The Effects of Slavery Depicted in A New Song by Langston...

Slavery in America began in 1607. Blacks and a small percentage of whites were owned by people whom were called masters. The majority of slaves were involved with the responsibility of field work and picked such things as cotton, sugar, crops, etc. The blacks that were not slaves had only a limited amount of rights which included their own water fountain and the backseat of the bus. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, a movement to end slavery was in progress. By 1865, President Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation and the Land of the free had began. A New Song by Langston Hughes and Fences by August Wilson were both based on black characters. Both the poem and the play base their theme on their inherited history and the†¦show more content†¦August Wilson’s writing relates to Langston Hughes because he separates his race from the whites also. For example, in Act One, Scene One, Troy spins a long tale about his fight for several days with the Devil. The story of the Devil endears Troy to audiences early on by revealing his capability to imagine and believe in the absurd. Troy turns a white salesman into a Devil. Troy calls a man the Devil who tried to sell Troy furniture in exchange for monthly payments by mail. Because devils normally portray evil, it is evident that Troy thinks Whites are evil. Again, Troy is linking his past to his present. The fact that he was treated badly in earlier years by whites, makes him believe that all whites are the same. At the end of the poem the narrator illustrates the end of slavery with examples such as â€Å"Revolt! Arise!† and â€Å"The past is done!† This is an indication that the blacks rebelled against the whites. The blacks are free. The reader can insinuate that slavery is over. In conclusion, The Civil Rights Movement inspired authors around America to speak out about slavery. Although the play and the poem were based on two different characters, they both related in such ways that taught readers a little lesson on history. A New Song took experiences of a slave and molded it into a short poem. Fences ,explained in more modern day, was