The contradicting perception of the American South by African American writers

Name:
Instructor:
Institution:
Date:
The contradicting perception of the American South by African American writers
Introduction
The cultural and historical significance of the southern landscape has been captured by various African American writers. Based on the assigned readings, the American South was a complicated landscape filled with both beauty, oppression, and terrifying violence. All the works of literature written by African Americans describe the south as a place where slavery, racism, and separation of African American families took place. However, these writers also identify the American south as a place where African Americans established lifelong traditions and a beautiful landscape of family and community networks. Using the assigned readings, this paper aims to examine how African American writers portray the American south as a slavery ground filled with oppression but also as a beautiful landscape that is significant to African American families.
Racism and slavery
Through their stories and literature, African American writers portray the American South as being racist and oppressive to people of color. Historically, white Americans viewed African Americans as a natural resource that should be used to accomplish chores and increase their wealth. Although African Americans dreamed of freedom, any attempt to achieve freedom was met with corporal punishment and other forms of physical and psychological torture that dehumanizes a human being. In Douglass case, despite being just a child and working on master Lloyd’s plantation while hungry, “In the hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost naked- no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing but a course tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees. I had no bed,” (Douglass, p 256). This statement implies that the whites in the south viewed African Americans as nothing more than just working tools.
Contrasting perceptions
Although the American south was full of violence and subjugation, it also had positive moments that relate to family ties and traditional aspects. In the “Their Eyes Were Watching” Hurston states that “The house was full of people every night. This is, all around the doorstep was full. Some were there to hear Tea Cake pick the box: some came to talk and tell stories, but most of them came to get into whatever game was going on or might go on...