In Search Of Our Mothers Garden By Alice Walker
Alice Walker is a Black female artist who wrote In Search of Our Mothers’ Garden to help encourage more Black female artists to come out and embrace art. The main argument is whether all Black female has the capability of being artistic and creative. Walker starts by writing about a man named Jean Toomer who went to the South in the early 1920s and saw many Black women distressed because they were still coping with the violence by their old White masters. However, he discovered an important element in each woman, art. Walker uses Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin as examples of Black women artist who possessed the art of singing, writing, drawing, etc. The purpose is to break the stereotype of Black women being seen as inferior and not
…show more content…
She then uses Phillis Wheatley as an example of a Black woman artist. She is from Africa and is brought to America by the wealthy Whites. However, she is ridiculed by others because she is Black trying to embrace White values through her art. Next, Walker expresses how “our grandmothers” were also artists. She remembers one time when she is visiting an institution in Washington D.C. and saw a beautifully, woven cloth which portrays the Crucifixion. However, she is disappointed to see that the artist left “an anonymous black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago” note because this shows that Black women are often shunned by society, which does not allow them to appreciate the culture of art. Last, she uses her mother as an example of Black female artist. Her mother can garden, tell stories, etc. which shows that all Black women are artists, just that some do no
She then uses Phillis Wheatley as an example of a Black woman artist. She is from Africa and is brought to America by the wealthy Whites. However, she is ridiculed by others because she is Black trying to embrace White values through her art. Next, Walker expresses how “our grandmothers” were also artists. She remembers one time when she is visiting an institution in Washington D.C. and saw a beautifully, woven cloth which portrays the Crucifixion. However, she is disappointed to see that the artist left “an anonymous black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago” note because this shows that Black women are often shunned by society, which does not allow them to appreciate the culture of art. Last, she uses her mother as an example of Black female artist. Her mother can garden, tell stories, etc. which shows that all Black women are artists, just that some do no