Relations of the Text to Today

Racism is an age-old problem in America. For centuries there has always been a tough tension between the dominant Western White culture and the African American culture. Richard Wright's Black Boy and Ralph Ellison's "Richard Wright's Blues" talk about racism as a focal point.

Today, there is a huge misconception that racism is gone; that we have made it to the promised land of equality. It's a bogus idea to support and believe, however. There has been extremely significant progress in the past few decades as far as public acceptance and industrial racism goes, but it would be foolish and ignorant to believe that because there is progress it means America has banished racism.

Ellison wrote, "[There is an] attitude which compels Whites to impute to Negroes sentiments, attitudes and insights which, as a group living under certain definite social conditions, Negroes could not humanly possess," (1543). In other words, because of the Negro's origin, Whites will assign stereotypical attributes to the whole Negro race. This was a problem back in the 1940's when the essay was written, but it is also relevant to society today. Even today, society inadvertently places black in a category that puts blacks a place below whites. Stereotypes are applied to almost everybody within the black community when that is not warranted at all.

The battle against racism has made much progress over the years, but it is still entirely an issue. People like to overlook the fact that racism is still alive and well because of the progress that has been made. African Americans in inner cities are stopped and harassed every single day by police officers who conduct "random" stop-and-frisks. The same African American can go to the same school as whites, drink from the same water fountain and sit where ever he pleases on public transportation, but he still can't help but to think if he were white, would he have been harassed this day?

The case of Treyvon Martin is one that is very well-known: a weaponless black boy walking home at night gets shot and killed by a white man who assumed he was doing no good. The simple fact that this man got off innocent implies that racism is not as absent on an institutional level as one may think.

America has come a long way, however we still have a very long way to go. People tend to trick themselves into thinking that racism is gone because we have come far from slavery and legal segregation, but none of that makes a difference to the individuals whom deal with the constant prejudice every day.

text's significance

Richard Wright wrote a protest novel to try and bring attention to the conditions he and other African Americans were raised in. By definition of "protest literature", Wright intended to bring about a social change through his writing. Unfortunately, critics generally did not view the piece as artistic because they did not understand it.

The delivery of Wright's message was somewhat skewed by his attempt at a modernistic piece of protest literature (modernistic referring to the movement away from traditional artistic or literary credentials). Since the critics were not used to this approach, they were not keen to the actual focal points he was trying to convey.

Ellison wrote "Richard Wright's Blues" as a critical piece. However he was not critiquing it as much as he was explaining in a straight forward manner the point that Wright was trying to convey. In this way, reading "Richard Wright's Blues" would lead to a more in depth insight to Wright's Black Boy; Ellison allowed the messages to be understood by mostly anybody.

What Ellison did not support, however, was the violence that Wright had gotten into (according to Black Boy). As a product of his childhood and community, Wright grew up resorting to violence quite often. Ellison believed that this was an unnecessary route to take. He offered an alternate route: blues music. He advocated the idea that blues is so filled with cultural importance and soul, engulfing one's emotions into the rhythms of the music was a much healthier way to process anger and other emotions.

Shelby Steele analyzed Ellison's relationship to the blues music in an essay. She put forth the idea that, "by singing of pain and simultaneously laughing at it, one faces their pain in such a way that it is…simply brought under control and deprived of its demoralizing power over the individual, (1976). It is in this way that Ellison appreciates the blues music and wanted to convey in his essay. Instead of dwelling on the anger and letting it build up and taint one's soul with negativity, one could immerse one's self in the melodies of the music and let the negativity slip away.

Ellison articulated this idea because he wanted to continue the idea of Wright's protest literature with one of his own, only added a more productive outlet. He wanted to bring about the change Wright was trying to, only offered an alternative route for emotional outlets.

team's perceptions

Team Oreos' perception is that Ralph Ellison supports Richard Wright's autobiographical protest novel Black Boy in "Richard Wright's Blues."  Within "Richard Wright's Blues," Ellison takes Wright's general message from Black Boy and articulates it in a straight-forward manner. He also defended Wright against critics by explaining Wright's use of modernism.

By taking Wright's general message from Black Boy and articulating it in a straight-forward manner, it helps readers to understand the autobiographical protest novel better.  It also gives readers the ability to see Wright's work in a whole new light. Even if readers were not to actually read Black Boy for themselves, they could gather an understanding of the autobiographical protest novel thanks to Ellison's essay.

For example, we learn in "Richard Wright's Blues" that Black Boy tells Wright's life story.  Within Wright's life he dealt with family issues and racism.  Telling his own life story, Wright revealed his version of the Negro experience in order for himself to understand it as well as for others to do the same.

