Besoin D'aide Pour Corriger Un Texte Pour Mon Oral

[Lebe-dein-leben]

Bonjour à tous,

quelqu'un pourrait-il jeter un coup d'oeil à mon texte?

Il s'agit d'un script que j'ai écrit pour oral sur la notion du progrès aux Etats-Unis.

Merci d'avance!

IDEA OF PROGRESS

The idea of progress can be understood as the social progress for the black community in the U.S.A. In 2008 in his first speech as President of the U.S.A, Barack Obama said he was 'a man, whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant, but can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath'. For him it was clear that there had been social progress.

So was Obama right? Has there been social progress in the USA? Has there been social progress for the Afro-American community?

To answer this question, we studied a song called Strange Fruit sung by Billie Holiday and a painting by Norman Rockwell called The problem we all live with.

So let's have a look at American society. Slavery was abolished in 1865 after the American Civil War but segregation & discrimination still existed in the 1960's.

Billy Holiday, a black jazz singer, sang Strange fruit & showed how racial prejudice was at the roots of southern society.

This song describes a scene set in the Southern States of America. A 'pastoral scene', that is to say a pleasant picture of the countryside. However this isn't as nice & simple as it might appear!

The first part of the song shows us some trees in the South of the USA. These trees have fruit on them but they don't bear apples, pears or any other sort of fruit you can eat. Hanging in the trees are the dead bodies of black men who have been lynched. It's a symbol to show the land of the Southern States of America as a land which produces death and violence for the blacks.

The second part is a contrast between the popular image and reality. Traditionally, the Southern States were seen by the whites as a beautiful place where the people had strong moral values but in reality it was different for the blacks who were first kept as slaves and then, even after the civil war, were still treated as a lower class. They were always suspected of crime & even in the 1920's and 30's blacks were hung without a trial. It's possible to hear the disgust of the singer in her voice.

It was this injustice which led to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's, led by Martin Luther King.

The contrast continues where the smell of the magnolia, a famous flower in the Southern States, is contrasted with the horrible smell of the dead bodies, burnt by the sun.

The last part shows the product of this land is just bitterness, in contrast to earlier sweetness of the magnolia.

As a very famous black jazz singer, Billy Holiday often toured the Southern States and was deeply disgusted by the attitude of the people there.

So let's have a look at the following document. It's a painting by the American artist Norman Rockwell, dating from 1964, entitled The Problem we all live with.

In this painting we can see a little black girl who is at the center of the image. She's wearing a white dress & white sneakers so she looks very middle class and respectable. She's carrying her school things in her left hand so she's probably going to school. Her parents aren't with her but we notice four men, whose heads we can't see. They must be US Marshals because they're wearing a uniform with a yellow armband & a badge. They're walking beside the girl to protect her.

Then we can see in the bottom right-hand corner a squashed tomato on the ground. In addition we notice racist graffiti, the insult 'nigger' on the wall. But the little girl doesn't seem to be disturbed indeed she's completely indifferent, because she must be surely accustomed to this kind of behavior.

This painting mostly derives its strength & efficiency from the contrast between the white color that indicates innocence & the red color of tomato which refers to violence & blood.

The painter wants to dramatize the situation. He wanted to show the stupidity & injustice of racism. Norman Rockwell was a realist painter of American society in the 50's and 60's. By saying we in ' 'we' all live with' he feels part of this problem.

I think this picture is interesting, it delivers a message & calls for racial diversity in the country. I think it's essential to combat prejudice. Fortunately, a man like Rockwell was there to protest segregation and thus try to stop it.

Now let's talk about Martin Luther King who led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. He insisted that 'all men are created equal' & he said the famous sentence 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'

However Malcom X was more radical, he said 'Nobody can give you equality... If you're a man you take it'. He thought that MLK was too nice, so he founded the Nation of Islam' group and inspired the 'Black Panthers'. He was assassinated in 1965 by members of his own group. Malcom X said that blacks needed economic power more than civil rights and disagreed with MLK.

So that was the USA in the 50's & 60's. Has the situation changed? What is the situation of the Afro-American community in the USA?

