Running head: APPLICATION WORKSHOP colonial race Issues March 6, 2008 Colonial Race Issues The first stages of European explorations of the continent were made by the Spanish and Portuguese. During this and subsequent phase of the exploration that began with Christopher Columbuss discovery of India, the continent was mostly populated with isolated tribes and villages of the indigenous population. The major reasons for Spanish and Portuguese expansion were mostly economic opportunity (to enhance the state of national treasure), political advantages and good geographic location of the continent. indigenous population in America was not unified – there were over 2,000 Indian languages. Native Americans were also not educated and uncivilized (from the European viewpoint) and, therefore were inferior to Europeans. The nations had completely different cultures and lifestyles. For example, Europeans were Christians, they had central governments, trade-based economies, private land ownership and advanced technologies.
At the same time, indigenous population in Americas were non-Christian, they has a stone age culture, subsistence economy, communal use of the land and lack of central government. These and other aspects of European and Indigenous cultures shaped America ‘s understanding of colonial race issues. Slaves were a commodity and slavery existed in all states. The first blacks were brought in Jamestown in 1619 and soon slavery was codified into Virginian law by the 1650s. Racial ideas also supplanted other criteria for differentiation between the blacks and indigenous population and the whites, namely, culture, religion, and class and were naturalized orders of hierarchy. By 1860s, Native Americans were treated as a cheap labor force. Writers working in different genres treated these colonial racial issues differently. The literature was heavily influenced by colonialism and colonial racial issues have found reflection in different genres.
The Essay on World Issues: Population
With 6,300 deaths an hour and 15,000 births an hour for 24 hours a day, the earth's population is rapidly increasing. There has not been much recent attention around this subject, but with such a rapid increase in numbers, if a blind eye is turned problems can occur. The population as a whole could be beneficial or ultimately one of the world's greatest disasters. There are many factors that play ...
First of all, colonialism gave birth to African American literature, the literature by writers of African belonging. For example, the names of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley are closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance and slave narratives. These authors focused on racism, equality, slavery, African-American culture, the role of African Americans in society, ideas of freedom and other important issues. Other forms of African American writing included oral forms, like sermons, blues, spirituals, gospel music, and rap (McKay & Gates, 2004).
There were also so-called impressions of the continent recorded by European explorers (for example, Cosmographiae introduction by Martin Waldseemuller, Christopher Columbus documents, and others).
Other narratives belonging to this genre were written by Richard Hakluyt, John White, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Thomas Harriot.
These works mostly focused on description of the land and short accounts of discoveries and impressions of indigenous population. During the 1700s, American prose experienced significant changes in theme and form. Although it remained primarily religious (for example, drama-sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741) by Jonathan Edwards), there were introduced completely new literary genres such as travel narratives (e.g., The Journal of Madam Knight written by Sarah Kemble Knight) that was mostly neutral by its nature, with no specific accusation of the Blacks and the Indigenous people, journalism (the first popular newspaper the Boston News-Letter), and political writing (Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson) (American Literature: Prose, 2009).
The Essay on Native American Europeans Americans Africans
The New cHaOtiC World Three completely different cultures clashed together and triggered the confusions all three worlds had against each other. All their misunderstandings then turned into a whole New World that still remains. Today, this New World is one of the main confinements for crimes. Religiously, the complexity of the unfamiliar Gods they believe existed had caused the big misconception. ...
During 1880s, America shaped its unique culture and progressed to an industrialized nation. The most interesting genre was the slave narrative (e.g., Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) written by Frederick Douglass where the author described his living as slave), and some other masterpieces focusing on the evils of slavery (Andrews, Foster, & Harris, 1997).
The sentimental novel (Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851) written by Harriet Beecher Stowe) also mostly focused on the abuses of slavery.
American writers with different backgrounds treat the colonial race issues differently. The writers of African American descent wrote about the problems of the Blacks, racism and racial segregation, slavery, and Black Nationalism, to mention a few. These authors were writing about the issues that were of great interest to African Americans in the United States, while the vast majority of white authors focused on the other side of the coin. While African American writers explored equality and freedom, the concepts that were inaccessible and denied to African Americans in the United States, most white authors wrote a sarcastic and realistic stories rich in episodes where African Americans and Indigenous people were depicted as uncivilized, uneducated and worthless nations. White authors literary works were focalized through a white perspective, as the vast majority of the whites (with the rare exception) portrayed western culture as the norm, against African American and indigenous cultures should be judged. They wrote about superstitiousness of the blacks and indigenous people, about the continent’s barbarity and the superiority of the whites, while African American writers wrote about equality and the importance of breaking misrepresentation of the continent and their cultures. Bibliography American Literature: Prose. (2009).
Retrieved March 6, 2009, from http://encarta.msn.com/text_761564847__1/american_ literature_prose.html Andrews, W., Foster, F., & Harris, T. (1997).
The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford. McKay, N., & Gates, H. (2004).
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. W. W. Norton & Company..
The Essay on Civil War: Based on African American and White People’s Having Equal Rights to Life
The civil rights movement was based on African American and white people having equal right in all aspects of life. During the 1960s there was still a lot segregation in different establishments such as bars, dinners, variety stores and more. And it had got to the point where a lot of African Americans where getting fed up with being treated differently. So finally, on February 1, 1960 four ...
