letter that Clare writes Irene she still feels hurt. Irene thinks to herself, “No, Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race. She only belonged to it.” This is an ironic statement because Clare has built her entire life around an identity of race that is false. Also how could Irene think this about Clare when she is very insecure of herself and her race? Brian and Irene sit and talk about the letter, Clare and her struggle with race. Irene says, “It’s a funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it.” As Irene and Brian talk she begins to realize how truly unhappy Brian is with his life. They get into an argument in a car ride over their son, Junior. She worries about Brian and her two sons and tries to make herself believe that things will work out.
The letter from Clare has been thrown out and Irene tries to focus on her family. Irene finds Clare at her door step because she never received a response. Clare finds out about the Negro Welfare League dance and she persists that she must come. Irene tries to give her many excuses but loses to Clare’s persuasion.
At the dance Clare received much attention from the men of every race. She enjoyed being able to dance with the black men. Irene spent time talking with Hugh Wentworth, a white man. They talked about Clare and although Irene never said he guessed that Clare had black blood.
After the dance Clare felt as though Irene had become a very close friend and she came over much more frequently. Clare began going out with Irene and Brian to parties and she visited irregularly. Irene started to suspect things. First she was unsure about John Bellew back at home. Was he suspicious of her behavior? What about her daughter Margery? Clare begins to cry for no apparent reason when she is questioned leaving the reader and Irene confused.
The third and final section of the novel is a bit of a whirlwind plot-wise. Irene begins to fear, or assume, that her husband, Brian, is having an affair with Clare. However, Irene assures herself that Clare will be leaving soon, and that it is no big deal. One day while walking on the street with another black woman, Irene runs into Clare’s husband, John Bellew. She does everything she can to avoid Bellew but is unsuccessful. Irene is certain that Bellew will make the connection and discover that his wife, Clare is actually a black woman. However, Irene does not mention this encounter to her husband or Clare.
Later, Irene and Brian are preparing to go to the party held by some of their friends. Brian informs Irene that he has invited Clare to join them, and this does not please Irene at all. The three of them then go to the party, which is being held on the sixth floor of a building (this is important). While at the party, which Clare is the only “white” woman, John Bellew suddenly appears, and he is extremely upset. He yells at Clare, and can not believe that she had deceived him or that he was married to a black woman. Clare is by a window, and Irene moves towards her. There is a slight gap in the story here. We suddenly find that Clare has fallen to her death, but we do not know why. Everyone at the party runs down the stairs and outside, save one. Irene takes her time. She thinks it is cold outside and grabs a jacket for Brian. Irene then walks outside where people ask her what happened, and she tells them that she does not recall what happened at the window. So, the reader is forced to wonder what exactly happened, did Bellew push Clare? Did Irene? Or did Clare jump or fall on her own?

Tensions Between Feminism and Race

by: Brianna Habel, Caroline Betancourt, and Emma McGirr


Feminism:

Feminism is the belief that women have the same political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights as men do. The history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave occurred during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second wave occurred from the 1960s to the late 1970s, and the third wave extends from the 1990s to the present. (Wikipedia)

The first wave of feminism focused primarily on gaining women’s suffrage. In 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, activists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott began a seventy year struggle to secure the right to vote for women. Susan B. Anthony, a native of Rochester New York, joined the cause four years later at the Syracuse Convention. Women's suffrage activists pointed out that blacks had been granted the franchise and had not been included in the language of the United States Constitution's Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments, which gave people equal protection under the law and the right to vote regardless of their race, respectively. During the beginning of the twentieth century, as women's suffrage gained in popularity, suffragists were subject to arrests and many were jailed. Finally, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to pass what became, when it was ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibited state and federal agencies from gender-based restrictions on voting. (Wikipedia)

The second wave of feminism, as scholar Estelle Freedman puts it, was concerned with other issues of equality, such as ending discrimination, instead of on rights such as suffrage that were popular during the first wave of feminism. It came as a response to the consistent effort to re-establish pre-war patriarchal social trends placing women in a closed sphere where they only had to fulfill the roles of housewives and mothers. Second-wave feminists saw women's cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal lives as deeply politicized and as reflecting sexist power structures. (Wikipedia)

