Black Feminist Rhetoric by Kimberly Fain, M.A., J.D. a Dissertation In

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Black Feminist Rhetoric

Kimberly Fain, M.A., J.D.

A Dissertation

Technical Communication and Rhetoric

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Approved

Kendall Gerdes, Ph.D. Chair of Committee

Ken Baake, Ph.D.

Alex McGee, Ph.D.

Beau Pihlaja, Ph.D.

Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School

August, 2020

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I offer my appreciation to my advisory committee: Dr. Kendall Gerdes (Chair),

Dr. Ken Baake, Dr. Alexis McGee, and Dr. Beau Pihlaja. Thankfully, my committee shared a genuine interest in my subject matter. Needless to say, their encouragement and guidance added value to this process. As a result, I’m infinitely grateful for their consistent involvement in this project. Furthermore, I wish to thank my former Texas

Tech University (TTU) professors. They created both a warm environment and a sense of community.

Additionally, I wish to thank my TTU cohort Triskaideka aka Triskets. From the beginning, they expressed camaraderie, which I continue to appreciate.

Furthermore, I want to thank my TCR Fam (especially Kristine Acosta, Delphine

Broccard, Kathleen Hardesty, Andrew Hollinger, Manny Piña, and Jessica Webber).

Their support became especially important during this pandemic. From a technological distance, we offered each other both laughter and intellectual advice.

Also, I would like to acknowledge my family. I wish to thank my parents

Herbert and Constance Fain. My parents have created a pathway of love and support, which has definitely taught me how to thrive in both public and private spaces.

Furthermore, I want to thank them for their infinite teachings on both work life and home life. Lastly, I would like to thank my husband, Anthony “AJ” Johnson, who has been a constant supporter of my educational and professional endeavors. With coffee cups in our hands, we have brainstormed many ideas. However, I appreciate most the writing spaces that he created in our home. Writing has always been a centerpiece in my life, and AJ has always supported my research and writing projects.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... ii

ABSTRACT ...... iv

LIST OF FIGURES ...... v

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

God is a Black Woman: Black Feminist Rhetoric Pushes Back ...... 1 Black Feminist Thought in the Genre of African American Rhetoric ...... 3 Black Feminist Thought in the Popular Culture Realm ...... 5 The Genre of Black Feminist Rhetoric ...... 9 The Genre of Feminist Rhetoric ...... 11 Diversity, Inclusion & Retention ...... 14 Rhetorical Agency, Empowerment & Authentic Inclusion ...... 18 Black Feminist Theory: Written, Practiced, and Early Beginnings ...... 21 Who Should Be Engaging in Black Feminist Rhetoric Work ...... 26 Rhetorical Analysis of Black Feminist Texts ...... 29 Artifacts ...... 34 Artifact 1: Brittney C. Cooper’s Text Beyond Respectability ...... 35 Artifact 2: Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage ...... 37 Artifact 3: Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom’s Podcast ...... 39 Aftifact 4: Beyoncé’s Homecoming ...... 40 Outline of Chapters ...... 43

II. BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN COOPER’S BEYOND RESPECTABILITY AND ELOQUENT RAGE ...... 48

Invention on the Road to Civil Discourse ...... 55 Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation ...... 57 Rhetorical Argumentation in Beyond Respectability ...... 63 From the Margins: Pauli Murray’s Ethos and the Black Female Queer Body 71 Rhetorical Argumentation in Eloquent Rage ...... 84 The Arrangement and Style of a Grown-Ass Woman ...... 91 Black Feminism According to Beyoncé ...... 93 Respectability Politics: Michelle Obama’s Microresistance ...... 94 Black Feminist Rhetorical Invention in the Writing Classroom ...... 97

III. BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN GAY AND COTTOM’S HEAR TO SLAY ...... 106

The Road to Impassioned Civil Discourse ...... 110 Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation ...... 114 iii Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Rhetorical Argumentation in Hear to Slay ...... 120 The Ethos of Black Feminist Leadership ...... 124 The Arrangement of Chief Black Women In Charge ...... 131 Rhetorical Argumentation of Black Feminist Leadership ...... 140 The Arrangement and Style of Badass Leadership ...... 146 Black Feminist Rhetorical Podcasts in the Writing Classroom ...... 152

IV. BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN BEYONCÉ’S HOMECOMING ... 161

The Musicality of Impassioned Civil Discourse ...... 167 Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation ...... 170 Black Feminist Musical Documentary: Rooted in Hip Hop Culture ...... 172 Rhetorical Argumentation of Beyoncé’s Image ...... 181 The Arrangement and Style of Beyoncé’s Homecoming ...... 185 Black Feminist Aural/Visual Rhetoric in the Writing Classroom ...... 197

V. CONCLUSION: WHY BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC MATTERS . 204

Black Feminist Rhetoric Defined ...... 205 What Distinguishes Black Feminist Rhetoric ...... 205 The Argumentation of Black Feminist Rhetoric ...... 208 How Black Feminist Rhetoric Impacts the World ...... 210

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 212

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ABSTRACT

This Black Feminist Rhetoric dissertation couples Sharon Crowley’s Toward a

Civil Discourse and black feminist autoethnography as methods for critically narrating my personal experiences and reflections of black womanhood, particularly, in academia. My analysis is grounded in ideological criticism and autoethnography, as methods for studying black feminist rhetorical methodology. For the subject of my rhetorical analysis, I employ artifacts such as Brittney Cooper’s Beyond

Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017) and Eloquent Rage: A

Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (2018), Roxanne Gay and Dr. Tressie

McMillan Cottom’s Luminary podcast Hear to Slay, and Beyoncé’s recent Netflix documentary Homecoming. Thus, black feminist rhetoric can employ pop culture artifacts, as a method of ideological critique, in academic spaces, for inventing rhetorical arguments that challenge historically oppressive systems and institutions of power.

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LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Racially Inflammatory Responses ...... 2 1.2 “The Creation of God” by Harmonia Rosales ...... 2 5.1 BEY-CHELLA 2018 Homecoming Binder ...... 192

vi Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most un-protected

person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the

black woman.

“Who Taught You to Hate Yourself”

Malcolm X

God is a Black Woman: Black Feminist Rhetoric Pushes Back

In 2017, Harmonia Rosales, a self-identified Black Cuban woman, rhetorically responded to Malcolm X’s speech “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself.” Although

Rosales does not explicitly refer to any rhetorician as motivation for her first solo art show, Black Imaginary to Counter Hegemony (B.I.T.C.H.), her painting entitled “The

Creation of God” decenters whiteness with intention. In other words, her painting demarginalizes blackness by transforming the Black female image from an inferior being into an iconic (superior) figure that is respected, protected, and visible. With

Rosales’s reimagination of Michael Angelo’s iconic painting “The Creation of Adam,”

Rosales “depicted the deity not as a white-haired white man, but as a black woman, reaching out to touch another, younger black woman” (Laneri, “Uproar”). Despite the scientific theory of the Mitochondrial Eve, meaning all humans share one distant maternal African ancestor dated almost 290,000 years ago (Oikkonen 752), the rhetorical act of creating such a physical manifestation of Black female empowerment disturbed various audience members. On Rosales’ Instagram profile, @honeiee, she posted a video https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvzn-jkn7Th/ featuring some of the 1 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 following racially inflammatory responses to her artwork “The Creation of God” featuring the hashtag

#womenempowerment:

• It’s disgusting

and offensive to

depict God as a

nigger and a

woman. 1.1 Racially Inflammatory Responses • Please stop appropriating white culture, it’s insulting when someone’s heritage

and identity is warped.

• Amazing how you could take a magnificent piece of European artwork, try to

replicate it but just end up making it look like graffiti in the ghetto.

• Degeneracy! Leave this kind of artwork to Europeans . . . This is just

embarrassing.

For Rosales, her exigency was the desire for her child not to hate herself. When Rosales had her daughter, she “started focusing on issues of color ” (Tempone, “The Artist”).

She wants “her to grow up loving how she looks” (Tempone, “The Artist”). Thus, 1.2 "The Creation of God" by Harmonia Rosales Rosales rhetorically created a sense of Black female empowerment by resisting the white male norm narrative of privileging their

2 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 own images. In an article entitled “Artist Harmonia Rosales Re-Imagines ‘The

Creation of Adam’ with Black Women” by De Elizabeth, Rosales says that “Replacing the white male figures—the most represented—with people I believe have been the least represented can begin to recondition our minds to accept new concepts of human value.”

By centering marginalized Black women, people will find more value subconsciously in their representation. Rosales also said “If I can touch even a small group of people and empower them through the power of art, then I’ve succeeded in helping to change the way we see the world” (“The Creation of Adam”). Her painting embodies Black feminists’ resistance, which is a type of rhetoric we see sometimes in the realms of both academic and popular culture. In essence, in the hands of Rosales, the Black woman becomes the impetus, the originator, and the creator of the universe.

Thus, as an act of Black feminist rhetoric, centuries of indoctrination that marginalized

Black womanhood are refuted when the Black woman is centered in a global narrative.

Black Feminist Thought in the Genre of African American Rhetoric

When defining the word rhetoric, there are many contested viewpoints.

However, Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee offer an ancient definition of rhetoric that is relevant here. According to Crowley and Hawhee, “[i]n ancient times, people used rhetoric to make decisions, resolve disputes, and deliberate publicly about important issues” (1). Aristotle considered rhetoric “as the power of finding available arguments suited to a given situation” (Crowley and Hawhee 1). Both teachers and

3 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 practitioners, like Aristotle and Cicero, thought “rhetoric helped people to choose the best course of action when they disagreed about important political, religious, or social issues” (Crowley and Hawhee 1). Thus, “the study of rhetoric was equivalent to the study of citizenship” (Crowley and Hawhee 1). When ancient “Greek and Roman students” experienced effective teachers, “students composed discourse about moral and political questions that daily confronted their communities” (Crowley and Hawhee

1). Historically, rhetoric offers a persuasive tool that has the possibility to reduce the chances of a “potentially violent confrontation” (Crowley and Hawhee 2).

Consequently, my contemporary view of rhetoric builds on the ancient foundation discussed by Crowley and Hawhee. Rhetoric is a means to assert citizenship by composing arguments that seek to solve problems in terms of political and social issues. Therefore, Black feminist rhetoric should incorporate both Black feminist thought and ancient rhetoric, in terms of writing and speech to persuade society to solve contemporary issues.

