Perseverance: The Continuous Push For Freedom
Perseverance has been an overlying theme since the dawn of African American literature. From the trials of Frederick Douglas and the poetry of Langston Hughes, to the hip hop rap styles of Jay-Z. Perseverance has been a major aspect of African American geographical literature. We will be discussing and analyzing writings of such artist as Jay-Z, Langston Hughes, and Frederick Douglas. We will explain how their pieces relate to Perseverance and just how they make these relations.

1.)Mother To Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.


2.)The Lesson

"Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think? ...We start down the block and she gets ahead which is O.K. by me cause I'm going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.”3.)Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z

“Yeah, im out that Brooklyn, no wi'm down in Tribeca Right next to DeNiro, but i'll be hood forever...Me I'm out that Bed-Stuy, home of that boy biggie, Now I live on Billboard and I brought up my boys with me.”4.)The Narrative life of Frederick Douglas

“I now had three weeks during which to prepare for my journey...Upon receiving this certificate, and a five-dollar bill from Mr. Ruggles, I shouldered one part of our baggage, and Anna took up the other, and we set out forthwith to take passage on board of the steamboat John W. Richmond for Newport, on our way to New Bedford ... We now began to feel a degree of safety, and to prepare ourselves for the duties and responsibilities of a life of freedom...I took right hold of the cause. I could do but little; but what I could, I did with a joyful heart(5.)Equal opportunity, Walter Mosley

“'I been down there ev'ry day for five days. An ev'ry day I go in there I ask'em if they got my okay from the head office yet.'  ' An' what they say about that?'  'Well, the first day that boy, that anton crier, just said no. So I left. Next day he told me that I had to leave. But I said that I wanted to talk to his boss. She come down an' tell me that she done already said how I an't work there if I don't have no phone.'... 'I told'em... I was gonna come back ev'ryday till I get some kinda answer.' ”



6.)Sonny's Blues, James Baldwin

“ For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness...Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song “