Nika Bogoslovsky
1/15/08
Randall
Quote: "But there are others who maintain / The right to cultivate the brain."
Summary: This quote would be from W.E.B's point of view. He disagreed with Booker T. and put an emphasis on education.
Response: This poem show the two sides that both W.E.B. and Booker T. believed in. Booker T. clearly obviously didn’t emphasize studying when there were job opportunities for African American to take and earn money. W. E. B. didn’t agree with Booker T. and thought that it was better to get an education rather than focus on basic skills work. What I found interesting about this poem is that it exists. That may sound weird but so often you learn something in a classroom and it doesn’t go much further than that. Granted this is a poem and we are studying literature, but this issue between Booker T and W.E.B. was clearly something everyone took sides on at the time. I’m sure if I knew more about African American culture I would have known more about this but I just find it interesting that it was a big enough deal for other people to write poetry about it. I also think it’s cool that it is a poem and that had Dudley Randall strongly agreed with Booker T. he wouldn’t have written it.
2 comments:
0/20 OK, Nika, I'm still confused here. First you didn't explain that last sentence. Second, you might have used the date of the poem (1969) as a clue to the historical context -- the high tide of the Civil Rights movement, in the wake of Martin Luther Kings assasination etc. So I'm still not feeling inclined to give you any points here.
P.S. For the record, I've given "0 points" to plenty of other people along the way -- when I didn't feel satisfied with the quality of their journals. Your previous entries are honestly stronger and more thoghtful and more specific than these...and it's my job to point this out (sorry).
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