African American rhetoric addresses African American vernacular (language), classic masterpieces of Black literature, and Black culture, however, it does not center

Black women or the rhetoric of Black female thought. Meaning, various books may have several chapters on Black feminist thought (e. g., hair/body politics or musical culture), but the books don’t specifically address issues that concern this dissertation such as intersectionality, the embodied experiences of Black women, Black male patriarchy, issues of labor, and the promotion of Black women’s empowerment and leadership. For example, Understanding African American Rhetoric (2003) by Ronald

L. Jackson II and Elaine B. Richardson addresses Egyptian roots of African American

4 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 rhetoric, African American spirituals, and African American resistance. African

American Rhetoric(s): Interdisciplinary Perspectives (2007) by Elaine B. Richardson and Ronald L. Jackson II focuses on communicative practices and persuasive techniques exhibited by the African American freedom struggle. Keith Gilyard and

Adam Banks’s book On African American Rhetoric (2018) discusses slave narratives, digital expression, and activism. Lastly, Vershawn Ashanti Young and Michelle

Bachelor Robinson’s Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric: The Longue

Duree of Black Voices (2019) is a comprehensive collection of texts focusing on

African American communication from slavery to the present. Although African

American rhetoric is present in the field of rhetoric, as previously stated, unless there are one or two chapters written by a woman, featured in the text, Black feminist rhetoric receives less treatment and provides little attention specifically to the concerns and issues of Black women. However, in the realm of popular culture both African

American rhetoric and Black feminist rhetoric have a great presence.

Black Feminist Thought in the Popular Culture Realm

In terms of Black feminist rhetoric, the realm of popular culture is increasingly centering Black women and their rhetorical perspectives on life. Regardless of the subject matter, popular culture is centering the Black female body because Black women are taking an active role in the communicative expression of Black feminist thought. For instance, the #MeToo movement that became popularized by white female celebrity culture was started by a Black woman Tarana Burke in 2006 (Chan,

“Our Pain”). According to Burke, “‘The women of color, trans women, queer

5 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 people—our stories get pushed aside and our pain is never prioritized,’ said

Burke, a survivor of sexual violence. ‘We don’t talk about indigenous women.

Their stories go untold’” (Chan, “Our Pain”). In 2018, Stacey Abrams, the first

African American woman to run for governor of Georgia, famously gave a non- concession Concession speech, as an act of Black female resistance, in the face of voter suppression and anti-black discrimination. Abrams famously said, “But stoicism is a luxury and silence is a weapon for those who would quiet the voices of the people, and I will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right” (Timmons,

“Stacey Abrams’ Concession”).

Black Girls Rock is an annual Black Entertainment Television awards show that honors Black women such as #MeToo founder and activist Tarana Burke, producer and queer activist Lena Waithe, and resistance leader and congresswoman

Maxine Waters for a multitude of Black accomplishments. Black Twitter is a social media space within Twitter that speaks to Black issues and Black women often spearhead the conversation. Additionally, three Black women founded the

#BlackLivesMatter movement: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. The subsequent #BlackGirlsMatter movement was co-founded by Kimberlé Crenshaw to address how “Girls of color face much harsher school discipline than their white peers but are excluded from current efforts to address the school-to-prison pipeline,” which is a quote from a report on Feb. 4, 2015 entitled “Black Girls

Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected” issued “by the African

American Policy Forum and Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies” (Crenshaw et. al. “Black Girls Matter”). In 2017, five

6 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 teenage Kenyan girls created an app for a Google competition called I-cut “hoping to bring an end to female genital mutilation.” Stephani Bursari wrote in a 2018 article entitled “Nigerian Girls Win Silicon Valley Contest for App That Spots Fake Drugs”:

Five months ago Jessica Osita had never used a computer, sent an email or

even browsed the internet, yet she is part of a team of five teenagers who have

just won a major tech award in California. Despite their limited tech

knowledge, the Nigerian teens learned how to build a mobile app from scratch

by using opensource software from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The app, called FD-Detector, helps users identify fake medicines using a

drug’s barcode to verify its authenticity and expiration date. (Bursari,

“Nigerian Girls”)

Most recently, the U.S. women’s soccer team led by the legendary Megan Rapinoe brought inspirational women into the sports realm when the “SheBelieves Cup and the

Women’s History Month occurred concurrently” (“WNT Honors Inspirational

Women”). Meaning, each member of our winning women’s soccer team wore a name on the back of their jersey that had inspired them. Considering that both Christen and

Mallory are women of color and Megan is a white woman, the fact that they all chose legendary Black women is a moment of feminist solidarity, which is awe inspiring.

When asked why, here is what these powerful young women said:

Christen Press: Sojourner Truth is the original intersectional activist –

advocating for people who have layers of oppression being black and

female. She is the ultimate hero for us today, centuries later, as we grapple

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with the same problems and try to better our world regarding these complex

social issues.

Mallory Pugh (on Beyoncé): She’s a badass. She’s confident and is just a

good role model for women in general because she represents something

that is so much bigger than herself. She’s inspiring in her industry and all

over the world. She is a person who allows and shows women that they can

be who they are and flaunt it.

Megan Rapinoe: Audre Lorde was unapologetically herself. She so

beautifully and powerfully expressed all parts of herself and her

experiences at once. She was a woman, a lesbian, a feminist, and a person

of color, a civil right activist and a poet. She understood so clearly that

change does not come from playing by the existing set of rules.

(“WNT Honors Inspirational Women”)

With that said, it’s thrilling to see that the most successful women’s team, in sports right now, recognizes the rhetorical power of Black women past and present. And it’s quite exciting to see that as a marginalized LGBTQ white woman, Megan finds inspiration in a legendary LGBTQ Black woman. All at once, we’re witnessing feminist solidarity. When women demonstrate intra-racial appreciation and intersectionality, in the pop culture realm, there are lessons here on Black feminist rhetorical acts that students in the academic realm can and will connect to.

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The Genre of Black Feminist Rhetoric

In essence, Black women and Black girls are forging a path for themselves in the popular cultural realm, however, their communicative practices, persuasive strategies, and lived experiences are not adequately addressed in the field of African

American rhetoric or rhetoric itself. For instance, when searching for books that specifically address and interpret the rhetorical practices of Black women, I found seven: With Pen and Voice: A Critical Anthology of Nineteenth-Century African-

American Woman by Shirley Logan (1995), We Are Coming: The Persuasive

Discourse of Nineteenth-Century Black Women by Shirley Logan (1999), Traces of A

Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women (2000) by

Jacqueline Jones Royster, Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop

Culture, and the Public Sphere (2004) by Gwendolyn Pough, African American

Women’s Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor (2010) by

Deborah Atwater, PHD to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life (2013) by Elaine

Richardson, and Rhetorical Healing: The Reeducation of Contemporary Black

Womanhood (2016) by Tamika L. Carey.

Logan’s With Pen and Voice is an anthology of legendary speeches by rhetors such as Maria W. Stewart, Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, and

Fannie Barrier Williams. Logan’s We Are Coming interrogates the persuasive discourse of church women and club women such as the aforementioned rhetors.

Pough’s Check It While I Wreck It explores the rhetorical relationship between Black womanhood and the hip-hop culture. Atwater’s African American Women’s Rhetoric is a comprehensive study of Black women’s rhetorical efforts to gain respect for their

9 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 words and both their personal and social identities in various contexts such as education, politics, and social spaces. Richardson’s PHD to Ph.D. discusses her personal journey from a troubled childhood to becoming an academic success.

Royster’s Traces of A Stream focuses on the agency, Afrafeminist ideologies, and the literate practices of elite nineteenth-century African American women. Carey’s

Rhetorical Healing features rhetorical strategies employed by African American writers to addresses the mass distribution of Black women’s recovery and wellness

(i.e. self-help books, plays, and films) via the commercialization of spirituality, education, and entertainment by figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, and T.D.

Jakes. With that said, seven books, in the past twenty-five years addressing the rhetorical strategies of Black feminist thought does not adequately represent and address Black feminist rhetoric. There is a void that must be addressed within the discipline of rhetoric. To strengthen the argument for a comprehensive treatment of

Black women’s rhetoric, I consider Victor J. Vitanza’s text on rhetorical historiography a relevant source.

When examining the question of why the discipline of rhetoric needs Black feminist rhetoric, Victor J. Vitanza’s Writing Histories of Rhetoric presents various essays that support this need. In the essay entitled “Interpreting the Silent ‘Aryan

Model’ of Histories of Classical Rhetoric: Martin Bernal, Terry Eagleton, and the

Politics of Rhetoric and Composition Studies,” Kathleen Ethel Welch self identifies as a “white, female North American” (39). As a result, she explicitly states that this classification deems her color or race as invisible. It’s assumed that white skin is the default norm. And all other “colors, shades, or hues are arbitrarily measured, often

10 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 unconsciously” (39). Therefore, Welch consciously resists the common literary practice of “further colonizing of African cultures” (39). Additionally, she acknowledges that she is a “woman working in an academy that continues to marginalize groups de facto (although not de jure) according to race, gender, and class” (39). Welch discusses the importance of including Martin Bernal’s controversial three-volume text the Black Athena. In essence, Welch concludes texts that challenge historical notions that exclude Africa’s influence, in this case, “in the construction of ancient Greece,” offer a unique opportunity (46). The integration of such a text “offer all of us in the academy a powerful new way to attack racism where it may be least suspected of residing: in the disciplines that have transmitted what we know and how we know” (46). Welch states that the “discipline of English” is responsible for an

“ethically bankrupt” way “of transmitting” knowledge to our students (46-47). Due to the elitism, nostalgia, and superior attitude in the discipline of English cited by Welch,

Black feminist rhetoric offers resistance to historical and exclusionary practices. Since

Black feminist rhetoric centers Black women, it offers an intersectional approach to fighting racism in the academy and an ethical way to circulate knowledge in a more inclusive manner.

The Genre of Feminist Rhetoric

In general, there has been wonderful treatment in terms of books addressing feminist rhetoric such as Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition

(1995) by Andrea Lunsford, Feminist Rhetorical Practices: New Horizons for

Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies (2012) by Jacqueline Jones Royster and

11 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Gesa K. Kirsh, and Rhetorical Feminism and This Thing Called Hope (2018) by

Cheryl Glenn. However, there are feminist texts such as Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity Through the Renaissance (1997) by Cheryl Glenn that address the absence of women, in terms of the study of rhetoric, yet it still does not address Black women’s contribution to the field. Also, there are feminist rhetorical texts such as Man Cannot Speak for Her Volumes 1 & 2 (1989) by Karlyn Kohrs

Campbell and Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s) (2001) by Joy

Ritchie and Kate Ronald that address intersectionality and/or they have a few chapters that address the needs and concerns of Black women. Man Cannot Speak for Her

Volume 1 covers nineteenth century reformers such as female abolitionists that challenged gender roles. Also, Campbell examines opposition due to theology or moral responses to their rhetorical appeals. Lastly, Campbell reviews the tensions between white and African American women in the feminist movement. Some of the

African American women featured in this book are Sojourner Truth, Maria Miller

Stewart, and Mary Church Terrell.

Available Means also includes Black female rhetoricians such as Ida B. Wells,

Maria Stewart, Anna Julia Cooper and Audre Lorde and African American novelists such as Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison. Furthermore, Ritchie and Ronald employ letters, speeches, and newspaper columns amongst other artifacts as part of their methods for reviewing women’s rhetorical traditions. However, even though Available Means features rhetorical traditions and texts from African

American writers, it still does not limit its focus to Black feminist rhetoric. Meaning,

Available Means is a powerful text that primarily focuses on the feminist tradition and

12 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 its impact on white women. Still, there needs to be a more in depth analysis centered on the theories, methodologies, methods, and artifacts that contribute to Black feminist rhetoric. Gwendolyn Pough’s scholarship demonstrates how the depth of Black feminist rhetoric dictates more focused treatment.