According to some critics, Black Boy wasn't appealing because it did not weave a beautiful story.  Since it did not weave a beautiful story in their minds, these critics refused to view it as art. As stated by Ellison, "while it's true that Black Boy presents an almost unrelieved pictures of personality corrupted by a brutal environment, it also presents those fresh, human responses brought to its world by a sensitive child" (Ellison 1540). 

Ellison supported Wright's work by defending his actions.  He did this mentioning Wright's home environment. "Whatever else the environment contained, it had as little chance of prevailing against the overwhelming weight of the child's unpleasant experiences as Beethoven's Quartets would have of destroying the stench of a Nazi prison"  (1541). Even if Wright’s autobiographical novel involved something as beautiful as Beethoven’s music, it still could not construct the hardships that some African Americans had to overcome into charming situations.

Ellison approved of Wright's autobiographical protest novel.  He did not only supported Black Boy but defended it.  Ellison helped to get Wright's message across.

annotated bibliography

Boyd, Melba Joyce. "Red, White, and the Blues: Translating the Existentialism in Richard Wright's Fiction into Film." Black Scholar. March 2009, Vol. 39. 7 March 2014. 

Butler, Robert. The Critical Response to Ralph Ellison. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. Print.
Former reviews and essays as well as original material are used to develop a critical response to Ralph Ellison’s works.  The volume mostly focuses on Invisible Man.  However, it also includes critics to Ellison’s short fiction and nonfiction works.  The critical response emphasizes Ellison’s life and career. Academic.

Ellison, Ralph. "Richard Wright's Blues." The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Eds. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 2004. 1538-1548. Print.
Primary Source.

Harris, Trudier. “African American Protest Poetry.” Freedom’s Story, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. Web. 22 April 2014

Harris defines what African American protest poetry is.  Within this online article, he answers some of the questions that inspired African American protest poetry.  Some of the protest poetry he discusses occurred during the Jim Crow era as well as during slavery.  The article gives an insight to African American protest poetry. Understanding exactly what protest literature entails allows readers a deeper insight to the execution of "Richard Wright's Blues." Academic.

Rampersad, Arnold. "Ralph Ellison." ComentaryMagazine.com. The Commentary. 1 October 2007. Web. 6 April 2014.
The author discusses the early life of Ralph Ellison. It goes over his rise to fame including his trials and errors. The article mentions many of his works including Invisible Man. Specifically, Rampersad mentions Ellison's early bond with music, having worked very hard (only to inevitably give up) towards a career as a composer of classical music. This is evidence that Ellison has always had a special relationship with music as a whole. Mainstream.

Rutledge, Gregory. "The "Wonder" Behind the Great-Race-Blue(s) Debate: Wright's Eco-Criticism, Ellison's Blues, and the Dust Bowl." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews. 2011. 24, 255-265. 27 April 2014.
Gregory Rutledge describes an extremely important outcome of "Richard Wright's Blues," which was Ellison's inadvertent definition of the blues as an entity. He discusses the particular difference in Ellison's perception of the blues than most others': as "people who transcend the existential burdens of race, class, and so on," (257). The importance of this concept is crucial in understanding the reasons Ellison had to forward the blues as a coping mechanism as much as he did. Academic.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Ralph Ellison." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2014

Shmoop provides information on Ralph Ellison.  It starts off with a biography of Ellison and then is followed by facts about him. The website also contains a timeline on his life and some of his most famous quotes. Mainstream.

Smith, Mychal D. "Yes, American Has Gotten Better About Racism, but It Really Doesn't Matter." TheNation.com. The Nation, 22 November 2013. Web. 27 April 2014.
The author of this article argues that America has not reached racist-free yet. It emphasizes that America has made a lot of progress, but she has a long way to go still. People like to overlook the fact that progress is not the same thing as overcoming. It was easy to make the connection between "Richard Wright's Blues" and the on-going contemporary event of racism considering much of Ellison's essay compared the negative relationship between the white and black races. Mainstream.

Steele, Shelby.  “Ralph Ellison’s Blues.”  Journal of Black Studies, 7.2 (1976):  151-168.  Print.

Steele uses this entire essay to discuss Ellison's relationship with the blues. She provides a detailed insight to Ellison's perspective of the music, helping readers to understand the deep spiritual connection he had with it. This source allows for clear and in depth understanding of the cultural, spiritual and existential aspects of blues music. Understanding this clearly invokes an appreciation of Ellison's points of view. Academic.

primary source

Ellison, Ralph.  “Richard Wright’s Blues.”  The Norton Anthology of African American

Literature. Eds. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay.  New York: Norton,

2004.  1538-1548.  Print.

 Richard Wright (left) and Ralph Ellison (right)