James Baldwin: The Stranger in the Village & Maya Angelou: Graduation

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James Baldwin’s The Stranger in the Village and Maya Angelou’s Graduation
The main point that is passed through to the audience by the authors of the two stories is that despite America making many steps towards unifying its people regardless of color, the occurrence of the past where black people seemed to be marginalized and isolated appears to be a continuous. In his final statement, Baldwin illustrates that, “people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them” (Baldwin, 64). So they cannot accept that Black Americans are permanent citizens of the country today. This forms the main argument from Baldwin’s argument in his story, where he was marginalized as he was the only black person in the village. Therefore, his marginalization during this time could be understood as young children growing up saw him as the only black person in the world.
On the other hand, Angelou highlights the racism that exists in training institutions where white students were entitled to enjoy a variety of courses. In contrast, black students could only study language courses and she believes that the situation made the white kids superior as she says, "the white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos (Angelou, 80). Angelou also in her piece highlights how literary works from black people helped in giving the young people like her hope during the time. This argument by Angelou therefore highlights the importance of black artists during the time that made them stronger regardless of the racism that they were facing in the hands of majority of the white racists who they had to interact with in their learning institutions.
Baldwin's story appears to be more attractive because it highlights how people can engage in racist acts without knowing. A perfect example is how the young children referred to him as negro wi...