DOCSLIB.ORG

The Origins of African-American Culture

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Origins of African-American Culture ~~ :'.~:- ~,-. ..,.~ ~~ ,."'l .. 4. '~-i6r -:,-~ 't ~'- . JOSEPH E. HOLLOWAY The Origins of African-American Culture The history of the New World is a story of cultural interaction, integration, and assimilation. The rediscovery of the New World by Columbus in 1492 opened the gate to world powers and prompted colonialists and private individuals to search for wealth. The fertile land attracted farmers, especially from Spain, Portugal. France, and England. The new immigrants needed cheap labor to mine precious metals and to work on plantations. Their desire led to the transatlantic slave trade, in which millions of Africans were brought to the New World to meet this new labor demand. The transatlantic slave trade established a permanent link between Africa and North America as Africans sold into ~~ery.Jr:~n.spli1~fed their .<:l}l!ur.~s 10 the New World. The la'rgesClorced migration in history, the.•slave trade biougfilaii·e~ti.I1l'H-ea-half-mf[liQn·AfI:i~ariS to'wlIatis now the .!1niJi~~:s.·ta~s qversome two hundred years. This total is thought to represent about 7 percent of the entire transatlantic slave trac'::, thollgh the c:xact figures are in dispute and the total volume of the slave t'ade illaV1cver ;~e known. If one considers those who perished in the slOc:.c2de5 2~'; 0n :r·~ cargo ships in estimating the volume of traffic to the New worId, tr.: totall:ldY well be over forty million. So great was this tTaffic that lhir'; of the people of v Arrie'an descent lived outside of /bJrica.'" /es cc:·ne from d~.~s_e 1 I regions of Africa but particularly from thos,,, ; aiong the coast ;t. tiiiouSh West Africa to Central Africa (set map on r~age 2 ..' .. Scholars over the years, in their endeavo:s tc cef an .~tncan-American culture separate from European-America~ (ult":.,,,, jscov·.::ed a significant number of cultural and linguistic propert';:5 C' ;;.:"-, can or:gin and labeled them Africanisms. Until recently schoiars 'JS<C'; ;.I:. :e;:-rl.14fricanisms syn­ onymously with West AjricanisrtE, impiyir[. 71-:'2 'i;,t:J.J heritage'Jf the majority of the North American :::!.ave POpt·;at:; -West hJrican in origin and that this culture was hOII,ogeneoU5. Tn'., ar",Jes against the assumption of West African cultural hom0t-cenei:·;. I:.stead j:. sees the culture as conglomerate and heterogeneous. Focusing on the example of S.JUth Carc.i;:-;2 its overview to that state, this essay also sheds light on the :he· ,'~ticaj .:ontroversy that arose from scholars' attempts to identify the r:v.;c7' ·,[ricar cultural groups that contributed to the deveIopmuH ofAfr;;~,>/i' . 11 c;,i.ure. twill_show t!Iatalthough the.West Africans arrived in l~orL.'1 A:11f. in g{eat~LnumQ~r,5, The Origins of African-American Culture The history of the New World is a story of cultural interaction, integration, and assimilation. The rediscovery of the New World by Columbus in 1492 opened the gate to world powers and prompted colonialists and private individuals to search for wealth. The fertile land attracted farmers, especially from Spain, Portugal, France, and England. The new immigrants needed cheap labor to mine precious metals and to work on plantations. Their desire led to the transatlantic slave trade, in which millions of Africans were brought to the New World to meet this new labor demand, The transatlantic slave trade established a permanent link between Africa and North America as AiE!~~ns s?,~~ !nt<:>, ,~~~~e.ryJ.r(ln.spl.3.n~~d their~lJI!ur~sJo the New World. The largesCr2~<:~d migration in history. the sJav.~_ trade biougniaii'e~tiIIiat~ nalf-miflign Afti~aris to wl).at ;;; now the ,!J.ni.!~sts,'tq~S Qyer some two hundred years. This total is thought to represent about 7 percent of the entire transatlantic slave trac'::, tholig'l the exact figures are in dispute and the total volume of the slave t ade ma V 1everx known. If one .. considers those who perished in the siOc>adc5 a~,: 0" 't,' cargo ships in estimating the volume of traffic to the New World, tr ',' total11ay well be over forty million. So great was this t;-affic that "'Jy : ;~S(' .; lhin: of the people of v African descent lived outside cf Africa,'" ,\~; ;G'~ 5 ,'cs c.,ne from diveZ'se regions of Africa but particulariy from ths:;\' ar(~s i ';:>U~i;-; ~ aiong thecoast y( thioll&h West Africa to Central Africa (set ma;;: 8D cage :.' ' ' Scholars over the years, in their endeavo,:s tc ee:' '<: an J. tncan-Amer:can culture separate from European-Americar cult":(c"iscoV( :.