The Importance of Teaching African American Literature

Racial equality has made great strides since the works we have read were written. It has been over one hundred and sixty years since the American civil war, fifty or so years since the civil rights movement, and African Americans find near equality in much of the country, we even have a half black president. Even with all of these strides, there is more to do, and as a society we can and shall advance even further when it comes to prejudices, and teaching African American literature in schools is an important way to continue this trend of moving towards social equality. It is important to discuss the things we have so far in class, such as the archetype of the "happy slave", a "loving" slave and master relationship, and understanding segregation within classes, like the Blue Vein Society. Reading literature allows us to understand the thoughts and philosophy of another human being, so by reading such literature, we are able to imagine ourselves in such horrible circumstances and how offensive a "happy" slave or nostalgic south is to an entire race of people. Mark Twain was not black, but we can learn from writings like "A True Story", which makes the point that the slaves and their families felt the way white people do. They loved each other and their children just as much as the white man, and for many white people at the time this was a crazy thing to think. It is by reading African American literature and literature such as Twain's "A True Story" that people can imagine themselves in others shoes. It is important to continue to teach these subjects in school, and remember that our history is in fact clouded in very horrible acts. It is important to realize this and learn from it, we can do nothing about the past but control the future.