SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD SEGREGATION IN LANGSTON HUGHES’S THREE POEMS, “THEME FOR ENGLISH B”, “LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN”, AND “I, TOO” AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  

SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD SEGREGATION IN

LANGSTON HUGHES’S THREE POEMS, “THEME FOR

ENGLISH B”, “LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN”, AND

“I, TOO”

  

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the undergraduate of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By

  

Student Number: 004214112

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  th “Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20 -century American literature… A powerful interpreter of the American experience… His poems are as vital as ever.”

• –Philadelphia Inquirer-

  

Never give up to try is one kind of way to

appreciate God’s gift.

• -H-

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My beloved mother; Retno Widowati My special parents; Ir. T. Hadiwiryono S, BcM My beloved brothers: Bregas and Arief

  My beloved wife; Ayu Listya Samsudin, SSos And My lovely son; Raditya Ramadhan Widodo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I would like to thank Allah the Greatest Creator for always

being here for me, blessing and giving me the chances to share joys and bitterness

of life. You will always be the light while I am in darkness.

  I would also like to thank Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum, Dra. Th.

Enny Anggraini, M.A. and Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum as the Board of

Examiners for the questions, comments, criticism, and correction on my thesis.

  

My deep gratitude also goes to Dra. A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A. and Dewi

Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum who lend me books to support my resources. I also

want to thank to Bu Ninik, all lecturers and staffs of English Letters Department

for supporting me during my study in this department.

  My special gratitude goes to my special persons in my life; my family. To

my mother, thank you for always standing besides me and sharing with me with

your grace and love that I always remember she never leaves me alone.

Furthermore to my wonderful father, thank you for all your support, spiritually

and financially. I will always love and thank you for all your encouragements. In

addition, to both my brothers Bregas and Arief, my aunty Rini and Wiwiek, my

uncle Fandy and Herman, my cousins, Dimas, Andy and Putri my gratitude goes

to all of you in giving all your supports, wish and advices.

  To all my friends especially Layolita Daniel Gurusinga my motivator and

Amel, Melita and Greg, Ditto, Jody, Asto, Debby, my partner Waljito all friends I

  

cannot mention, thank you for all your ideas and thoughts. Thank you for all your

supports and advices.

  Finally, my special gratitude also goes to my beloved wife, Ayu Listya

Samsudin. You can encourage me in an amazing way and relieve me when I am

in sorrow. We can make it through the storm honey, thank you, my dear. I also

thank the family of Samsudin Mustafa, thank you for all your encouragement and

support, mentally and financially. More than ever to my son, Raditya, you are my

sunshine boy. Moreover, to anyone whose names I cannot mention, thank you

very much.

  Haryo Noerani Widodo

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE................................................................................................. i APPROVAL PAGE....................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE.................................................................................. iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS.. iv

MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................. v

DEDICATION PAGE.................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................... ix

ABSTRACT................................................................................................... xi

ABSTRAK..................................................................................................... xii

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.................................................................1 A. Background of the Study.......................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................. 4

C. Objectives of the Study ............................................................................ 4

D. Definition of Terms ................................................................................. 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW................................................ 6

A. Review of Related Studies........................................................................ 6

B. Review of Related Theories...................................................................... 9

  1. Theory on Interpreting Poetry............................................................ 9

  

2. Review of Segregation in the United States in the 1920s until the

1960s................................................................................................. 12 th th

  3. The 14 and 15 Amendment, and the Civil Rights Bill of 1875.... 18

  4. The Relation between Literature and Society.................................... 20

  

C. Theoretical Framework............................................................................. 21

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY........................................................... 23 A. Object of the Study .................................................................................. 23 B. Approach of the Study.............................................................................. 24 C. Method of the Study.................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS A. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s ..................... 27

  

1. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s in

“Theme for English B” .................................................................... 27

  2. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s in “Let America Be America Again”.................................................... 39

  B. Hughes’ Criticism toward the Segregation in the American Society of

the 1920s – 1960s.................................................................................... 56

  1. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the 1920s – 1960s as Represented in “Theme for English B”............... 56

  2. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the

1920s – 1960s as Represented in “Let America be America

Again”.............................................................................................. 62

  3. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the 1920s – 1960s as Represented in “I, Too”....................................... 66

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ....................................................................70

BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................... 71

APPENDICES:.............................................................................................. 73

Appendix 1: The poems of Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”..................... 73

Appendix 2: The Biography of Langston Hughes ..................................... 77

  

ABSTRACT

HARYO NOERANI WIDODO (2008). Social Criticism toward Segregation in

Langston Hughes’s Three Poems, “Theme for English B”, Let America be America Again”, and “I, Too”. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters

  Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This thesis focuses on discussion Langston Hughes’s criticism toward the

segregation life in the era of 1920s until 1960s in America. The three poems

represent the speakers, who are African Americans shows the condition in the era.

