African American Studies: The Underground Railroad (Essay Sample)

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
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Course
Date
African American Studies
The Underground Railroad
In the African American studies, the Underground Railroad plays an important part in black history and road to freedom. The Underground Railroad gained national recognition in the 1830s to refer to the channel of deep routes followed by slaves in the process of finding freedom in the northern states and Canada aided by slave abolitionist and well-wishers such as Harriet Tubman. Although it is called the Underground Railroad, there were no physical tunnels or rails used by slaves, but rather it is a coined term to refer to the secretive nature of their activities and routes of lines used by southern slaves to move to northern states. Harriet Tubman is a prominent figure in the African American history since she aided in freeing many slaves from their masters and gave them freedom in Canada and northern states. In addition, the help of the Quaker people, the Underground Railroad became successful and the daring slaves escaped the hands of their ruthless owners and gained freedom.
The activities in the Underground Railroad was risky and challenging, and only the brave succeeded to gain freedom. The process involved a chain of events before reaching “the promised land” of Canada or other better states. First, the abolitionist and Quaker people played the role of sneaking out the slaves during the night and the secretive routes and positioned them in the stations or safe house along the road. On the other hand, the conductors were vital in ensuring the slaves find the next stop and avoid the abductors who collected the slaves back to the owners. The Underground Railroad showed unity among the blacks and white and serve a significant mark in antislavery movement and road to freedom. In addition, the road network made the society realize the problems slaves underwent and brought them together to fight and abolish slavery in the southern states thereby changing history.[Larry Gara, the Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. University Press of Kentucky, 2013.]
Moreover, on the other hand, the slave masters were angry for losing their property which threatened their institution. The slave owners hired slave hunters to collect their assets and bring back to the farms. The Native Americans who experienced the same fate of discrimination by white majority aided the slaves by killing the slave hunters thereby extending the railroad networks. In American history, the Underground Railroad serves as a union of African-American, Native Americans and white to join and fight for a common purpose. The slavery was harsh and ruthless, and the union of the three race to fight wrong things unites the American people. Under the governance of Abraham Lincoln, slavery was abolished, and blacks could live in freedom. However, the scars of slavery took years to heal since the enmity between the blacks and whites stills cripples progress of the United States.
The Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes
In the book, Creating Black Americans, Nell Painter shows how the Harlem Renaissance brought together black arts and literature in Manhattan. The Harlem Renaissance was a period in the 1930s where black artist and poets rose to fame and change history with songs, literature, and arts. Harlem was a black neighborhood comprising of African Americans who had fled the southern states after the world war ended. In this place, black American were free to express their pride of culture and present a new hip-hop movement that rocked the United States. The common Harlem Renaissance persons include Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and James Johnson. My focus will be on the writer and thinker of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes. His contribution to black culture and literature have inspired many black artists and made the hip hop culture famous in the U.S.
Langston Hughes is the prolific writer and thinker of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes celebrated the black culture and was the pride of his race. Similar to another active person in the African American artistic movement, Hughes expressed himself through poems, arts, plays and children books to teach the black culture and condemn inequality and racism in the nation. According to a painter, Hughes was a prolific writer and poet that aired the difficulties of black people during a time where African American experienced hardships and suffering from Jim Crow rules and white supremacist. Hughes, born in 1902, spend most of his adult life in Harlem, the largest African American community during that period. During this time, Hughes was passionate to represent the black community in a positive manner through poems that praise the black culture.
However, his poem, “Fine Clothes to the Jew” received negative praise from black critics since they viewed it as a disgrace to the black race and hanging racial defects for everyone to see. Hughes strongly advocated for his race and was proud of his color at a time when blackness was demoed. Hughes central theme of his poets was black is beautiful and explored the culture in depth which not always brought him in good terms with other African Americans. Moreover, Hughes contributing in the Harlem Renaissance put him in the African American literature as one of the prolific writers and thinkers that aspired for equal rights and pave the way for black artists and poets to express themselves freely about their oppressions and needs. Painter argues that the Harlem Renaissance was a period of reflection for all the suffering and hardships slaves experienced and express themselves through songs and send a message of hope for future generations.[James Trotman, Langston Hughes: the man, his art, and his continuing influence. Vol. 29. Routledge, 2014.]
Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King Jr
In the United States, the civil rights movement refers to the struggle of the African American to achieve equal rights with the majority whites. A century after the emancipation proclamation, the black Americans faced many forms of discrimination especially blacks in the south states. In this movement, many black activists rose to fame for fighting and defending the freedom of the Negroes. Martin Luther King Jr. is among the activist that led in nonviolence fights for liberty and equal rights. The African Ameri...