Soaring: A Journal of Undergraduate Research
Abstract
“Freedom, too, the long-sought, we still seek, —” (DuBois, 1903, p. 7) The foremost endeavor of people of historically marginalized racial/ethnic communities, and particularly for the purposes of this paper, Black people, is to be free. The term “free” has several connotations that are frequently used by the general public in a typically detached manner. Free. To be educated, empowered and autonomous, thus unobstructed and restrained by subjection to the hegemony of the more highly educated and empowered. You might be wondering, “Who are ‘we’?” and “Why are ‘we’ still seeking freedom?” The answers to your questions will be addressed in subsequent paragraphs through the analysis of several texts with the common themes of identity, striving, and freedom from W.E.B. DuBois, James Baldwin, and Angela Davis, among other scholars whose scholarly articles will be examined. There are tons of people that populate our world and while we cannot achieve receiving the personal narratives of everyone, it is worthwhile to sit alongside even merely one person, because maybe beyond the ability for one to gain perspective from their story, they can sympathize as well, and that is what the included found poem that I created serves to do. To genuinely reconcile race relations in America, it is imperative that consumers become more informed of the messages that are being conveyed through the literary works of people who have historically marginalized racial/ethnic identities. Hence the purpose of this poem being presented first to establish a groundwork for what is to be understood from the scholarly works that will be examined in this paper.
Recommended Citation
Harrell, Channing
(2023)
"The Black Box Unboxed: Black Music As a Medium for Black People to Wield Rhetorical Power,"
Soaring: A Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2023, Article 8.
Available at:
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/soaring/vol2023/iss1/8