After reading Pauline Hopkins' “As the Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother’s Children” (242+) and Claude McKay's poems (704-709) write a 300-word blog to explore a perplexing question of your choice.*If you are responding to a classmate, don't just agree with them -- engage in a dialogue. Raise a question or disagree. Take a risk!
As I was reading the selected readings for today, I found myself constantly questioning about how African American's actually felt about living free in America. Were they bitter about what had happened to them, were the frustrated that "Whites" still did not see them as people, were they sad about what they have had to endure, were they happy to finally be able to be their own person and not have to do what someone told them to do and fear being beaten for no reason. Claude McKay's poems painted a picture of them experiencing some bittersweet feelings, but also contempt. A quote from the poem "America" was what really made me question this it said "Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that test's my youth!," it showed me the still had a lot of hatred for what happened to them but they still felt connected to America on so many levels because it is what they know. I guess as I read through all of these I was also wondering do african america's feel like they are "Americans." Even the titles of McKay's poems showed that he did not feel connected to America and that white folks still did not believe they belonged or should be citizens. I sort of got an answer to my question of do they feel like American's while reading "If We Must Die" because it showed that they will fight for what they deserve and they will one day be treated equal.
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