It was really interesting that you brought up the way McKay called White people "hungry dogs" and "the monsters." I noticed this, too, and was shocked by how openly Black authors were beginning to write and speak their minds. The way these two authors wrote really shows how the tables turned in American culture. Before and during the Civil War, the countr was owned, controlled and dominated by White people. But when the war ended, more Black people were able to speak out in support of their race. Some, like McKay and Hopkins, went as far as to seek revenge from White people in their writing. With their new sense of power and freedom of speech after the war, Black people as well as White abolitionists were able to show their disapproval of slavery and discrimination in new ways.
Hopkins' story showed that, even though Black people could not be legally bound to White people anymore, there was still a lot that kept them inferior. Lynching was unforgiving. If someone even pointed a the finger of blame at a Black person, they were sure to be hunted down, even if they had truthfully done nothing wrong. Black people also still worked for White people. Since most of the money in the country belonged to White male landowners, like Reverend Stevens, Black people acquired jobs from them to earn money of their own.
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