What’s Missing from “Classics”: An Authentic Voice? By Destiny Sanders (Class of 2019) If I walked into Barnes and Nobles and asked what books I should read that discuss slavery or the African American Experience, the worker would most likely suggest The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, or a more contemporary novel, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett. These books would suffice my basic needs, but they are lacking an important aspect: the authentic voice that only comes from non-fiction. You may say, "How are these novels not authentic?" The authors created the stories themselves. But Arthur Mitchell composed an entire memoir by compiling stories he heard as a child. He did not create names nor places; they are all authentic and have been historically verified. These authentic voices offer a more complete picture than fiction can. Arthur Mitchell was born in Irontown, Louisiana, and he heard slave stories while he grew up. Did Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, or Kathryn Stockett grow up hearing the effect of slavery on their family? These authors may been abolitionists or anti-slavery, but they have different perspectives from someone like Arthur Mitchell, whose own family was sold, beaten, and degraded. These authors created their own version of slavery, slave actions, and their dialect. They may tell stories that are true, but they lack the personal connection between the author and characters in the stories. What Love Can Do is an unbiased, unfiltered form of recollected stories of slavery and freedom in New Orleans. This book is one of the most underrated books to ever be written. It contains 100% truth and real-life experiences, yet novels such as Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom’s Cabin are considered “classics.” Although these “classics” are authentic, they lack the same authentic voice. If a novel, which is fiction, is regarded as a “classic,” why can’t What Love Can Do be a part of the same classification as the “classics” that discuss slavery? Instead of only reading a book such as Huckleberry Finn, why don’t students read What Love Can Do? Why can’t most curricula contain both voices and perspectives? Certainly Twain is an amazing author and his technique and symbolism are immaculate, but he is not the only person that talks about slavery. Why is it not possible to read both and compare and contrast the characters and techniques used? Underrepresented literature not only is an injustice to the reader but also to the literary world. Books like What Love Can Do contain more than an artificial theme. They contain real-life challenges that a group of people have endured, which helps the reader and listener make better decisions in life. It is nice to have “classics,” but it would be great if the originality and authenticity from a book such as What Love Can Do is incorporated into curricula and becomes more well-known in the literary world.
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