Educating African Americans Essays - African-American Literature

Educating African Americans Essays - African-American Literature Educating African Americans Educating African Americans University of Phoenix ENG/496 ANGELA MULLENNIX July 9, 2015 A Decade of Reconstruction is one of my favorite pieces in the Literature of Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance chapter. With life as many African Americans knew if there life had changed for the better, but it was sad to read that many stayed and worked for the same people that owned them. Under new institutions such as sharecropping and the convict-lease system, most African Americans, especially those living in the states of the former confederacy, continued to work on farms, often in service to the same people who had once owned them (The Norton Anthology of African American literature Volume 1, pg.509) The positives is that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were subsequently created to help improve the conditions of the African American community in America. The 13th Amendment (1865) outlawed slavery the 14th Amendment (1868) provided equal protection to African Americans under the law, and the15th Amendment (1870) granted suffrage to black men. (The Norton Anthology of African American literature Volume 1, pg.509) Another piece was Literacy as Liberation. The most interesting to part to know was there were African Americans at the time that published textbooks of Greek grammar and interpretations of the literature. They were William Sanders Scarborough and Anna Julia Cooper. People like them found that education in literature was essential for the African American community to grow. During this time African American began to create Biographies about other important African Americans in their history. Some of these titles include Life and Public Service of Martin R. Delany (1868) by Francis L Rollin, and Fredrick Douglas (1899) by Charles Chesnutt. (The Norton Anthology of African American literature Volume 1, pg.516) These biographies played a part in not only letting the African American community know about their history, but also to show Anglo-Americans that blacks have played a major role in shaping America. I have learned that many literary geniuses have come from the African American community even is salve infested times. Something that I think I can grow fond of but also be proud of. The fact that education played a large role in the literature excellence of the African American Community means that I should take my scholastic goals seriously, because the freedom to do so was not always the case. Gates, H. (2014). Literature of the Reconstruction to the New Nero Renaissance 1865-1919. In The Norton anthology of African American literature (3rd ed., Vol. 1, p. 509). New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Gates, H. (2014). Literature of the Reconstruction to the New Nero Renaissance 1865-1919. In The Norton anthology of African American literature (3rd ed., Vol. 1, p. 516). New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.