-ed a significant number of cultural and linguistic properi.·~s 0: A~~can m:gin and labeled ~. them Africanfsms. Until recently scholars :JSt>~. ll-: ....er::n 4(ricanisms syn­ onymously with West Africanism.:. implyir:[. 'J::2 ::;:c, 'lIt:..;,,' heritage of the majority of the North American ',;ave popt-o ;at;::; , ",",' West .~drican in origin .. and that this culture was homogeneous Tn:) e. ,'iY ar;_~ies against the assumption of West African cultural homogenei:y, L~tead L sees the culture as conglomerate and heterogeneous. Focusing on the example of S.1Uth Carr jG.2 ')0' " jirwing its overview to that state, this essay also sheds light OD the:hc" I~tical.:ontroversy that arose from scholars' attempts to identify the m;;;o;- .,Jricar. cultural groups that contributed to the developm:.m of Afri: > • P .;, me:, 'lure, I will show thatalthough the.West Africans arrived in I'iorLl, f";;TIC lea in :.;reatei:' nU.IlJ.Q~i,s, .. :;; . 0; ., ..?~:k. 2 AfRICANjSM~ IN AMERICAN CULTURE The Origins of African-American Culture 3 NORTH AMERICA Goree "'~\~ ~ ~i"" .9"'- Sudanlc ~... Susu "'- Hausa c;:. ~~Manda !.jano RI ~\,e( ~,,~ '?~!~ ver Cape Mount:?'Q Akan Fon c Kru 0", 0'/ l Coast -1/- Coas Slave Ril/ er (-1 Coast III .:-./~ -1-/- ~ <t /c ~ "-t SOUTH a <§> 0 ~~ <;:¢$ AMERICA Culture Clult... lor vO South C.rDlln. Luba t. Mande 25'10 The Guinea Coast 2. Mano River 7'1. 3. Akan 11'10 (l °c Cabmda ­ Malamba 4. Sudanic ~-1 5. Niger Cross River 0 500mlles -1­ 6, Niger Delta 1'10 ?- ~. 7. Bakongo/Bantu 11'10 ~ ~ Ndongo 8. Ovlmbundu/Bantu 28'10 Hausa EOthnic Groups • Slave factories ~.. ~'::! 9. Luba Lunda/Bantu ­ ~ Not.: t7'M1lrom unknown .... 01 origin ~. the Bantu of Central Africa had the largest homogeneous culture among the iqwOited Afiicansand"ihe "sfiiiiigesnmpad' CHi tfiedeveI6pm.~.~J()(A~­ coast of the present-day Republic of Ghana. Slave Coast designates what is American culture. I will also address the problem ofmuliiplidty in the origins currently Togo and Benin and a small coastal portion of Nigeria. Bight of of Africanisms in North America by identifying the contributing African Biafra refers roughly to the Niger Delta. cultural areas. CULTURAL AREAS GEOGRAPHIC AREAS Herskovits was the first scholar to identify the cultural zones of Africa.4 His The historical literature shows little agreement on regional and coastal names model is usefuL but his cultural regions are too large to apply to specific along the West African coast. Melville J. Hcrskovits used the term Guinea cultures?'thus the cultural areas from which the slaves came must be revised Coast to include the southern portions of the Gold Coast (Ghana), Dahomey into smaller ailtural c1uSterS:Manae.M~2-:,g:rY!!L.Akan, Suaanic, Niger (Republic of Benin), and the Bight of Benin (the Niger Delta).2 Philip Curtin CiossRrver;'-Nfger-m~1f(Cana 'BaniU'-'The Bantu cluster is further divided into noted that Guinea as a geographical designation was always an unstable B'akongo, 'Ovimbunclli-;-andliiba Lunda. The cultural map on this page shows concept, changing in usage with each century. Early in the sixteenth century these areas in relation to the percentage of Africans arriving in South Carolina it referred to the whole western coast of Africa from the Senegal River to the from each cultural cluster. Orange River. Later it included the coast from Cape Mount to the Bight of According to Herskovits the areas that furnish~J.he_.&~~~~f B~nin. Curtin concluded that during the eighteenth century Guinea roughly slaves were the ':~asrn-ortlie'Selleg~l,Ri~, ."~}ljI!~,~,~~~~r~j!~ng designated present-day Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. 3 especially the southern portions of what are today known as Ghana and the 1/ For clarity I will follow Curtin's definition of Guinea, roughly designating Republic of Bentn), and the Niger Delta. Herskovits nci'iedtliat'AfrlcanSfrom r the area between the Senegal River and the Sherbro estuary, including the t~t§lne:~'c'o~ih§.~~I~Q.I.!