The third wave of feminism arose as a response to the perceived failures of the second wave. It also arose as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave. Feminists leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other black feminists, sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race related subjectivities. They dealt with issues that limited or oppressed women. (Wikipedia)

Black Feminism:

Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Black feminists contend that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression. The emergence of Black feminism came about after earlier movements led by white middle-class women ignored the oppression based on race and class. Alice Walker and other Womanists pointed out that black women experienced a different and more intense kind of oppression from that of white women. Patricia Hill-Collins defined Black feminism as including "women who theorize the experiences and ideas shared by ordinary black women that provide a unique angle of vision on self, community, and society".

To Find a Timeline of Key Events in the American Women’s Rights Movement go to:

http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/mar98/path.html

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html




Black Feminist Literature:

There are many African American feminists. African American feminists have began to demand for social, economic and political equality. To express these demands, some of these influential women have taken up writing to have their voices heard. In their novels the main female character often overcomes many obstacles to find themselves and their purpose in the world (Barnes). Some influential black feminist authors include Maya Angelou, Jewelle Gomez, June Jordan, Sapphire, Becky Birtha, Donna Allegra, Cheryl Clarke, Ann Allen Shockley, Alexis De Veaux (Barnes).
One notable author is Alice Walker. Alice Walker was born in Eatonton on February 9, 1944. When she was eight, her brother accidentally scarred and blinded her right eye with a BB gun. Due to her disability she was teased by her classmates. Despite her early solitude, Walker eventually became high school prom queen and class valedictorian. She went to Spelman College, a prominent school for black women in Atlanta, on a state scholarship. She became an active member of the civil rights movement. She transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and continued to be involved in civil rights. Walker married Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, a white civil rights attorney. She got a job as a black history consultant for a Head Start program. Her first novel was The Third Life of Grange Copeland. Her marriage ended in 1977 so she moved to northern California. She teaches African American Women's Studies (Whitted).

Walker's six novels place emphasis on the inner workings of African American life rather than comflicts between blacks and whites. The Color Purple written in1982 has generated the most public attention of all of her novels. This book details about a young African American woman’s life and conflicts with the men around her. Critics say this novel is “male-bashing” while others praise it. The novel has been made into a film as well as a Broadway musical. Her next two novels also feature African American woman as the main characters. Her writing takes on elements of ancestral fable and spirituality, womanist insight, literary realism, and the grotesque making her an influential writer of African American Feminism (Whitted).

The Color Purple is a strongly feminist novel. One major theme of this book is the strength of female relationships. By sharing stories, the women are able to find courage and strength and resist oppression (The Color Purple). This idea applies to feminism in general, in any race. In any situation where a man has expressed violence towards a female, the woman will be tempted to seek out the company of other people who make them feel comfortable and safe. In most cases that would be another female. The strength that can come from female relationships can help a woman overcome her situation in some cases, or at least in the novel. Another theme is the cyclical nature of racism and sexism. In this novel, the ones who commit the violent acts are often victims themselves (The Color Purple). This theme is prevalent in society. Those who are racist or sexist are often that way because others have treated them similarly. Also, they may have been raised in an environment that promotes those ideas. If someone is raised in such a situation, it is all they know. This in no way excuses them for their behavior, but it allows others to realize that this cycle must be broken. Another major theme of the novel is the disruption of typical gender roles. The main female characters begin to stand up for themselves and no longer be dominated by men. The author appears to be making a statement on the fact that gender is not stereotypical (The Color Purple). Woman should not be forced into a role based on stereotypes. The idea that black feminists write about woman looking to find their purpose is evident in The Color Purple.




Feminism and Race: How they apply to the books we’ve read

Feminism and race are two of the most important themes in the books Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner and Passing by Nella Larsen. Much can be learned about the two by examining how they are used in the literature we’ve read in class.

