Dilution Anxiety and the Black Phallus Margo Natalie Crawford T H E O H I O S T A T E U N IVER S I T Y P R E ss / Columbus Crawford_final4print.indb 1 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM Copyright © 2008 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crawford, Margo Natalie. Dilution anxiety and the black phallus / Margo Natalie Crawford. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–8142–5168–3 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0–8142–1091–8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. American literature—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Human skin color in literature. 3. Politics and literature—United States—History—20th century. 4. Human skin color—United States—Psychological aspects. 5. Human skin color—Social aspects—United States. 6. Race awareness in literature. 7. Race in literature. 8. Race relations in literature. 9. Miscegenation in literature. 10. Body, Human, in literature. 11. Difference (Psychology) in literature. I. Title. PS228.S57C73 2008 810.9'3552—dc22 2008015056 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (ISBN 978–0–8142–1091–8) Paper (ISBN 978–0–8142–5168–3) CD-ROM (ISBN 978–0–8142–9171–9) Cover design by Janna Thompson-Chordas. Text design by Jennifer Shoffey Forsythe. Type set in Adobe Minion Pro. Printed by Thomson Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Mate- rials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Crawford_final4print.indb 2 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM contents list of illustrations / v acknowledgments / vii introduction / 1 one “She Should Have Been a Boy”: Shades of Blackness in Three Lives and The Blacker the Berry / 23 two The Fantasy and Fear of Dilution in Absalom, Absalom! / 43 three The Black Arts Phallus / 62 four The Surreal Aesthetic and the Sticky Racial Fetish: The Bluest Eye and Tar Baby / 90 five Skin Color Geographies in Paradise / 112 six The Critique of Dilution Anxiety in Sent for You Yesterday / 135 epilogue Post-Dilution Anxiety / 167 notes / 177 works cited / 191 index / 197 Crawford_final4print.indb 3 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM Crawford_final4print.indb 4 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM illustrations Figure 1 Segregated public restrooms (© D’Azi Productions) / 9 Figure 2 Melanin: The Chemical Key to Black Greatness (Carol Barnes, 1988) / 15 Figure 3 The Blacker the Berry (Wallace Thurman, 1970) / 18 Figure 4 Die Nigger Die! (H. Rap Brown, 1969) / 67 Figure 5 “The Middle Passage” (Bob Crawford, 1968) / 77 Figure 6 “Beauty Culture” (Bob Crawford, 1967) / 78 Figure 7 “Culture” (Bob Crawford, 1969) / 79 Figure 8 Untitled (Bob Crawford, 1969) / 83 Figure 9 “Wigs” (Bob Crawford, 1970) / 83 Figure 10 “Batman” (Bob Crawford, 1969) / 84 v Crawford_final4print.indb 5 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM vi illustrations Figure 11 Glenn Ligon, Warm Broad Glow (2005). Neon, paint; 36 x 192 inches, 91.4 x 487.7 cm. A.P. 1/2; Ed. of 7 (Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles) / 171 Figure 12 2006 advertisement / 175 Crawford_final4print.indb 6 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM acknowledgments HE book gained wings during my graduate studies at Yale Univer- sity with the invaluable guidance of Margaret Homans and Robert TStepto. I thank them for the type of dialogue and feedback that greatly enriched every layer of this project. At Yale, Laura Wexler taught a seminar, “Photography and the Body,” that propelled my initial work with Black Arts movement photography. Her excitement about Bob Crawford’s photo- graphs greatly encouraged me. Richard Brodhead provided superb insight on the contradictions that Faulkner crystallizes. At Yale, seminars taught by Margaret Homans, Vera Kutzinski, Hazel Carby, Sara Suleri, Michael Denning, Michael Holquist, Bryan Wolf, and James Szwed provided a wealth of new ways of seeing and new ways of thinking. I thank Wai Chee Dimock for a reading of the dissertation that foregrounded the metaques- tions and helped immensely as I moved to the Black Arts movement and Black Power movement as a pivot point in this story about images of black bodies. During the middle life of the writing of this book, Lisa Gail Collins and I coedited New Thoughts on the Black Arts Movement (Rutgers 2006). As we worked on that project, many parts of this book were nurtured. I thank Lisa Collins for being such a kindred spirit. The annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art, held in the art history department at Howard University and organized by Floyd Coleman, has offered lively and engaging feedback. The 2006 Porter Colloquium provided a rare focus on both the literature and the visual culture of the Black Arts movement. Houston A. Baker, Jr. has been a consummate mentor. I have deep grati- tude