Cain, William. “Darkness Visible: Ralph Ellison’s Life and Work.” Society 45.4 (2008): 376-81. Web.

This article placed Ralph Ellison as having a sort of writer’s block in finishing his second novel. The novel was highly anticipated after his success in Invisible Man but with the pressures and the results of fame, this article argues that becoming closer to white artists and highly known white figures, he lost his touch and could not finish his novel.

Lamm, Kimberly. “Visuality and Black Masculinity in Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ and Romare Bearden’s Photomontages.” Callaloo, vol. 26, no. 3, 2003, pp. 813–835. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3300728.

This article is rich in content and really uses specific readings to construct the ideas behind Invisible man and how representation was used to visually construct blackness. Lamm goes over some of the main parts I would like to discuss and the art forms that have been reconstructed in galleries.

Kuryla, P. Soc (2013) 50: 10. https://doi-org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/10.1007/s12115-012-9612-2

This article emphasizes the argument of not finishing Ellison’s highly anticipated second novel. Many factors were contributed even a speculation of disintegrity and blaming of a fire that wasn’t as crucial when first asked about it. Ellison sometime after his success in Invisible Man was labeled as a “protester” and people were expecting his writing to reflect this protesting and continuing the fight for equality.  Very interestingly enough, his invisibility was now associated with only one type of visibility. Ellison was an artist, not only an activist or a musician. He had many interests beyond literacy and he enphasised being

Millichap, Joseph. “Fiction, Photography, and the Cultural Construction of Racial Identity in Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man.’” South Atlantic Review, vol. 76, no. 4, 2011, pp. 129–142. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43738922.

This article is helpful because of the information on Ralph Ellison’s personal life as well as his interest in photograph. Millichap links Ellison’s personal interests in photography and argues that that is what this book is, photographs. By doing close readings and using different articles, Millichap shows what pictures Ellison used to explain his life and the road to consciousness.

Rampersad, Arnold. Ralph Ellison: a Biography. Vintage Books, 2007.

This is a biography on Ralph Ellison and reinforces his interests in art. It goes over many of his influences . This book also gives a new perspective on the invisible man’s grandfather. His grandfather is a sort of haunting/ghost like figure and although for the story to develop and for IM to gain consciousness his grandfather is needed and sets the tone of the book, it can also be seen as a reminder of Ralph Ellison the author not producing a second book, & can also be seen as his personal struggle in wanting to perfect and make art through literature.

Rowell, Charles H., and Kerry James Marshall. “An Interview with Kerry James Marshall.” Callaloo, vol. 21, no. 1, 1998, pp. 263–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3300033.

Along with the article by Walling, the theme of civil protest and including a representation of blackness is a subtle artistic way is important to Marshall as he says in his interview. Having this interview and his explanations as to why he used so much black and what is the meaning to your reaction gives a new meaning to invisible man and the art it creates.

Sargent, Antwaun. “’Invisible Man’ Inspires Conceptual Art About Blackness.” Vice, VICE, 21 June 2017, www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev4wwm/invisible-man-inspires-conceptual-art-blackness.

This article really ties Invisible Man and its impact on today’s society and generation since it was published in 2017 about a Gallery. Using everyday items you find out while out in public such as transit seats to show invisibility and blackness. Martos uses Invisible Man’s feelings of being there but others choosing not to see them. This article also is a link to Rankine’s Citizen which also is a modern book on blackness and experiences.

“Silence Is Golden.” The Studio Museum in Harlem, 4 Jan. 2019, studiomuseum.org/collection-item/silence-golden.

Since my focus is on art, this painting gives a better understanding of the interview with Kerry James Marshall and what his intentions were in recreating Invisible Man.

Walling, William. “‘Art’ and ‘Protest’: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man Twenty Years After.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 34, no. 2, 1973, pp. 120–134. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/273820.

