Thursday, April 30, 2015

Legacy and Race


In the article about August Wilson, he was bullied or picked on because he was black. “Only African American student in the school, he was constantly threatened and harassed” (August Wilson Center for African American Culture, 1). He eventually dropped out of school and went to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. After school he began to write and made good plays, he won like 4 or more awards for NYDCC (New York Drama Critics Circle) Best Play Award. All of his plays got awards besides one. “The first Wilson play not to win the NYDCC award” (August Wilson Center for African American Culture, 3).  His legacy was known for his 10-play cycle covering every decade of the 20th century.

In the past paper I have read, it talks about the “n-word”.In the article it talks about how young black kids say the “n-word” more and use it as the meaning “friend”. But when a white kid says the word, black people get mad and try to fight him/her. But white people buy the most of the hip-hop music. “Some are so comfortable with the n-word because they’ve grown up on and been nourished by hip-hop. White youths, statistically the largest consumer of hip-hop”. (Lester, 2). Also the word changed so much over the years. “We know that as early as the 17th century, “nergro” evolved to “nigger” as intentionally derogatory” (Lester, 2). Now a days, it means friend or something along those lines. So everyone should be treated the same no matter what. Everyone is the same.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You talk about not only the use of the "n-word" but also how it has changed and been modified over time. Bringing it back to the article in saying that "white people" are the biggest consumers of hip-hop music is a great example of how this word has changed language over time. Bringing race into the matter of who can use this word also adds to your argument against how race is just an "identity", and that if you take away race from the equation, we can work together better in the community and make our society as a whole better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with your reasoning behind how race, language, and power are intersecting with the US. When you said "Now a days, it means friend or something along those lines. So everyone should be treated the same no matter what. Everyone is the same." I agreed because many of the articles we went over during class mentioned how there are differences in today's society and how we perceive certain words, compared to history and how race and language were two things very closely related.
    The meaning of the word and how it is used has definitely changed over the years.
    I think you could have elaborated more in your own words what Wilson's legacy was and how it is carried on even after he has died.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with your evidence and reasoning to back up your message about Wilson, and the article you used was a very good article to include in this blog you've written. it is very important to show people the other side of the N-Word it gives them that look like oh i didnt know that. it always leads to that extent to self reflection to using the N-word. Good post

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.