FENCES
 THE NEGRO LEAGUES The Negro Leagues were professional baseball teams comprising of African Americans. Because blacks were not accepted into Major and Minor League teams, they formed their own teams. This began since the 1880s. Troy Maxson in Fences was a member of the Negro leagues because he could not play in white teams. This made him stop his son Cory from playing football. He thought that "the white man ain't gonna let him get nowhere with that football." (Fences, pg. 8) To learn more about the History of the Negro Leagues, click here. (Thanks, Bobbie!) |
 POETRY African American Poetry was influenced by their difficult lives during the era of racism and segregation. Thus, poets like Sterling Brown often wrote pessimistic poetry about strong characters that resisted the oppression of racism. Click here to read Brown's "Southern Road." August Wilson was influenced by Langston Hughes, a renowned African American poet and author. Click here to read "Freedom's Plow" by Langston Hughes. |
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 BOBBIE FEELS SO BLUE The Blues are a genre of music created by African Americans from spirituals, work songs, hollers and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blues are a mix of jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock n' roll. The blues inspired many of August Wilson's plays, for example, Fences. Here is a sample of blues music. |
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