Gwendolyn Pough, a Black female rhetorician, conveys in a focused manner, the mission of Black feminist rhetoric in Teaching Rhetorica’s “Each One Pull One.”

For her chapter, she uses the term womanist rhetoric synonymously with Black feminist rhetoric. Since the goals are the same, this is an argument that I agree with.

Womanist rhetoric “is about uplift. It is about love and a push for a better world. It is about ultimately saving-whether it is saving a life, a people, or indeed the world. And it is always linked to an activist project and agenda-that is, it is about change” (69). In other words, for the purpose of this dissertation, I’m using womanist rhetoric and

Black feminist rhetoric interchangeably because they both seek to uplift Black women by advocating for social justice. Furthermore, it strives to save lives and perhaps the world. Lastly, Black feminist ideology employs rhetoric as a means to push an activist agenda that leads to change.

Additionally, Pough expounds on the impact of Black feminist rhetoric by saying “It pushes past limitations, seeking knowledge beyond what is commonly accepted. It is ‘serious’ in that it is concerned ultimately with the freedom and wholeness of entire people-male and female. A womanist rhetorician tells the truth as she sees it even if that truth is not always welcome” (69). Thus, in order to convey the immense impact of Black feminist thought on rhetoric, in its desire to tell the truth about Black women, and fight for the freedom and wholeness of both males and

13 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 females, Black feminist rhetoric should stand alone as sub-genre the field of rhetoric.

Diversity, Inclusion & Retention

As the aforementioned shows, since Black feminist rhetoric receives treatment only from a selection of famous Black female scholars in the field of rhetoric, Black feminist rhetoric deserves more coverage within both feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric itself. Perhaps, if there were more Black female rhetorical scholars such as

Deborah Atwater, Tamika L. Carey, Shirley Logan, Gwendolyn Pough, Elaine

Richardson, and Jacqueline Jones Royster, Black feminist rhetoric would receive more coverage from a scholarly and pedagogical standpoint. Keep in mind, Gwendolyn

Pough’s Check It While I Wreck It: Black Women, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public

Sphere (2004); Gwendolyn Pough, Elaine Richardson, Aisha Durham, and Rachel

Raimist’s Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology (2007);

Gwendolyn Pough and Elaine Richardson’s “Introduction: Hiphop Literacies and the

Globalization of Black Popular Culture” (2016); and Gwendolyn Pough’s “‘Each One,

Pull One’: Womanist Rhetoric and Black Feminist Pedagogy in the Writing

Classroom” (2006) utilize pop culture artifacts to articulate Black feminist rhetoric in both the academic and popular culture realm.

In the process of contemplating the need for more Black feminist rhetoric, I look to Black women’s numerical presence at universities. According to the National

Center for Education Statistics for fall 2017, Black women represent 2% of the total number of full-time faculty at universities (“Race/ethnicity of College Faculty”). Since that number represents all of the Black female professors across various disciplines,

14 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 one can conclude that the total percentage of Black women rhetoricians is less than

2%. Thus, due to our impactful and historical role as rhetors in American culture, a greater percentage of Black women rhetoricians may lead to more Black feminist rhetorical scholarship.

Still, despite efforts from Black women rhetoricians, university efforts at pedagogical diversity, inclusion, and retention have resulted in some failures. There are numerous texts by academic scholars that discuss how universities have failed to create authentic diversity, inclusion, and retention for scholars due to racism. Sarah

Ahmed, a female scholar of color, articulates how diversity does not equate to a change in racist practices. In On Being Included, Ahmed interrogates diversity in institutional life. According to Ahmed, the word diversity has replaced other more critical terms: equality, equal opportunities, and social justice (1). Meaning,

“[d]iversity work manifests itself as an integration “into the ordinary work or daily routines of an organization” (Ahmed 23). In other words, diversity doesn’t necessarily mean systemic, structural, or institutional change. Instead, it functions in a manner absent of disruption to “what an institution is already doing” (Ahmed 27). In its place, polices are created as status quo measures that advance “the performance of an institution;” therefore, they increase “its contribution to the social system” (Ahmed

84). These types of policies make the university look good on the surface, but they are not authentic structural change within the institution.

Additionally, universities provide examples of diversity to claim that there is not a problem with diversity or racism on a campus (Ahmed 145). Ahmed makes of a point of stating that the presence of minorities does not necessarily mean diversity.

15 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

And diversity does not necessarily mean institutional transformation. Instead, when the inaction or actions of a university don’t reflect their words, they are engaging in performative diversity. In other words, many universities have no intention of implementing institutional change. Once faculty of color realize their presence does not necessarily equate to change, they may experience frustration because their efforts to increase diversity, inclusion, and retention are met with resistance. Thus, it’s no surprise that inclusion of diverse faculty often fails to transform an institution. The following scholars share their personal experiences of how diversity, inclusion, and retention failed to shield them from campus racism.

After reading the challenges in academia experienced by Black rhetorical scholars such as Ersula Ore, Eric Darnell Pritchard, and Carmen Kynard, it becomes evident how diversity, inclusion, and retention efforts have contributed to less Black women rhetoricians in academia. Ore’s “Pushback: A Pedagogy of Care,” Pritchard’s

“When You Know Better, Do Better,” and Kynard’s “Letter to My Former College

President and Provost: Why I Left” discuss how burdensome pressures on Black labor,

Black intellect, and the resistance to their expertise contribute to failed diversity, inclusion, and retention efforts. Kynard states that there are multiple factors that contribute to the departure of Black and Brown faculty. Due to Kynard’s own personal experience, she shared a familiar narrative of exploitive university practices and uncompensated labor:

I have only ever left a university when I found its Racialized exploitation, anti-

blackness, organizational incompetence, and misogynoir intolerable. Any

discourse about my departure that deliberately ignores the hostile and inept

16 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

environments that make a place unbearable for faculty of color like me

obfuscates the college’s failure to develop effective recruitment and

retention models for BIPOC and promotes the racism that the institution

sustains. (“Letter”)

In other words, structural oppositions, “hostile departments and programs,” and the racism experienced at predominantly white institutions are contributing factors to low numbers of Black women rhetoricians (Kynard, “Letter,”). Furthermore, scholars of color feel devalued in the aforementioned type of environments. Therefore, “the most decorated” leave and “statistical data” supports those aforementioned statements

(Kynard, “Letter”). For instance, Kynard stated that even though her curriculum vitae was comparative to her male counterparts, her salary remained much lower “for six years” (“Letter”). Unfortunately, there were no attempts by the administration to remediate the salary imbalance. And there were endless unreasonable attempts to persuade Kynard to invest more uncompensated “labor and intellect” (“Letter”).

Therefore, I contend that Black feminist rhetoric offers an opportunity to redress absences in both Black faculty and the discipline of rhetoric. After all, as Pough emphasized Black feminist rhetoric is about change and making the world better.

Consequently, Black feminist rhetoric deserves more academic space than just minimal coverage in classes on African American studies, feminist studies, and nearly to no coverage in feminist rhetoric texts and classes in various genres of rhetoric.

17 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Rhetorical Agency, Empowerment & Authentic Inclusion

Rhetorical agency is a contested concept. Therefore, I utilize scholarship by two Black female rhetoricians, Jacqueline Jones Royster and Kimberly Johnson, to establish how my view of rhetorical agency is applicable to Black feminist rhetoric.

First, I discuss Royster’s use of the term rhetorical agency. In Jacqueline Jones

Royster’s Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American

Women, she creates a cyclical relationship between agency, literacy, and social change. Due to systemic issues in our society, African American women have not had the privilege of accessing “the rights of agency, and the rights to an authority to make knowledge and to claim expertise” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 3). Additionally,

Royster identifies acquiring literacy as transformative in terms of the agency and authority sought by early Black women writers (Traces of a Stream 5). In order to convey their “knowledge, experience, and interpretations,” Royster writes about

African American women such as Frances Harper who fought for social change, yet bridged their visions to others who differed. Then, they expressed a different vision

“that the claims of African Americans and others were the rights of citizenship and humanity” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 54). These types of rhetorical acts enabled them to “speak with agency and authority” despite “systemic disbelief” in their message (Royster, Traces of a Stream 54). With that said, rhetorical agency is advocating for social change based on a rhetor’s authority, knowledge, experience, and observation of needed change in the world.

Historically, Black women create “a vision and a set of values based on past knowledge and experience” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 58). Based on this

18 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 perspective of visionary thinking, “a sense of self, agency, and responsibility to society” assist Black women writers when they “define and interpret problems and identify and implement solutions” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 58). Furthermore, these Black women that made and shaped literacy “enabled possibilities for envisioning resistance, sociopolitical action, and sociopolitical change” (Royster,

Traces of a Stream 61). In essence by implementing a “vision and agency, using literacy both well and with persuasive intent,” they empowered both themselves and others (Royster, Traces of a Stream 61). As result of Royster’s exploration of how agency relates to literacy, I use the term rhetorical agency, in this Black feminist rhetoric project, as synonymous with Black female empowerment. When Black women use their expertise to transform society, they identify and solve problems caused by systemic issues. However, Royster reminds us that due to Black women’s marginal status in society, when they claim “agency and authority” it will appear to defy the “values and expectations” of the dominant culture (Traces of a Stream 64).

In an article entitled “If Womanist Rhetoricians Could Speak,” rhetorical scholar Kimberly Johnson emphasizes the importance of womanist critique in public discourse. Johnson communicates her frustration at the absence of womanist rhetorical commentary on political and social events impacting Black people. In the process, she defines rhetorical agency in academia this way: “agency as that which enables us to redefine ourselves in order to work on behalf of self and community in the midst of our social realities” (K. Johnson 162). Furthermore, she expresses how rhetorical agency functions when there are power imbalances and systems of oppression.

According to Johnson “we have to stop allowing hegemonic structures to define who

19 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 we are” (K. Johnson 162). Meaning, there is a pertinent role for Black women scholars to play in terms of contesting oppressive systems, structures, and institutions.

To establish a sense of agency, Black women must define themselves; use their own voice, experiences, and perspectives to fight for what they want (K. Johnson

162). Johnson’s definition of rhetorical agency builds on Royster’s definition in order to forge a decisive understanding of the term. Additionally, Johnson’s way of defining rhetorical agency is also useful with respect to the pop culture feminist critics in this project: “[w]omanist criticism must analyze the ideology of domination that marginalizes individuals until it is able to construct a rhetorical agency that affirms the humanity of those who are marginalized” (K. Johnson 162). Thus, I argue that Black feminist rhetoric examines how marginalization is the result of an ideology of domination and how rhetorical agency has the power to affirm the humanity of those who have been historically invisible. Consequently, my research investigates the subsequent primary and secondary questions about rhetoric’s relationship to Black feminism and Black women.

First, how is the Black female body a site of rhetorical research on oppression and

activism?

