The culture of the American South has a rather dubious legacy in regard to the relationship toward African American people. Due to the history of racism and persecutions of African Americans during the times of slavery and racial discrimination, the South represents a rather controversial location for most African American writers. The complex nature of the relationships between African American authors and the American South as the heart of the U.S. traditions and simultaneously the source of the racist ideology that led to the discriminatory attitudes and slavery in the first place, the South is often portrayed with a combination of wistfulness and pain in African American literature.
The depiction of the American South as the core source of American traditions and the place where the cultural elements of the American narrative originate from, the South is described in the stories of African American writers rather vividly. For example, Fredrick Douglas portrays the South as the place that has a dark and troubling legacy of slavery and racism. The autobiographic style of the narrative and the simple layout, with few attempts at embellishing the narrative, make the story extremely powerful and leave an honestly depressing feeling. The author does not attempt at adding artistic elements to the story to emphasize particular aspects of his life but, instead, uses a rather plain language adds the impression of complete honesty and a clear need to tell his story in the way that will lead to the complete understanding between the narrator and the reader. As a result, the narrative gains a very realistic tone, with the descriptions of injustice and racism, which were common in the U.S. at the time, all the more tragic. For instance, the simple line “My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant” speaks of the true tragedy in an immediately understandable way (Douglas 242). Thus, Douglas manages to capture the dark legacy of the American South quite vividly in his novel.
However, the other side of the American South as the place where racial prejudices and related issues were born is also reflected in African American writers’ books. For instance, rendering the painful legacy of slavery that is baked into a very narrative of the African American culture in the South, Walker addresses the problem of racism that African American people face in the South. These ideas ring powerfully in her words: “I want no mobs to wrench me from my southern rest; no/forms to take me in the night and burn my shack/and make for me a nightmare full of oil and flame” (Walker 260). However, Walker simultaneously acknowledges the fragile beauty of the southern landscape and the inspirational environment that invites her to delve into a nostalgic reminiscence of her youth: “I want my body bathed again by southern suns, my soul/reclaimed again from southern land” (Walker 260). Therefore, the dal nature of the South as the place where African American culture and spirituality thrived amidst racism and prejudices is emphasized outstandingly.
A similar sentiment is expressed in Hurston’s works, where the problematic aspects of the South are portrayed in all their unabashed plainness and simplicity. However, unlike Walker, who admits that there is a poetic charm to the Southern landscape, Hurston outlines the social struggle in which African Americans had to participate in order to fight for their rights, namely, the right to be seen as equal human beings. Hurston portrays the South as the environment that is extremely hostile to change. Although Hurston acknowledges the importance of traditions in her writing, she also emphasizes what toll they have on African American women: “Wild cane on the other side of the road hiding the rest of the world. People wild too” (Hurston 306). Thus, Hurston’s work shows that the reality of the South has a very strong meaning for African Americans, namely, African American women. Outlining the problematic elements of the unwillingness to change and welcome a shift in the relationship dynamics, Hurston depicts the struggles of African American women vividly and accurately. However, the author simultaneously depicts the lightheartedness o the Southern environment, pointing to the fact that the “No matter how rough it was, people seldom got mad, because everything as done for a laugh” (Hurston 310). Thus, the author depicts the controversial and complex nature of the South perfectly.
Although the works of Hurston, Douglas, and Walker and their approaches to describing the South are strikingly different, ranging from lighthearted wistfulness to painful memories of racial injustice, the similarities between these portrayals are striking. Namely, the descriptions incorporate the idea of resistance to change and the focus on traditions, which may appear to be endearing when it comes to life values an family relations, as portrayed in Walker’s poems, yet result in drastic injustice when it comes to promoting social change, as Hurston’s and Douglas’s works show. Representing the South in all its pride and focus on traditions, each of the authors contributes to building the legacy of the African American culture and life in the South.
Works Cited
Douglas, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.” The Black Literary Voice in America. Bergen Community College, pp. 241-259.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The Black Literary Voice in America. Bergen Community College, pp. 306-311.
Walker, Margaret. “Southern Song.” The Black Literary Voice in America. Bergen Community College, p. 260.