The Color Purple - Relates To The Movements Of The 1980's
Uploaded by Gotskillz on Jul 04, 2004
"The Color Purple" As It Relates To The Movements Of The 1980’s
Alice Walker’s novel, “The Color Purple” is a prime example of the combination of several very visible movements that are as relevant today as they were fifteen years ago when the novel was published. The first movement involves a rise in African-American literature. This is not to say simply literature written by African-Americans, but mainstream literature that examines the individual lives of African-Americans. The second movement is women’s literature. Again, this is not simply literature written by women, but a close up view of the hardships women must endure. The other movements involve a myriad of struggles against discrimination, struggles for equality among women, African-Americans, and minorities everywhere.
African-American women had only recently become visible members of the mainstream literary world. Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, and a handful of others along with Alice Walker paved the way for African-American women in this area. Their works show the hardships of women and African-Americans in a predominantly modern-era setting. They focus in on key issues for blacks such as equality in social and employment situations; issues for women, such as relationships, abuse, and equality; and a combination of the two, bringing out the worst hardships present in both.
The novel was published in 1982, the 80’s represent a very volatile time in America for both African-Americans and women.
Most of the key ideological battles of the era were fought in the United States Supreme Court.
In 1978 the case of The Regents Of The University Of California versus Bakke was taken to the U. S. Supreme Court. The case was over the university’s use of “quotas” for the admission of students from certain minority groups. The Supreme Court ruled that the use of quotas in such a way that reverse discrimination is created was unconstitutional. However, they stated that the “aggressive recruiting” of minority students was within the bounds of the Constitution 163). Although it occurred twelve years before the publishing of “The Color Purple,” the case of Brandenburg versus Ohio was important to African-Americans because the Supreme Court used the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Due Process” clause to grant the Ku Klux Klan the right to demonstrate in any public area and openly advocate racist ideals. These cases represent attempts at achieving equality for African-American’s and putting an end to mindless racism.
For women during the time, the question was of...