Locations And Forms Of Power

definition of that notion. The power is, in politic, the ability to influence people’s behavior. In order, to live together members of a community accept rules, regulations, laws. This helps to create a social cohesion. But it can also lead to conflicts and tensions. So, we can ask now “How have African Americans achieved recognitions ?”. I will present three documents who talks about the evolution of African Americans recognition.

To understand how African Americans have achieved their recognition, I will talk in first about the black discrimination. There is a text written by Tony Morrison who illustrates it. It’s the story of a mother, Helene, and her daughter, Nel. The scene takes place on a train and it’s the perfect symbol of the discrimination who takes place in the USA at beginning of the 20’s because there was a door marked “Colored only” but the two characters were mulato and came on the compartment. But they were not accepted and the author focuses on it : Helene had to be justified which is considered like a mistake and there were no reaction from the passengers. And they were shocked when she smiled at the conductor. Both main characters were the symbol of the beginning of recognition for Africans Americans because the child decides that he will never be a compliant as her mother just was and risk being despised by other black men.

Then, the text Broken dreams written in 1969 by Maya Angelou is about a young black girl who struggles to remember the lines of a poem she is supposes to recite in front of the congregation. Marguerite has to face them alone on Easter Morning. Maya Angelou probably wanted to look back on her childhood when she was ashamed of being black. The narrator obviously considers being black to be a handicap in life. She seems to think that anybody would choose to be white if they were given the choice. Being black necessarily means that something went wrong and it can’t be associated with the word “sweet” or “beautiful”.

We studied a speech of Barack Obama when he was Presidential candidate in 2008. In this recording, he explains how in 1787 people from all walks of life came together to ratify the Constitution of the USA in Philadelphia. However, when it was ratified, the problem of slavery remained. As they hadn’t been able to come to an agreement they decided the issue of slavery would be left for future generations to solve. So the slave trade would be allowed to continue for at least another twenty years. In his opinion, unless people fight for their rights, the Constitution is worthless. Finally, he points out that Americans fought for their rights by marching on the streets.

These documents show how Africans Americans have achieved recognitions. We can say that the process of recognition of the African American people in the USA has been complicated, long, and had many faces. From this period remains icons for the black community, and current examples of success show that you can reach your dream, whatever your color is.

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