Black African American and the Reality of Racism in Gwendolyn Brooks’s A Street in Bronzeville
Hamdi Hameed Al-Douri
Tikrit University-College of Education for Women
Saba Ali Khalaf
Tikrit University-College of Education for Women
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25130/jls.4.4.36
Keywords: Brooks, Racism, Postcolonial, Feminism, Discrimination
Abstract
Gwendolyn Brooks has become the doubly disadvantaged poet, mostly because of her "race" as a black woman, and secondly, by consideration for her gender. Such a double pressure is evident in Brooks's poetry. For her race and culture, Brooks took great pride as well as supports, honors womanhood too. However, Brooks's poetry discusses black consciousness and also exposes the essence of the concerns of black women. The Black women, their psychological state as well as their depressed feelings are portrayed in Brooks's poetry. The goal of Brooks is to show the readers, what African American women should be. The major aspect is that women characters are independent women, who reject the boundaries of the appropriate role, by both the Blacks as well as the general Western society. The suffering and resentment of American blacks, the misery with the strength of ordinary black citizens, is brilliantly pointed out by Brooks. She concentrated through her poems on people in general and women in particular. Although, she depicts African American women as moms, wives, sisters, girlfriends, as well as daughters, in different ways. Undoubtedly, Black female characters for Brooks are still victims of racism, slavery, sexism, exploitation, discrimination, injustice, oppression, and violence.