~ibe!1!!....the IVQry Coast, the Bight of Benin, Canary and Cape Verde Islands, Guinea-Bissau, and present-day Gambia, tl:!.~., q"?l? CO~s,tL,~@,9.l!!~X,_~n.£J!1£.~~gast.Ql ggllS of Nigeria were mQst often Senegal, and Sierra Leone. The term Grain Coast refers to what is known today cited: in the historicalliterC!.ture of slavery. He identified these cultural zones as as Liberia. Windward Coast represents all of present-day Sierra Leone. Ivory the mostsigniflcant in the formation of the patterns of New World "Negro" Coast represents all of present-day Ivory Coast. Gold Coast identifies the coastal behavior.5 stretch from Assini in the west to the Volta River in the east, equivalent to the While historical documents are vague in terms of precise ethnic distribu­ -o~ '\. ;susu -.. ~~ ~ " 4l Menoe Mano River Hausa AFRICA G';. v~ . ~ ~\,,0\ """ ~f,~o Akan Fon Cape Mount Kru Co 0>"" -'11' Slave Riyar (-'1 Coast <9 <0 ~ ~ i;i>~ '1-'1' SOUTH /c IJ .§>~ ~ ~~ ~o AMERICA Cui"'.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Appalling! Terrifying! Wonderful! Blaxploitation and the Cinematic Image of the South
    Antoni Górny Appalling! Terrifying! Wonderful! Blaxploitation and the Cinematic Image of the South Abstract: The so-called blaxploitation genre – a brand of 1970s film-making designed to engage young Black urban viewers – has become synonymous with channeling the political energy of Black Power into larger-than-life Black characters beating “the [White] Man” in real-life urban settings. In spite of their urban focus, however, blaxploitation films repeatedly referenced an idea of the South whose origins lie in antebellum abolitionist propaganda. Developed across the history of American film, this idea became entangled in the post-war era with the Civil Rights struggle by way of the “race problem” film, which identified the South as “racist country,” the privileged site of “racial” injustice as social pathology.1 Recently revived in the widely acclaimed works of Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), the two modes of depicting the South put forth in blaxploitation and the “race problem” film continue to hold sway to this day. Yet, while the latter remains indelibly linked, even in this revised perspective, to the abolitionist vision of emancipation as the result of a struggle between idealized, plaintive Blacks and pathological, racist Whites, blaxploitation’s troping of the South as the fulfillment of grotesque White “racial” fantasies offers a more powerful and transformative means of addressing America’s “race problem.” Keywords: blaxploitation, American film, race and racism, slavery, abolitionism The year 2013 was a momentous one for “racial” imagery in Hollywood films. Around the turn of the year, Quentin Tarantino released Django Unchained, a sardonic action- film fantasy about an African slave winning back freedom – and his wife – from the hands of White slave-owners in the antebellum Deep South.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Mandingo: Racial Archetypes, Pornography, and Black Male Subjectivity
    Making Mandingo: Racial Archetypes, Pornography, and Black Male Subjectivity By Phillip Samuels © 2019 M.A., University of Kansas, 2007 B.A., Emporia State University, 2004 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Communication Studies and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Dr. Dorothy Pennington Dr. Scott Harris Dr. Beth Innocenti Dr. Jeffery Jarman Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks _____________________________ Dr. Robert McDonald Date Defended: 6 December 2019 ii Acceptance Page Making Mandingo: Racial Archetypes, Pornography, and Black Male Subjectivity The dissertation committee for Phillip Samuels certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Chair: Dr. Dorthy Pennington Date Approved: iii Abstract Mandingo is a reference to a longstanding myth in American culture, that black men have an unquenchable desire for white woman. I will argue that Mandingo is an example of a racial archetype. Racial archetypes are specific images of a long-standing stereotypes. Mandingo is one such archetype. Mandingo conjures up an entire history of the rhetoric of miscegenation. For some it is the excitement of the big black cock (BBC) and crossing the color line, but for most blacks it invokes images of lynching, slavery, and police brutality brought on by the fear of black men while at the same time trafficking in a prurient landscape of American racial and sexual relations. Whether through words, pictures or movies, the Mandingo has become a dominant archetype in the pantheon of the African American experience. Charting the Mandingo emergence and articulation is critical project to discern how these rhetorical markers are part of a larger mythic narrative.