In Absalom, Absalom, Clytie is an African American woman. Clytie was given a great deal of power for a black woman during this time period. She took care of all the other characters: She stood by Judith when she had to deal with the loss of Charles Bon, she went to New Orleans with Judith to get Charles Bon’s son, Charles Etienne De Saint Valery Bon, She raised Charles Bon’s son, and later, after Judith died, Clytie raised Jim Bond. Clytie was left as essentially the head of Sutpen’s Hundred.

At the end of the story when Rosa and Quentin go to Sutpen’s Hundred to find Henry hiding there, Clytie is the one who is taking care of him. When Rosa hits Clytie for ordering her not to go upstairs, Quentin comments on Clytie, thinking, “Yes she is the one who owns the terror” (Faulkner, 295). This shows that even though Clytie had just been hit by Rosa, she still had the power. After this incident, Clytie orders Quentin to go upstairs and get Rosa. I think this shows that she is not being held back by her race or sex, instead she disregards those things and takes control.

It could be argued that Clytie had an unfortunate situation because she was a black female, but in turn it could be argued that she was empowered by her sex and race. I view Clytie as the strongest character in the book. She is the one who put an end to Sutpen’s Hundred and with the exception of Jim Bond; she was the only one left. She controlled her own fate and made the decision to burn down the house, therefore destroying herself. Examining it from a feminist point-of-view, one could say that Faulkner recognized the great strength of women.

Passing is a completely different book than Absalom, Absalom, but it does incorporate feminism and race. Irene can be viewed as the typical feminist who is a rather bold thinker. Clare, on the other hand, would be harder to describe as a feminist. She played the role of a “typical” woman for the time period in which this was written. She used her beauty rather than brains to further herself in society. Irene could control her husband Brian, dictating that they would not move to Brazil. Irene was also empowered by her race and felt it was better to be honest with who you were rather than try to “pass” as someone you’re not. Irene’s attitude towards race was contrasted with Clare’s, as the narrator points out, “No, Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race. She only belonged to it” (Larsen, 182).

It’s also interesting to compare and contrast the two by the kind of mothers they are. Irene accepts her role as a woman and mother whereas Clare could care less about such feminine things. Clare even says, “Children aren’t everything” (Larsen, 210). But by the end of the book, their roles switch; Clare having all the power and Irene seeing power slip through her fingers. Irene could no longer control her husband Brian like she had before. These were some of the ways Nella Larsen illustrated tensions between feminism and race.




Works Cited

Barnes, Sherri L. "Black American Feminism." 4 Dec 2008. UCSB Libraries Women's Studies. 7Feb 2009.
.

"Feminism." Wikipedia. 9 Feb. 2009 .

Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom. Vintage International Ed.. New York: Vintage Books,1986.

Larsen, Nella. Quicksand and Passing. Rutgers University Press, 1986.

“The Color Purple." Themes, Motifs & Symbols. 2009. SparkNotes LLC. 6 Feb 2009. .

Whitted, Qiana. "Alice Walker." The New Georgia Encyclopedia. 2008. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. 5 Feb 2009. .

Class and Race

In our society, especially now, the issue of whether or not there is a difference in class and race stands prominent. With the election of our 44th president, Barack Obama, it seems to be ever more prevalent now. So what is class you ask; according to dictionary.com class is a social stratum sharing basic economic, political, or cultural characteristics, and having the same social position. The definition for race on the other hand is a group of persons related by common descent or heredity. So if you think about it, the two go hand in hand with one another to a certain extent. Being a young adult in this day and age, class and race are seen a great deal in music, movies, books and most of all television. Television is one of the most highly influenced objects in our society today, and both class and race appear heavily in it. In commonly watched television shows, such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians, My Sweet 16 and The Girls Next Door, their lifestyles are depicted with luxurious things. In our society the higher the class you are, usually the wealthier you are, not to mention they are typically of the Anglo Saxon race. In the media, the view on class typically fades to one color as you continue increase the status of someone’s class. In an article found on http://www.avam.org/exhibitions/race.html these ideas were expressed on race:

1. Race is a modern idea
Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, and class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word "race" until it turns up in a 1508 poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.
2. Race has no genetic basis

Not one characteristic, trait, or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.
3. Human subspecies don't exist

Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most genetically similar of all species.

