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White privilege is represented largely in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" after the hurricane ran its course. Black men were the ones who had to sort and bury the bodies. White people that had died were given a coffin, and black people were thrown into a hole. In the book, the black community wasn't a wealthy one, just like during that time period in real life the blacks didn't possess much wealth, if any. They didn't have the opportunities to make money like the white people did. Not until quite recently in the 20th century have blacks been successful in accumulating wealth, which shows firsthand the white privilege.

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Literature used to portray the black race as possessing the same desperate identity. It spread the idea around the American culture that the black race is a race to stay away from; a race that is inferior and full of negatives. And despite the fact that there is more racial equality in the world today, the majority of the white race still feels pity for the black people who grew up in Africa. They picture starving, helpless people in the midst of poverty and war, with no love or care in sight. This illustration of black race has stood its ground in America for centuries, and continues still today. In "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the black life back in the 20th century wasn't told to be like society assumed. It was full of life, marriages, and family. The race still had societal struggles, and treated with inferiority by the white race, but they were far from miserable, and far from the same identity. So many assumptions had been made about a life that was not understood by the white population, and those stereotypes labeled the black race as a race of outcasts.

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Please [contact us](https://www.ted.com/contact) and let us know what happened.

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This poem's point of view is meant to symbolize the life of the black race in the 19th and 20th centuries. The caged bird stands for the black race, and the free bird stands for the white race. The caged bird looked wistfully outside of its cage onto the free bird, just like the black race looked wistfully onto the white race and their white privilege. The idea of this poem connects to the article, "What Is White Privilege, Really?", where it discusses the details of white privilege and the black versus white life. "Caged Bird" represents the black race wanting the white privilege and wishing that they could live freely like the white race does. During this time period, racial equality was not being fought for as strongly as it was in the future years to come. Segregation was a fact of life that the black race mainly chose to accept, despite the amount of disrespect they were ridiculed with.

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Maya Angelou, "Caged Bird" from Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? Copyright © 1983 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House Inc., 1994)

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Caged Bird by Maya Angelou | Poetry Foundation

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Why I, As A Black Man, Attend KKK Rallies

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Why I, As A Black Man, Attend KKK Rallies

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One is not born a racist, one is raised by society to be a racist. The black race did not see themselves as unequal or inferior, until they were thrust into the discrimination by the white race. This directly relates to "Their Eyes Were Watching God" because Janie didn't see herself as unequal. She didn't experience the inequality because she didn't live with the white race. The white race wasn't even introduced to the book until the bodies from the hurricane need to be buried. The speaker of this TED Talk proves the point that ignorance causes fear. When something enters one's environment that is unfamiliar, it breeds fear. Even if it's harmless, such as a black person with a white person. Racism bloomed because ignorance produced fear, and fear produced hatred.

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Why I, as a black man, attend KKK rallies. | Daryl Davis | TEDxNaperville

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Many discuss the concept of being black, but few discuss the concept of being white. When race is discussed, generally the black race comes to mind, and most times the misfortunes it endures. There are multiple white races today, but one is not thought of as superior to another. This connects back to when the Irish immigrants traveled from Ireland due to the potato famine in the 1840s. They were another white race that was completely different from the American citizens, yet they were able to live their lives in the United States without being cast aside or turned into slaves like a lot of the black race was during this time period. They were thought of inferior, but because of the color of their skin, they were still allowed to live normal working lives.

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On Our Own Terms: Race, Class and Gender in the Lives of African American Women

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On Our Own Terms: Race, Class and Gender in the Lives of African American Women

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Discussed in this article is a book written by Leith Mullings, which conveys many truths on the role of African American women when they were oppressed by society. She discusses the myth of black women staying home and caring for the children as their only job. Many had to work to support their families, which is also shown in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", when Janie works out in the cane fields with Tea Cake. She was forced to stay inside when she was married to Joe, and in mislove marriages like those, that was often the case. But, in a true family life, like Janie's life with Teacake, she left the house and was able to provide for herself and him. Black women were often pitied for being stuck with no important role, as discussed in "The Danger of A Single Story", but the truth is, despite the discrimination, they often did have jobs that could be described to be just as essential as the male's.