• How do Black women use their bodies to communicate rhetorical agency

in popular culture?

• How do Black female bodies express rhetorical agency despite cultural

power imbalances and historical systems of oppression?

20 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

• How do Black female bodies contribute as sites of knowledge and textual

production?

Second, how do we employ Black feminist rhetoric to solve problems in feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric itself?

• What is the rhetoric of Black Feminist thought? How is it defined?

• Where is Black feminist rhetoric located in terms of rhetorical sites of

research?

• How is the rhetoric of Black feminist thought a site of rhetorical

empowerment?

Third, why is Black Feminist rhetoric present in popular culture spaces, yet practically absent from academic spaces?

• How does including Black women’s embodied experiences contribute to both

feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric itself?

• How can Black feminist rhetoric influence academies on how to think, reason,

interpret, and engage differently with the world?

• How do we practice inclusivity as a means to employ Black Feminist rhetoric,

scholars, and professors in the field of rhetoric?

Black Feminist Theory: Written, Practiced, and Early Beginnings

Maria A. Stewart, Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. wells, and Mary

Church Terrell represent some of the best and earliest known examples of African 21 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

American female rhetoricians. In essence, the aforementioned Black women and their historic speeches impacted feminist theory, the rhetorical landscape, and human rights legislation in terms of slavery, abolition, and integration. Maria A. Stewart’s “Lecture

Delivered at the Franklin Hall” (1832), Sojourner Truth’s “Speech at the Woman’s

Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio” (1851), Anna Julia Cooper’s “The Higher Education of Women” (1892), Ida B. Wells’s “Lynch Law in All its Phases” (1893), and Mary

Church Terrell’s “What It Means to be Colored in the Capital of the U.S.” (1906) challenged the prescribed gender roles of Black women and confronted the politics of respectability, in terms of those audience members and the general public who refuted the social and legal rights of Blacks and women (especially Black women) that spoke in public. According to Hazel V. Carby’s “‘Woman’s Era’ Rethinking Black Feminist

Theory,” Black female leaders were intentional in advancing Black people’s rights, and they were willing to advance that cause by engaging in female solidarity despite resistance and a lack of support from white women.

Since emancipation black women had been active within the black community

in the formation of mutual-aid societies, benevolent associations, local literary

societies, and the many organizations of the various black churches, but they

had also looked toward the nationally organized suffrage and temperance

movements, dominated by white women, to provide an avenue for the

expression of their particular concerns as women and as feminists.

(Carby 243)

Despite the impact that these trailblazing rhetoricians made post emancipation, it would not be until the 1970s that an African American woman would attempt to

22 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 create a set of principles for inclusivity and fairness toward Black women writers. In

1977, Barbara Smith wrote her groundbreaking essay “Toward a Black Feminist

Criticism,” which was the first publication to develop criteria for critiquing Black women writers. Smith addresses how racist ideologies from white female critics and sexist ideologies from Black critics led to biased critiques, invisibility, silence, and the absence of Black women writers in the canon (“Toward” 132; Carby 245).

Furthermore, she asserted that there was a direct relationship to the state of Black women’s literature and the politics of feminism (B. Smith, “Toward” 133). Carby argues that Black feminist literary criticism and Black women’s history are two components of Black feminist theory (245). Meaning, for the Black woman, there is no separation between the personal and political. Carol Hanisch, a white feminist, wrote an essay entitled “The Personal is Political,” which also articulated this popular second-wave theory. Despite the textual production of this concept, Black women felt their needs were not addressed within the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Consequently, Black women activists-writers, such as Barbara Smith and

Beverly Smith responded to the Women’s Liberation movement with a document that addressed the intersectional needs of Black women. As a co-author of “The Combahee

River Collective Statement,” Barbara Smith and other organizers recognized the intersectional relationship of multiple sites of oppression: Black women “have all experienced sexual oppression as a constant factor in our day-to-day existence” (Smith et al.17). Evidently, Smith also advocated for intersectionality (though she did not utilize that word) by stating that a black feminist approach must consider both “sexual and racial politics” in Black women’s writings (V. Smith 370). Therefore, Valeria

23 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Smith’s essay “Black Feminist Theory and the Representation of the ‘Other’” builds on Barbara Smith’s Black feminist approach by addressing the marginalized other:

Black feminist theory was to refer not only to theory written (or practiced) by

black feminists, but also to a way of reading inscriptions of race (particularly

but not exclusively blackness), gender (particularly but not exclusively

womanhood), and class in modes of cultural expression. Rather, I examine

black feminism in the context of these related rhetorical positions in order to

raise questions about the way the “other” is represented in oppositional

discourse. This sort of question seems especially important now that modes of

inquiry once considered radical are becoming increasingly institutionalized.

(V. Smith 370)

However, despite the fact that Black feminist theory has established that Black women writers should be acknowledged by the canon, Black feminist theory still suffers from white female critics privileging “white middle-class women as normative within the feminist arena” and male critics, Black men included, privileging “their masculine centered values” when engaging in criticism of black women writers (Carby 248). In other words, Deborah E. McDowell states in “New Directions for Black Feminist

Criticism” that “[t]he recognition among Black female critics and writers that white women, white men, and Black men consider their experiences as normative and Black women’s experiences as deviant has given rise to Black feminist criticism” (168).

Thus, by 1980 McDowell writes that “a handful of Black female scholars” committed themselves to “resurrecting forgotten Black women writers and revising misinformed critical opinions of them” (168). According to McDowell, these Black female scholars

24 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 were “[j]ustifiably enraged by the critical establishment’s neglect and mishandling of

Black women writers, these critics are calling for, in the words of Barbara Smith,

“‘nonhostile and perceptive analysis of works written by persons outside the

‘mainstream’ of white/male cultural rule’” (168).

Even though McDowell asserts in 1980 “no substantial body of Black feminist criticism—either in theory or practice—exists, a fact which might be explained partially by our limited access to and control of the media,” (168) that circumstance no longer exists in 2019. Meaning, by the mid-1980s and 1990s contemporary writers of classic texts clearly articulate Black feminist theory and practice for both popular culture and the academy. Black feminists’ texts include Angela Davis’s Women, Race and Class (1981) and Women, Culture, and Politics (1989); bell hooks’s Ain’t I a

Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) and Feminist Theory: From Margin to

Center (2000); Patricia Collins’s Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (2000; 2014), Black Sexual Politics: African

Americans, Gender, and the New Racism (2005), and Collins and Sirma Bilge’s

Intersectionality (2016); Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983), and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the

Movement (1996) and On Intersectionality: Essential Writings (Forthcoming 2022).

As a result, the mass culture and the academy have a guidepost on Black feminist thought. And contemporary Black feminists and texts such as Roxane Gay’s

Bad Feminist (2014); Keeanga-Yamatta’s How We Get Free: Black Feminism and

Combahee River Collective (2016); Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage: A Black

Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (2018); Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk

25 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

About Race (2018); Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation (2018); and Feminista

Jones’s Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets (2019) are presenting a new wave of the intersection of pop culture and academic understanding of Black Feminism past and present.

Nevertheless, Black feminist rhetoric, as of now, has not been clearly articulated as a viable and clearly distinct methodology within the realm of feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric.

Who Should Be Engaging in Black Feminist Rhetoric Work?

This Black feminist rhetoric project serves a number of potential audiences including rhetoricians, scholars, and professors who teach rhetoric. In other words, much like feminist theory prior to the mid-1980s, Black feminist rhetoric is an understudied topic. This is due in part to the lack of understanding of the term, theoretical basis, and the dearth of available academic resources. As previously stated by McDowell, the same problem plagued Black feminist criticism decades ago (168).

Therefore, for the purpose of finding historical and/or everyday examples of Black feminist rhetoric, there is the hesitancy amongst many professors to go outside of the canon. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the academy, this emergent rhetorical sub-genre is growing in prominence due to the famous and everyday influential women who engage in rhetorical acts of persuasion via popular culture realms (i.e., politics, social media, sports, and entertainment). As previously stated, Black feminist rhetoric builds upon established principles such as feminist theory, Black feminist theory, African American thought, and African American rhetoric. But, moreover, it

26 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 explores rhetorical strategies and methods in an applicable manner that specifically addresses the needs and concerns of Black women. Thus, Black feminist rhetoric examines the language, discourse, and persuasive techniques used to study artifacts

(inside and outside the academy) that are inclusive and center the lived experiences of

For the purpose of teaching and learning Black feminist rhetoric, due to the interdisciplinary appeal of this subject matter, there are many types of publications and various types of texts available. Thus, with proper study these Black feminist pop culture artifacts—podcasts, films, documentaries, art exhibits, social media—can be easily integrated into the academic field. Based on my extensive research, there is no text that exclusively defines Black feminist rhetoric, provides a theoretical basis, methodological, and methods based approach to artifacts in the pop culture or academic realm. For instance, Deborah Atwater’s African American Women’s

Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor is a powerful rhetorical text that devotes one chapter to pop cultural artifacts: “Contemporary Times: African

American Women and Hip-Hop.” Thus, this dissertation will be the first text to exclusively magnify Black feminist rhetoric as a stand-alone and viable subject matter for the academy. This Black feminist rhetoric project strives to be my “Barbara Smith” groundbreaking moment. After all, Smith co-edited a classic Black feminist book entitled All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave

27 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

(1982) which argued for Black Women’s Studies to be included into the academy. At the conclusion of the book, the text includes syllabi for general, social science, interdisciplinary, and literature courses for the admittance of a Black Women’s

Studies curriculum into university classrooms.

With that said, as an academic text, this dissertation project will amplify the importance of incorporating Black women’s textual and cultural production from pop culture spaces into academic spaces as a rhetorical project. Meaning, despite the prevalence of Black feminist rhetoric in the popular culture realm, rhetoricians and scholars rarely study the available scholarship and wide ranging artifacts associated with this sub-genre study. Perhaps, this is due in part to the lack of Black women in the field of rhetoric or in the academic field period. According to the National Center for Education Statistics for fall 2017, “among full-time, 54 percent were White males,

27 percent were White females, 8 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander males, and 3 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander females. Black males, Black females, and

Hispanic males each accounted for 2 percent of full-time professors” (“Race/ethnicity of College Faculty”). Or, perhaps, the absence, invisibility, and silence is due to the historical and prevalent norm of privileging white women in feminists’ texts and

Black men in African American texts.

Since Black feminist rhetoric is a burgeoning sub-genre, the academy should not be reluctant to welcome Black feminist rhetoric into its academic spaces on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. But, in an effort to teach Black pop cultural artifacts, educators should credit the artistic works used and in both academic and pop culture spaces @citeblackwomen, as Pritchard suggests (“When You Know Better”)

28 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 in the process of theorizing and instructing on Black feminist rhetoric in response to those works. In other words, for the purposes of this project, when I use the phrase

Cite Black Women, I’m referring to a movement that uses their website, social media, podcast, and blog to acknowledge and honor Black women’s intellectual production.