4. Skin color really is only skin deep

Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin color doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.



5. Most variation is within, not between, "races"

Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.

6. Slavery predates race

Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.



7. Race and freedom evolved together

The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.

8. Race justified social inequalities as natural

As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.

9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real

Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.

10. Colorblindness will not end racism

Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others. “

When it came to class however, these ideas were found in the same article:
“In another, more popular, usage of the term "class," there are surely individual poor persons whose dignity and character rank them high above their far materially wealthier counterparts. Having class, or being "a class act," has everything to do with the choices each of us make and the kind of person we can be counted on being, "especially when nobody's looking." Booker T. Washington put it simply: "Character, not circumstance, makes the person."

Media has a great influence on how race and class are portrayed. Because of how it influences us, it depicts race by skin color and class by wealth. In the famous novel Absalom Absalom by William Faulkner, race is what classifies class. The lighter your skin the higher a class you were. Class was not depicted so much by wealthy, as it is now. And race for that matter was a direct and absolute connect factor for class. The two have always walked hand in hand, so it appears, from slave days till today. Although it has slowly yet surely began to turn loose from one another, as far as how we define each one, the two are two peas in a pod. Does it affect us, yes! Can we change it, yes! The human race will always find ways to isolate one another because that is what we've been doing for centuries. The human race in general loves having power and having power over others. This is and will forever be a part of human culture. But how does the idea of race and class transfer to the American way of life and culture?

Race and Class in American Life and Culture

Class and race have always been an issue in the United States well before the end of the Civil War. While Sutpen was able to hide his class and his race ties with Africans most people in the United States can’t. So why was Sutpen so dead set on making sure that everyone around him believed he had a lot of money and that his entire family came from a strictly white heritage? The answer is because he knew that people would judge him for what he had and from where he and his family came from. The same can be said about class and race today. In American society people are still looked down upon if they don’t have a certain amount of money or even if they’re a certain type of race other than white. In this portion of the essay I will mainly focus on race and class in our culture today. I will mostly focus on government institutions and how they don’t actual help the cause of making America truly equal and in fact are making it worse. This will also be tied into how prejudice and forms of segregation exist as near invisible but yet visible lines in America today.

Countless people have made an impact and in extreme situations have lost their lives just to destroy the invisible line that divides every group of people in the United States. This wasn’t more truthful than back in the nineteen-fifties and sixties where young people across the United States banded together to try to get rid of segregation which in itself at that time was a very visible barrier. Some people today would say that we live in a much more diversified culture with little prejudice towards class and race. This statement is true in many respects but the line between class and race is still very much alive.

While not totally visible there is still a lot of prejudice that exists in this country that goes below the radar. The government constantly tries to end biases with such acts as the Affirmative Action act that requires employers to hire a certain amount of each race of people every year. Is this really helping though? The goal should be to eliminate race and class stereotypes not try to even the playing field for those people that the United States society deems “different”. People should be hired based on their skills alone not because they’re a certain color. How would you feel if you were only hired to meet a certain quota and not based on your skills? The justice system claims that they’re helping end prejudice in the United States but if you want to see where a lot of injustice occurs then look no further than the American Justice System itself. According to the Bureau of Justice “At yearend 2007 there were 3,138 black male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,259 Hispanic male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 Hispanic males and 481 white male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 white males.” The numbers are staggering for African Americans. 3,138 black male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 black males living in the United States compared to only 481 whites!


These problems not only rest with the government but there still is a lot of class and race segregation that happens in everyday life in the United States. Some people would disagree that segregation still exists but self segregation is the new segregation. Blacks will typically stay in more urban settings while whites will normally be found in a more suburban area. This isn’t the case in every city but for the most part this is a reality. Segregation even happens in the same race of people. For example whites that can’t afford to live in middle class which is almost expected if you’re white can’t afford to live in suburban areas. These people are often regarded as “trailer trash” or “white trash” by other whites just because they can’t afford the same materialistic items that middle class white families usually can afford. An example of this from Absalom Absalom! Would be when Sutpen was made to go in the rear of the house because he wasn’t a prominent white male like the other citizens. This is a great example of segregation within a certain race. What’s ironic is later in the book when Sutpen has finally made a name for himself he treats Wash Jones the same way as he use to be treated by other whites.