Nowadays American society has progressed. We can say there is more social equality under Obama, there's even a black president! But most of the black community still lives in the poorer areas of the USA. The economic problems haven't been solved. Economic progress should bring social progress but who knows.

[Jean B]

Bonjour,

IDEA OF PROGRESS

The idea of progress can be understood as the social progress for the black community in the U.S.A. In 2008 in his first speech as President of the U.S.A, Barack Obama said he was 'a man, whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant, but can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath'. For him it was clear that there had been social progress.

So was Obama right? Has there been social progress in the USA? Has there been social progress for the Afro-American community?

To answer this question, we studied a song called Strange Fruit sung by Billie Holiday and a painting by Norman Rockwell called The problem we all live with.

So let's have a look at the American society. Slavery was abolished in 1865 after the American Civil War but segregation & discrimination still existed in the 1960's.

Billy Holiday, a black jazz singer, sang Strange fruit & showed how racial prejudice was at the roots of southern society.

This song describes a scene set in the Southern States of America. A 'pastoral scene', that is to say a pleasant picture of the countryside. However this isn't as nice & simple as it might appear!

The first part of the song shows us some trees in the South of the USA. These trees have fruit on them but they don't bear apples, pears or any other sort of fruit you can eat. Hanging in the trees are the dead bodies of black men who have been lynched. It's a symbol to show the land of the Southern States of America as a land which produces death and violence for the blacks.

The second part is a contrast between the popular image and reality. Traditionally, the Southern States were seen by the whites as a beautiful place where the people had strong moral values but in reality it was different for the blacks who were first kept as slaves and then, even after the civil war, were still treated as a lower class. They were always suspected of crime & even in the 1920's and 30's blacks were hung without a trial. It's possible to hear the disgust of the singer in her voice.

It was this injustice which led to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's, led by Martin Luther King.

The contrast continues where the smell of the magnolia, a famous flower in the Southern States, is contrasted with the horrible smell of the dead bodies, burnt by the sun.

The last part shows the product of this land is just bitterness, in contrast to earlier sweetness of the magnolia.

As a very famous black jazz singer, Billy Holiday often toured the Southern States and was deeply disgusted by the attitude of the people there.

So let's have a look at the following document. It's a painting by the American artist Norman Rockwell, dating from 1964, entitled The Problem we all live with.

In this painting we can see a little black girl who is at the center of the image. She's wearing a white dress & white sneakers so she looks very middle class and respectable. She's carrying her school things in her left hand so she's probably going to school. Her parents aren't with her but we notice four men whose heads we can't see. They must be US Marshals because they're wearing a uniform with a yellow armband & a badge. They're walking beside the girl to protect her.

Then we can see in the bottom right-hand corner a squashed tomato on the ground. In addition we notice racist graffiti, the insult 'nigger' on the wall. But the little girl doesn't seem to be disturbed indeed she's completely indifferent, because she must be surely accustomed to this kind of behavior.

This painting mostly derives its strength & efficiency from the contrast between the white color that indicates innocence & the red color of tomato which refers to violence & blood.

The painter wants to dramatize the situation. He wanted to show the stupidity & injustice of racism. Norman Rockwell was a realist painter of the American society in the 50's and 60's. By saying we in ' 'we' all live with' he feels part of this problem.

I think this picture is interesting, it delivers a message & calls for racial diversity in the country. I think it's essential to combat prejudice. Fortunately, a man like Rockwell was there to protest segregation and thus try to stop it.

Now let's talk about Martin Luther King who led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. He insisted that 'all men are created equal' & he said the famous sentence 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'

However Malcom X was more radical, he said 'Nobody can give you equality... If you're a man you take it'. He thought that MLK was too nice, so he founded the Nation of Islam group and inspired the 'Black Panthers'. He was assassinated in 1965 by members of his own group. Malcom X said that blacks needed economic power more than civil rights and disagreed with MLK.

So that was the USA in the 50's & 60's. Has the situation changed? What is the situation of the Afro-American community in the USA?

Nowadays the American society has progressed. We can say there is more social equality under Obama, there's even a black president! But most of the black community still lives in the poorer areas of the USA. The economic problems haven't been solved. Economic progress should bring social progress but who knows.

Good job indeed!