Reference no: EM133309772

Assignment:

Momma is terrified when Bailey fails to return home from the movies before dark. "Her apprehension was evident in the hurried movements around the kitchen and in her lonely fearing eyes"(114). Black parents and grandparents continue to be afraid today.

Freelance journalist, Tina Charisma wrote in The Independent, "For now, the dream of seeing, 'Blackness that is free from trauma... to grant people within the Black community the natural, humane liberty to unapologetically express their happiness without having to constantly be chained to the scars of the past' is promising yet fleeting. The past continues to remain attached to the recurrent reality of the present." She concluded with a reference to Maya Angelou, "Two years on, the truly deserving justice feels like the one figuratively described in Maya Angelou's poem, the Caged Bird, 'longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill'."

How does the reading in this class inform your understanding of events taking place in contemporary American society?

Ms. Angelou describes in vivid detail the preparations for her graduation ceremony. Her mood changes from one of joyful anticipation and pride at her accomplishments to outrage and despair. What happens to cause this change? What is "the ancient tragedy" that was being replayed? How is it resolved by the end of the chapter?