The source that I chose to do a close reading on in my discussion of the New Negro as it pertains to my thesis is a paper written by Lourdes Ropero Lopez, entitled "Some of All of Us in You: Intra-Racial Relations, Pan Africanism and Diaspora in Paule Marshall's The Fisher King". This reading looks closely not only at Paule Marshall's work, but also examines the intra-racial conflicts that took place within the black community in 1920's Harlem. Harlem at this time was deemed to be the new "Black Mecca" and cultural capital for African Americans. There was a great influx of Blacks coming from the South as well as abroad in order to gain better opportunities that they were not being afforded elsewhere. With the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, in which Black artists, writers, musicians, singers, and dancers were steadily emerging, a New Negro in turn was being born. Blacks were given the opportunity to establish their own culture, identity, and freedom of expression. And thus, Harlem was the site in which this transformation of Blackness took place.
However, in examining the ways in which Harlem was the "Black Mecca" for many, it is equally important to consider the ways in which it possibly, was not. One of the reasons Blacks fled the South was due to racial discrimination that they constantly faced. In my thesis and analysis of Harlem as the Black Mecca, I consider the ways in which factors such as discrimination, a strong component that compelled Blacks to flee from the South, was still an issue that had to be faced in their new home; Harlem. Only this time, it was not only inter-racial discrimination they faced, but intra-racial discrimination as well. In this close reading of Lopez's paper, we are further able to see how the tension and conflict of race within the 1920s Harlem Black community was one of many other reasons why 1.) Harlem may not necessarily have been the "Mecca" for Blacks that people have often proclaimed it to be. And 2.) If the emergence was a redefinition of African Americans in Harlem, how does this New Negro identity apply to, or go against, others in the greater Black community that African Americans were constantly in conflict with, such as Afro-Caribbeans and those from the West Indies?
Lopez states, that "The post war economic boom attracted the migration of Afro-Caribbeans to New York in the 1920s, which coincided with the so-called Great Migration of Southern Blacks to the Northern metropolis...the relationship that developed between native and immigrant Blacks was nonetheless marred by ambivalence". He later goes on to state that African-Americans "...stereotyped Afro-Caribbeans as 'stingy', 'craftier than the Jew', 'Brittish', or 'clannish'". While Afro-Caribbeans thought Blacks at the time to be a "...low status group in a white society in which they were inevitably associated on racial grounds". With these conflicting ideologies that pitted these two different groups within the same diaspora against each other, where exactly does the New Negro come forth? The concept of the New Negro seems to be applicable to Black Americans that were coming from the South, and able to redefine themselves after establishing a new life in the North. But, what of the story of the Afro-Caribbeans who did not come from the South, but instead came from a place from which they were in fact the majority, had attained an education, and furthermore, already had a great sense of racial pride that Black Americans were just recently able to develop through the creation of the Black Negro? If the New Negro was not necessarily something that Afro-Caribbeans and those from the West Indies could claim, it really is not much of a surprise that due to different national histories, the Black community in Harlem overall would experience some intra-racial discrimination towards each other. Thus, if that intra-racial discrimination was taking place, if the New Negro identity was one that some were able to claim but not others, can one really still claim that Harlem was the Black Mecca in which anyone that was apart of the African Diaspora was able to come to, live within, and take advantage of all the opportunities that they did not have elsewhere, and still ultimately get along? Possibly. But I argue not. Ropero states that "...competition over the scarce resources of a segregated community on the one hand, and cooperation on political and social levels on the other characterize the relationship that developed between the African-American and the Caribbean communities in the New York ghettoes". With this, arguments of how the New Negro identity were for all and not just some, as well as how Harlem was still the Black Mecca despite these tensions is questionable, and will further be analyzed in the remainder of my paper.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The New Negro: Locke vs. Baldwin
In both cases and evidence provided by Locke and Baldwin regarding their interpretation of The New Negro, one common denominator of the two that indicated sameness and similarities was the fact that a transformation was transpiring in the lives of Black people. African American families were no longer settling for less allowing themselves to be dehumanized and degraded at the expense of a white hegemonic society, but rather they were taking a stand against racism by developing their own culture, which ultimately served as a form of resistance. This resistance through change can be seen in both Locke and Baldwin's New Negro, the only difference being the forms of resistance taken and how it was done. Though the avenues were different, the ultimate goals were the same.