This article establishes protesting as a form of art and expression. Specifically Walling uses Invisible Man and Ralph Ellison’s vision of art and ties it with passive resistance. He gives us a reason for the civil art form of protesting and explains why in order to not only be successful but keep the fight going its important to form this type of protest. Walling also gives us unique details and visions and beliefs of Ellison. Besides art specifically, Walling talks about musical art forms such as jazz and blues which is also a major part in Invisible Man.

How has Ellison’s Invisible Man been used by photographers and artists and what does this tell us about the book?

Claudia Rankine in Citizen uses Serena Williams, who is relevant in today’s time period, to show discrimination and racism in modern times. The struggle and what Rankine calls isolation, the anger that’s built up inside and finding a balance in-between worlds. This second chapter allows readers to see the discrimination made against Serena Williams which on a broader level applies to a race as a whole. Having to make a choice on what the next step is and how to react. Do you stay quiet and not address it or fight back when clear injustice is happening and be labeled as “crazy” or “the angry black woman”? Besides addressing it, then there’s how to address it, do I scream, do I shout, Do I cry or make a press conference? Either way the only person who will still be labeled as aggressive and an outsider will be the colored person who stood up for themselves.

The theme of anger is essential in this piece. A constant reminded you’re still not fully “in” and an outsider. Serena Williams a professional and highly successful tennis player is always questioned and critiqued on things other tennis players are also engaged in. A dance made after winning a big competition is the main focus of the media and is the only thing talked about meanwhile she just won a major victory. Situations like these you just cant help but wonder what are the real motives and why is this dance being called to question. You don’t have to say its because shes black to come to the realization that the reason shes being questioned is actually because shes black. Now lets say it was someone else who did it and wasn’t colored, would they be questioned? Would their dance overpower the new victory and championship? Most likely not. Serena Williams an American tennis player, isn’t supported by her American people and is instead portrayed as loud and aggressive. She was fined and banned from playing because she called out the ref who kept giving her trouble. It was clear to other sports anchors that she was indeed right for calling the ref out because they were pointing out things that aren’t really penalized but since its her, Serena, the black tennis player, of course its reprimanded and not tolerated. What Rankine does in this chapter is makes us feel like Serena, tell a story using pop culture, images and YouTube to show the racial discrimination happening today in America and letting us know what it means to be a black American in America.

In the Bluest Eyes Morrison gives us a novel told mostly by Claudia, a young black girl. During the time the novel was published, characters that belonged this group of people were uncommon. Roye in her essay argues that Morrison creates literature where she gives light on the most oppressed and invisible group of people which is black girls. Their neglect derives from girls being a part of a world full of racism and where people have. To further devalue these young girls, they’re age allows for control by adults and belonging to the female sex puts them at a further disadvantage. In Morrison’s novel, she explore these girls’ lives and also adds poverty to their lives.

Pecola longs for her to have blue eyes, to be Mary Jane and Shirley Temple. These little girls in contrast to Pecola are the ideal girls, they’re beautiful with blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin. Everyone loves them and wants to be around them. Pecola wants to consume whiteness and get away from her ugliness, this is what society and the people around her have shown. In the eyes of her through talks among eachother and encounters Pecola, Claudia and Freida have with children in her school and adults. Even after Pecola was granted blue eyes by Soaphead she was still invisible and even further neglected.

She becomes pregnant by her father, a damnation upon this family which led to Pecola being isolated and taken out of school. In the last chapter we can see how this impacted Pecola and makes her have an imaginary person who she talks to and discusses all of her thoughts. She can’t understand what’s going on and believes that it is jealousy and they just wish they had her new eyes. Her own mother stops looking at her and talks to her less. A theme that is also explored throughout the book. Pecola and her mother do not have a special relationship or any kind of relationship in general. There is no intimacy between them to the extent that Pecola calls her mother “Mrs. Breedlove”. These scenes in the book establish the damage little black girls have been through which continues until adulthood and is recycled and recycled from generations to generations.