The Representation of African – American Slavery Portrayed in Claude McKay’s Five Selected Poem

The Representation of African – American Slavery Portrayed in Claude McKay’s Five Selected Poem; Supriandi; 120110101070; 2016: 55 pages; English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Jember University.

            This research tries to dismantle the portrait of African – American slavery in 1920s through Claude McKay’s five selected poems. This research also wants to contribute knowledge and to complete the description of African – American slavery in 1920s that is not mentioned in the prior research.

Claude McKay represents his disappointment of African – American slavery in the poems through a discourse. Therefore, this research uses Stephen Greenblatt’s new historicism theory for finding out the discursive formation of the discourse lying on five selected poems and the other discourses such as articles, opinions, anecdotes, and pictures representing African – American slavery in 1920s as well.

This research is conducted by applying qualitative method in which this research begins from the specific data as the main sources, The Tired Worker, Joy in the Woods, Enslaved, If We Must Die, and The White House, to the general one ( the representation of African – American slavery in 1920s)

The result of this research shows that during the slavery period in America, the African – Americans suffer under the system of overtime job practiced by white people. Furthermore, the African – Americans also experience working in the whole seasons without enjoying any beautiful events in America. Unfortunately, during the slavery period the African – Americans are only enslaved physically, not mentally. Unconquerable mentally triggers the African – Americans to negotiate their justice and freedom from the white people.