Locke's interpretation of The New Negro primarily arose through the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Black men, women, and children, after fleeing from the South to the "mecca" Harlem in order to attain a better life, developed a strong culture by means of literature, art, dance, and music. Through these artistic means Blacks were able to redefine their "blackness" so to speak and recreate themselves apart from and outside of the racist standards and molds that whites felt they should fill. They were no longer sharecroppers working on farms after coming to Harlem, they were no longer meaningless bodies wandering around with no past worth acknowledging or purpose to fulfill in the future. They were painters, musicians, dancers, thinkers. Thinkers that were aware of the system that was created to subjugate them, and sought to go against these notions by means of their craft. Thus, The New Negro, according to Locke, arose from artistic expression.
Baldwin, on the other hand, describes The New Negro by another means; political and self awareness/consciousness, economic autonomy, black pride by means of pop culture (entertainment), resignification of Black beauty apart from that of the "normative" white beauty, and intelligence. Baldwin describes the new Chicago negro as partaking in all of these things. Seizing economic opportunities, becoming entrepreneurs, openly and overtly retaliating against racism and whites, Chicago's New Negro was an individual that used their intellect to gain autonomy from whites. They had pop culture icons like Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world, beating white men at a physical sport that they had not only been excluded from, but deemed inadequate to even participate in. By Jack Johnson beating these white men in the boxing ring, he was eliminating the notion of white male masculinity and black male emasculation, which consequently encouraged the Black community to believe that they indeed were equal to their white counterparts and had the right to be prideful of who they were. All of these instances, which Baldwin claims to have begun even before the New Negro of the Harlem Renaissance, serve to show the Chicago New Negro, and how they began to retaliate against a system against them.
This is not to say that African Americans in Chicago did not express themselves artistically, nor is it to say that the New Negro in Harlem was not intellectual. It rather implies the overall idea that the newly migrated Black people of the South were slowly transforming their community to look the way the desired it to. They now had the freedom to be political through art, and made opportunities for themselves to gain upward mobility by becoming entrepreneurs, because they were creating a space for themselves. That is the commonality. The methodology for each new negro may have been different, but the ultimate goal was the same; equality.
Locke's interpretation of The New Negro primarily arose through the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Black men, women, and children, after fleeing from the South to the "mecca" Harlem in order to attain a better life, developed a strong culture by means of literature, art, dance, and music. Through these artistic means Blacks were able to redefine their "blackness" so to speak and recreate themselves apart from and outside of the racist standards and molds that whites felt they should fill. They were no longer sharecroppers working on farms after coming to Harlem, they were no longer meaningless bodies wandering around with no past worth acknowledging or purpose to fulfill in the future. They were painters, musicians, dancers, thinkers. Thinkers that were aware of the system that was created to subjugate them, and sought to go against these notions by means of their craft. Thus, The New Negro, according to Locke, arose from artistic expression.
Baldwin, on the other hand, describes The New Negro by another means; political and self awareness/consciousness, economic autonomy, black pride by means of pop culture (entertainment), resignification of Black beauty apart from that of the "normative" white beauty, and intelligence. Baldwin describes the new Chicago negro as partaking in all of these things. Seizing economic opportunities, becoming entrepreneurs, openly and overtly retaliating against racism and whites, Chicago's New Negro was an individual that used their intellect to gain autonomy from whites. They had pop culture icons like Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world, beating white men at a physical sport that they had not only been excluded from, but deemed inadequate to even participate in. By Jack Johnson beating these white men in the boxing ring, he was eliminating the notion of white male masculinity and black male emasculation, which consequently encouraged the Black community to believe that they indeed were equal to their white counterparts and had the right to be prideful of who they were. All of these instances, which Baldwin claims to have begun even before the New Negro of the Harlem Renaissance, serve to show the Chicago New Negro, and how they began to retaliate against a system against them.