In 2017, Christen A. Smith started this movement: “The idea was to motivate everyone, but particularly academics, to critically reflect on their everyday practices of citation and start to consciously question how they can incorporate black women into the CORE of their work” (“Our Story”). In essence, since our labor production both physically and intellectually is employed in academic spaces, our intellectual production should receive credit. Cite Black Women makes a profound argument when they say, everyone, in particular academics, should acknowledge Black women’s voices and the origins of our ideas.

Rhetorical Analysis of Black Feminist Texts

For this dissertation project, I will employ rhetorical analysis with a theoretical basis in feminist theory, Black feminist theory, and African American thought. As for my methodological approach, I study artifacts that explore beliefs, symbols, and images that exemplify how Black Feminist discourse is derived from textual representations of the lived experiences of Black women and how Black women’s cultural criticism of those lived experiences contribute to rhetorical theory. In Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory, the authors discuss how

Sojourner Truth theorizes women’s bodies. Truth’s well-known speech “Ain’t I a

Woman?” prefigures “the very issues of bodily construction that pervade twentieth-

29 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 century feminism” (Conboy et. al. 3). As an “emancipated slave and field hand, Truth invited her listeners to interrogate monolithic male constructions of femininity that divide women against one another and against themselves” (Conboy et. al. 3).

Ultimately, Truth “insists that her audience turn its gaze on a black female body it has deliberately disregarded” (Conboy et. al. 3). In the same vein, my Black feminist rhetorical project exclusively emphasizes the textual representation of Black women’s lived experiences, which have been distinct due to the generational trauma caused by the Transatlantic slave trade, slavery, Redemption era, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement.

Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant writes in Behind the Mask of Strong Black

Women: Voice and Embodiment of a Costly Performance about the lived experiences of Black women, “In a society woven from resilient threads of sexism, racism, and class exploitation, strong Black women occupy a particular discursive and material space” (2). In other words, “To assert the idea of strong Black women during slavery, segregation, or contemporary institutional racism and intra-racial sexism” is to pretend that “personal actions and agency trump all manner of social abuses” (Beauboeuf-

Lafontant 2). Furthermore, the “strong Black women” trope “soothes many a conscience that could be troubled by the material conditions forced upon such persons and the toll of organized injustice on their humanity” (Beauboeuf-Lafontant 3).

Drawing on textual representation of the historical and lived experiences of Black women informs their system of beliefs that contribute to the rhetoric of Black feminist ideology. As previously established, Black feminist ideology advocates for solving problems caused by racism, classicism, and marginalization.

30 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Based on the framework for this dissertation project, Sharon Crowley’s

Toward a Civil Discourse: Rhetoric and Fundamentalism offers a method of studying the ideology of Black feminist rhetoric. According to Crowley, beliefs are “moments of ideology and ideology as the medium within which beliefs are articulated with one another” (64). In other words, belief systems are rhetorical forces: “They may be deployed within a rhetorical encounter to alter the alignments and directions taken by other rhetorical forces at work in a given situation, such as factual evidence” (Crowley

65). However, it’s imperative, as we discuss Black feminist rhetoric that I emphasize the intentions of our rhetorical discipline. According to Crowley, despite the fact that in “civic spheres rhetoric is held in such low esteem that it is often taken to be part of the problem rather than its cure” (26), the ancient art of rhetoric is still a solution to many of the problems present in civil discourse. Therefore, the importance of rhetoric should not be underestimated. Crowley states, “When rhetoric-as-invention was widely taught in American schools, impassioned oratory sparked movements such as abolition and women’s suffrage” (26). Consequently, on the basis of ideological criticism, if people don’t know “how to invent arguments” as Crowley suggests, they will not know how to “discover alternatives to the positions defined by powerful people and institutions” (27). As exemplified by Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman” speech, she used her skills as an orator and her body as a formerly enslaved Black woman, to challenge the ills of slavery during the abolitionist movement. Thus, even though some constituencies may initially resist, I suggest that teaching Black feminist rhetoric in academic spaces has historical, cultural, and political implications that will help interested students, women in particular, disrupt oppressive systems and challenge

31 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 powerful people and institutions, as a form of preserving our democracy and an atmosphere of authentic inclusion.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, this dissertation also couples Crowley’s

Toward a Civil Discourse and Black feminist autoethnography as methods for critically narrating my personal experiences and reflections of Black womanhood, particularly, in academia. By grounding my analysis of ideological criticism and autoethnography, as methods for studying Black feminist rhetorical methodology, this does the work of my rhetorical analysis of the following artifacts. More specifically, for the subject of my rhetorical analysis, I employ artifacts such as Brittney Cooper’s

Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017) and Eloquent

Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (2018), Roxanne Gay and Dr.

Tressie McMillam Cottom’s Luminary podcast Hear to Slay, and Beyoncé’s recent

Netflix documentary Homecoming. Thus, Black feminist rhetoric can employ pop culture artifacts, as a method of ideological critique in academic spaces for inventing rhetorical arguments for challenging systems and institutions of power. Since Cooper,

Gay, Cottom, and Beyoncé communicate their rhetorical intentions throughout their discursive texts by identifying relevant themes for their primary and secondary audiences, this rhetorical analysis does not engage in a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods approach to Black feminist rhetoric.

Instead, the textual analysis will cite rhetorical arguments presented in their pop cultural texts and present analysis for their purported Black feminist ideologies based on the selected artifacts. For an effective ideological critique “the term ideology” refers “to any system within which beliefs, symbols, and images are

32 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 articulated in such a way that they assemble a more or less coherent depiction of reality and/or establish a hierarchy of values” (Crowley 65). Thus, my chosen artifacts will demonstrate how Black feminist rhetoric is an ideological system of beliefs, symbols, and images that challenge institutional power such as unjust laws or disparate education. For instance, universities are a microcosm of American society

(Rodin, “The University and Public Behavior”). Therefore, teaching students how to construct arguments via Black feminist rhetoric that challenge the existing function of oppressive systems and institutions of power such as universities is essential to a functioning society. Hence, employment of Black feminist rhetoric as a pivotal genre of study may lead to academic inclusion, in terms of Black female representation, more diverse curricula, and another productive pedagogical approach to rhetoric. In the same vein, it’s imperative that scholars engaging in this work are mindful of the ways that oppressive systems and institutions may coopt their work, in an attempt to sanitize and minimize the impact of Black feminist rhetoric.

With regard to my research, I argue that these artifacts will do the following:

Black feminist rhetoric helps articulate how to integrate interdisciplinary theoretical basis in practice with a valid methodological approach; builds upon a foundation of contemporary writers articulating Black feminist thought such as Patricia Collins,

Brittney Cooper, and Roxanne Gay; expresses the importance of rhetorical analysis rooted in Black feminist pop culture resources and artifacts; and addresses the minimal treatment, absence in rhetoric journals and texts, the silence, invisibility, and hypervisibility noted by numerous scholars. Moreover, these artifacts do the following:

33 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

• center Black women’s lives, experiences, histories, and narratives;

• focus on Black women’s rhetorical response to their environment with their

own texts and cultural production;

• emphasize intersectionality as it pertains exclusively to Black women’s

discourse and rhetorical practices;

• are theoretically rooted in intersectionality and Black feminist thought;

• demonstrate how the Black feminist rhetoric integrates pop culture as a

successful methodological approach in academic settings;

• and transcend beyond the academy by adding value and inclusion of

diverse discourse, language, and rhetoric in the classrooms.

Additionally, these artifacts are examples of diverse materials that professors (of

Black feminist rhetoric, feminist rhetoric, cultural rhetoric, visual rhetoric, etc.) can include in their theoretical discussions, approaches, texts, artifacts, courses, curriculum, syllabi and texts such as books like On Being Included: Racism, Diversity in Institutional Life, and Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class in Academia. Effectually, this project will popularize and familiarize the term Black feminist rhetoric so that it’s acknowledged, recognized, used, and studied in pop culture and academic spaces.

Artifacts

The pop cultural artifacts used in this dissertation are exemplars of Black women’s culture. All of the texts can be accessed digitally, and they are widely circulated. Due to the popularity of these artifacts, when professors engage with these 34 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 texts, they are teaching information that will interest students and facilitate student circulation of their newfound and/or deepened knowledge. Hopefully, this informed commentary on Black feminist rhetoric would circulate back into mainstream society for a more civic-minded and transformative discourse.

Artifact 1: Brittney C. Cooper’s text Beyond Respectability

According to Brittney C. Cooper’s text Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual

Thought of Race Women (2018), women such as Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church

Terrell signify Black women’s intellectual traditions and Black feminist thought

(Beyond Respectability 2). Specifically, Anna Julia Cooper’s methodological

“approach to reading and interrogating the theoretical work and lived experiences of

Black women intellectuals” incorporates “1) a commitment to seeing the Black female body as a form of possibility and not a burden, and 2) a commitment to centering the

Black female body as a means to cathect1 Black social thought” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 3). For instance, in Cooper’s Voice from the South (1892) she insists that Black women’s bodies are inseparable from the theory they produce (Cooper,

Beyond Respectability 3). Furthermore, she argues that the racial progress of Black people is intimately “connected to the material and embodied conditions of everyday

Black people” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 5). In 1892, by connecting the advancement of African Americans to the everyday lived experience of the working

1 According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary cathect means “to invest with mental or emotional energy.”

35 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 class; Anna Julia Cooper explored embodied rhetoric before the term was employed in the field of rhetoric, even though she doesn’t explicitly use the word.

Moreover, Anna Julia Cooper pushes back against the rhetoric of W. E. B. Du

Bois’s “two warring ideals in one dark body” by embracing “racial embodiment as possibility rather than as perturbation” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 6). Whereas,

W. E. B. Du Bois “characterized the Black body as racked with an epic internal struggle over identity, [Anna Julia] Cooper, using the Black female body as a point of reference, saw intersecting identities—primarily of race and gender, but also of class and nation—as a point of possibility” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 6). That is,

“Black female experience of embodiment brought these competing national identities into generative tension” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 6). According to rhetorical scholars “women and their bodies have been obscured in conventional scholarship”

(M. Johnson et. al. “Embodiment”). In other words, the white male body is presumed to be the normative measure. Therefore, they suggest “by recognizing the inherent relationship between embodiment and rhetoric, we can make all bodies and the power dynamics invested in their (in)visibility visible, thereby strengthening the commitment to feminist rhetorical work” (M. Johnson et. al. “Embodiment”). With that said,

Brittney Cooper’s study of Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, and

Pauli Murray focuses on Black women’s bodies as sites of knowledge production. In other words, rhetorically speaking the lived experience of Black womanhood is a form of rhetorical expertise on Black female empowerment, intersectionality, and marginalization.