The problem of class segregation gets even worse when schools start separating the kids just because of their class. Wealthy suburban schools will typically prepare their kids for college while urban schools will prepare most of their kids to enter the workforce after high school. It is assumed in our culture that just because they live in the inner city that the kids attending that school don’t want to go to college or can’t find a way to get into college. So even though the government isn’t purposefully dividing race and class some of its institutions are doing just that. According to a study done by the Manhattan Institute which was paid to investigate the high school graduation rates of all backgrounds it was found that African American and Hispanic students had the lowest graduation rate both with barely fifty percent of their class graduating. Coincidentally enough most of these students come from urban or inner city schools. We can’t say that all of this is happening because of racism because its not. The fact of the matter is that these school districts don’t have the money to afford the materials and staff to help these students succeed. This is just one example of how class and race go together. More often than not these two factors are always found together due to the fact that they essentially go together. When people think of inner city schools they think of a school filled with hoodlums and people that don’t really want to be there. They never look to the fact that these schools are highly under funded by the government and that these types of schools hardly ever try to get their students to succeed because they believe that their class and race will cause them to fail at life anyway. The students who are fortunate enough to graduate will most likely end up at dead end jobs for the rest of their life because they came from these schools. This in itself is a cultural stereotype that basically states, “Hey, this person went to an inner city school so it must mean that they will never succeed in life.” These stereotypes are one of the main reasons why these class and race lines still exist in America today.



At the same time that diversity is at its highest in the United States where we’re seeing more community interaction and inner race marriages than ever before there are still dividing lines. Whether they come from government institutions or just social stereotypes doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is that they exist and no matter what reforms or laws that are passed race and class will always be a factor in the United States culture whether we like it or not until the people of the United States and not the government decide to deal with it. Hope can always be seen on the horizon however especially with our first elected African American President Barack Obama. A lot of work is still needed to be done and the process to get to true equality will not be easy. America can only succeed in getting rid of racism and prejudice by eliminating these stereotypes from it’s culture.



Bibliography Section

http://www.avam.org/exhibitions/race.html
Referenced: Absalom Absalom, however did not use any direct quotes.


Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prison Statistics. Burea of Justice Statistics. 28 Jan. 2008 .

Dictionary.com. 1 Feb. 2009 .

Greene, Jay P. Public High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates in the United States. Sept. 2003. Manhattan Institute For Policy Research. Jan. 2009 .

Loflin, Lewis. "Lies surround racism in our public schools." Lies surround racism in our public schools. Apr. 2008. 28 Jan. 2009 .

Race,Class,Gender. Oct. 2005. American Visionary Art Museum. 1 Feb. 2009 .

By: Domique Sherrod(Principles of class and race) and Justin Church(Class and race in American Culture)

Faulkner Wildcard

History of William Faulkner
William Faulkner was born September 25th 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. He grew up in a small town called Oxford, Faulkner who dropped out of high school to further his writing career, actually first became known as a poet, and then later on in his career as a fictional novelist. While living in New Orleans during his early years, Faulkner became heavily influenced by novelist Sherwood Anderson. Faulkner published his first novels during his time in New Orleans Soldier's Pay in 1926 and Mosquitoes shortly after in 1927, both novels thought received little publicity and didn't do very well. In the later 1920's Faulkner returned home to Oxford, where he began to devoted his skills to writing about life in north Mississippi. During this literary time in Faulkner's life some of his "best works" come out. Including ,but not limited to The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom (1936) and Go Down, Moses (1942).
The "best works" are commonly linked with a complex and difficult life in a fictional county of Yoknapatawpha. The themes seen in these texts are usually tragic in nature and are surrounded with deceit and greed; and more often than not death as well. Faulkner's personal reputation as he got older dwindled into a negative light, with his financial issues and his abuse of alcohol. His career was still on the move; he began to write Hollywood screenplays from 1946 to 1959 with many great successes. Faulkner has become regarded as one of America's best writers and is internationally respected for his works. His sometimes impenetrable writing style is a representation of how every moment of life is pressured by influences of past events; and how the past is never just the past. William Faulkner died on July 6th 1962 in Mississippi of natural causes.