    [Show full text]
  • Blaxploitation and the Cinematic Image of the South
    Antoni Górny Appalling! Terrifying! Wonderful! Blaxploitation and the Cinematic Image of the South Abstract: The so-called blaxploitation genre – a brand of 1970s film-making designed to engage young Black urban viewers – has become synonymous with channeling the political energy of Black Power into larger-than-life Black characters beating “the [White] Man” in real-life urban settings. In spite of their urban focus, however, blaxploitation films repeatedly referenced an idea of the South whose origins lie in antebellum abolitionist propaganda. Developed across the history of American film, this idea became entangled in the post-war era with the Civil Rights struggle by way of the “race problem” film, which identified the South as “racist country,” the privileged site of “racial” injustice as social pathology.1 Recently revived in the widely acclaimed works of Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), the two modes of depicting the South put forth in blaxploitation and the “race problem” film continue to hold sway to this day. Yet, while the latter remains indelibly linked, even in this revised perspective, to the abolitionist vision of emancipation as the result of a struggle between idealized, plaintive Blacks and pathological, racist Whites, blaxploitation’s troping of the South as the fulfillment of grotesque White “racial” fantasies offers a more powerful and transformative means of addressing America’s “race problem.” Keywords: blaxploitation, American film, race and racism, slavery, abolitionism The year 2013 was a momentous one for “racial” imagery in Hollywood films. Around the turn of the year, Quentin Tarantino released Django Unchained, a sardonic action- film fantasy about an African slave winning back freedom – and his wife – from the hands of White slave-owners in the antebellum Deep South.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting
    FREE IN THOUGHT, FETTERED IN ACTION: ENSLAVED ADOLESCENT FEMALES IN THE SLAVE SOUTH By COURTNEY A. MOORE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2010 1 © 2010 Courtney A. Moore 2 To my parents, Brenda W. Moore and George Moore, my first teachers, and my wonderful family in North Carolina and Florida, my amazing village 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout the course of this process I have received the support of countless individuals who have tirelessly given of themselves to make my dream a reality. Professionally, many teachers and professors have shaped my intellectual growth, equipping me with the skills and confidence needed to excel academically. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at Southwood Elementary, Central Davidson Middle and Central Davidson High Schools, especially Ms. Dorothy Talbert. Since elementary school Ms. Talbert encouraged me to conquer my fears and move toward the wonderful opportunities life held, even up to her untimely passing this year she was a constant source of encouragement and cheer. I am also indebted to the Department of History at North Carolina Central University, specifically Drs. Carlton Wilson, Lydia Lindsey and Freddie Parker. Observing these amazing scholars, I learned professionalism, witnessed student-centered teaching at its best, and had the embers of my love for history erupt into an unquenchable fire as I learned of black men and women who impacted the world. My sincerest gratitude to the History Department and African American Studies Program faculty and staff at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dictionary Legend