for his sense of the “Sade tones.” vii Crawford_final4print.indb 7 7/25/2008 11:52:45 AM viii acknowledgments I thank Sonia Sanchez for telling me at the 2004 MLA conference to “continue doing exactly what you’re doing.” I first met Kimberly Benston at a 2006 conference on Larry Neal at Brooklyn College. His encouragement has been precious. Hortense Spillers’ groundbreaking work has been a bridge over troubled waters. I thank Jacqueline Goldsby for hearing what I was saying at the exact moment when I needed to be sure that it was being heard and for being an exemplary model of the black feminist scholar. At Indiana University, George Hutchinson has offered the type of gen- uine support and camaraderie that often made all the difference. Many conversations with Trica Keaton have simply sustained me. I am very grateful to Purnima Bose for her insight and rare generosity. Many others have provided that necessary dialogue and vital inspira- tion: Haki Madhubuti, Cheryl Clarke, Olaf Berwald, Lewis Gordon, Wil- liam Van Deburg, James Mumford, Quincy Troupe, Cathy Bowman, Cheryl Wall, Eleanor Traylor, John Bowles, Bennie Johnson, Mae Henderson, James Smethurst, Radhika Parameswaran, Amor Kohli, Dwight McBride, Jennifer De Vere Brody, Mike Sell, Uma Narayan, Wendy Graham, Pat Brantlinger, Salah Hassan, John McCluskey, Audrey McCluskey, Michelle Wright, Evie Shockley, Howard Rambsy, Valerie Grim, Joyce Joyce, Vivian Halloran, Badia Sahar Ahad, Esiaba Irobi, Komozi Woodard, Carter Mathes, Wakisha Malone, Tiffany Mann, Tommy Lott, Aldon Nielsen, and Ross Gay. Many of my graduate students have shared my passion for black body politics. Some of the most fruitful exchanges have occurred with Ursula McTaggart, Jackson Brown, Vanessa Reece, Clark Barwick, Kristen Gentry, Aisha Sharif, and Asha French. During the final stages of this book, Marta Caminero-Santangelo was incredibly generous with her time and close reading. Her deep insight and encouragement have greatly nurtured this book. Working with the anonymous readers truly enhanced this book. Their engagement with the material was a crucial part of the writing process. Sandy Crooms made this book possible. I have been fortunate to have such an encouraging and committed editor. Working with her was a sheer pleasure. I give my deepest expressions of gratitude to my mother. Julio Finn, Bob Crawford, Renee Arnold, Dagny Bloland, Anupama Rao, Tijuana Murray, Karama Neal, Nikki Taylor, Darren Hutchinson, Vicki Bond, Joe Razza, Paula Bryant, and my siblings remain ideal readers. Crawford_final4print.indb 8 7/25/2008 11:52:46 AM introduction HEN one of my students proposed that, in contemporary films and Hip Hop culture, dark-skinned black men are now “in style,” Wanother student queried, “Is it because light-skinned men are ren- dered effeminate?” This student then proposed that we should also think about the relatively new use of “very” dark-skinned black female super- models who sometimes look androgynous. The conversation then moved to images of dark-skinned black female supermodels as one big black phallic symbol. In a 2008 article in the Wall Street Journal, interviewees connect Barack Obama’s brown-skinned wife and his ability to gain the support of both middle-class and lower-class African American voters. One interviewee states, “Many of our male celebrities, sports figures, they marry white women or light-skinned wives. [ . ] We all see that on televi- sion. But you turn on the TV and you see Michelle Obama and she looks black. I can identify with her. [ . ] I can tell you this: He would have a lot less votes if his wife were light-skinned or white.”1 Another inter- viewee claims that Barack Obama “married up.” This language rewrites the longstanding post-slavery script in which people “marry up” when a light-skinned spouse becomes a type of racial uplift. In the Harlem Renais- sance play Color Struck (1925), Zora Neale Hurston depicts a dark-skinned female character’s inability to believe that any suitor would really prefer her over a “high-yaller,” a light-skinned black woman. Her internalization of this light-skinned preference ends her relationship with John, the char- acter who, contrary to Emma’s assumptions, never displays any signs of being “color struck.” When John returns to Emma after twenty years in 1 Crawford_final4print.indb 1 7/25/2008 11:52:46 AM 2 introduction order to profess his never-ending love, he is surprised to find that the dark- skinned Emma, who constantly accused him of secretly desiring “yellow” women, is now the mother of a light-skinned “mulatta” child who is ill. The father of this child is not present. Theatergoers (or readers) are led to wonder if Emma, in her great frustration over light-skinned privilege, decided that giving birth to a light-skinned child, even outside of wed- lock, would increase her social status.