The speaker tries to show his existence as the part of the society though he faces

the society that robs his freedom.

  This research is meant to answer the problems concerning the speaker who

speaks up his idea about his society. There are two problems to analyze. Firstly,

the question reveals how the life of African Americans during the period between

1920s until 1960s is depicted in Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English

B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”? Secondly, the problem is

about how Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be

America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the social life during the segregation era in

the period between 1920s until 1960s.

  To complete the analysis, this thesis applies library research. It means that

the writer uses books, theories, and any information related to the topic. Review

on history of American Society in the 1920s until 1960s, review on the Fourteenth

Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, and the Civil Rights Bill of 1875, and

theory on Relation between Literature and Society are used to analyze the two

problems. The socio-cultural approach is employed because the focus of this

thesis is on the social interpretation on the Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for

English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the social

life during the segregation era in the period between 1920s until 1960s.

  The analysis finds out that there was no freedom for the African

Americans in the American society in the era. The speakers of the three poems

face the society that put them as second-class citizens. The speaker tries to

conveys his idea abut the inequality. He struggles against the condition where he

dreams that the society will be equal for every people. The writer finds that three

poems are the representation of Hughes’s idea about his criticism toward the

segregation that decreases the rights of the African Americans.

ABSTRAK

  HARYO NOERANI WIDODO (2008). Social Criticism toward Segregation in

Langston Hughes’s Three Poems, “Theme for English B”, Let America be America Again”, and “I, Too”. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters

  Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  Skripsi ini fokus pada diskusi tentang kritik Langston Hughes terhadap kesenjangan kehidupan di masa 1920an sampai 1960an di Amerika. Tiga puisi

tersebut mewakili pembicara yang merupakan orang Afrika Amerika yang

memperlihatkan kondisi di masa tersebut. Pembicara mencoba untuk

menunjukkan keberadaannya sebagai bagian dari masyarakat meskipun dia pun

menghadapi masyarakat yang merampas kemerdekaannya.

  Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjawab problematika yang mengarah

kepada pembicara yang mengungkapkan gagasannya tentang masyarakatnya.

Tertera dua problematika untuk dianalisa. Pertama, pertanyaan mengenai

bagaimana kehidupan orang – orang Afrika Amerika pada masa antara 1920an

hingga 1960an yang muncul di dalam puisi – puisi Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”? Kedua, problem tentang puisi – puisi Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be

America Again”, and “I, Too” mengkritisi kehidupan sosial yang berhubungan dengan jaman kesenjangan di dalam periode antara 1920an hingga 1960an

  Untuk menyempurnakan analisa, skripsi ini menggunakan pencarian pustaka. Ini berarti bahwa penulis menggunakan buku – buku, teori – teori, dan

berbagai informasi yang berkaitan dengan topik. Wacana dalam sejarah

Masyarakat Amerika di tahun 1920an hingga 1960an, wacana dalam Amandemen ke empat belas, Amandemen ke lima belas, dan Hak Sipil Bill pada tahun 1875, serta teori dalam Hubungan antara Kesusastraan dan Masyarakat digunakan untuk

menganalisa kedua problematika. Pendekatan Sosial Budaya juga digunakan

karena fokus dalam skripsi ini adalah pada Interpretasi Sosial terhadap puisi –

puisi Langston Hughes “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America

Again”, and “I, Too” yang mengkritisi kehidupan sosial yang berkenaan dengan jaman kesenjangan pada periode antara 1920an hingga 1960an

  Analisa mendapati bahwa saat itu tidak ada kemerdekaan untuk orang

Afrika Amerika dalam Masyarakat Amerika di masa tersebut. Pembicara dari

ketiga puisi tersebut menghadapi masyarakat yang menempatkan dia di dalam

golongan kedua di dalam kewarganegaraan. Pembicara mencoba mengekspresikan idenya tentang ketidaksetaraan. Dia berjuang melawan kondisi

tersebut ketika dia memimpikan bahwa masyarakat akan setara untuk semua

orang. Penulis menemukan bahwa ketiga puisi tersebut adalah perwakilan dari

gagasan Hughes tentang kritiknya terhadap kesenjangan yang telah mengurangi hak – hak warga Afrika Amerika. medical, manufacturing, and tourist centre, Harlem magnified people to settle down as the resident. Several factors above are the closest suitable reason for many people to choose Manhattan as the most preferred place to stay. In addition, Manhattan gives opportunities for several races including for African Americans to get a better life.