    THE DICTIONARY The following list is a compilation of words and phrases that have been taken from a variety of sources that are utilized in the research and following of Street Gangs and Security Threat Groups. The information that is contained here is the most accurate and current that is presently available. If you are a recipient of this book, you are asked to review it and comment on its usefulness. If you have something that you feel should be included, please submit it so it may be added to future updates. Please note: the information here is to be used as an aid in the interpretation of Street Gangs and Security Threat Groups communication. Words and meanings change constantly. Compiled by the Woodman State Jail, Security Threat Group Office, and from information obtained from, but not limited to, the following: a) Texas Attorney General conference, October 1999 and 2003 b) Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Security Threat Group Officers c) California Department of Corrections d) Sacramento Intelligence Unit LEGEND: BOLD TYPE: Term or Phrase being used (Parenthesis): Used to show the possible origin of the term Meaning: Possible interpretation of the term PLEASE USE EXTREME CARE AND CAUTION IN THE DISPLAY AND USE OF THIS BOOK. DO NOT LEAVE IT WHERE IT CAN BE LOCATED, ACCESSED OR UTILIZED BY ANY UNAUTHORIZED PERSON. Revised: 25 August 2004 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS A: Pages 3-9 O: Pages 100-104 B: Pages 10-22 P: Pages 104-114 C: Pages 22-40 Q: Pages 114-115 D: Pages 40-46 R: Pages 115-122 E: Pages 46-51 S: Pages 122-136 F: Pages 51-58 T: Pages 136-146 G: Pages 58-64 U: Pages 146-148 H: Pages 64-70 V: Pages 148-150 I: Pages 70-73 W: Pages 150-155 J: Pages 73-76 X: Page 155 K: Pages 76-80 Y: Pages 155-156 L: Pages 80-87 Z: Page 157 M: Pages 87-96 #s: Pages 157-168 N: Pages 96-100 COMMENTS: When this “Dictionary” was first started, it was done primarily as an aid for the Security Threat Group Officers in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
    [Show full text]
  • I SOUTHERN MONSTERS in SOUTHERN SPACES
    i SOUTHERN MONSTERS IN SOUTHERN SPACES: TRANSNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS IN CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION by CHRISTEN ELIZABETH HAMMOCK (Under the Direction of JOHN LOWE) ABSTRACT Vampires, zombies, and other monsters have long been written about as a narrative space to work through collective anxieties, and the latest incarnation of these paranormal stories is no exception. What is remarkable is that many of these stories have adopted a Southern setting to explore Otherness. In this thesis, I seek to explore the role that Southern milieus plays in three television shows: The Walking Dead, True Blood, and Dexter. These shows are deeply invested in the culture and history of different “Souths,” ranging from the “Old South” of rural Georgia to a new, transnational South in Miami, Florida. I argue that this trend stems from the South’s hybrid existence as both colonizer and colonized, master and slave, and that a nuanced engagement with various Souths presents a narrative space of potential healing and rehabilitation. INDEX WORDS: Vampires; Zombies; Dexter; The Walking Dead; True Blood; Transnational; Southern literature; Television; U.S. South i SOUTHERN MONSTERS IN SOUTHERN SPACES: TRANSNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS IN CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION by CHRISTEN ELIZABETH HAMMOCK A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2014 ii © 2014 Christen Elizabeth Hammock All Rights Reserved iii SOUTHERN MONSTERS IN SOUTHERN SPACES: TRANSNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography Is Divided Between Recorded and Braille Titles and by Fiction and Nonfiction
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 353 983 IR 054 358 AUTHOR Minor, Dorothy, Comp. TITLE The African-American Experience in the United States. INSTITUTION Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee. Div. of Blind Services. PUB DATE 30 Sep 91 NOTE 142p.; For related documents, see IR 054 359-360. PUB TYPE Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Adolescent Literature; Adults; Annotated Bibliographies; *Audiotape Recordings; *Black Literature; Blindness; *Braille; *Fiction; Large Type Materials; 'Nonfiction; Public Libraries; Secondary Education; Special Libraries IDENTIFIERS *African Americans ABSTRACT This annotated bibliography describes