Condition of Minorities
Barack Obama, the first African-American president, in 2010 showing the Proclamation of Emancipation, which freed the slaves. Behind him is a portrait of President Lincoln and in front of him is a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., two historical figures who were instrumental in advocating for civil rights of minorities.
One person speaking out about a social issue or injustice, against all odds, can make a change. From Frederick Douglass's and Harriet Jacobs's own personal accounts of their lives in slavery and the vivid descriptions and imagery of their encounters, you were able to see how a nation was awakened to the plight of slaves. Once these conditions were brought to light, there was no way that they could be ignored. Thus, a civil war erupted on a monumental scale and forever changed the course of the nation. This is how literature can have an impact on society to effect social and political change.