Joy Jordan-Lake's Blue Hole Back Home

The Tulsa Race Riot was the destruction of Black Wall Street in 1921, which was caused by an allegation of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It lasted from May 31st to June 1st. The Tulsa Race Riot caused plenty of damage from “dozens of deaths [and] hundreds of injuries” to the destruction of Black Wall Street leading to unemployment of the black community (Hoberock n. pag.). An estimated property loss was over $2.3 million. This was an important event in our Nation’s history because “it teaches how far hatred [and violence] can go” (Hoberock n. pag.).

The shock of the explosion becomes the first of many incidents against the black community that Davis experiences, impacting her own prejudices against white people, “White people’s hatred of us was neither natural nor eternal. She knew that whenever I answered the telephone and called to her, ‘Mommy, a white lady wants to talk to you,’ I was doing more than describing than the curious drawl. Every time I said ‘white lady’ or ‘white man’ anger clung to my words” (Davis 79). Davis’ experiences with the bombing of a member of her local community changed her view of white people and moved her towards her eventual activism and work to help other black people in her community. Anger clings to Davis as she continues to see how the world seems to be stacked against her, just because of the color of her skin, and the institutions she once followed seem to be doing less to protect her rights, naturally leading to the exploration of new ideas and movements to find community and

How do you describe the characteristics and requirements of a real “home”? In the Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, the outspoken and bold character known as Leah Price experiences a major rift between her family and former American homelife that leads her to transfer her obsessions over acceptance by her father to the conflict within the Congo and her lover, Anatole. Leah’s failure to receive the approval from her father through religious excellence and prestige along with the death of her youngest sister, Ruth May, led her to resent the ideals and oppressive hand that her father had implemented since her birth. Anatole’s evident acceptance and admiration of Leah’s individuality allowed Leah to feel fulfilled in her need for acceptance by a

We typically do not give much thought to what we call “home”. We perceive home as somewhere we go after a long day, somewhere we can enjoy the simpler pleasures in life away from the restlessness of work. However in The Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac, it challenges our general notion of home for an unorthodox one—a notion that a home goes outside of comfort zones, rather than inside them. At face value, the Keys have everything: it is rich, secure, and organized. But by glimpsing outside its walls, we discover that those qualities can bring more problems than we see at first glance.

No Place Like Home is a travel account based on historical research. Here Younge gives a new perception on race relations in America. In this book Younge through his conversation with civil rights activists tries to explore the history. He visits schools, universities, military establishment and tracks long lost cousins. It is also a journey towards self discovery.

Stone, Nic. Dear Martin. N.p.: Crown, 2017. Print.

These problems make it even more demanding for immigrants to feel comfortable. One of my favorite authors writes about cultural chasms in Immigrant Indian American generations. In NPR’s morning edition interview with Jhumpa Lahiri, she discusses “the

“The KKK had started recruiting in Detroit in 1921, and since then, their poison had seeped into almost every corner of the city” (24).2 Arc of Justice takes place in an interesting time in Detroit’s history as the 1924 mayoral election was underway2. With an increasing number of Ku Klux Klan members entering the city, there would be a high chance one of its members: Charles Bowles would win the election.4 However, in an effort to battle the political inequality of African Americans in Detroit, Ossain Sweet’s case was supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)2. Ossain Sweet’s case was set to be a murder trial, but now it was about civil rights of African Americans2. Since Dr. Sweet won the case, John Smith was re-elected as mayor of Detroit and the Klan’s extremism was deplored. The newly founded NAACP continued to fight for political power for African Americans.

Tn the year 1954, Anne Braden and her husband, Carl Braden purchased a house in an all-white neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. However, they purchased the house not for themselves, but for an African American couple, Charlotte and Andrew Wade. And this turns into “Anne Braden’s account of what this act of friendship precipitated -- mob violence against the Wades, the bombing of their house, and a prison term for sedition for Carl Braden” (p. ix). The book goes through chronologically to all the effects that occurred from 1954 on, including, Anne’s husband, Carl’s, sparked idea to purchase the house all the way to the final outcomes and asking the writer if she could, would she do it again.

In the essay “Two Ways to Belong in America,” from 50 essays, Bharati Mukherjee contrasts the different views of the United States from two Indian sisters. The author distinguishes her American lifestyle to her sister’s traditional Indian lifestyle. Both sisters grew up in Calcutta, India, moved to America in search of education and work. Bharati adjusts to the American society very quickly, where her sister Mira clings to her Indian traditions more strongly. Despite both sisters living in America, only Bharati is an American citizen, while her sister Mira is not.

Frequently, we just pass by people and look down on them since they have no home; but who is to say they don’t have a home? Home is not the house you live in or the country you belong to. It is a place that incites certain feelings and those feeling are what makes a place home. The people on the streets with no “home” may simply find that anywhere in the world is where they call home. Home has two specific set of values that make it more than just a place which are privacy, and safety.

An Essay on Dinaw Mengestu’s Essay “Home at Last” In a globalized world where cultures mix and clash across oceans and borders, the true meaning of home has become a lot more unclear, which has resulted in feelings of confusion and discord among the people with roots all across the world. Dinaw Mengestu deals with these feelings in his essay “Home at Last”, which was published in the anthology Brooklyn Was Mine in 2008. This essay will analyze Mengestu’s essay “Home at Last” with focus on how Mengestu explores the concept of home and experiences loneliness and the structure of the essay.

We’re all separated, living different lives, but we’re good and stable. Others just know the outcome of how my family is right now while a few know the whole story. My home has so many memories I don’t want to remember, but it has shaped who I am today, especially being separated from my little brother and the events leading up to it. In Joan Didion, “On Going Home”, the author talks about how difficult it is going back home to her family in the Central Valley of California and how uneasy it gets going back.

Wat justice is found in the murder of a 12-year-old boy, mistakenly targeted, because he had a BB gun in his hands? How can a mother and her child walk through the enraged streets of Missouri, Ferguson when a body lays soaked in blood for hours? The deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown, respectfully, left behind a nasty burn that is still slowly healing for the Black Community. The tragic deaths seemingly blocked what many African Americans were so thirsty for – a mark of progress.

A true sense of belonging can be found in different circumstances for different people, due to the tortuous and intellectual nature of the concept of belonging. An individual finds their true place in the world and an authentic sense of belonging in various ways due to personal values, needs and desires. Generally, the strongest sense of belonging for an individual is through relationships, and through the vast concept of nature is what fulfils an individuals needs of social interaction and enhance others involved. In contrast, a result in a negative outcome of isolation and disaffection can be determined by the infirm conventional model of this kind of experience/belonging. To avoid these relationships, these individuals may attain the same