My mixed race granddaughters have children’s books with protagonists of color. It’s a far cry from the Dick-Jane-and-Sally books of my childhood and of the reality described by Toni Morrison’s “Bluest Eye.”
Tag Archives: racism
Children Lit’s Changing Racial Landscape
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bluest Eye, Childhood, Children's literature, segregation, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Milton’s Satan Invades Charleston
Once again, light has attracted darkness in America with the Charleston church killings. John Milton describes how this dynamic works in “Paradise Lost” and Leslie Marmon Silko does so as well in “Ceremony.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ceremony, Charleston killings, domestic terrorism, Dylann Storm Roof, Emanuel AME Church, John Milton, Leslie Marmon Silko, mass killings, Paradise Lost, white supremacy Comments closed
The Color Purple and a Texas Pool Party
The out-of-control police officer at an African American pool party brings to mind a scene from “The Color Purple.” We’ve made progress, however, since the days in which the novel is set.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alice Walker, Color Purple, police violence, Texas pool party Comments closed
Protesting Baltimore’s Racial Divide
The racial divide we are currently seeing in Baltimore was noted by Countee Cullen in 1925.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Incident", Baltimore, Countee Cullen, killing of unarmed black men, police brutality, social unrest Comments closed
How to View Prejudice in the Classics
How to handle instances of prejudice in the classics? Let the values battles fly.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged D. H. Lawrence, Dion Boucicault, Heidi, Johanna Spyri, John Milton, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Octoroon, Paradise Lost, Prejudice, Rabelais, Sexism, To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf Comments closed
O’Connor’s Christianity and Racism
“Artificial Nigger” can be read two ways–either as a story of sin and redemption or as a story of Whites finding unity by scapegoating Blacks. A definitive interpretation may depend on readers’ reactions.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Artificial Nigger, Flannery O'Connor, forgiveness, Good Man Is Hard to Find, Grace, Lent, salvation Comments closed
Top Post of 2014: Black Lives Matter
I repost a Toni Morrison essay on the importance of black men asserting their worth.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Eric Garner, Ferguson, killings of black men, Michael Brown, Song of Solomon, Tamir Rice, Toni Morrison, violence Comments closed