  As Meltzer explanation in his book The Black Americans, A History in

  Their Own Words about Harlem descriptions,

  Harlem’s Blacks numbered 50,000 on the eve of World War I, by 1920

  th th

  black Harlem stretched from 130 Street to 145 and from Madison to Eighth Avenues and Included 80,000 people. Ten years later the southern

  

th

  border had moved down to 110 Street and the black population had swelled to 200,000. (Indeed, by 1940 there were eleven cities with as many as 100,000 Blacks,). (Meltzer, 1987: 202) Those movements began in the mid till late 1920s, and then faded in the mid of 1940s. Harlem Renaissance remarkably took the African American literature and art seriously at the first time on major publisher and critics from the nation at large. It was a literary movement at the first time and strongly related to the developments of African American music, theatre, art, politics and social culture. Furthermore, African American intellectuals were also gathering in Harlem. They were drawing their inspiration from African American folk culture. It has remained so because most of scholars and student agree that the 1920s was a decade of extraordinary creativity in the art of African Americans centralizing in New York City, particularly in the district of Harlem.

  African American Literature begins to accomplish world literature

  th

  including poetry. The fact that before and in the 20 century the world of poetry was dominated by Caucasian artists shows the existence of Black American poet in America as well. Mostly, poetry written by white poets presents the experiences of white people. It was the only kind of verse most folks had ever heard. However when Harlem renaissance started in the 1920's this relatively genteel world of American poetry was shaken to its foundations. Powerful black voices, writing with African American rhythms and cadences broke out all over the country. The history of Black American poet’s struggle is not written by a single pen at that time but countless number of pens, where there is no pen that is more important to each other.

  In the Harlem, there were chances for African American Literature to grow up and express their ideas in the literary works. As stated by Franklin and Moss in From Slavery to Freedom,

  It listed a figure of talented Black Americans to go up as writers, performers and musicians. Among its best figures of writers and authors were Countee Cullen, Claude Mckay, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. They were all the people who used literature as a main power of great struggle for justice and equality (Franklin and Moss, 1988: 324-336). The writer focuses the discussion in the era during 1920’s to 1960’s, bearing in mind the time when Langston Hughes started his important works as one of the rare productive African American writers. The other reason is because during that period lies big moments for a new African American generation to revolve the history of America.

  Three poems of Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” are selected to be analyzed in this thesis in order to find out how Hughes represents the life and struggle of the African Americans in 1920s until 1960s. Langston Hughes’s works are the reflection of love to humanity especially to the African Americans, makes the focus interesting to analyze deeper. To get the spotlight of the topic in this thesis, the writer considers that segregation is one major dilemma that is still significant until this day.

  As social documents, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” can be made to defer the outlines of society’s social history.

  According to Wellek and Warren in their book, Theory of Literature: Literature could be multiplied indefinitely. One can assemble and exposit the ‘world’ of each, the part each gives to love and marriage, to business, to the professions, its delineation of clergymen, whether stupid or clever, saintly or hypocritical. But such studies seem of little value so long as they take it for granted that literature is simply a mirror of life, a reproduction, and thus, obviously, a social document (Wellek and Warren, 1970: 103-104).

  Literary works deal with the expression of one’s mind, and ideas. Hughes’s poems reflect, in one or other ways, the strength to carry on of a personal or a group suffering. His poems stress on how the African Americans must strife for their own dignity and rights their life as a part of America. By analyzing the selected poems, the writer hopes to simply find and learn the life of a person or a group of people and how they strife to hold it. Ultimately, this thesis works on poetry as its basic topic. Understanding and learning the life and the struggle of African Americans in 1920s until 1960s are the quintessence. In order to get deeper understanding about the condition of social life in that era when the African American placed in the lower class where they lost their rights as citizen. Thus, the writer only focuses in the analysis on Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” to limit the study.

