Interracial Figures of the American Renaissance Essay

Interracial Figures of the American Renaissance This essay examines Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs. The American Renaissance marks a period of social injustice and the fight of the minority to bring about social change. Women and African-Americans (who were freed or escaped from slavery) begin to gain a voice through literacy, and use that voice to start the movement to abolish slavery and gain women rights. The development of literacy makes it impossible to ignore women and African-Americans because their writing provides a permanent record of the horrors of slavery and injustice of oppressing the minority groups. Furthermore, the gain in literacy by these groups makes†¦show more content†¦The interracial figures of the American Renaissance are Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs. In James Fenimore Cooperà ¢s novel, The Last of the Mohicans, Cora represents the intermingling of the races and the complexity that occurs due to her interracial heritage. Her father, Colonel Munro, describes Coraà ¢s identity to Duncan in the following lines: There it was my lot to form a connexion with one who in a time became my wife, and the mother of Cora. She was the daughter of a gentleman of those isles, by a lady, whose misfortune it was, if you will ·to be descended, remotely from that unfortunate class, who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants of a luxurious people! (Cooper 159) These lines reveal the secret behind Coraà ¢s true heritage. Albeit Cooper addresses the issue of interracial relations, he still maintains an element of romanticism in that Coraà ¢s mother comes from a foreign land and not a slave on a plantation that Colonel Munro owned. The context this conversation occurs in provides insight into the complications involved in Coraà ¢s ethnicity. Colonel Munro reveals Coraà ¢s race after Duncan has asked for her younger, half-sister Aliceà ¢s hand in marriage. Munro assumes that Duncan chooses Alice over Cora because he has figured out that Cora is of mixed blood. In response to what Munro perceives as prejudice he says, [a]nd you cast it onShow MoreRelatedEssay on Langston Hughes and Jesse B. Simple1074 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"Lansgton Hughes and Jesse B. Semple† In the early 1940s an African American writer by the name of Langston Hughes, who flourished during the Harlem Renaissance in New York, had established a character in his short story writings named Jesse B. Semple. Through these short stories he used this character to represent the black man of his times. However the question remains, is Jesse B. Semple an accurate representation of the black man of 1940s? This question can best be answered by looking at theRead MoreLangston Hughes and Jesse B. Simple1109 Words   |  5 PagesLansgton Hughes and Jesse B. 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