Critical Reflection Paper

Critical Reflection Paper
“American Lazarus: Race, Religion, and Regeneration”
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Critical Reflection Paper
“American Lazarus: Race, Religion, and Regeneration”
The reasons and conditions of the development of color literature in the United States have been discussed in Joanna Brooks’ work “American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African American and Native American Literatures” published in 2003. The author has emphasized that Native American and African American authors were forced to incorporate evangelicalism in their writing to show their protest against of the political, social and economic stereotyping. Brooks stated that “Such accounts appealed to popular racial stereotypes – Indian primitivism, black mimicry – but they also demonstrate positive valuation of racial difference as a significant element within the spectacular lexicon of the revivals” (Brooks 2003, 22-23). The author has supported her thesis statement with historical, social, cultural and other facts that are valuable for justification of the evangelical motives of the Native Americans and African Americans writers of the 18th century.
Discussing the history of the African American and Native American writing occurrence has become the first and the most significant justification of the Great Awakening occurrence. Brooks claimed that inequality of the social services available for Whites and People of Color were abusive. The creation of vague stereotypes has led people of color to start their way of protest against of inequality and injustice.

Nowadays, “scholars continue to view the Great Awakening as a watershed in American intellectual and social history, which forever reformulated notions of experience, learning, authority, textuality and religion” (Brooks 2003, 23).
Secondly, Brooks has justified the reasons why the people of color used religious motives in their writings in the eighteenth century. She has emphasized that various factors have significantly impacted Indians and African Americans’ lives. Religion helped people to survive in the unjust environment. “American Indian and African-American responses to evangelicalism must be understood not as simple, affectionate attraction but rather as conscientious choices determined by compound historical, political, economic, cultural, regional, and denominational factors” (Brooks 2003, 24).
Thirdly, Brooks has discussed the creation of first churches for people of color. She has provided various facts that helped to shape their churches and way of people behave in their holy places. The author stated that African American and Native Americans experienced tough times in the eighteenth century. After the legalization of slavery in 1750, White people started to use their labor with no payment. People of color did not have any rights. Religion and folklore were the only ways for people to relax and share their pain and experiences. The writers of that period played a critical role in shaping people’s minds and making them fight for their rights and social equalities.
The Great Awakening has become a significant push towards movements for freedom for African Americans and Native Americans of the eighteenth century. Social and political unjust were at their top back then. People of color required moral support to start their fight against of slavery. Evangelism has become the only way to protect people’s minds from losing their dignity. Uniting into religious communities, attending churches and creating writings helped people to survive those tough times. In her book, Brooks has gathered all the information that helped to compel the readers in the importance of evangelism in the Great Awakening literature. Her evidence is critical as it provides essential facts supporting and justifying the African Americans and Native Americans’ movements of the eighteenth century.
Bibliography
Brooks, Joanna. “American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African American and Native American Literatures.” Oxford University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uhdowntown/detail.action?