  In order to analyze the poems, the writer limits the discussion into two problems formulated as follows.

  a. How is the life of African Americans during the period between 1920s until 1960s as seen in Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”?

  b. How does Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the American social life during in relation with the segregation era in the period between 1920s until 1960s?

  The aim of this thesis is to find out how Langston Hughes expresses his criticism toward segregation in the United States during 1920s until 1960s. In order to achieve the objective some steps need to be done.

  First is finding out how Langston Hughes described the social life in the period between 1920s until 1960s in his poems. The answer will be useful to understand what kind of social life in the society during the era. The second step is trying to reveal how Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” convey his criticism toward segregation in the social life during the period between 1920s until 1960s.

  In order to squeeze the reader’s ignorance on some terms that commonly used in this thesis, the writer listed some terms with their clarity.

  Segregation

  As stated by Thomas F. Pettigrew in The World Book Encyclopaedia that Segregation is the separation of groups of people by custom or by law. It is often based on differences of race, wealthy, or culture. Segregation almost always involves some kind of discrimination by one group against another. (Pettigrew, 1971: 228a)

  The New Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that segregation is the

  practice of restricting people to certain limited areas of residences or to separate institutions on the basis of race or alleged race. A means of maintaining the economic advantages and superior social status of the politically dominant group. (1973: 32) and theoretical framework presented. The review of related studies presented in order to give information on the work analyzed. The review of related theories presented in order to give the theories that the writer used in the analysis. The theoretical framework provides the use of the theories presented before.

Review of Related Studies A

  In this undergraduate thesis, some related studies previously done by other writers on the same author. Ben Richardson in his book Great American Negroes collects the great African American participant in order to contribute and rise up the quality life of African American from each profession such as singers, writers, athletes, artists, scientists, boxers, scholars, politicians, and militaries. Each profession has their own abilities to enrich American prestigious life especially for the African Americans. Moreover, Richardson puts Langston Hughes among them in his book as a prolific person who encourages African American Literature as well. For example, Richardson chooses several poems from Hughes’s works, such as The Negro Speaks of Rivers. Based on Great American Negroes, Richardson writes about Hughes’s historical background from Hughes’s childhood until Hughes continues to live as an author and poet formulated in a prose. Richardson’s Great American Negroes is chosen by the writer because Richardson wrote the profile include Hughes’s profile neutrally.

  James Presley in his article Modern American Poetry explains that throughout Hughes's life--and his literary expression--, the American Dream has appeared as a ragged, uneven, splotched, and often unattainable goal that often became a nightmare, but there is always hope of the fulfilled dream even in the darkest moments. During World War II Hughes, commenting on the American Negroes' role in the war, recognized this. ". . . we know," he said in a 1943 speech reprinted in The Langston Hughes Reader (1958). The American Dream is bruised and often made a travesty for Negroes and other underdogs, Hughes keeps saying, but the American Dream does exist. In addition, the Dream must be fulfilled. In one of his verses, he put it more plainly. He might have been speaking to his harshest political critics or to the white youths who beat him up on that long-ago summer day in Chicago. This is from "The American Dream of Langston Hughes." Southwest Review (1963) linked at (http: //www. english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/america.htm):

  Listen, America-- I live here, too. I want freedom Just as you.

  Pamela Harrelson in her A Student Project explains that Langston Hughes his works on becoming a writer and poet from the early years of his life. Despite the racial opposition and laws of segregation he faced in his life, these constantly suppressing forces did not stop Hughes. Hughes had published quite a large amount of poetry, literature, and plays before leaving the country. He was unaware of how much of his works were influential and important to so many. It was at this time in Langston Hughes’ life that his works received numerous awards and recognition. Langston Hughes’ work is known for its, “colourful verses on a wide variety of topics”. His works are heavily infused with the typical aspects of African American life and come alive on the page by his implementation of musical and blues rhythms. Hughes refused to create fantasy stories about life. He wrote what he knew about and felt the way he had the most impact on his readers.

  After many tributes and praise given to Hughes after his death in 1967, various critics began to ask questions regarding Hughes and his literary career.

  He took a realist’s perspective towards expressing himself, like many of the other African American writers in his time and his talents were recognized and supported by the most renowned authors of the Harlem Renaissance period. In addition, Langston Hughes has received various awards and recognitions for his contributions to African American and Contemporary Literature.

