American History by Michael S. Harper (1970)

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American History talks about the victims of Alabama church bombing, the four black girls that were killed, reminding them of mistreatment throughout American’s history. Michael Harper makes sure that the reader understands what African-American people have been through. [1]

Poetry

Those four black girls blown up

in that Alabama church

remind me of five hundred

middle passage blacks,

in a net, under water

in Charleston harbor

so redcoats wouldn't find them.

Can't find what you can't see

can you? [2]

Author

Michael Steven Harper was born March 18, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. The American poet and English professor at Brown University was influenced by jazz and history. The most important lesson from musicians was phrasing, the authenticity and the transcendence, as well as the spiritual mystery. [3]

Harper’s works concerned with jazz, ancestral kinship, the blues, and the races’ separation in America. He was the first poet laureate of Rhode Islan from 1988 to 1993. His other honor including a Guggenheim fellowship (1976) and the Poetry Society of America’s Frost Medal (2008). [4]

Harper also published more than ten book of poetry, including Dear John, Dear Coltrane (University of Illinois Press, 1970), nominated for the National Book Award. [5]

Racism Issue

"Can't find what you can't see can you?" The phrase asks the reader to look at something unseen, the anger and hatred of Black America. Harper attacks the degenerative sentiment in a very interesting way, the usage of punctuation and the fact the author never mentions the discrimination frankly. Overall, the author can deliver the intention without mentioning hatred while this poem clearly declared against it.

This poem sounds more like a rant as it begins with “Those four black girls blown up” as if the speaker is telling the story of those girls in a casual way. There were no punctuation marks to denote the stop of a thought, rather it is just a continuous stream of consciousness. One punctuation seen in the poem was the usage of italicized which seems to show the situations where the speaker would use the air quotation as a satire expression, the blacks still on their slave ship. This also depicts the value of a black man was on the low place to some whites. The speaker’s point of view seeing the life of a black person is valued much less than it should. The title of the poem, American History suggests the feeling that black people is a part of American history, permanent and real. [6]

References

  1. American History by Michael Harper. Prezi. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  2. Poetry and the Civil Rights Movement. Poetry Foundation. Retrived January 15, 2021
  3. Michael S. Harper. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  4. Tikkanen, Amy. Michael S. Harper American Poet. Britannica. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  5. Jones, Jae. MICHAEL S. HAPER’S POEM-AMERICAN HISTORY. Black Then. July 20, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  6. American History by Michael Harper. English 125. January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2021