During the 20th century, racism was one of the dominant social issues that caused racial segregation. Black citizens used artistic mediums like poems to criticize racism and call for equality.
Therefore, our theme is racism in the 20th century.
The first poem is “Rosa” by Rita Dove. Rosa sat at the front of the bus, something that
only white Americans were allowed to sit at that time. she replied “No
” to move, which resulted in her arrest.
This situation and her action brought a huge impact on American
society. This poem is about this act done by Rosa. In the first stanza,
“How she sat there, the time right inside a place, so wrong it was ready”,
the speaker describes how “Rosa” sat there at the right time in the wrong place.
indicating that she was sitting somewhere that society did not allow her to sit. In the third
stanza, “doing nothing was the doing.” This describes her action of sitting and
not moving. For the last stanza, “stood up” infers not only that she was
arrested but also means she stood up against segregation. Thus, this poem
portrays racial discrimination at that time era.
The second poem is “I, too”. In this poem, the narrator gets racial discrimination. The narrator says, “ They send me to eat in the kitchen” in the second stanza, and the kitchen can be a symbol of segregation of the black people and the unequal treatment faced by black Americans. Eating alone in the kitchen, the narrator claims in the third stanza “When company comes, nobody will dare say to me ‘Eat in the kitchen”. The company symbolizes white people, and because they are coming to the narrator’s dinner, it also portrays the narrator’s hope for high social status that wasn’t achievable as a black American. Therefore, this poem is a criticism of racism, and hope for anti-racism.
The third poem is “Ballad of Birmingham”. In this poem, two characters appear: a girl and her mother. The girl says she will “march the streets of Birmingham to make our country free”. This march was a protest for racial equality, demonstrating the girl’s wish for stopping racism. However, the mother disagrees and makes a girl “draw white gloves on her small brown hands, and white shoes on her feet”. This white cloth symbolizes purity, which contradicts racial discrimination.
Writer: Chelsie Song
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