36 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Artifact 2: Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage

In Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage, she opens the book by disrupting the

Angry Black Woman trope. To Cooper, the basis of the stereotype is to “discredit the legitimacy” by dismissing Black women’s grievances as “emotional and irrational”

(3). For those reasons, Black women accommodate the fears of whites conforming their anger to a more socially acceptable form of resistance. In “The Problem with

Sass,” Cooper addresses Black female rage and how “sass is simply a more palatable form of rage” (Eloquent Rage 2). Cooper describes sass as “caricatures of finger- waving, eye-rolling Black women at whom everyone loves to laugh—women like

Tyler Perry’s Madea, Mammy in Gone with the Wind, or Nell from old eighties sitcom

Gimme a Break!” (Eloquent Rage 1-2). Black women become sassy “when rage is too risky—because we have jobs to keep, families to feed, and bills to pay” (Eloquent

Rage Cooper 2). According to Cooper, “Angry Black Women get dismissed all the time. We are told we are irrational, crazy, out of touch, entitled, disruptive, and not team players” (Eloquent Rage 3). Cooper insists that:

Black women have the right to be mad as hell. We have been dreaming of

freedom and carving out spaces for liberation since we arrived on these

shores. There is no other group, save Indigenous women, that knows and

understands more fully the soul of the American body politic than Black

women, whose reproductive and social labor have made the world what it is.

. . . Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that

hates us. . . . We know what it means to snatch dignity from the jaws of power

and come out standing. We know what it means to face horrific violence and

37 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

trauma from both our communities and our nation-state and carry on anyway

. . . We get angry, and we express that anger. We know what it means to feel

invisible.

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 4)

For the chapter entitled “Bag Lady,” Cooper discusses the deaths of Black women that have lost their lives to police violence: Sandra Bland, Miriam Carey, Tanisha

Anderson, and Korryn Gaines. Ironically, in Bland’s Vlog Sandy Speaks, she discusses her depression after a miscarriage and outrage due to the recent “police killings of unarmed Black people and her support for the Black Lives Matter Movement”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 104). Cooper compares her personal journey to Bland’s by saying “On the morning of July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland and I were two Black women chasing our dreams, even in the aftermath of our heartbreak” (Eloquent Rage 104).

Like Cooper, Bland “shared her private struggle alongside her political views”

(Eloquent Rage 104). For the Black women, the Black body is also a political site as

Patricia Collins states in Black Feminist Thought. Because “traffic stops have again become the pretext for the reckless taking of Black life by police,” the precariousness of Black life is a reminder of earlier eras “of racial terror for African Americans”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 104). As a manner of discussing the “intersections of social discourses,” Cooper refers to the legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theorization of the concept intersectionality. Cooper defines intersectionality as “the ways that systems of power interact in Black women’s lives to restrict social mobility and to hinder us from moving unencumbered through the social sphere” (Eloquent Rage

106). In essence, Cooper claims that the “The powerlessness and capriciousness of

38 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 being repeatedly jammed up at the personal and political crossroads of one’s intersections while a watching world pretends not to see you there, needing help, is how it feels to be a Black woman on an ordinary day” (Eloquent Rage 123).

In “Grown-Woman Theology,” Cooper recalls her grandmother teaching her

“a fully embodied theology of grown Black womanhood that day, one with its compass set toward freedom” (Eloquent Rage 140). For Black Christians, the “Bible challenges the fundamental principles of white supremacy” and “male domination”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 141). Cooper suggests that for Black women to fully embrace feminist theory, they should incorporate other texts “alongside the Bible,” such as

“Sojourner Truth, and Alice Walker, and Zora Neale Hurston, and Audre Lorde, and

Patricia Hill Collins, and Anna Julia Cooper, and Beyoncé” (Eloquent Rage 142).

Therefore, Black feminism becomes a “liberatory theology” that enables Cooper to bring her “spiritual self into the academy and” her “academic, intellectual self into the spiritual parts of” her life (Eloquent Rage 142). Black Feminism enables Black women to resist “a theology that does the dirty work of racism, patriarchy, and homophobia”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 143). In essence, Black girl feminism is an ideological rage that everyone needs. When women in general respond to anger, they can progress and effect change in public and private spaces.

Artifact 3: Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillam Cottom’s Podcast Hear to Slay

Roxane Gay, the best-selling author of Bad Feminist and Dr. Tressie

McMillam Cottom, author of Thick have launched a new podcast on Luminary. For

Gay and Cottom, the exigency of the moment is the need to have “great conversations

39 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 with smart people” (Seidliner, “Author Roxane Gay”). Cottom says that “Every badass woman has a group chat that keeps her lit . . . Hear to Slay is that group chat, set to ten” (Seidliner, “Author Roxane Gay”). In an article entitled “Roxane Gay and Tressie

McMillam Cottom to Release ‘Badass’ Podcast Called Hear to Slay,” Tonja Renée

Stidhum discusses their new podcast. Roxanne Gay opens by saying “Hear to Slay takes a Black feminist perspective on celebrity, culture, politics, art, life, love, all the things we’re obsessed with and more” (Hear to Slay).

Then, her co-host Tressie McMillan Cottom says “We’ll also talk about what you’re going through” (Hear to Slay). In their press release, Gay and Cottom clearly state that their black feminist podcast features an “intersectional perspective”

(Stidhum, “Badass’ Podcast”). Two of the famous guest will be actress Gabrielle

Union and director Ava DuVernay (Stidhum, “Badass’ Podcast”). The podcast plans to “cover the high brow, the low brow and everything in between” (Stidhum, “Badass’

Podcast”). Ultimately, their vision is “for an unapologetically black feminist podcast”

(Stidhum, “Badass’ Podcast”). Thus, Hear to Slay is a tool that provides a platform to elevate and center Black women’s voices in our social discourse.

Artifact 4: Beyoncé’s Homecoming

In 2019, Beyoncé entered the literary canon with her phenomenal award winning semi-autobiographical visual album Lemonade (2016). Recently, Kinitra D.

Brooks and Kameelah L. Martin edited an anthology of essays published by Routledge

Press entitled The Lemonade Reader. According to Maiysha Kai’s article entitled “The

Bitter, the Sweet, and the Book: Beyoncé’s Seminal Work Enters the Literary Canon

40 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

With The Lemonade Reader,” Beyoncé’s Lemonade “seamlessly merged black feminism and pop culture,” which “traced a direct lineage from ancient African religion and folklore to Gullah culture to New Orleans’ ‘bounce’ and the black female backbones of movements like Black Lives Matter.” As result of Beyoncé’s inspirational work, the popular culture and academic spaces converged as “think pieces were written” and “online debates and college courses” emerged. Then,

Candice Benbow created “The Lemonade Syllabus” with books listed based on various genres such as Fiction & Literature, Black Feminist Studies, English &

Critical Theory, Historical & Cultural Studies, and Religion & Womanist Theology.

The editors state that “Beyoncé’s work belongs in serious black feminist discourse” because it’s grounded in Black womanhood and popular culture and multi- generational. But, also the editors were inspired by the “Lemonade Syllabus” creator

Candice Benbow’s “unique ability to move between popular culture, academia, and social media.”

Considering the cultural impact of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, I’d like to explore how her Netflix documentary Homecoming is an ideal artifact for studying Black

Feminist Rhetoric, which is a genre area that the “Lemonade Syllabus” and The

Lemonade Reader neglected to address. Intentionally, Beyoncé situates Homecoming in Black feminist discourse and vernacular in the Black experience. Throughout the duration of the documentary, Beyoncé discusses her rhetorical intentions for her audience:

It’s hard to believe that after all these years, I was the first African American

woman to headline Coachella. It was important to me that everyone that had

41 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

never seen themselves represented. Felt like they were on the stage with us. As

a Black woman, I used to feel like the world wanted me to stay in my little

box. And Black women often feel underestimated. I wanted us to be proud of

not only the show but . . . the process. Proud of the struggle. Thankful for the

beauties that comes with a painful history and rejoice in the pain. Rejoice in

the imperfections and the wrongs that are damn right. And wanted everyone to

feel grateful for their curves, their sass, their honesty, thankful for their

freedom. It was no rules and we were able to create a free,

safe space where none of us were marginalized.

(Homecoming, 1:07.20- 1:08.22, 2019)

Here we see Beyoncé rhetorically expressing her shock at making history as the first

Black woman to headline Coachella. But, she also talks about Black representation in the midst of connecting with her audience. Furthermore, Beyoncé discusses resistance to the policing of Black female bodies when she refers to the “little box” that society uses to regulate our mobility and self-expression. Additionally, she refers to the doubt and disbelief in our abilities, as Black women, while also discussing the significance of Black female empowerment by expressing the importance of feeling “Proud of the struggle.” Moreover, Beyoncé wants Black women to rejoice in the pain of their journey. And “feel grateful” for our Black bodies even though they don’t conform to

Western beauty standards. Within pride in our bodies and their movement is a form of freedom. Beyoncé creates this feeling with her performance in Homecoming and she specifically intends to create safe space for those who are historically marginalized.

Within Beyoncé’s Homecoming performance at Coachella, she engages her diverse

42 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 audience in a rhetorical situation that specifically subverts the policing and marginalization of Black female bodies. Moreover, she employs her rhetorical agency as a global celebrity to call for the celebration of Black womanhood, appreciation of the Black female struggle, and respect for Black female expression.

Outline of Chapters

For this dissertation, I’m proposing a five-chapter outline. This will provide an opportunity to combine the Introduction, Literature Review, and Methodology in the first chapter. Then, there will be chapters devoted to my primary artifacts: Brittney

Cooper’s texts (second chapter), Roxane Gay and Tressie Cottom’s podcast (third chapter), and Beyoncé’s documentary (fourth chapter). Each chapter will contain

Implications for the study of these cultural artifacts. Finally, the fifth chapter will cover Conclusion and Implications.

Chapter 1: Introduction, Literature Review, and Methodology

For this chapter, I have combined the Introduction, Literature Review, and

Methodology. By combining those two major sections, I can situate Black feminist rhetoric as a pop culture phenomenon, yet an understudied topic. Also, it will cover why Black feminist rhetoric is a necessary genre for the field of rhetoric. Additionally, this section will include relevant literature on feminist theory, Black feminist theory,

African American rhetoric, and feminist rhetoric in order to properly situate and distinguish Black feminist rhetoric amongst those other genres. This section will lay down the groundwork for the rhetoric analysis of the methods and artifacts covered in

43 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Chapters 2, 3, and 4. This chapter will specifically discuss how ideological criticism is the best method for discussing my artifacts. Furthermore, it will provide textual analysis on the significance of using pop culture artifacts in an academic setting to teach Black feminist rhetoric. For the purpose of this dissertation, since I use audio and audio/visual artifacts, my textual analysis will address multiple rhetorical modalities. In terms of analyzing podcasts and documentaries as rhetoric, there is one major source that will inform my methods: Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric,

Technology, and Pedagogy. With regard to Kairos, Jennifer L. Bowie’s “Podcasting in a Writing Class? Considering the Possibilities” and Jennifer L. Bowie’s “Rhetoric

Roots and Media Future: How Podcasting Fits Into The Computers and Writing

Classroom” both offer a rhetorical method for integrating the study of sound into the writing classroom.

Additionally, this project expresses how the field of rhetoric is the most suitable discipline for Black feminist rhetoric. Due to the civic aspects of Black feminist rhetoric, teaching these artifacts in writing courses exhibit the civic purpose of writing instruction. For instance, Alice Walker considered womanist rhetoric (a.k.a.

