05sep16 the dark night

Just about a month into the new semester.

This has been my most enlightening experience in higher education so far.

Contemporary African literature along with American lit it is eye opening.

The early part of American lit is focusing on black writers of the early twentieth century. Charles w. Chestnutt, who I'd never heard of, did a series of short stories on interracial relationships during the post civil war era along with addressing the issue of a place for blacks in a post war society. 

Some deal with black women light enough to pass for white and the difficulties encountered when "passing." 

This is when people of color are light enough to pass for white and do.Who chooses to pass? Why? Do they come back? Can they really? He sheds light on the scenario, the holed out feeling that follows giving up everything to pass, the constant terror of being found out and killed, or sent back.

There was a whole generation of black people of mixed heritage after the civil war ashamed to be black I was unaware of. Proud of their bright skin, and well educated, they longed to be, but were never accepted as white, despite their high levels of intelligence and effort to emulate European culture.

A people lost along with their dark skinned brothers.

African lit shows some of the same. It shines a light on the damage done by the British empire with its arrival on the continent. Entire cultures and oral histories were eliminated, wiped out to be replaced by a European model that later sets the stage for exploitation. They replaced native gods with their own, convinced them the western way was the only way, the one true God's will.

I don't wonder about angry Africans anymore. They are angry at having to piece together what's left of their history while trying to survive in a western dominated world whose influence has corrupted its leaders.

A people lost.

Their sense of place in the world, like the African American, gone, replaced by a construct.

Thethings I've written in the past pale when compared with these subjects. African writers goal is to inform, not just entertain, to be a voice for the people, all people.They've caused me to rethink my goals with my own writing. It must carry more weight.