Sympathy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Reflection of the African America

Sympathy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar A Reflection of the African Americans oppose for FreedomI know what the caged poultry feels, alas When the sun is glossy on the upland slopes When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass When the first bud sings and the first bud opes, And the faint-hearted perfume from its chalice steals-- I know what the caged bird feels Sympathy was scripted by Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1899, right at the end of the 19th Century. It is a poem about the caged bird who wants to be free and tries, tries and tries over again to break out of its cage. Each time, it is unable to break free and instead only injures itself, adding to injuries left over from past leads. Dunbar depicts the birds desperate and unsuccessful try for freedom and images of nature, that beckon outside(a). The first paragraph touches on the situation that non-white muckle faced at the turn of the century. Black people ahd b elatedly been freed as slaves, but there was still no racial correspondity. The self-governing Court had recently upheld Plessy vs. Ferguson, which allowed separate but equal. In reality, it gave the government and worry license to discriminate against black people. In the 1890s, well-nigh blacks were reduced to place poorly paid jobs, or being servants in peoples homes. They were barred from most educational and economic opportunities enjoyed by whites. Dunbar uses the analogy of the caged bird and nature outside to the situation that black people faced in the 1890s. Blacks had been emancipated in 1863, but they did not achieve equality with white people for some other century. Black people did not have the same opportunities as whites... ...e caged bird sings a pretty tune, not because it is happy with its situation, or out of a desire to please its owner, but to alert other birds to its plight and as well to try to keep depression from overcoming it. Its only l ifeline was its singing. During slavery, black people often sung, not because they loved being slaves, but because they were singing escape codes to other slaves and to hang on mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, that they would one day be objurgate free. Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote this poem to illustrate the station in life for so many African Americans. It is clear that African Americans were caged in society at the turn of the century and wanted desperately to be seen as equal to whites. However, at the time this poem was written, black people had little apply of achieving that goal. That was a hypocrisy in the Land of the Free.