Black feminist rhetoric) to be “about uplift. It is about love and a push for a better world. It is about ultimately saving-whether it is saving a life, a people, or indeed the world. And it is always linked to an activist project and agenda—that is, it is about change” (Pough 69). This project addresses how Black feminist rhetoric can contribute positively to civic discourse. Thus, Sharon Crowley’s Toward a Civil Discourse is my chosen framework for this rhetorical analysis.

44 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Since I have addressed present and relevant scholarship of Black feminist rhetorical practices, I have narrowed my discussion by focusing on how Tamika L.

Carey, Patricia Collins, Alexis McGee, Gwendolyn Pough, Elaine Richardson, and

Jacqueline Jones Royster would respond to various artifacts based on their past writings. Therefore, I build on their previous scholarship and address any gaps when using multiple rhetorical modalities as pop culture artifacts. In terms of analyzing my artifacts, I examine the dialectal relationship between Black feminist rhetorical themes such as agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion. Then, determine how they work in conversation with one another to convey Black feminist rhetoric.

Furthermore, when teaching Black feminist rhetoric in the writing classroom, I use

Black feminist autoethnography to convey the benefit of conveying personal experiences and reflections to a student audience. Finally, an additional thread of analysis explores how to pedagogically utilize pop cultural artifacts in a manner that minimizes the exploitation and appropriation that often occurs when institutional power engages in the cultural production of marginalized groups.

Chapter 2: Brittney C. Cooper’s Beyond Respectability & Eloquent Rage

This chapter provides textual analysis on Cooper’s texts. Since Beyond

Respectability is an academic text and Eloquent Rage is a popular culture text, Cooper demonstrates how Black feminism functions in both academic and pop culture spaces.

By writing her own words, her audiences may read and/or hear her via an audio book platform her authorial intent for both texts. Additionally, these texts demonstrate how embodied experience of well-known and everyday Black women form the basis of

45 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Black feminist rhetoric. Lastly, each demonstrates how Black feminist ideology impacts civic discourse, systems, and institutions in this country because Black women are sites of knowledge production.

Chapter 3: Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillam Cottom’s Podcast Hear to Slay

This chapter focuses on Season One (five to seven) episodes of Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillam Cottom’s Black feminist Luminary podcast. The format features smart women chatting and how that conversation is a source of intellectual insight. Since intersectionality is an integral part of Black feminist rhetoric, this podcast boasts about covering Black women in entertainment, politics, and life. Also, they plan to talk about the everyday lived experiences of Black women. Although Gay and Cottom are not intentionally seeking space to operate as social agents of change, they are aware that there is a void in pop culture spaces and a need for Black women’s voices to become a part of the conversation on intersectionality and the lived experiences of Black women.

Chapter 4: Beyoncé’s Homecoming

Beyoncé’s Netflix documentary, Homecoming, is a celebration of the

Historically Black College & Universities (HBCUs) cultural experience with her big band sound and dancers. Within this setting, Beyoncé narrates how it feels to be the first African American woman to headline Coachella and the cultural impact for her

Black audience, in particularly Black women based on her perceived notion of kairos and exigency of her own work. Thus, Beyoncé’s performance is directed toward Black

46 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 viewers for rhetorical identification specifically with appeals to Black women.

However, the secondary audiences are the multi-racially diverse viewers at Coachella and the Netflix audience. Despite the exclusion and devaluation of past Black female performers, Beyonce’s headlining Coachella performance is transforms her Black female body into a personal site of resistance. As the Netflix audience listens to

Beyonce’s narration, she articulates how the performance of her songs and the accompanying dances were modes of resistance to harmful discourse that ignores, demonizes, and belittles the representation and expression of Black womanhood. In essence, Beyoncé composes her performance. Then, she uses a documentary format to narrate that composing process for her audience.

Chapter 5: Implications + Conclusions

My final chapter sums up the Black feminist rhetorical implications and the conclusions for Black feminist rhetoric in popular culture and academic spaces, in terms of its potential impact on civic discourse, systemic, structural, and institutional change with respect to diverse faculty and curriculum inclusion. Included are limitations and recommendations for scholars wishing to engage this type of study for their classrooms.

47 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

CHAPTER 2

BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN COOPER’S BEYOND RESPECTABILITY AND ELOQUENT RAGE

In Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage, Brittney Cooper conveys theories of Black feminism and intersectionality to express the historical and contemporary impact of Black women’s rhetorical practices. Whereas Beyond Respectability is a third-person academic text that uses formal diction, Eloquent Rage is a first-person popular culture text. For Beyond Respectability, in the Prologue, four chapters, and

Epilogue, Cooper charts Black feminist thinkers and activists’ discursive practices to emphasize how their personal experiences, which were reflected in their speeches and writings, made Black feminist theory. Specifically, Brittney Cooper addresses Anna

Julia Cooper2, Mary Church Terrell, Fannie Barrier Williams, Pauli Murray, and Toni

Cade Bambara’s communicative practices, and their critical influence on America’s understanding of how intersectionality relates to gender-race discourse. For Eloquent

Rage, in twelve chapters, Cooper subverts the Angry Black Woman trope by resisting the rhetoric of respectability politics that casts Black women’s rage as destructive to

American democracy and civility. Instead, Cooper argues that Black women such as

Ida B. Wells, Beyoncé, and Michelle Obama exhibit communicative expression that subverts stereotypical notions of Black womanhood. Both texts function as a dialectical conversation between diverse eras, conveying the continuum of Black female intersectional oppression and a generational link between historical and contemporary Black female rhetors.

2 In the Prologue, Brittney Cooper states that she “coincidentally share[s] a last name with Anna Julia Cooper” (Beyond Respectability 1). 48 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Both texts are exemplars in terms of arguing and teaching the theoretical and methodological application of Black feminist rhetoric. A rhetor may be a writer, author, or creator (Hall and Whalin 5). Therefore, Cooper and the Black women she features all fit the contemporary definition of a rhetor. Historically, “rhetorical knowledge has usually been shared only among those who can exert economic, social, or political power as well” (Crowley and Hawhee 6). As a result, the power of persuasive discourse is “disproportionately shared” (Crowley and Hawhee 6). By featuring both celebrity and non-celebrity Black women in her texts, Cooper demonstrates how as Crowley and Hawhee state, ordinary citizens exhibit and/or “can learn to deploy rhetorical power” (6). According to Crowley and Hawhee, if ordinary citizens have the opportunity and the audacity to use rhetorical power “skillfully and often, it’s possible that they may change other features of our society,” while transforming into “better citizens” (6).

In Beyond Respectability, Cooper makes her intentions known in this academic text, by making an argument based on rhetorical historiography. As I previously stated, in my Introduction, since Black feminist rhetoric centers Black women, it offers an intersectional approach to fighting racism in the academy and an ethical way to circulate knowledge in a more inclusive manner. For instance, when Cooper makes the following statement, she resists the white default norm narrative and the invisibility of Black women’s voices. Here, Cooper challenges the academic viewpoint that white males are the only ones “capable of ‘deep thoughts’” (Beyond

Respectability 2). Instead, she argues that academics should “approach Black women’s long history of knowledge production with this same kind of trust” (Cooper, Beyond

49 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Respectability 2). Reason being, “Black women’s knowledge production has always been motivated by a sense of care for Black communities” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 2). Since the rhetoric of Black feminist thought concerns itself with community wellness and improvement, this satisfies the citizenship component of how a Black woman’s rhetorical agency may transform society. Even though rhetoric is

“the ancient art and science of persuasion, the study of persuasion, and the individual process of persuasion,” it’s not “separate [from] everyday communication” (Hall and

Whalin 5). Furthermore, some scholars argue “all human activities are rhetorical, whether or not we are conscious of it. Rhetoric is about strategic choices and approaches to communication whether textually, verbally, or even aurally and visually” (Hall and Whalin 5). Consequently, when Cooper features the Black women of Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage, her texts are a viable subject of Black feminist rhetoric because they express the textual, verbal, aural, and visual communication of Black women in both public and private spheres for their audiences.

In this chapter, I address how Black women persuade audiences to transform their thinking and modify their behavior with their rhetorical power. Brittney Cooper, like her featured female rhetors, has both a primary African American audience and a secondary white audience that she anticipates persuading. Meaning, rhetors and rhetoricians of Black feminist rhetoric are aware that authentic transformation of

American society does not occur without engaging with audiences both beyond the

Black community and feminist circles. By using Sharon Crowley’s Toward a Civil

Discourse: Rhetoric and Fundamentalism as the framework for this dissertation, I use

Cooper’s texts to demonstrate how Black feminist rhetoric may function as a solution

50 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 for contentious public discourse. In other words, I present the rhetorical arguments in

Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage using Crowley’s text as an ideological model for reaching stasis. Issues in contention for Black women—such as rhetorical agency, empowerment, and authentic inclusion—represent an ideology that may benefit from rhetorical invention. The exigency for Black women is acknowledgement of our womanhood in both the public and private spheres of where discourse may occur.

Like Crowley argues, when there is an inability to recognize valid beliefs and values of both parties, the full experience of citizenship in Democratic society cannot occur. This inability presents itself when Black women are not included, oppressed in an intersectional manner, and must navigate respectability politics. Unfortunately,

Black women have negotiated this existence since the beginning. Application of Black feminist rhetoric in academia offers solutions to issues such as the absence of inclusion, intersectional oppression, and respectability politics facing both Black women and other marginalized groups in society. Brittney Cooper summarizes how

Anna Julia Cooper and Pauli Anne Murray faced oppression. For instance, in Beyond

Respectability both Anna Cooper and Pauli Murray faced marginalization and intersectional oppression due to gender norms and society’s preconceived notions of

Black womanhood. Both Cooper and Murray succeed in their academic milieu despite respectability politics. However, I also emphasize the impact of respectability politics when discussing Eloquent Rage. With regard to Black feminist rhetoric in Eloquent

Rage, Beyoncé’s perceptions of sisterhood and Michelle Obama’s microresistance to respectability politics stress the importance of refusing the internalization of white

51 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 supremacist notions regarding Black womanhood.

As previously stated, Black women's lived experiences and rhetorical narration of that experience is an integral element of Black feminist rhetoric. Thus, I choose to focus on Anna Julia Cooper and Pauli Murray because they both incorporate their lived experiences into the narratives they write and the Black feminist theories they produce. With regard to Anna Julia Cooper, her narration and theorization of Black womanhood and intersectionality, argued for the inclusion of Black women within academia and other public spaces. By focusing on Anna Julia Cooper, in this chapter, I use a rhetorical historiography argument to emphasize how her inclusion, in this dissertation, resists the exclusion of early Black women influences and the marginalization that occurs by ignoring and/or erasing the voices of Black women.

