Janae McFadden

Professor Noone
Expository Writing
2 November 2015
Written for Whom
Whites need to know Black history just as much as Blacks do. In Quarles Black
History Diversified Clientele, Quarles breaks down different writing styles to clarify which
forms of writing are geared toward a certain audience. In order to distinguish which writing
style is written for a particular audience, Quarles breaks it down into three categories: purpose,
content and style. With the three categories, he distinguishes whether the writing is for Black
Academics, Black Revolutionary Nationalist, Black rank and file, White academics or White
rank and file.(P4) Throughout both The Damned by Len Cooper and They Came Before
Columbus by Van Sertimas Quarles theory is supported. Coopers article is geared toward a
White academics audience while Sertimas article is geared toward the Black rank and file
audience.
The Damned is an article for the Washington Post written by Len Cooper in 1996. Len
Coopers story takes place in Alabama. The Damned is a great strong article. Though this
article is not necessarily written for a audience such as myself a Black woman, due to its lack of:
encouragement of a sense of racial pride, good therapy, stimulus of success or ego soothing
aspects it still remained powerful to myself. (P4) Throughout Coopers article one may gather
that it is geared towards a White audience, as supported in Quarles article, The aim of Black
history for white readers is a twofold: first, to eliminate the myth that our countrys past was rosy
and romanticsecond, to illustrate the centrality of Black American in our national experience

(Quarles, 105). Throughout the essay Cooper is trying to exonerate an idea as well as express
Black Americans struggle. I picked The Damned because I feel it is a very well written essay
and taught me something that I did not know. The Damned destroyed the myth that Lincoln
abolished slavery. While The Damned is directed toward a White audience They Came
Before Columbus is directed toward a Black audience. Throughout Van Sertimas article, the
sole goal is to create racial pride and self worth as Quarles says should be the big idea of writing
of Black history toward a Black audience of Rank and file. I choose the essay They Came
Before Columbus because it also included something that I was unknowledgeable of. Black
Americans should feel pride in the fact that Olmec did not just happen to come up with the same
techniques and traditions as the Egyptians; the Egyptians traveled to Olmec where they
influenced the Olmecs culture. (P1)
The purpose of Coopers article The Damned was to eliminate the myth that our past
was perfect and happy. Cooper begins his essay explaining how he was ignorant or rather blind
to the abolition of slavery and the abolisher when his grandfather corrects him, "Mister Lincoln
ain't freed no slaves". Cooper originally thought that Lincoln freed slaves hundreds of years ago
because that was he was always told as many others were as well. Coopers grandfather corrects
him to make sure that Cooper removed that thought out his head. Cooper does a great job of
diminishing this myth throughout the essay but it is stronger because he tackles the issue right in
the beginning. Along with clearing up the myth of when, how and whom slavery was abolished,
Cooper also does a good job of illustrating the centrality of the Black American in our national
experience. As a young boy Cooper believed the myth that Lincoln freed the slaves a hundred
years ago, as he said to his grandfather. Yet, throughout The Damned, Cooper tried to destroy
the myth that slavery had ended with the emancipation proclamation and that Abraham Lincoln

was the one who ended slavery and let the truth be known. Cooper supports his argument with
essays from slaves, which he found in libraries. He also attempts to support his story with a
story his grandfather told him when he was a boy.
The content of The Damned is best directed at Whites due to it initially suggesting the
centrality of the Negro Americans and his identification with this countrys great, professed
goals as Quarles says (Quarles 106). Here Quarles is saying that writing for White academics
should demonstrate a general presentation of Americas past with Black component
interwoven (Quarles 106). The article is directed at White academics due to it being broader
than the biographical and less fearful of the recipients short attention span as Quarles says.
Though in the end Cooper fails to receive any other witnesses to tell the tail again, those who he
asked declined to tell the story still somewhat supported his argument. Slavery was not at all a
story that anyone would want to relive. Therefore, Coopers argument was most directed to a
White audience of academics.
Ivan Van Sertimas They Came Before Columbus discusses the Africans presence in
Ancient America, specifically the Olmec civilization. As far as the purpose is concerned, They
Came Before Columbus is directed toward Black rank and file. Sertimas essay creates a sense
of pride while discussing the victories of Black people and the attempt to aim and recapture
black history as accurately as possible.

In Quarles text, he says that the purpose of a paper

written for the black rank and file audience should be as Quarles states, Black historys main
objective is to create a sense of racial pride and personal worth (101). In Sertimas essay he
goes about the essays purpose by demonstrating the ideas throughout his content. As far as
content is concerned Quarles says for it to reflect the theory in history of the great man
(Quarles, 101). Throughout an essay directed toward a Black rank and file audience victories are

stressed. In Sertimas essay one may see that Egyptians had a great culture influence on society
as Sertimas says, When such traits appear as an interconnected cluster, performing a single
function duplicated nowhere else in the world, except where the Egyptians traveled or left their
influence, then only a dogmatic conservative or bigot can deny the possibility of both a physical
contact and a cultural influence (Sertimas, 9). Sertimas is saying that only a bigot, racist
would be blind of the fact that the Olmec were culturally influenced; by the Egyptians. (P1) This
quote helps stress what Quarles mentions in his essay about essays written for Black rank and
file needing to stresses victories (101).(P9) The Egyptians are the reason the Olmec and
Egyptians have so many similar cultural practices. They Came Before Columbus comes off as
being directed towards Black people due to its lack of written record. This essay is speaking of a
time where there was little to no written record which also makes it seem more directed to a
Black audience. If this essay were written for a White audience it would need more concrete
sources. Sertimas essay fits better in the category of purpose for black rank and file rather than
the tone for Black rank and file.
In conclusion, The Damned by Len Cooper is directed toward a White audience of
White academics, while They Came Before Columbus was directed toward the black audience.
Coopers article contains many sources, eliminates a myth and realistically assess some of our
countrys boasted achievements and acclaimed public figures. Ivan Van Sertimas They came
before Columbus seems to be directed at a Black audience because its lack of sources, sense of
creating racial pride while discussing the victories and accomplishments made by the Africans.
It is important to know the history of Africans not only for Blacks; but Whites as well. (P1) The
importance of African history is that Africa is essentially the motherland of all of our original
ancestors. Therefore African history is White peoples history as well. African history is a

reminder that we all came from greatness and that deep down we are all the same and should
treat one another as so. Quarles says, To a black person looking to solve an identity crisis,
Black history is ego-soothingBlack history tells the Black reader that he is somebody
(Quarles 101). For White persons Quarles says, Whites who read history should know by now
that white historians have until recently dealt with the American past in such a way as to ignore
the Black presence or to minimize its importance in the making of America (Quarles 105).
Knowledge of African history is knowledge of ones self.

Works Cited
Cooper, Len. "The Damned." Washington Post 16 June 1996, Sunday Style ed.: F01. Print.
Quarles, Benjamin. "Black History's Diversified Clientele." Revelations: An Anthology of
Expository Essays by and about Blacks. By Teresa M. Redd and Carolyn E.
Shuttlesworth. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Pub., 2010. 99-108. Print.
Sertima, Ivan. "They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient AMerica"
Revelations: An Anthology of Expository Essays by and about Blacks. By Teresa M.
Redd and Carolyn E. Shuttlesworth. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Pub., 2010. 7-9. Print.