  One of the most prestigious awards Hughes received was the NAACP’s Springarn Medal. He also won first prize for his poetry in an Opportunity magazine contest. Hughes’ book Simple Speaks His Mind was his first best seller and his play Mulatto was the longest running Broadway play by an African American author. (http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/Hughes.html# bio)

Review of Related Theories B

  Elizabeth Drew explains in her book Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its

  

Understanding and Enjoyment that Poetry is the earliest and remains the most

concentrated and intense form of communication among the arts of language.

  (Drew, 1959:15) Elizabeth Drew also explains in her book Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its

  

Understanding and Enjoyment about the significance influence of language

  toward the poet, The fountain jets from the body, and whatever magical, mystical qualities inhere in poetry, they can never be separated from the sense. Language is itself a sense medium and it creates a new physical body for the poet’s own consciousness; but in addition to that, the sense world and the inner world of thought and emotion are inseparable to the poet. Each melts into the other in his words. Two more of Coleridge’s “opposites” which the imagination combines, are the general and the concrete, the idea and the image, and these reconciliations are everywhere in poetry. (Drew, 1959:32) In Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its Understanding and Enjoyment Elizabeth

  Drew also explains, The poet is first and foremost an individual with a personal vision. His poem is not an event in social history nor a symptom of literary movement; it is an assertion of the poet’s singular identity. However, at the same time no writer lives and writes in isolation. He is a personality alive in a particular period of time, in a particular place, in a particular social environment. He is an individual and a member of society and society will inevitably play its part in his poetry. (Drew, 1959:148) It means writer’s works depend on their social environment. The social conditions influence writer’s creativity and improve writer’s inspiration.

  Moreover, writer will write something in purpose whether it will valuable for himself either for his society.

  Elizabeth Drew also explains poetry as the part of public and private segment in general. She classify in those two kinds of segment because the writer also lives as a person privately while he or she also lives as a part of society.

  Poetry may be divided roughly into private and public. On the one hand poetry that springs from the great personal affairs of the human spirit: religion and love, communion with nature or meditative contemplation; on the other, poetry that aims at immediate social entertainment or influence: the ancient epics, poetic drama, narrative poetry, or what we shell be concerned with here, satiric verse. (Drew, 1959:148)

  In addition, Michael Riffaterre also discusses about language in poetry as written in Semiotics of Poetry, The language of poetry differs from common linguistic usage—this much the most unsophisticated reader senses instinctively. Yet, while it is true that poetry often employs words excluded from common usage and has its own special grammar, even a grammar not valid beyond the narrow compass of given poem, it may also happen that poetry uses the same words and the same grammar as everyday language. (Riffaterre, 1984:1)

  Discussing about poetry it will be remind us toward imagery as Laurence Perrine writes in Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense about imagery and here is the explanation,

  Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. Poetry appeals directly to our sense, of course, through its music and rhythm, which we actually hear when it is read a loud. But indirectly it appeals to our sense through imagery, the representation to the imagination of sense experience. The word image perhaps most often suggests a mental picture, something seen in the mind’s eye – and visual imagery is the most frequently occurring kind of imagery in poetry. But an image may also represent a sound; a smell; a taste; a tactile experience, such as hardness, wetness, or cold; an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, or nausea; or movement or tension in the muscle or joints. (Perrine, 1974:599)

  It means imagery deal with human senses designed in literary mode that simplify people to appreciate poetry. Meanwhile, Rene Wellek and Austin Warren explain the word of ‘image’ in Theory of Literature that in psychology, the word ‘image’ means a mental reproduction, a memory, of a past sensational or perceptual experience, not necessarily visual. (Wellek and Warren, 1949:186 – 187)

  They are also continue their explanation about imagery as a tools for the reader in order to simplify the understanding of poetry in Theory of Literature, The classification of psychologist and aestheticians are numerous. There is the distinction. Useful for the reader of poetry, between ‘tied’ and ‘free’ imagery: the former, auditory and muscular imagery, necessarily aroused even though one reads to oneself and approximately the same for all adequate readers; the latter, visual and else, varying much from person to person or type to type. (Wellek and Warren, 1949:187)

  I have sufficient explanation of poetry and imagery based on some writers who expert in literature. It is the part of allusion explanation based on Laurence Perrine in his book Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense. Allusion is a reference to something in history or previous literature – is, like a richly connotative word or a symbol, a means of suggesting far more than it says (Perrine, 1974:675). In a simple understanding is the word that represents as another story, history of someone, some places, some times written in a single word or more.

