Response to Class 1/26

A few things that struck me about our discussion at the end of last class including our allusion to the struggles of getting an African American poet published and the sense of community that this may have created.

First, it is interesting, if not shocking, to think that a group of white people would have to vouch for the talents and skills of another person solely because of their race, and the believed inferiority of their mental capacity. (Although it is not unique in this setting as this has also occurred for women, Native Americans and other minority groups.)

Second, the dynamics of an education African American slave are important to consider. Frederick Douglass mentioned in “The Last Flogging” the respect that he was given because of his ability to read. The presence of this division in the slave community, over those who read and those who couldn’t would have been further divided by the success of a small minority of these individuals including Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon. This minority of individuals then faced another rift as they were slowly brought into the fold of white culture, yet seemed to face an eternal wall against them as well. The formation of a support system, as illustrated in Hammon’s “Address to Phillis Wheatley,” may have been a way to share common experience and advice. The communication and camaraderie may also have been a way to make sure that each new member, each rising star of the slave community, was committed to the positive representation of their race. It may have been felt, or even may have been the case, that the success of each of them was crucial to the successful acceptance of the race as a whole. My exploration of this idea is because of the class division in whether or not Hammon may have been praising Wheatley, or cautioning/guiding her: and this explanation could address both camps.

Finally, it is interesting to think about whether this “social hierarchy” of race, education, success, and white acceptance is still around today as race may become a spectrum that can be influenced by a variety of factors: not just color. This comes to mind because of the short video posted on the last entry about the levels of beauty based on lightness of skin as well as commentary I have read/heard about Obama not being "black enough" to be the first president of color...