Young Gifted and Black
Autor: lakitashorter • February 18, 2015 • Article Review • 628 Words (3 Pages) • 824 Views
Lakita Shorter
Young Gifted and Black
PG 11-25
Dr. Kimberly Harper
February 10, 2015
Lakita Shorter
Dr. Kimberly Harper
English 2204
February 10, 2015
Young Gifted and Black
Young, Gifted, and Black is an excellent novel to read. There are so many different stories in the book that come to life. African Americans faced a lot of challenges in the slave days and still do. It is often looked at as a part of life, but more often than ever people can forget. One needs to know his or her African Heritage and what it took for the African American people to gain their freedom today. The novel is great because it shows great details and reminds people of how thankful they are.
Details can either break or make the book. In Young, Gifted and Black there were so many vivid details that a person could feel that they were there. In Harriet Jacobs excerpt, “she lives in her grandmother’s house, in a crawl space above the storeroom, nine feet long and seven feet wide… [with] the highest part… [being] three feet high, and sloped down abruptly to the loose board floor.” (Perry, Steele, & III, 2003) Imagine living like that for a long time. The conditions of the crawl space had to be horrible. One could also see when master left looking for her because he thought she was in New York. Now, that was a great trick in which helped her to overcome being a slave and be able to tell her stories. Even though an African American can relate to the books we seldom are reminded of how thankful black people should be.
African Americans are thankful for what their ancestors went through. They are reminded time and time again of the trials and tribulations that were set before them. Their ancestors fought hard and long for their freedom. People fought against their slave master for freedom. They also fought hard to overcome the stereotype of people. Malcolm X had a really bad encounter with race. His teacher Mr. Ostrowski tried to deter him from being what he wanted to be. “Malcolm, one of lifes needs is for us to be realistic. Don’t misunderstand me now, we are here like you, you know that…But you have to be realistic being a nigger.” (Perry, Steele, & III, 2003). Malcolm really overcame the odds and continued his education and became better. He did not let the ignorance that was pronounced by Mr. Ostrowski get to him. Therefore, the challenges that were set before him were small things to a giant.
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