  In another page, Laurence Perrine explains in his book, Literature,

  

Structure, Sound and Sense that allusions are means of reinforcing the emotion or ideas of another work or occasion. Because they are capable of saying so much in so little, they are extremely useful to the poet. (Perrine, 1974:676) While allusion is already explained from the paragraphs above then I will move on to the other important element in this thesis. Metaphor as written in

  

Literary Theory from Plato to Bartes, An Introductory History book written by

  Richard Harland explains, Metaphor works by identifying two entities normally considered as separate, so that a word or phrase for the one is used in place of a word or phrase for the other. Metaphoric identification depends upon a relation of similarity, though not necessarily a similarity that was ever apprehended before. In the traditional conception, a metaphor was a simile with the ‘like’ or ‘as if’ deleted: ‘my heart is like a wheel’ Æ ‘my heart is a wheel’, ‘their love was as if blossoming’ Æ ‘their love was blossoming’. Such one-living metaphors have made it possible to think what could not have been thought otherwise. (Harland, 1999:256)

  Thomas A. Mappes and Jane S. Zembaty describe the life of the African American in America during 1920s until 1960s in Social Ethics, Morality and

  Social Policy,

  The life of the negroes in America, for example, sense very strongly their lower status, the prejudice and discrimination practiced against them, and, especially, the inconsistency between their social position and democratic equalitarian values. (Mappes and Zembaty, 1997: 395)

  From the other writer, Donald A. Ritchie describes about African American social class and their struggling format as in Heritage of Freedom

  History of the United States,

  The civil rights movement grew stronger and spread rapidly during the 1950’s. Black Americans would no longer accept second-class citizenship. They fought for equal opportunities in jobs, housing, and education. They fought not only against segregated schools, buses, and trains but also against separates facilities in restrooms, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and hospitals. In the 1960’s the civil rights movement also spread to the North. There, although segregation was not as easily seen, it was just real. (Ritchie, 1985: 727)

  After the explication of their social class and struggling format then I will give an example of discrimination that happened toward an African American written by Donald A. Ritchie in Heritage of Freedom History of the United States,

  The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was tired when she left work in a Montgomery, Alabama, department store in December 1955. She boarded a bus and took the last empty seat, a seat in the front of the bus that was reserved for white riders. When a white passenger got on the bus, the driver ordered Parks to give him her seat. She refused to get up. The driver called the police and had her arrested. Rosa Parks’ arrest stirred up anger in Montgomery’s black community. Many of its leaders met at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to discuss how best to support her. They decide to call for a boycott of or refusal to use, the city’s buses. (Ritchie, 1985: 727)

  Based on Juan Comas opinion in The Race Question in Modern Science, the discrimination influenced by the differences of skin colour and it compose some prejudice in the American society toward African Americans as seen in this quotation,

  The civilization attaches special importance to the colour of the skin and relatively dark pigmentation is a mark of difference condemning numerous human groups to contempt and a debased social status. To maintain that a man is an inferior human being because he is black is as ridiculous as contending that a white horse will necessarily be faster than a black horse. Nevertheless, however little basis there may be for colour prejudice, the importance of the resultant attitudes and behaviour in many countries is indisputable. (Comas, 1956: 24)

  Moreover, John P. Mc Kay explains in A History of World Societies that although the 15

  th

  Amendment forbade states to deny anyone the vote “on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude, “whites used violence, terror, and between 1880 and 1920, new Jim Crow laws to prevent blacks from voting and to enforce rigid racial segregation. Lacking strong northern support, blacks did not gain legal equality of suffrage in many parts of the old Confederacy until the 1960s (Mc Kay, 1984: 1197). It strongly describes the weak position of African Americans as a part of American in a political part.