braille and recorded books presenting African-American personalities and concerns in fiction and nonfiction. Approximately 480 items are indexed. The bibliography is divided between recorded and braille titles and by fiction and nonfiction. There are separate sections for juvenile titles reflecting these divisions. Books for junior and senior high readers were placed in the juvenile sections; books for high school and adult readers were plat -ad in the adult sections. Some of the books are part of the Cassette Book Florida Collection, which are recorded by volunteers. A title index is provided. (KRN) * * * * * * ** * *** * ********,'c* *** *** 'r********** *** ******** ******************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF
    [Show full text]
  • 16 Raiford Ch16-Nyongo
    Habeas Ficta Fictive Ethnicity, Affecting Representations, and Slaves on Screen Tavia Nyong’o Can slavery be represented on screen? The question may sound rhetorical. Ever since D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation revolutionized the medium in 1915, slavery—and the repression of the afterlife of slavery—has been constitutive of cinematic representation. Indeed, one way to chart the history of Hollywood melodrama has been through its ever-shifting strategies for holding a distorting mirror to the spectacle of slavery and the lived experience of the slave. Linda Williams, for example, has carefully reconstructed the historical interplay between sentimental and melodramatic spectacles of black suffering in U.S. cinema.1 Without attempting to review the history of slave representation on screen comprehensively, this chapter does propose to describe four strategies that have crystalized recently: the sentimental, the antisentimental, the pornotropic, and the counter-pornotropic.2 Through this admittedly schematic rendering of the affective genres through which the slave is brought to impossible presence on screen, I aim to forward a second claim: I argue that the emergence of ethnic and national difference within screen representations of chattel slavery is not a recent phenomena, but a problem built into the im/possibility of representing the slave as such. In what way can slave representation be said to be im/possible, that is to say, both possible and impossible, without recourse to any “final analysis” that decides between the two? Film
    [Show full text]
  • Filming Black Voices and Stories: Slavery on America's Screens Brenda E
    Filming Black Voices and Stories: Slavery on America's Screens Brenda E. Stevenson The Journal of the Civil War Era, Volume 8, Number 3, September 2018, pp. 488-520 (Article) Published by The University of North Carolina Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cwe.2018.0051 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/699974 [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] review essay Filming Black Voices and Stories Slavery on America’s Screens brenda e. stevenson This essay underscores that film is a powerful medium that has been used to both solidify popular and scholarly images of history and radically challenge them. Slavery filmography began with all of the ugly, stereotyped characterizations and storylines one would expect of the racial nadir of the early twentieth century. A revolutionary social movement at midcentury and a profound revision in the his- toriography of slavery beginning in the 1970s prompted changes in the public’s reception of more realistic and humanistic images of enslaved black people, their interior lives, personal worth, and strivings. This essay moves forward from the earliest films to present-day cinema and TV series offerings to demonstrate how central slavery has been to Hollywood, its portrayal of American life, and how its screen representations have reflected changes in the historiography and the nation’s social realities. Underground, a two-season television series that premiered in 2016, marked a capstone moment in media production on the subject of slav- ery.1 The Anthony Hemingway–directed television saga displays enslaved men, women, and children whose lives do not center on their relation- ships with their owners, the morality of slavery, or even their day-to-day familial or work commitments in the shadow of that dreaded institution.
