Essays and Research Papers on African-American Literature

This 3 page paper looks at what drives the writing of autobiographies, the paper is written using Franz Fanon’s “Black Skin, White Masks” as an example. The bibliography cites 2 sources.

A 6 page paper which examines how lynching is portrayed in Nella Larsen’s “Passing” and James Weldon Johnson’s “The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man.” Bibliography lists 3 additional source.

This 5 page paper provides an overview of the book but critically evaluates it in respect to characterization and the thematic element of race. The mother is the focus of this analysis which sees her as important in shaping her son's life. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 2 page paper considers some of the central issues presented in James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. This paper specifically considers factors that influence a view of the author's class biases, including two specific scenarios in which these biases are outlined within the narrator's commentary. No additional sources cited.

A 6 page paper which examines an individual’s need to obtain the American Dream, as revealed through the ex-colored man’s relationships with his black mother, white father, and his friend Shiny, and Jay Gatsby’s relationships with Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Nick Carraway. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 9 page paper which examines strengthened King and Malcolm’s resolve to liberate themselves and their race from oppression while the character of Eliezer (Elie) remained imprisoned even after his release from a Nazi camp in Buchenwald, Germany in April of 1945. No additional sources are used.

A 6 page paper which examines the search for identity through music, learning, and people in James Weldon Johnson’s work “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” No additional sources cited.

A 4 page research paper that examines two of her works, a short story entitled "Sweat" and her most famous novel The Eyes Were Watching God in regards to how Hurston portrays gender relations. The writer argues that, for the most part, this is pictured as a battleground between the sexes in which women have ...

An 8 page research paper which analyzes the biographies of three famous African-American authors-Gordon Parks, Anne Moody, and Lorraine Hansberry. The writer demonstrates how each author used their background as inspiration for art and activism that served to combat racism and increase understanding. The writer also shows how differences in their situations served to make ...

A 5 page sociological look at the book, 'All is Never Said: The Narrative of Odette Harper Hines,' by Judith Rollins. In this book the woman, a black woman, describes her life as an activist. The sociological terms examined, in relevancy to the book, are; role theory, reference group theory, social map, symbolic interactionism, and ...

Mildred Peacock -- McMillan’s “Mama”: This 7-page essay examines protagonist, Mildred Peacock’s life in the Terry McMillan novel, “Mama”. In addition, the outcome of her personal struggles, while learning about the binding power of love is also explored. Bibliography lists 5 sources. SNMamatm.doc

A 5 page paper analyzing Willa Cather’s novel in terms of its treatment of a strong, independent woman and her influence on the outcasts of society. The paper argues that women such as Alexandra Bergson have drawn from their feminine side the sympathy to care about those less fortunate than themselves, and from their masculine ...

Toni Morrison's 1970 novel has become a classic definition of the destruction of racism, as well as how one can "cope" through imagination. The power of the tale is staggering, and provides the core of this 5 page discussion.

This 5 page paper considers the style and messages in this short story of the relationship between political prisoner and the warders. The paper consider the power struggle, symbolism and the style in which it is written. The bibliography cites 4 sources.

A five page paper looking at Toni Morrison's novel in terms of the way sex is used as a vehicle of power rather than intimacy. The paper concludes that sex in "Beloved" is much more akin to violence than it is to love. No additional sources.

8 pages in length. The writer discusses the aspect of religion as it relates to these two stories. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 4 page paper discusses Anthony Walton's book "Mississippi: An American Journey" about his attempts to understand Mississippi and the way it shaped his family's history, and its place in the nation's history. Bibliography lists 1 source.

In his autobiography, Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington relates what he knows of history: 'in context' and from his personal point of view. Mark Twain uses parody and fiction to express his views in Huckleberry Finn. Both criticize American society. Both held strong opinions concerning race, poverty and illiteracy. This is ...

A seven page paper looking at Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” Don DeLillo’s “Libra,” and Bobbie Ann Mason’s “In Country” in terms of the authors’ reinterpretations of history. The paper shows how unresolved conflicts and traumas of the past do not go away; they simply re-surface in some other form, forcing us to either creatively integrate them ...

A five page paper discussing Douglass' 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass' in terms of whether the very fact that Frederick Douglass was literate in an era when almost no American blacks were, destroys his credibility as a spokesperson for black experience. The paper concludes that it is impossible to write a truly objective ...

This 7 page paper provides an overview of the life and writings of Langston Hughes, especially as his life and poetry interact with each other as representative elements of an era in Black history. This paper not only determines the link between Hughes' life and works, but also relates them as elements of Hughes' ...

An 8 page paper which examines the famous Harlem Renaissance artistic movement, which lasted from approximately 1920 to 1940, and how "Jazz" represents this historical period by considering the commentary Toni Morrison is making about this history, and how her representation shapes the contemporary view of the Harlem Renaissance. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

(9 pp) The success of "passing" for white dangles in front of those with "mixed blood," in the South of the post-Civil war. Education and training may make "the passing," easier to accomplish, but still maintains a social fragility, that is always in danger of collapsing. Chestnutt mines this psychological tension, as ...

A 14 page paper discussing why eighteenth and nineteenth century black writers have traditionally had such a hard time relating their experiences. It suggests that with the exception of the slave narratives such as Frederick Douglass's, early black writers tended to write for a primarily white readership out of self-preservation. The paper uses 10 secondary ...

A 5 page essay that examines the struggle African Americans have as they move from an rural culture to an urban one in Toni Morrison's 'Jazz' and Nella Larsen's 'Quicksand' and 'Passing.' No additional sources cited.