William Faulkner was not a man of humor, so here's something to put some light on the subject


Styles of Faulkner
When first reading William Faulkner’s novel Absalom, Absalom, you may be confused, misguided, or just plain lost. Faulkner’s writing definitely isn’t an easy read that you can simply breeze through. You may have to read over the text several times to grasp a hold on what exactly Faulkner is trying to portray in his writing. With close examination as well as a possible discussion over the writing you may finally begin to unravel the truth behind Faulkner’s words, and come to an understanding of his writing.
Faulkner’s style of writing is unique to himself. As you may have noticed, he goes on long spiels without breaking. His sentence structure is very long which makes it hard to break up his writing and understand exactly what is going on. He also has a way of not making it clear as to who is narrating the story, which can be rather confusing. He often switches narrators mid-story which tells the story from different perspectives and can be misleading.
Although Faulkner has many novels, “Absalom, Absalom is generally considered Faulkner's masterpiece. It recodes a range of voices and vocabularies, all trying to unravel the mysteries of Thomas Sutpen's violent life” (Liukkonen). Faulkner definitely uses a vast vocabulary in his writing. This is challenging as writer because even with context clues, you may be distracted. One example of Faulkner’s use of vocabulary is when he talks about Anglo-Saxons, saying “…the fall from what you call grace fogged and clouded by Heaven-defying words of extenuation and explanation return to grace heralded by Heaven-placating cries of satiated abasement and flagellation…” (Faulkner 92). Faulkner admits that his writing is challenging when he criticizes Hemmingway for “never [being] known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary” (Liukkonen), which is ironic because it’s said that Faulkner didn’t own a dictionary. He would often “make up his own words to suit the moment, combine two words into one, or turn nouns into verbs and vice versa. If he couldn't spell something, he would walk down to the local drugstore and ask someone there to look it up for him. Sometimes, he would stop people on the street and ask them for the meaning of a word” (American Society).
Faulkner has a unique style of writing that is very apparent in his well known book Absalom, Absalom! Even though his writing may be confusing and is often critiqued, “The writer's only responsibility is to his art” (American Society) and Faulkner is very dedicated to his art.

Themes of Faulkner
Faulkner was raised in Oxford, Mississippi “deep in the heart of (surprise, surprise) the American South” (Canada). Since he knew so much about growing up in The South, much of his writing reflects this, “The old South, the new South, the reconstructed South--if it has to do with the South, Faulkner wrote about it” (Canada). Faulkner focuses on The South, “a place where community and social structure influence a person's life heavily” (Canada). Faulkner was interested in ethical themes relating to the life of the Deep South in the post Civil War era, “never before had someone been able to so accurately reflect the social structure of the south in this post-Civil War time period” (Canada).
His style of the novel is based on love and hatred between race and families but at the same time he captures conflict, racism, aggression, and sacrifice in each character’s life. Faulkner also explores the themes of incest, fratricide (the act of killing one’s brother) and miscegenation (breeding between races) as well as questioning the various motivations of human conduct. We can see the theme of miscegenation in Absalom, Absalom when there is conflict between Henry and Charles Bon over the marriage between Bon and Henry’s sister, Judith. Charles is enraged with Henry when he says “so it’s the miscegenation, not the incest, which you can’t bear.” (Faulkner 285).
He also explores Southern attitude of greed, distrust, and prejudice and the cultural values of a society and how it can struggle. He examines both race attitudes and personality while dealing with the fact about the past. History is very important to examine in Faulkner’s writing, the issue of “the past.” Faulkner also explores appearance and reality. Throughout the novel, Faulkner is concerned with the difficulty of uncovering truth and the many faces which it acquires when colored by individual human perspectives, fear, motivations, and interests. Faulkner’s novels are heavily influenced by racial tension and “because his novels treat the decay and anguish of the South following the Civil War, they are rich in violent and sordid events. But they are grounded in a profound and compassionate humanism that celebrates the tragedy, energy, and humor of ordinary human life.” (Canada).

