October 28th The Best of the Brownie's Book

I was eager to read some of these stories in the Brownie's book because I am in the group working on folklore for the final project. I do have to say though, in the aspect of stereo types, every time I read Brownie's I think of little girls in brown outfits, a sash with badges, selling girl scout cookies!

Anyway, I enjoyed reading the poems and short stories in this packet, but even more I enjoyed reading the "The little People of the Month" passage, this was so uplifting and positive to read. So many things we have been reading, including Nella Larsen's Passing depict such a negative and depressing view of African Americans and how they are treated and perceived, but this excerpt about a young African American doing a heroic saving of a young white girl really shows that people are people regardless of the color of the skin. This young man risked his life to save a person, not because of the color of her skin but because she was in danger and needed help immediately.

I also found "The Grown-Up's Corner" of interest. The mother writing in is asking for this magazine to teach about the great things black men and women have done. What I found interesting was when she wrote "When I tell her as much as I know about our folks, she says: "Well, that's just stories. Didn't they ever do anything in a book?"". The mother goes on to say that she is not educated formally and doesn't know where to find "book stories", but she doesn't realize that she is providing her daughter with the great things that "their folks" have done by sharing these stories with her. Also at the end of the article the mother states she wants her little girl to know that it isn't the color of ones skin that makes them great, I think that by sharing the stories the "their folks" as well as reading and discussing the stories of white achievements really teaches a child that no matter the color of your skin you can do what ever you put your mind to.
This Brownie's Magazine seems to be the change of the race that McKay and Toomer were talking about. Now African Americans are writing showing real progress, positive changes and strides.

Nella Larsen's Passing

I found several similarities between Passing and The Auto-biography of an Ex-Coloured Man. One of the passages that I found interesting was on page 102 when Irene is speaking to Clare about mothers are responsible for the security and happiness of their children. Irene says; "Think of what it would mean to your Margery if Mr. Bellew should find out. You'd probably lose her. And even if you didn't, nothing that concerned her would ever be the same again. He'd never forget that she had Negro blood. And if she should learn-Well, I believe that after twelve it is too late to learn a thing like that" (p.102).
In Ex-Coloured Man he found out that he was black, even though it is not stated, about the same age and he was never really the same after that. He never felt like he fit in to either the white or the black race and struggled all of his life to find his place in society and really to find an inner peace. It seems that Irene has a sense of this also, that if one is to find out after years of thinking that they are white and then suddenly are told that they belong to a completely different race, and a race that is looked at negatively, then one really is forced out of their realm of comfort. One is pretty much forced into a limbo between two different lives. At this point in a child's life they have made friends and bonds to different aspects of society and in a sense at this age you are just learning who you are. If Margery were to find out now, her life would most likely be turned upside down and she could very well find her life spent searching for who she truly is just like the narrator in Ex-Coloured Man.

Words! Word! by Fauset

I have to say that Fauset's poetry has been much more uplifting than anything else we have read so far.
I enjoyed this poem in particular because everyone can relate to its meaning. It doesn't matter what color you are or what part of the world you live in. Everyone has been in and out of love and typically words get you into trouble at some point in any relationship.
I like how Fauset doesn't really use any names in her poetry, because you can put any face, gender, or race on each and everyone. For some reason this quality makes things more real for me and allows me to better relate to what we are reading.
Same as Johnson did in Autobiography. He did not give anyone a name, which allowed for the reader to create their own mental picture of the story.
This poem words also has that underlying irony that we discussed with Fauset's writings. But aren't relationships ironic. Things seem so beautiful and blissful in the beginning, but as time goes on words get in the way or create obstacles to overcome.
In the line "In the power of the tongue are life and death!" This just rings so true. I guess thinking about being a future teacher of a elementary students our words to them are really going to influence some of the paths that they take, yes life and death may be a little dramatic, but good choices and bad choices could fall into that line also.