Perhaps best known for writing the Black National Anthem, Lift
Every Voice and Sing ,
But, he is stunned when one day in school a teacher asks the
white students to stand, and scolds him
As a young man, the death of his mother & sale of their house
leaves him with a small stake & he
When the factory closes, he heads North again, this time to New
York City and discovers Ragtime
Inevitably, he is drawn back to America and to music. He
tours the South collecting musical
Abandoning his musical ambitions, he takes a job as a clerk, does
well investing in real estate & meets
As the novel closes, the "ex-colored man" tells us: "My love
for my children makes me glad that I am
And the reader can't help but feel profoundly ashamed of a system
of racial oppression that forced a
(Reviewed:) Grade: (B+) Tweet Websites:-ESSAY: James Weldon Johnson’s Ode to the “Deep River” of American History (New Republic, Mar. 2nd, 2021) Book-related and General Links: -Academy of American Poets: Poetry Exhibits--James Weldon Johnson -E-text of Fifty Years and Other Poems -Poems by James Weldon Johnson -James Weldon Johnson Teachers Guide Comments:Your ability to shad things as black and white is astounding. Though I am sure you will never read this, the premis that the text is all about lynching seems to general. Most things are complex, and without a clear and deep evaluation of the text, it seems as though you have missed the point - - Aug-07-2007, 00:41 ******************************************************* Ithougth that i would just get a brief very short summary bu this was great well said and accurate imean ithought i understood the book but this really made clearwhat went on in the book - kiera - May-15-2007, 00:51 ******************************************************* I just came upon this site while doing some extra research on The ECM for a school project, only to be completley blown away by this article. Clearly a white man or woman has written this article and has NO idea what they are talking about. I am sorry, but you have it all wrong. The whole book is a protest against lynchings, not a book that pittys a man who can not decide what race he is. The point is that he cannot succeed and make a living without being "white" so that is what he does. Oh and by the way the millionaire that takes him to Europe isn't white. If you actually read the book or atleast just paid a little attention you would know that he is to black and just passing for white. So that is my opinion of all that!!! - What??? - Mar-14-2006, 23:14 ******************************************************* |
Copyright 1998-2015 Orrin Judd