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November 06, 2005
Why The Negro Is Black
Harris, Uncle Remus stories (selections) (1881) -- American Literature, 1800-1915 (EL 266)
"Niggers is niggers now, but de time wuz w'en we 'uz all niggers tergedder."
This selection took a different take and was more forward about explaining the races. I thought it was kind of cruel for the elder black man to explain the way white people came about because it sounded racist. He said that everybody was black at one time, until they dipped into the magic pond. I don't know about you, but this sounds kind of bias towards the White race. The poor little innocent boy would grow up thinking this because he doesn't know any better. I did think it was clever how the author described "race evolution" because we usually just think of evolution as changing into a human, not considering race. I like the twists that Harris' uses in order to confront difficult issues like ethnicity.
Posted by AshleyHoltzer at November 6, 2005 04:41 PM
Comments
I like the way that it said that we were all black at one time. It gives it a different twist. It is always white people first and white people are superior. But this story does something radical and says that black people were first. Yes it is biased in reality, but I think at the time this story was written it was good for the time and still remains interesting today.
Posted by: michelle koss at November 7, 2005 05:31 PM
I also thought of white people just being known as coming first and being held higher. There's a definite twist from the author in stating that black people came first and then white people evolved. Interesting and could quite possibly be true.
Posted by: Ashley Holtzer at November 7, 2005 08:41 PM
Ashley, I chose a line similar to the one you chose. It said, "...dey wuz a time we'n all de w'ite folks 'uz black--blacker than me." I think this line goes back to your quote when he was saying that at one time we were all black until some people came upon the "magic pond."
Michelle, I agree with that. It is really different to hear the evolution story in a way that leans toward the African American race because that was thought to be the inferior race of that time period. I think that at that time period, it was a very huge risk to write something like this because it was so far from the ideals and thoughts of people at that time.
Posted by: Stacy at November 7, 2005 09:14 PM
We don't necessarily know that black people evolved first, although it is an interesting notion. I think that there is a realistic sense of bias toward the white people, because the white race was clearly living a better life that the black race. So when they were dipped in magic pond, they ended up really coming out better. I never really looked at that aspect, although it floats right in with my blog. Check it out if you get a chance.
Posted by: Jason Pugh at November 8, 2005 01:33 AM