Zora Neale Hurston - "From Dust Track on a Road"

Zora Neale describes her living situation in the beginning of the story. She talks about what it was like growing up poor, black, and female. This description and her ultimate achievement shows her infinite amount of perseverance. She is someone who doesn't give up and doesn't let the social norms hold her back. Since her town was dominated by one race, Hurston was forced to explore different cultural places. Hurston would never flee from the emotions that would come over her, instead she would harness them and strengthen herself for the time to come.

Social Justice is incorporated throughout the story because it follows a black female that is relatively poor on her journey to success. It also shows how she surpasses the strains bestwoed on her through her society of the dominant culture. Since Hurston was never really able to assimilate herself into that culture, she found a new one. This stroy goes on to show that Social Justice is important for every individual, but at the same time it shows that Social Justice sin;t the only factor that determines success.

Sandra Cisneros - "From Straw to Gold"

In the story "From Straw to Gold" the Character Cisneros is constantly interacting with obstacles in her life. These obstacles aren't always difficult; like the time she had to make tortillas at a dinner party, a task she has never learned to do before, to being able to overcome cultural expectations. These expectations are not only in her mind, but in her family's mind as well. Throughout the story Cisneros learns how to identify different forms of obstacles and correctly place a genre on them. Different genres include poverty, humanity, and self-doubt.

The bells of Social Justice ring throughout many parts of this story. One of these parts being the time where Cisneros was overcoming her obstacle with her family's expectations of her. They were asking for so much and she had to endure great struggle before she was able to learn the valuable lesson in every story. Unable to please every single person, Cisneros begins to please the most important person in attempt to establish Social Justice, herself.

Rita Dove - "For the Love of Books"

Rita Dove loves to read books and try to imagine herself as being in the story. She said that while reading you were able to travel anywhere and to any time period and I agree. Reading also adds knowledge to the reader and expands their mind. She is particularly fond of harder books because they are more of a challenge and have more descriptions. She also likes to read play writes, for example: Stories by Shakespearer, and the story Macbeth. One of the reasons she loves reading is because back in the early 1900s African Americans didn't have the option of reading. They were very lucky if there owner would teach them to read, but now since she is able to read she does it all the time.
This ties extremely well into Social Justice because of the aforementioned reading options of African Americans in the 1900s. Since Whites didn't let the negros read they were violating the thought of Social Justice. Not only is this unfair to the African Americans, but it is also unfair to the United States because maybe that particular person would have been able to do great things for the country. If Social Justice is practiced everyday the United States will be in a lot better shape, benefiting not only economically, but also with diversity.

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance, or the New Negro Movement, was named after the term used in the anthology The Negro Movement. Centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Artists were able to explore the historical experiences of black America and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. The movment impacted urban cities throughout the United States. The writers would Challenge white paternalism and racism thoughts, African-American artists and intellectuals rejected imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans, and instead celebrated black dignity and creativity. They decided to set up their own styles and customs from their personal experience.
This topic ties into Social Justice because it shows different intellectuals and writers describing the challenges for African Americans through their writing. They also incorporate the theme Social Justice throughout their writing because the writers wanted equal justice for all. They also wanted all ethnicitys to be able to have equal oppurtunities and benefits. Not only do these writers make well thought out points, but they also do it in non violent way.

Lorraine Hansberry - A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun describes the family bond beween the Younger family throughout their trials dealing with trust and money. After acquiring a large sum of money, the Younger family is presented with the choice of what the future of the money should be, and from there the fighting beings. Walter believes the money should be invested in a store and Beneatha disagrees. While they are fighitng they are also moving to a new home. This new home is surrounded by a white community that isn't ready to welcome the Younger family.
This story ties into Social Justice because it talks about the oppionions of the whites in the new home. It also talks about the reactions of the whites when they are first presented with the information of the new black family. Since the reactions were negative the reader can infer that the whites don't think the Younger family should be moving near them. This shows the opposite of what Social Justice stands for and shows that something must be done.

Amy Tan - "Mother Tongue"

The narrative story of Amy Tan describes a young childs struggle with her immigrant background. The narrator's mother's english was described as fractured, meaning she would mispronounce words and use incomplete sentences. This ultimately effected the narrator because she would have to go on the phone for her mother and pretend to be her. She would also feel emberassed when her mother was talking to someone, because they somtimes wouldn't understand or pretend not to hear her. Throughout the stroy the narrator is constantly fighting the feeling of emberassment caused by her mother's fractured english.
This stroy ties into the theme Social Justice because it describes the struggle for immigrants without proper english. The story's descriptions about the reactions of the listeners when they were trying to understand what the mother was saying were very negative, they made it clear that if you are someone who can't speak english correctly you will be treated differently. You won't have as much charisma.

Maya Angelou - "Still I Rise"

The first four lines of the poem talks very negatively towards her. She refers to "bitters, twisted lies" and the reader can infer that she is describing the racist statements people thought during the slavery era. She goes on to talk about trodding in the dirt, which I beleive has to do with her experiences with harsh, physical hate crimes. She also uses the word "dust" in the fourth line instead of something more appealing to show that it wasn't easy to "rise".

I believe this poem relates to Social Justice because she is describing the hardships the African Americans have to go through in order to succeed. It also describes the negative surroundings for African Americans and portrays the thought of unfair treatment. This is done by the carefuly selected words that when combined together create flawless imagery. The poem defines Social Justice for African Americans as "non-present" meaning it doesn't apply.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

The autobiographical narrative tells a story of Obama's life up to his his entry in Harvard Law School. It starts out talking about his parent's seperation when he was only two years old. Obama started to create an image of his father in his mind compiled of the descriptions in the stories he heard from his mother and her parents. The story then goes on to describe the different schools Obama attended. It then describes the life style for Obama after the completion of highschool, which the story refered to as the party life. During which he experimented with drugs and alcohol. After his experimentations, Obama started to contribute to society. He became involved in non-prfoit organizations to benefit others.
This story ties into the theme social justice very simply. The story portrays the dream of an African-American to become succesful and attend a prestige school. The boy beleives that every race has equal oppurtunities to succeed in America. It also describes the outcome of bettering society and makes points to start helping out. Social Justice cant; be achieved if only a small amount of people are willing to contribute. In order to establish Social Justice there should be a majority backing it up.