Random Facts
As calls of condolence came upon the family from around the world and the press — including novelist William Styron, who covered the funeral for Life magazine — clamored for answers to their questions from family members, a family representative relayed to them a message from the family: “Until he’s buried he belongs to the family. After that, he belongs to the world.”
Rejected from joining the US Army because he was just under 5’6
Liked clothes so much he would make his own, some of his favorites were officer’s uniforms
Was an alcoholic but “said” he never drank while writing
Was a high school and college dropout
In 1949 he received the world’s highest literary award, the Nobel Prize in Literature
One of eleven Americans to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature
Burried next to his wife Estelle Faulkner
James Baldwin came to the funeral, he said Faulkner’s writing was a bore

Famous Quotes by Faulkner
Part of acceptance speech when received the Nobel Prize-“help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.”
“In the South, not only is the past not dead, it's not past.”

Comments about Faulkner
We will never see a time like that generation came from. A mans word meant everything back then. Mr Faulkner wrote about those times and its people with an inspired eloquence that only he seem to posess.-Billy M.
Faulkner not only endures: he prevails. –zebaker
He has been my most admired author for 50 years - why? because more than any other writer he illuminated the human condition in an unforgettable way.-David A
When I have my 12th grade students read The Sound and the Fury, I ask them to look carefully at the technical brilliance and complexity of the style and structure, and then to go beyond it to see the profoundly moving portrayal of loss and pain and disintegration which lies at the heart of the story. I’ve never lived in the South, but Faulkner will always be my favorite American novelist.-Lance C
I find his work difficult but rewarding to read. As Shelby Foote so aptly said, “These are adult novels.”-Jerry


Published By: Rachel Kohler, Taylor Espy, Matt Barrick and Marie Green

Close Reading of Race in Absalom, Absalom!

By, Allison Price, Ashley Woltermann, and Jonathan Fessel

It can be said that much of William Faulkner’s work was not merely the stories that he wrote; rather his work was to tell the story of the South. With this in mind, one must consider all of the implications of writing a story about the South, or writing about the South in general. Invariably, one of the themes of such a work would be race, and/or racism. For this class, as well as this blog, it is this subject of race/racism which most concerns us. It is our contention, here, to analyze race and racism, as evidenced in William Faulkner’s work, Absalom, Absalom!

“A huge bull of a nigger, the first black man, slave, they had ever seen, who emerged with the old man over his shoulder like a sack of meal and his—the nigger’s—mouth loud with laughing and full of teeth like tombstones” (Faulkner 182).

As early as the beginning of the book, Sutpen’s slaves are characterized as “wild”, and “animalistic.” The first instance of slaves in the novel shows this: “grouped behind him [Sutpen] his band of wild niggers like beasts half tamed to walk upright like men, in attitudes wild and reposed” (4). This portrays Sutpen’s band of slaves as wild beastly creatures. The quote expresses that the slaves themselves are from an entirely different species, just learning to walk and act like human beings. It is the earliest example of racism in the book, showing the reader the prejudice context of the south. Another side to this racist connotation was brought up in class- Are the slaves wild, or is Sutpen making them wild? This idea is further expressed during the end of chapter 1, when Sutpen was fighting with his slaves: “And Ellen seeing not the two black beasts she had expected to see but instead a white one and a black one, both naked to the waist and gouging at one another’s eyes as if their skins should not only have been the same color but should have been covered with fur too” (Faulkner 20-1). This accentuates the thought that Sutpen is the reason his Negroes are so wild, but what happened before he came into Jefferson with his “wild negroes”?

