Richard Wright's revision of the Jim Crow mythology in 'Uncle Tom's Children'

Richard Wright was born in Mississippi, in 1908, during the rise of Jim Crow - a racially segregating system implemented in post-slavery, U.S. Southern states. The norms of Jim Crow culture, like any other culture, were disseminated to individuals living in the South by a language system in which symbolic meaning of concrete units is derived from the traditions of the politically dominant group. Roland Barthes refers to this phenomenon as a mythology. Wright's 1937 work, "Blueprint for Negro Writing" recognizes that, in order to fully liberate the oppressed, a revision of the standing mythology must be publically submitted. He points out two driving forces of Southern African American culture: folklore and religion. In Uncle Tom's Children, Wright submits his version of this revision, presenting five novellas. These five novellas are heavy in the symbolism of folklore and a religious backdrop. Wright shows African Americans as subjects living within a cultural mythology constructed of a language system structured to objectify them. The proposals set forth in "Blueprint for Negro Writing" are demonstrated in Uncle Tom's Children.