Negro Writing

Negro writing has varied greatly throughout the times. Richard Wright and Alain Locke have introduced us to three of these negroes and the basis of their writing . They are the old negro , the new negro of the harlem renaissance and the modern negro . the old negro is that which struggled with oppression hence most of his pieces were geared toward their oppressors and their feelings on the matter , The new negro is a descendant of the old negro however their focus is inward on self and heritage often times finding themselves on a journey to discover who they are and their correlation to Africa . Lastly is the modern negro whose sole focus is on making a name for  themselves as a person not a negro .

Old negro writings most common themes were those of freedom and overcoming hardships to be treated as a human being rather than subhuman.Due to the fact that the only book they had to read was the bible many of their writings were in fact religion based. It was rare that their writings focused on any form of self expression instead it focused on white america and their feelings towards them , disdain and of course pleas for freedom . These writings  were often used as a tool to show intelligence they possessed and that they too were capable of reading and writing two things they were denied .Examples of this can be found in writers such as Phyllis Wheatley , Frederick Douglass  and even Carter G Woodson. Phyllis Wheatley was one of the first african americans to be recognized for her literary works and although her works did a great job of displaying her intelligence there was very little self expression in her poems instead following a very classic approach . Frederick Douglass works main topic was always the abolishing of slavery and the wish for fair treatment for negroes . Woodson’s works like “the miseducation of the negro focused on how oppression has shaped the intelligence and education of the negro and lead to a form of self history loathing in which negroes...