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20th Century Black Women's Struggle for Empowerment in a White Supremacist Educational System

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20th Century Black Women's Struggle for Empowerment in a White Supremacist Educational System

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Black women were not given a voice in the early 20th century. They were expected to do as they were told, and not to have an opinion of their own. Just like Janie & Joe's marriage in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", where Janie was expected to sit pretty and do as Joe told her to in their marriage. She wasn't allowed to make her own decisions or stand up for herself. Both black men and black women experienced discrimination, but they experienced it in different ways. Women were oppressed to be objects, while men had to fight against the white race to be able to make a living for their family. Many even had to fight to just stay alive.

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A history of black women not having a voice exists; a history of black men taking control. Black women have been and still are at risk for 🤬, and many times it's by a black man, not a white. Those women can't stand up for themselves,  and they can't receive justice. Not possessing a voice is a common motif for the black race, especially in the early 20th century. Those women not only couldn't protect themselves, but they also weren't allowed to live their life how they wanted to. In "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie is "held hostage" in her first two marriages. She is stuck in the idea of a marriage that her grandmother, Nanny, wanted her to have, which was that marriage revolved around Janie not having an opinion on how she should live. Logan and Joe held control over her, and she was stuck in someone else's grasp until she met Tea Cake. This relates back to real life for many black women can't and couldn't make their own decisions, and sometimes, that was shown through 🤬.

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Blurring the Lines of Traditional Gender Roles: Beliefs of African American Women

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Blurring the Lines of Traditional Gender Roles: Beliefs of African American Women

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African American women had been raised in the past to be independent in a few ways, but vulnerable and dependent in most others. They were supposed to rely on their husbands, just as "In Their Eyes Were Watching God", Nanny wanted Janie to rely on her husband in marriage. Janie was told to marry someone who would care for her, but not necessarily care about her. She wasn't supposed to be able to live for herself. Black women tended to work in their households and work for their husbands. Some black men, such as Joe in his relationship with Janie, believed that the wife was only there to benefit them. Black women also dealt with many other hardships in their marriages, such as physical abuse, like when Joe slapped Janie because she tried to be her own person. They also often times had to endure demoralization, such as when Joe made Janie hide her hair because it was "his" only.

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History of Racial Injustice: Sexual Exploitation of Black Women

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History of Racial Injustice: Sexual Exploitation of Black Women

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Objectifying black women was a common theme in the early 1900s. They were given less rights than black men, and the white race. They were unable to speak out against any male who did them wrong, much unlike women today. Black women were constantly under the threat of assault, both sexual and physical. As shown in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", and as mentioned in other analyses, Janie was inferior to Joe, and he treated her as though she was a merely an object on display. And when she tried to stand up for herself, Joe slapped her, and continued to treat her like a doll. Men were rarely chastised for treating black women however they wanted to. The female body was treated as their own.

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In 1855, a 19-year-old enslaved black woman named Celia killed the white man who owned her and was trying to rape her. Missouri law allowed a woman to use force when in "imminent danger of forced sexual intercourse," but the judge ruled an enslaved woman had no right to refuse her "master." Celia was convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and hanged on December 21, 1855.

The legal and social double standard that allowed white men to commit sexual violence against black women with impunity, while the most baseless fear of sexual contact between a black man and white woman resulted in deadly violence, continued after emancipation. Nearly one in four black people lynched from 1877 to 1945 were accused of improper contact with a white woman.

Later, capital punishment for rape also was reserved for black defendants with white victims. In Virginia, all 58 people executed for rape between 1908 and 1963 were black men, although 1000 white men were convicted of rape in that period. In 1957, a Mississippi jury acquitted the white men who confessed to raping 16-year-old Annette Butler because they believed death was too harsh for raping a black girl.

For generations of black women, racial terror included the constant threat of sexual assault. Black women's resistance to racialized sexual exploitation helped birth the activism that fueled the civil rights movement. A decade before the Montgomery bus boycott, Rosa Parks led a NAACP campaign to protest an all-white jury's refusal to indict six white men who raped Recy Taylor in Abbeville, Alabama, in 1945.

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History of Racial Injustice: Sexual Exploitation of Black Women

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In 1855, a 19-year-old enslaved black woman named Celia killed the white man who owned her and was trying to rape her. Missouri law allowed a woman to use force when in "imminent danger of forced sexual intercourse," but the judge ruled an enslaved woman had no right to refuse her "master."