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African American Literary Counter-Narratives in the Post-Civil Rights Era

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African American Literary Counter-Narratives in the Post-Civil Rights Era African American Literary Counter-narratives in the Post-Civil Rights Era DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Tiffani A. Clyburn Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Valerie B. Lee, Advisor Dr. Debra Moddelmog Dr. Vincene Verdun Copyright by Tiffani A. Clyburn 2011 Abstract African American Literary Counter-Narratives in the Post-Civil Rights era is situated at the intersection of 20th and 21st century African American literature and Critical Race Theory while also being attentive to the continuity of the historic engagement between African American literature and the law through the exploration of the law as a trope in the works of African American authors of the post-Civil Rights era. In exploring these critical connections, I argue that African American authors construct counter-narratives that challenge color-blind narratives of racial progress using the familiar language of the law and posit various modes of legal and extra-legal storytelling as a way of aggregating the varied and often alienating experiences of race in America. Since the election of the first African American president in 2008, there has been a boom of self-congratulatory proclamations that his election marked the destruction of the final racial barrier in the United States. I argue that these post-racial proclamations are nothing new and are, in fact, rooted in a longstanding trend of American nationalist discourse so often deployed as a distraction from the continued subjugation of marginalized groups. My project examines how African American authors of the post- Civil Rights era challenge color-blind rhetoric by writing narratives about African Americans who live in the shadows of the lofty narratives of racial progress. The counter-narratives I examine paint a nuanced picture of African American characters struggling to comprehend, cope with, catalyze and counter the most recent manifestation of white supremacy. However, far from simply representing a community in pain or positing ―solutions‖ to the sufferings of African Americans, these authors instead portray an array of possibilities and pitfalls that shape the black experience in America. ii Dedication For my grandmother, Lou Ivy Barron, who has seen all sides of the coin and has the stories to prove it. In memory of Jacqueline (Jacquie) Scott, my friend and a transcended woman warrior. Jacquie, there are no do-overs and no take-backs. I hope you will accept the completion of this project as my amends. iii Acknowledgments I would like to give a special thank you to: my mother and father, William and Linda Clyburn for their patience and support; Dr. Valerie B. Lee, my mentor on both sides of the path (I’ve thrown you quite a few curve balls over the years, but you’ve never wavered in your support. Thank you!); my two very best friends, Valora Blackson and Danielle Dadras for their encouragement and for always reminding me that my contributions are worthwhile; my mentor, brother and dear, dear friend, Maurice Stevens (thank you for everything, Mo); a wonderful cluster of faculty members who have been mentors and role models and who have made my time here at Ohio State such a wonderful experience in so many ways—Debra Moddelmog, Vincene Verdun, Chadwick Allen, and Leslie Alexander; and to my PHD family: Tara Polansky, RaShelle Peck, Mara Penrose and the amazing students from PHD Summer 2011—you all are the best support system anyone can ask for! And thank you to Tanisha T. Richardson for giving me a gentle nudge here and there when I was dazed by the light at the end of the tunnel. iv Vita 1998................................................................Anne Arundel High School 2002................................................................B.A. English, Winston-Salem State University 2004................................................................M.A. English, The Ohio State University 2004 to Present ..............................................Graduate Student, Department of English, The Ohio State University Publications Review of Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper by Jacqueline Bacon. American Periodicals: A Journal of History, Criticism, and Bibliography, Volume 19, Number 1, 2009, pp. 100-102 (Review) Fields of Study Major Field: English v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ........................................................................................................................ iiiii Acknowledgments............................................................................................................. iiv Vita ...................................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: A Colorblind History: Law, Race, and African American Literary Engagement ....................................................................................................................... .1 Chapter 2: A Struggle Between the Margins and the Middle: Race and Epistemology in Octavia Butler’s Kindred .................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 3: Fighting the Phantom: A Meditation on Resistance to Colorblind Racism in the Work of John E. Wideman .......................................................................................... 82 Chapter 4: Missing Black Bodies in the “City too Busy to Hate” .................................. 137 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 173 Works Cited: ................................................................................................................... 181 vi Chapter One A Colorful History: Law, Race, and African American Literary Engagement On November 4, 2008, I sat in my living room surrounded by friends and colleagues (all African American). I have had many raucous gatherings with this same group; this Tuesday night, however, we all sat gaping at the television in complete silence as a cloud of awe, wonder, fear, and doubt flooded the air. Awe and wonder because, as African Americans and students of African and African American history, literature and politics, we were too familiar with the continued tumultuousness of U.S. race relations to believe that we would live to see the day that an African American might win the U.S. presidency. We were filled with fear and doubt for the same reasons. As the MSNBC political pundits called state after state in favor of then presidential candidate Barack Obama, we all began to hope in spite of the realities that we all live, read and teach, that yes, we would have our first African American president. At approximately 10:53pm, Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC‘s Hardball, was so moved by the power of the possibility of an African American president that he excitedly launched into a monologue about contemporary U.S. race relations that summed up the rhetoric of the post-election news: Times are identified by the presidency. We may be entering now the era of an Obama presidency, which gives the character to the times. And it‘s 1 so extraordinary for someone who grew up as I did to imagine the fact that our first family will be African American . It‘s going to be a spectacularly different environment for every kid who reaches consciousness in our society. From now on it will be different than it was before. It‘s totally different. If this happens in the next few minutes and we announce it, every reality we grew up with in terms of ethnicity will be different, and the world will look at us—Thank God!—with wonder again. My God, how they do it! How do these Americans do it? . Once again, America, with all its frailties and all its sins of the past has been able to do something truly wondrous . I love it when they say ―I don‘t know how they do it?‖ because we‘ve invented something new—a truly diverse presidency for once. (Matthews, Chris 2008) At the core of Matthews‘s comments is an understanding of Barack Obama as a messiah figure—a leader who has come to move us out of racialized darkness into the promise land of the colorblind era—as evident in Matthews‘s belief that ―every reality we grew up with in terms of ethnicity will be different‖ after Obama is elected president. The promise of an Obama presidency is not only to usher us into the post-racial era, but also to restore the sense of wonder with which the world once viewed the United States—―My God, how do they do it!‖ About five minutes after Matthews‘s speech, Sen. Barack Obama became President-elect. Ten minutes later, I received a text message from a friend (an African American woman) who had been working at the polls all day. It read: 2 ―Are we progressing or regressing when a white man says to me ‗Even though he‘s a nigger, I‘m gonna vote for Obama. We need change‘?‖ I have no doubt that even this white man my friend wrote of would emphatically argue that clearly race is no longer a factor in American society if he can bring himself to vote for a ―nigger,‖ a point supported by his candor and willingness to voice the details of his voting logic to an African American woman. The following morning, millions of Americans across the nation flocked to their local newsstands to purchase
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