  While Cary D. Wintz in Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance

discusses about race and political position in American social life of African

Americans based on the territory, Two of the most significant elements in the black experience around the turn of the century were the steady deterioration of the race's social and political position in America, and especially in the South, and the steadily growing exodus of blacks from their homes in the rural South to the industrial cities of the South and North. The effect of these developments on black history must not be underestimated. Besides the obvious changes evidenced by the growth of black ghettos in northern cities and the resurgence of black militancy in the face of an apparently unremitting chain of racism, violence, and injustice, there was also a more subtle shift of attitude among blacks. By the 1920s, few black intellectuals still believed that the future of their race lay in the South. As they turned their attention northward and focused their hope on the emerging black communities in northern cities, however, they also were turning their backs on their southern heritage. (Wintz, 1988: 6)

  From the different perspective, Harry Golden explains in Mr. Kennedy and

  

the Negroes, “In 1963 there was still no intern program in Good Samaritan (the

  Negro Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina). Negroes who enter medical practice in the South have two choices: they can attend the inferior segregated schools and start practice in a week, segregated hospital, or they can take advantage of the policy of subsidized out-of-state study, go to a good medical school in the North, and never return to the inferior hospital of the South. In the past few years, it is true, the University of North Carolina Medical School has accepted a few Negroes; but so far, no hospital staff membership has been open them. And it is not likely that integrated hospital will be a reality in the near future.” (Golden, 1964: 31) Harry Golden further explains in Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes about the struggle of African Americans, “The Negroes who fight for the right to enter public school are fighting for more than an education. They are fighting for life or death. Public schools are the first step, adequate hospital care the second.” (Golden, 1964: 32)

  In the other pages Harry Golden also explain about African Americans in

  Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes,

  It was for Thirty Years Southern legislators and legislatures waged legal war against the Negro. They disfranchised the Negroes, denied them in schools, hospitals, and access to tax-supported facilities and public accommodations. They refused to prosecute the men who lynched Negroes and refused to condemn the men who regularly defiled Negro women. The politicians of the South constantly boasted of their paternal love, knowing all the time that their strategy would help maintain the

  status quo. Nor were conditions much better in the North. Northerners

  penned the Negro into ghettos and kept him uneducated, unskilled, and consequently unemployed. It was a war of subjugation and the Negro was biding his time, the Negro was humiliated and degraded, ruthlessly proscribed, pushed to the absolute conditions of survival. (Golden, 1964: 38-39)

  Furthermore, Harry Golden explains more about the unfair conditions that the African American had in America in his book Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes, Few Negroes have participated in the open society of America. In 1960, there was not a single Negro-owned shoe store in our country. Though the Negro had the language, he had no proprietary rights in his church. The coloured man’s church, which mainly Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian, was controlled and dictated to by white men who deprived Negroes of religious autonomy. In 1950, Sewanee, an Episcopal college, refused to play Kenyon, another Episcopal college, because the Kenyon football team had a Negro right tackle. (Golden, 1964: 41)

  Share about the rights of African American in politics and education also discussed by Harry Golden in Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes, The Negro colleges are not only reputable, but also often superior institutions. In the last decade, Howard University has begun a reverse integration, admitting whites, and whites now compose 25 per cent of the student body in the Negro college at Institute, West Virginia. The courtroom career of the civil right controversy got its first impetus in the 1930s when Negro law schools began graduating students who had thoroughly studied the constitutional guarantees. (Golden, 1964: 44)

  Harry Golden includes the description of African Americans method to raise and train African American lawyers in order to guide and guard their right in front of law and justice sides,

  These Negro lawyers were the vanguard who pioneered the legal study and interpretation of civil rights. In those years, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People kept track of every Negro law student in the country, laying the groundwork for what would result in the most remarkable legal process in the history of a free people. Thus, the Negro did not make his move earlier because he had to wait to train a body of professionals dedicated to alleviating the plight of all Negroes. (Golden, 1964: 44) He also emphasizes that The Roosevelt thus made it easier for President

  Harry Truman to begin to end racial segregation in the armed forces in 1948. In addition, in turn, President Truman made it easier for the late John F. Kennedy to become the first President in the century to make public declaration (in a speech televised nationally on June 11, 1963) that the Negro’s struggle for first-class citizenship was a moral issue that involved every American. (Golden, 1964: 54)

  In Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes, Harry Golden also explains about African Americans participation in the World War,

  World War I gave many Negroes the opportunity to see that there was not equal poverty and equal segregation everywhere. Negroes who served in France quickly realized that the taboos their Southern neighbours insisted upon were not at all natural. The French and the English cheered the Negro soldier was part of the morale and camaraderie of the whole army. It could not help but make a difference. In addition, there were thousands of other Negro soldiers who left the South for the first time and were stationed in the ports of embarkation, in the training ‘centers’, and in the hospitals of America. (Golden, 1964: 47)

  From that quotation, Harry Golden share about the condition in the era. He describes the differences treatment of African Americans in America compared the Africans who served in France and England.