The Color Purple :: essays research papers

The Struggle to Express Themselves A Struggle to Express Themselves There is one primordial reason why we do not doubt Europeans have taken the lead in history, in all epochs before and after 1492, and it has little to do with evidence. It is a basic belief which we inherit from prior ages of thought and scarcely realize that we hold: it is an implicit belief, not an explicit one, and it is so large a theory that it is woven into all of our ideas about history, both within Europe and without. . . (Blaut pg. 6-7). African-American people have had to climb over many obstacles to get to their position today. First, was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated like an animal. After slavery was abolished, Colored people still had to deal with racial discrimination and hatred. If this sounds rough, black women had it worse. African-American women had to deal with all the previously mentioned things, but they were women too! Females were oppressed almost as bad as the blacks. White women were not able to vote until the 1920. Therefore colored women had a double edged sword, they had to fight for freedom, but not be to dominate as to effect the men. Alice Walker's The Color Purple is a good example of colored women's plight. Three obstacles black women had to overcome to be able to express themselves were Racism, the lack of education, and the stereo-type that women are inferior. African-Americans have always experienced racism throughout their habitation in America. Slavery, is what caused most of the hatred towards blacks. African Americans were sold by their people and sent off to a foreign land. Colored people were used as work horses when they entered America. "It was acceptable for a white person to be lazy (in the South), and therefore, a white person takes advantage of this" (Theriault). White people wanted to keep their laziness. If the slaves were set free, then the whites would have to do more work. The slaves still fought for what they wanted, and finally won their "independence." Another dilemma was "if the south could abolish slavery, what would happen to the slaves? These slaves have been slaves for all their lives and would require education. These slaves would also require homes, some type of compensation, and more" (Theriault). Blacks were put in prison for rebelling against the white establishment. Most times these crimes were minuscule in comparison to the crimes committed against blacks or by whites. A colored person could be put in jail for looking at someone inappropriately, but if a black man was