Adrienne Rich - "Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying"

In Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying, Adrienne Rich analyzes women's tendencies to lie, not only to men, but also to each other. She holds an important discussion with the reader about the ways in which women are considered honorable, and the rewards society heaps upon women for lying. Her essay points out how even small aspects of femininity, like painted nails or dyed hair, are ways women "lie with [their] bodies" (4). It also discusses relationships between women and why women lie to each other even when there is no power imbalance, like gender, playing a role in the relationship.

As a US poet and scholar dedicated to the feminist movements occurring in the 1960s and 1970s, Rich's work frequently took on lesbian and feminist undertones, and this essay is no exception. Before graduating from Radcliffe College, her poetry was selected by W.H. Auden for publication in the Yale Younger Poets Series in 1951. Rich openly acknowledged her attraction to women after being married to a man for seventeen years, and later began a relationship with writer Michelle Cliff which lasted until Rich's death.

Women and Honor was published in 1977, a time where feminist movements converged with LGBT movements to create second-wave feminism. This new movement drew attention to issues like sexuality, reproductive rights, and domestic violence, ones which were rarely talked about in feminist spaces of the past. Rich's essay exemplifies this brand of feminism in its approach by openly discussing the dominance of lies in both straight and lesbian relationships. She discusses issues that a lesbian woman has in society, such as being forced to lie about her sexuality or risk being labeled a criminal or a pervert.

Rich reaches out to her female audience by the use of collective pronouns like "we" and "us", which serve to unify her audience. Additionally, she utilizes rhetorical questions such as "As we cease to lie with our bodies, as we cease to take on faith what men have said about us, is a truly womanly idea of honor in the making?" and "Women have been forced to lie, for survival, to men. How to unlearn this among other women?" (4) to engage her readers, asking women the difficult and sometimes unanswerable questions that are often at the center of many feminist debates. Through masterfully crafted depictions of lies and difficult questions aimed at her female audience, Rich accomplishes her purpose truly and accurately and sets up a discussion aimed at women around the world.

Hayley Kiyoko, a prominent icon for LGBT girls, is known for her songs "Girls Like Girls" and "Gravel to Tempo", which discuss the hardships and internalized struggles that come with a relationship between two women.

source: Spotify

Zora Neale Hurston - "How It Feels to Be Colored Me"

In How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Zora Neale Hurston describes her experiences with race growing up in a black town in Eatonville, Florida. Her pride in her blackness is heavily emphasized, despite the challenges and prejudices Hurston realizes she faces because of it. The essay was published in 1928, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, a time where black visionaries freely expressed their talents and received tremendous recognition within their communities. The movement reinforced black pride and strengthened black communities. Hurston was friends with black literary icon Langston Hughes and spent several years collaborating with him on written works. 

Hurston's literary career spanned over thirty years, in which she published four novels, an autobiography, and numerous essays, short stories, and plays. The roots of her racial pride began as a child, growing up in a town where black men governed themselves and black women taught children in the local schoolhouses. She never felt inferior. This sense of self is very prominent in How It Feels to Be Colored Me, as Hurston recounts the day where she "became colored" (1). She reveals to her audience her own pride in her race, describing herself as "not tragically colored" (2). Hurston writes not only to other black people, hoping to instill this sense of pride in them, but also to white people, showing them that she is thriving and happy in her own skin despite the racial barriers they have constructed. 

Hurston alludes to historical events that white people often bring up in discussions of race, such as slavery. She brushes off these comments by saying "I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me... I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep" (2). These allusions contribute to her argument of black power by relating her life to historical issues most people know a great deal about. 

Additionally, Hurston's use of images like the ocean and the jungle connect to her feelings of loving her natural self despite what white society leads her to believe. In calling herself "a dark rock surged upon, overswept by a creamy sea...I remain myself" (3) she is able to show her comfort in knowing that she is sturdy, weathered, and put on the earth for a reason. In contrast, she uses the imagery of her "primitive fury...living in the jungle way" (3) to show her unadulterated pride in being black. These devices blend seamlessly together to help Hurston achieve her purpose. Through historical allusions and vivid imagery, Hurston paints a portrait of what it means to be proud of your race.

17-year-old Amandla Stenberg has given rise to a new generation of young black artists. She is outspoken about the Black Lives Matter movement and writes poetry uplifting and celebrating the achievements of young black girls around the world. Her work shows her pride in her blackness and sense of self.

"Amandla" by Peyton June Leatherman (2015)

Maya Angelou - "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an excerpt from Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography of the same name. It is a vivid portrayal of growing up as a young black girl in the United States at a time when racial prejudices and discrimination were rampant. Her essay highlights her struggles and triumphs in these early years through a series of short anecdotes and vignettes from life in Stamps, Arkansas. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman, putting Angelou in the spotlight as an up-and-coming activist and writer. Her work for civil rights helped to liberate black Americans during an era where freedom and basic human rights did not come easily.

Angelou wrote many of her works to reveal the racial discrimination that pervades nearly every aspect of American society, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is no exception. Although some may argue that Angelou's works are geared toward an African-American audience, the themes included within them are universal and applicable to every member of society.

Angelou uses several rhetorical devices throughout the essay which add to her argument and help her achieve her purpose. Dreams are one of the most notable motifs, used to contrast race and describe one's self-image.  Angelou's use of dreams when describing "the sweet little white girls...everybody's dream" (1) and again when yearning to wake up from her "black ugly dream" (2) describe two very different dreams and images of oneself. As a child, she longed to be admired but found herself continually trapped within the internalized stigmas and preconceived notions of her race.

Angelou's essay is extremely effective in accomplishing her purpose. The stories she describes of growing up in the South are vivid and poignant, serving to place the reader in the setting Angelou grew up in herself. For readers who have not experienced this kind of racism firsthand, Angelou sets up a narrative where discrimination becomes the reality.

We have come a long way from where we were during the Civil Rights Movement, but we have not yet come far enough. The battles we are still fighting today have their roots in the systemic oppression that black people faced with segregation over 60 years ago.

"Emory Douglas's 1976 poster from the Black Panther, remixed for Black Lives Matter" - http://www.walkerart.org/magazine/2015/emory-douglas-black-lives-matter