    [Show full text]
  • Staging Civil Rights: African American Literature, Performance, and Innovation
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2014 Staging Civil Rights: African American Literature, Performance, and innovation Julius B. Fleming Jr University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the African American Studies Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Fleming Jr, Julius B., "Staging Civil Rights: African American Literature, Performance, and innovation" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1276. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1276 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1276 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Staging Civil Rights: African American Literature, Performance, and innovation Abstract This dissertation examines the relationship between African American literature and performance during the modern Civil Rights Movement. It traces the ways in which the movement was acted out on the theatrical stage as creatively as it was at those sites of embodied activism that have survived in intellectual and popular memories: lunch counters and buses, schools and courtrooms, streets and prisons. Whereas television and photography have served as primary ways of knowing the movement, this project turns to African American literature, and the live performances it inspired, to provide a more complex framework for analyzing the
    [Show full text]
  • The Birth of a Nation (Nat Parker, 2016): the Tale of Nat Turner’S Rebellion Delphine Letort
    The Birth of a Nation (Nat Parker, 2016): The Tale of Nat Turner’s Rebellion Delphine Letort To cite this version: Delphine Letort. The Birth of a Nation (Nat Parker, 2016): The Tale of Nat Turner’s Rebel- lion. Transatlantica. Revue d’études américaines/American Studies Journal, Association Française d’Études Américaines, 2019. hal-02299792 HAL Id: hal-02299792 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02299792 Submitted on 28 Sep 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Transatlantica Revue d’études américaines. American Studies Journal 1 | 2018 Slavery on Screen / American Women Writers Abroad: 1849-1976 The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, 2016): The Tale of Nat Turner’s Rebellion Delphine Letort Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/12096 ISSN: 1765-2766 Publisher AFEA Electronic reference Delphine Letort, « The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, 2016): The Tale of Nat Turner’s Rebellion », Transatlantica [Online], 1 | 2018, Online since 08 September 2019, connection on 23 September 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/12096 This text was automatically generated on 23 September 2019. Transatlantica – Revue d'études américaines est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International.
    [Show full text]
  • The Segregated Gun As an Indicator of Racism and Representations in Film
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0525-1 OPEN The segregated gun as an indicator of racism and representations in film ✉ Julie M. Aultman1 , Elizabeth Piatt2 & Jason Piatt3 Film emphasizes an ironic history of racism in gun control and ownership and a justification for seeking justice among the Black community, but film also perpetuates structural racism and bias, segregating Black from White, and failing to promote equality, solidarity, and 1234567890():,; progress. The gun is both a symbol of structural racism, and an expression through which critical attitudes and political statements can carry greater meaning and lead to positive action, empowerment, and desegregation. The symbolic meaning of guns in the hands of Blacks as violent, exceptional or some other stereotypical character trope is illustrated using three selected films including: Django Unchained, John Q., and Proud Mary. This paper is divided into three acts: Act I: The gun as symbol of structural racism in film; Act II: Ste- reotypical characters and their guns; Act III: Desegregation of the gun in film. These sections illustrate the meaning and representation of the gun as a theatrical object in film, and when in the hands of stereotypical character tropes, has perpetuated racist beliefs and attitudes that have not been adequately addressed in the film industry. To desegregate the gun in film, filmmakers need to critically examine the overt and hidden film texts and how the gun, and the characters wielding it, are perceived among audiences. 1 Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA. 2 Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA. 3 Independent Researcher, Stow, OH 44224, USA.
    [Show full text]