As we look back to chapter 7 we can recall when Sutpen was turned away from entering into the front door of a home. It was this situation haunted him to the day of his death. The “smooth white house and that smooth white brass-decorated door and the very broadcloth and linen and silk stockings the monkey nigger stood in to tell him to go around to the back before he could even state his business” (Faulkner 189). This idolization of the house, and the nice clothing of the slave caused Sutpen to realize not everyone is equal. Even an innocent white boy who has lived with a rich white family for 2 years has to use the back door, and even the slave has nicer clothes than he does. His extreme jealousy causes him to dream of one day having a large house, a family to pass down his name, and a high status in society.

“The man who owned all the land and the niggers...lived in the biggest house he had ever seen and spent most of the afternoon in a barrel stave hammock between two trees, with his shoes off and a nigger who wore everyday better clothes than he or his father and sisters had ever owned and ever expected to, who did nothing else but fan him and bring him drinks; and he [Sutpen] lying there all afternoon while the sisters would come from time to time to the door of the cabin two miles away and scream at him for wood or water, watching that man who not only had shoes in the summertime too, but didn’t even have to wear them “(Faulkner 184).

Sutpen’s fantasies began when he left for the West Indies. This adventure is where he began to construct his grand design. After “subduing” a slave revolt on a plantation in Haiti, he wed the plantation owner’s daughter, and they had a son, Charles Bon. But this family Sutpen began, just as planned, contained a secret. Once this secret was revealed, Sutpen had to make adjustments to his design.

“They deliberately withheld from me the one fact which I have reason to know they were aware would have caused me to decline the entire matter, otherwise they would not have withheld it from me—a fact which I did not learn until after my son was born… This new fact rendered it impossible that this woman and child be incorporated into my design” (Faulkner 212).

When Sutpen found that his wife and son had black blood, he immediately had to abandon them in order to save his design. Making arrangements for financial support, he set off to start another family in America. Sutpen’s racism and selfishness is apparent, as he is willing to leave his wife and son because of their cultural heritage (which was so subtle, he didn’t even notice.) Not only was his prejudice obvious, but it was also passed down to his second son Henry.

Henry grew up watching his father wrestle his slaves and it seemed Sutpen wanted Henry to follow in his footsteps. He went off to college where he made close friends with Charles Bon (which he later found out was his brother). Henry brought Bon to his home where he became engaged to Judith, Henry’s sister. Henry had a lot of mixed emotions about the incestuous marriage that was planned to occur, but he finally decided he was okay with the idea. When Sutpen told Henry that Bon was part black, it enraged Henry so much that he eventually killed Bon. Henry’s anger did not arrive from the idea of incest, but from the idea that his sister would marry someone who had black blood. This idea, of a pure white family, was passed down from Sutpen to Henry, as well as prejudice against the black society, and all of this occurred in the midst of the American civil war.

This book is set during a time when men of the south were fighting to keep racism alive through the civil war. As we remember from History 101, the South fell at the end of the civil war and the black society ended up better off for it. These facts resemble the story of Absalom, Absalom, the story of a southern man, his struggle to keep a legacy and to establish his dominance in society. And just as the civil war ended leaving the black society with victory and the South with failure, Sutpen’s personal war ends with his part black great grandson Jim Bond as the last man to carry on the Sutpen legacy, leaving Sutpen’s grand design a failure as well.

“One nigger Sutpen left… In time the Jim Bonds are going to conquer the western hemisphere… and so in a few thousand years, I who regard you will also have sprung from the loins of African kings “(Faulkner 302).

By closely reading William Faulkner’s work, Absalom, Absalom! it becomes quite clear that a major part of Faulkner’s story about the south is the idea of and the frequency, or prevalence, of race and racism throughout the south. There are a multitude of examples and instances of less than flattering interactions between the book’s white main characters and the black characters, even those who are only a possess a fraction of “negro blood”(Charles Bon, etc). With this in mind, the question begs: How are we to read Faulkner’s views on race through reading his texts?

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom! New York: Vintage, 1992.