This is not to say that African Americans in Chicago did not express themselves artistically, nor is it to say that the New Negro in Harlem was not intellectual. It rather implies the overall idea that the newly migrated Black people of the South were slowly transforming their community to look the way the desired it to. They now had the freedom to be political through art, and made opportunities for themselves to gain upward mobility by becoming entrepreneurs, because they were creating a space for themselves. That is the commonality. The methodology for each new negro may have been different, but the ultimate goal was the same; equality.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Warmth of Other Suns: An Earth Song and The New Negro
The history of the characters provided in The Warmth of Other Suns is something I feel to be pivotal component in truly understanding what lead them to make certain choices later on in their lives that they did. One that I found to be most interesting was the story of Ida Mae Gladney, and more specifically, the short relationship that she had with her father before he passed away. We are told that due to his sudden death at a relatively young age, Ida Mae was greatly affected. Though but a brief description is given of her father, what we do learn of him is that he did at least own a small piece of land to plant cotton (while also tending to hogs) and the land he was provided with was not necessarily the best piece of land and was rather, in fact, "the more difficult birthing pains", but he still did his job to take care of his family. Through this information, we can conclude that Ida Mae's father was indeed a provider, who loved his family, and despite having land that almost seemed to have no potential, still worked hard at it to ensure that cotton would grow.
When looking in The New Negro for a poem or short story that I felt related to one of the stories in The Warmth of Other Suns, one particular poem that seemed to stick out to me was An Earth Song by Langston Hughes. Though this poem is speaking of waiting for the arrival of Spring for planting, just as Isabel Wilkerson documents when telling the story of Ida Mae's father and his land, I see stark differences between the two and the mood that each passage emits. An Earth Song has more so of a redeeming, tone overall, giving the feeling that Spring was something to wait for and look forward to. Not only is this displayed in the title, having the nostalgic title Earth Song, but in the way that Hughes decides to refer to the event. He says, "And I've been waiting long for an earth song. It's a spring song", as if to say this is the time that I've been waiting for. The spring, when one is able to plant their seed for whatever crop they hope to grow, ensuring their profit later on in the year when they have something to harvest and pick. The term strong is used multiple times as well. Strong as the shoots of a new plant. Strong as the bursting of new buds. Strong as the coming of the first child from its mothers womb. This seems to depict waiting for the inevitable spring to finally come, so planting can be done, and crops can be grown in order to support one's family.
When I consider Ida Mae's father and the land he was given to toil, it seems that it is filled with more despair and uncertainty of a positive outcome than does An Earth Song. Already knowing that he attained a piece of land that was not necessarily the best to plant in, he did so despite the circumstances because he had no choice. Wilkerson states that The land that colored men managed to get was usually scratch land that nobody wanted. Still, he courted the land every spring. After reading the poem by Langston Hughes, and the strength that comes through the poem and certainty of witnessing the earth song come spring, a difference is seen in the perception of the land of Ida Mae's father. Rather than having certainty that the land would be kind to their planting in Spring, there was rather a feeling of not knowing what exactly to expect, but doing everything possible to make it work. Trying to conjure rain, chopping unwanted leaves, still courting the land every spring.
Ultimately, although both brief passages seem to have a different tone, the commonality is that either way, when spring came, whether working with good land or bad, families were planting their crops to ensure their survival. I feel that these differences speak to the various families and the different experiences that they had with sharecropping. For some it was something they waited long for, and could hopefully anticipate positive results from. For others, not so much. But either way, the soil was being toiled and regardless of conditions, men and their families were doing whatever it took to make sure that their families were provided for.
When looking in The New Negro for a poem or short story that I felt related to one of the stories in The Warmth of Other Suns, one particular poem that seemed to stick out to me was An Earth Song by Langston Hughes. Though this poem is speaking of waiting for the arrival of Spring for planting, just as Isabel Wilkerson documents when telling the story of Ida Mae's father and his land, I see stark differences between the two and the mood that each passage emits. An Earth Song has more so of a redeeming, tone overall, giving the feeling that Spring was something to wait for and look forward to. Not only is this displayed in the title, having the nostalgic title Earth Song, but in the way that Hughes decides to refer to the event. He says, "And I've been waiting long for an earth song. It's a spring song", as if to say this is the time that I've been waiting for. The spring, when one is able to plant their seed for whatever crop they hope to grow, ensuring their profit later on in the year when they have something to harvest and pick. The term strong is used multiple times as well. Strong as the shoots of a new plant. Strong as the bursting of new buds. Strong as the coming of the first child from its mothers womb. This seems to depict waiting for the inevitable spring to finally come, so planting can be done, and crops can be grown in order to support one's family.
