Polly Marino

November 20th, 2015

Chris Mattingly
ENGL 101 14
APA Annotated Bibliography on Post-Civil Rights and Modern day Racism
Norman, Brian. James Baldwin's Confrontation with US Imperialism in "if Beale Street Could Talk".
MELUS 32.1 (2007): 119138. Web...
This source hits on how James Baldwin describes in If Beale Street Could Talk (and some of his other
books) how blacks were treated and how they were interpreted post-Civil Right Acts movement in
America and US imperialism and the criticism and critiques Baldwin got from the book. Critics gave the
name integrationist to Baldwin because of his belief in Black Nationalism. The author says that it is
made clear in the book that it is a love story between two African Americans, but the Fonny being locked
up makes Tish see the racism in America and how it is a place that wont cherish their love. In this novel
Baldwin makes you think further than the borders or the US and look towards US imperialism, when
Sharon goes to Puerto Rico and she is described as having normal anti-imperial responses by
multicultural remembering. She automatically grouped herself and Puerto Ricans as one, and whites as
another. She automatically thinks that the color of peoples skin here doesnt matter or count for anything,
yet she is still playing the white tourist because that is what is engraved in her head.

Schlosser, Joel Alden. Socrates in a Different Key: James Baldwin and Race in America. Political
Research Quarterly 66.3 (2013): 487499. Web...
This source compares Socrates and James Baldwin and the influence Socrates had on him and his
writings. Socrates really believed in the importance of truth and the effect that it would have on your
neighbor. That is clear in If Beale Street Could Talk because of the accusation of rape against a black man
and the affect it had on him and his family. Baldwin talks about in his compositions that people need to
face the truth that people who are not affected by racism are seeing delusions in America, but yet we all
need to live together and as whole, everyone would benefit if everyone examines their ways. The author
says that Baldwin intensifies the Socratic call for an examined life. Baldwin also says that people justify
what goes on in the North, because of the severity of racism in the South. Socrates believes that people
could simply change racism if they recognize and see it for how it really is. Baldwin furthers that belief
by realizing that most people do know what they should do and how they should act, yet they refuse to do
so, making it a great danger. Socrates and Baldwin both agree that although examination can be hard to
do, especially for yourself, it is easier to get the strength to do so with the love and commitment of
another person, which goes back to the idea of everyone coming together as equals, white or black.

Washington, Robert. The Civil Rights Movement After Three Decades. International Journal of
Politics, Culture, and Society 7.2 (1993): 259285. Web...
This source is mainly about how racism was still around post-civil rights movement, and
currently still is. This relates to the book because it is happening in New York, 1970s yet racism

is still very relevant here, even coming right out of a huge movement. Robert Washington argues
that white people think that things have changed because of this movement and everything
theyve seen, but they still dont realize that is still occurs. The author argues that blacks are
stuck in inner cities, in dangerous and poor communities, which gives a common stereotype for
these people. Like in the book, Fonny and Tish live in a not so good neighborhood, are poor, and
are accused of crime because of the stereotype that has been given to them because of these
unfortunate circumstances that were passed down to them. He fights that the government is a
racist democracy and is also no help because it lives off of the support of white people who
crave their sense of protection that they give them. Sadly, the protection they are feeling is
mostly when they are locking up blacks. He continues that this wont change because the
political system favors whites and is superior to blacks in this field. He is straightforward and
says the people in government wont do anything because black gains must not translate into
direct or indirect white losses.

Lincoln Quillian and Devah Pager. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 107, No. 3 (November
2001), pp. 717-767
This source is about how blacks are often stereotyped today with crimes, based on their skin
color and the neighborhood they come from. Blacks are the most segregated race in
neighborhoods and residential areas, due to white avoidance and their preconceived ideas of the
violence that occurs there because of the people that live there. The author argues that there are
two main reasons that stereotypes of African Americans and crime are happening. The first
reason is that people have emotional needs to enhance or justify the position of ones own racial
group relative to other racial groups. The second reason is that the mass media is giving
inaccurate information or that some sources continue to give into these stereotypes that are
embedded in their heads. He continues that information that confirms stereotypes will be
remembered and reinforces the stereotype for blacks, yet info contradicting them will less likely
to be remembered, and is call selective attention. In studies of mock trials they have found that
blacks often have gained worse and harsher punishments than when the defendant is white, with
the same case.