When I consider Ida Mae's father and the land he was given to toil, it seems that it is filled with more despair and uncertainty of a positive outcome than does An Earth Song. Already knowing that he attained a piece of land that was not necessarily the best to plant in, he did so despite the circumstances because he had no choice. Wilkerson states that The land that colored men managed to get was usually scratch land that nobody wanted. Still, he courted the land every spring. After reading the poem by Langston Hughes, and the strength that comes through the poem and certainty of witnessing the earth song come spring, a difference is seen in the perception of the land of Ida Mae's father. Rather than having certainty that the land would be kind to their planting in Spring, there was rather a feeling of not knowing what exactly to expect, but doing everything possible to make it work. Trying to conjure rain, chopping unwanted leaves, still courting the land every spring.
Ultimately, although both brief passages seem to have a different tone, the commonality is that either way, when spring came, whether working with good land or bad, families were planting their crops to ensure their survival. I feel that these differences speak to the various families and the different experiences that they had with sharecropping. For some it was something they waited long for, and could hopefully anticipate positive results from. For others, not so much. But either way, the soil was being toiled and regardless of conditions, men and their families were doing whatever it took to make sure that their families were provided for.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
My Self Assessment
How I became a Black Studies major here at UCSB is...kind of a funny story. I never thought Black Studies would ultimately be the major that I ended up graduating with a degree in. But what's ironic about the whole thing is that the path I was on has changed, but my goal has remained the same. I entered UCSB as a Psychology major with a minor in Speech and Hearing Sciences, in order to pursue Speech Pathology as a career. This would have been a great way to enter into the field, but the amount of science and math was definitely a "no go" for me. During that very...very painful quarter here of trying to find out what I was going to ultimately do with my life, then being between majors, I was taking Black Studies classes, just for fun. I wasn't going to be another one of "those people" majoring in Black Studies (so I said), because what would I do with a Black Studies degree?? (so I also said). My how time changes things.
After taking courses such as Black Studies 1, 3,4 , 5, 38A-B, 129, 142, 106, 124, and many others, I asked myself why, though these classes were not required of me, was I was still finding myself taking them quarter after quarter? I think it was the fact that there was so much content that I could relate to that made it so interesting to me. I learned that nothing in my life happened because of coincidence, and everything I experienced had some type of systematic or historical underlinings that ultimately shaped my experiences today. From housing, to the high school I attended, the food that was available to me, and even my coming to UCSB. Learning about the privileges of whites and the disadvantages of people of color, encouraged me to want to learn as much as I could about my history, and be able to take that knowledge into my real world experiences within my profession. Now, I don't just want to do Speech Pathology, I want to do Speech Pathology and serve school districts in communities of color that can't afford to have a Speech Pathologists work with their students. Now, I don't just want to help children with speech impediments, I want to help distinguish the difference between one's biological speech impediment from what may just be a part of their African-American culture, such as African American Vernacular English.
Thus, by now being a Black Studies and Linguistics double major, I can take my profession and serve communities where I am needed, using my knowledge in both of these fields to better identify what areas would benefit from my services the most. I no longer consider myself to be another one of "those people" majoring in Black Studies. I am instead finally able to recognize the worth of a Black Studies degree, and the extent to which I can help others through the knowledge that I have acquired.
After taking courses such as Black Studies 1, 3,4 , 5, 38A-B, 129, 142, 106, 124, and many others, I asked myself why, though these classes were not required of me, was I was still finding myself taking them quarter after quarter? I think it was the fact that there was so much content that I could relate to that made it so interesting to me. I learned that nothing in my life happened because of coincidence, and everything I experienced had some type of systematic or historical underlinings that ultimately shaped my experiences today. From housing, to the high school I attended, the food that was available to me, and even my coming to UCSB. Learning about the privileges of whites and the disadvantages of people of color, encouraged me to want to learn as much as I could about my history, and be able to take that knowledge into my real world experiences within my profession. Now, I don't just want to do Speech Pathology, I want to do Speech Pathology and serve school districts in communities of color that can't afford to have a Speech Pathologists work with their students. Now, I don't just want to help children with speech impediments, I want to help distinguish the difference between one's biological speech impediment from what may just be a part of their African-American culture, such as African American Vernacular English.
Thus, by now being a Black Studies and Linguistics double major, I can take my profession and serve communities where I am needed, using my knowledge in both of these fields to better identify what areas would benefit from my services the most. I no longer consider myself to be another one of "those people" majoring in Black Studies. I am instead finally able to recognize the worth of a Black Studies degree, and the extent to which I can help others through the knowledge that I have acquired.
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