Since Anna Julia Cooper is the earliest Black female rhetor included in Beyond

Respectability, by discussing her lived experiences as an educator, her inclusion within this chapter pays homage to her rhetorical expertise, as a foundational rhetor, for the basis of Black feminist rhetorical thought. Moreover, Anna Julia Cooper is mentioned in key feminist and Black feminist rhetorical texts such as Patricia Collins Black

Feminist Thought, Patricia Collins and Sirma Bilge’s Intersectionality, and

Gwendolyn Pough’s Traces of a Stream. As a result, Anna Julia Cooper’s inclusion, within this chapter, supports my use of rhetorical historiography, as part of my Black feminist rhetorical method of interrogating and resisting racist practices that excluded

Black women scholars. As I build on a contemporary understanding of Black feminist rhetoric, I don't want to neglect her early contribution of inclusion and intersectionality to rhetoric, which I will elaborate on further in this chapter.

52 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

For the purpose of exploring Black feminist rhetoric, I wanted to include queer theory as part of my methodology. Within Cooper’s Beyond Respectability, she included both Pauli Murray and Toni Cade Bambara for her discussions of queer theory. Yet, with regard to Murray, her narration and theorization of Black female queer body inclusion and intersectionality, within academia, was ahead of her time.

Although Toni Cade Bambara is a self-identified lesbian featured in Cooper’s text,

Murray 1940s theories predated Bambara’s entry into prominence during the 1960s.

Furthermore, within Beyond Respectability, the discussion of Murray also includes

Black lesbian and trans gender inclusion. But it’s within Eloquent Rage that Cooper builds on Black lesbian and trans gender inclusion, within Black feminist thought.

Cooper emphatically states that trans bodies deserve inclusion within the Black feminist tradition (Eloquent Rage 28).

Here, Cooper addresses her audience in a maternal tone when she says, “Black feminism is and has always been a fundamentally queer project. Straight chicks gotta make their peace with that, and hopefully without too much struggle” (Eloquent Rage

22). First, by addressing “Straight chicks,” Cooper realizes that there are heteronormative viewpoints that risk excluding queer Black feminists from the Black feminist movement. Since this Black feminist rhetorical project advocates for intersectionality, which is inclusive of racial, gender, and sexual inclusion, I utilize both of Cooper’s texts because she uses language that is representative of her rhetorical praxis. By utilizing language like “gotta make their peace” and “hopefully without too much struggle,” Cooper continues to address a segment of her Black female heterosexual audience in a manner that is both instructive, yet warmhearted.

53 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Still, to add even more context, Cooper’s use of the word queer is consistent with the following meaning. Queer “represents a continuum of possibilities outside of what are considered to be normal sexual or gender identities and behaviors” (Caruthers 10).

With that said, Murray's inclusion within Cooper’s text features a new site of inquiry for rhetorical study. Murray’s boldness, in terms of her articulation of Black female queer body inclusion, as early as the 1940s, is impressive. Since Murray refused to be erased or ignored, she fits appropriately within the rhetorical praxis of Black feminist rhetoric.

In my effort to expand the reach of Black feminist rhetoric, focusing on

Murray ensures that as the Black feminist rhetoric receives wider audiences, early

Black feminist queer rhetors are authentically included and acknowledged. Therefore,

I build on Brittney Cooper’s discussion of queer theory’s intersection with Black feminist thought to discuss Murray’s impact on Black feminist rhetoric. For this dissertation, both Anna Julia Cooper and Pauli Murray represent the continuum, across generations and eras, the early theorization of inclusion and intersectionality within the Black feminist rhetorical tradition. Early on, Cooper and Murray connect their lived experiences to the rhetorical theory they create. For those reasons, their early contributions lay the groundwork for Black feminist rhetorical study. Thus, that's why

I chose Cooper and Murray specifically to discuss the significance of Black feminist rhetoric.

Therefore, this chapter explores elements of invention such as the relationship between text, author, audience, and purpose; rhetorical argumentation used by Black

54 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 female rhetors; and the audiences’ response to such rhetorical strategies. Furthermore,

I examine how the language and textual arrangement of Cooper’s texts are exemplars of Black feminist rhetoric. After this, I examine how Black feminist rhetoric is useful in the writing classroom. Lastly, I look at ways to recognize and resist universities tendency to wield their power to exploit the language of marginalized populations for their academic advantage. Ultimately, Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage convey Black feminist rhetorical themes such as empowerment, rhetorical agency, and intersectionality via (rhetorical canons) can be used to engage in civic discourse and experience full citizenship for Black women.

Invention on the Road to Civil Discourse

Rhetorical Situation

Prior to examining the Black feminist rhetorical elements found in Cooper’s

Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage, it’s imperative to consider the rhetorical situation. Keep in mind, there are various rhetorical situations presented to the various rhetors featured in both texts. For those reasons, later in the chapter, when I discuss

Black feminist rhetorical implications in the classroom and academia as a whole, I will consider the rhetorical context that may constrain the analysis, production, and circulation of texts. In other words, academics may have to explain the meaning of

Black feminist rhetoric and the justification for its use in their classroom. However, examination begins here by contemplating the rhetorical situation pertaining to the primary artifacts used to convey Black feminist rhetoric.

According to Bitzer, the rhetorical situation involves discourse presented to an

55 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 audience by a rhetor and the purpose and occasion for that speech and/or writing (1).

Thus, “it is the situation which calls the discourse into existence” (Bitzer 2). In this case, the manner in which Cooper conveys the importance of Black feminist discourse is by writing an academic and pop culture text to appeal to a Black audience. Hence, the need to acknowledge Black women’s intellectual production and lived experience, as both a form of expertise and as a method to solve problems that plague the Black community calls Cooper’s discourse into existence. Therefore, the interaction

“between speaker, audience, subject, and occasion” is the process by which Cooper

“creates and presents discourse” that articulates the rhetoric of Black feminist thought

(Bitzer 2).

Nevertheless, Theresa M. Harrison’s “Frameworks for the Study of Writing in

Organizational Contexts” expands the rhetorical situation from her communication perspective, which is also applicable here. Here, Harrison references Bitzer’s

“traditional approach” as a foundation for rhetorical theory: “Rhetorical situations are composed of three elements—audience, exigence, and constraints—that together create an event calling for a rhetorical response that ‘fits’ the demands of the situation” (257). Then, she applies that definition to how “rhetorical situations may arise within organizations” (Harrison 257). Since each organization operates as

“unique social unit,” they are “characterized by audiences, exigencies, and constraints that are idiosyncratic to it” (Harrison 258). Based on Harrison’s definition of a rhetorical situation, there are audience members who may resist and constrain rhetorical arguments and their possibilities for change. As previously stated, the analysis, production, and circulation of texts influence how an audience may receive

56 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 and respond to an artifact. Consequently, academics may have to explain the meaning of Black feminist rhetoric and the justification for its use in their classroom. In the process of discussing Cooper’s Black feminist texts, I plan to justify their use as exemplar artifacts of Black feminist rhetoric.

Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation

To Aristotle, deliberative discussions “reflected on issues having to do with maintenance of the community” (Crowley 18). Thus, when Cooper asserts that Black feminist discourse is about caring for Black communities, her belief is consistent with the traditional purpose of deliberative rhetoric. However, according to Crowley and

Hawhee, deliberative rhetoric is also associated with “questions of policy, the rhetor proposes that some action be taken (or not) or that some action be regulated (or not) by means of policy or law” (71). However, in Crowley’s solo authored text Toward a

Civil Discourse, she debates the effectiveness of deliberative rhetoric when making a liberal argument. In Crowley’s text, she explains, “Liberalism is the default discourse of American politics because the country’s founding documents, and hence its system of jurisprudence, are saturated with liberal values. The vocabulary of liberalism includes commonplaces concerning individual rights, equality before the law, and personal freedom” (Crowley 3). Consequently, Crowley asserts that most Americans believe in “the liberal value of individual freedom” (Crowley 3). Therefore, to resolve matters of contention, Crowley suggests ancient rhetoric as an anodyne for acrimonious debate: “I forward the ancient art of rhetoric as a possible anodyne to this situation, in the hope that rhetorical invention may be able to negotiate the deliberative

57 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 impasse that seems to have locked American public discourse into repetition and vituperation” (3). In other words, Crowley offers rhetorical invention as a method to invent arguments that are more persuasive when engaging in public discourse. For liberal rhetoricians to “overcome beliefs,” they should invent arguments that stem

“from passionate commitment or life circumstances” (Crowley 4). Consequently,

Crowley’s method for inventing arguments is suitable for my Black feminist rhetorical methodology, because discourse that derives from life circumstances and arouses emotion is consistent with Black feminist thought.

In fact, I use Crowley’s method for emphasizing that impassioned discourse is a more effective method of persuasion for teaching Black feminist rhetoric. Here,

Crowley refers to impassioned discourse as an appeal to a “moral or passionate commitment” (4). Logical or reasonable appeals to change an individual’s mind are an approach referred to as “deliberative democracy” (Crowley 43). This method of getting “citizens to talk their way through conflicts” is ineffectual because it relies on

“reason and shared understandings” (Crowley 43). Thus, the deliberative democracy approach to rhetorical argumentation is an ineffectual method of resolving moral conflict (Crowley 43). Due to the partisan nature of many conflicts, Crowley means that two opponents, in an argument, are unable to negotiate their way through conflicts, if they don’t share similar values and methods of reasoning. Consequently, a liberal approach that relies on logic and shared understandings, between two or more opposing parties, is insufficient for Black feminist rhetoric. As previously stated,

Black feminism is a response to Black women’s “erasure from multiple social movements,” during the 1960s and 1970s (Collins and Bilge 110). Meaning, Black

58 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 feminist rhetoric is a response to the marginalization and intersectional oppression experience by Black women. If various parties share opposing values or diverse interpretations of the same value, such as equality or social justice, those citizens will have trouble working through conflicts affecting Black communities. Therefore, in an effort to resolve conflicts, impassioned rhetoric is most effective, in terms of resolving a moral dilemma amongst diverse parties.

On the other hand, “Epideictic rhetoric puts community values on display, either by reinforcing them or by challenging the beliefs/practices of miscreants and outsiders” (Crowley 73). When faced with disbelief, opponents in an argument “must remind one another of their commonalities, and they must defend the common belief system from disarticulation” (Crowley 73). In fact, Crowley suggests that epideictic rhetoric has a negative impact on feminist agency, when a community belief presumes that all women behave in the same manner. Unconsciously, women may project internalized sexism onto other women. For example, beliefs such as “women can’t be trusted” (Crowley 73). Or, in the case of Black feminist discourse, some of my students offer resistance within group discussions, by saying “Black women can’t be trusted.” As a result, students who share the aforementioned belief are unable to reach consensus.

With respect to Black feminist rhetorical methodology, I apply Crowley’s method of ideological criticism, in the following manner. To counter epideictic rhetoric that has a negative impact on Black feminist agency, I consider Crowley’s following statement on ideology: “In the face of unbelief or countering behavior believers must articulate their beliefs in both senses: they must remind one another of

59 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 their commonalities, and they must defend the common belief system from disarticulation” (73). Thus, a response to Black women that state “Black women can’t be trusted,” I suggest using epideictic rhetoric to remind them of their shared commonalities—such as their shared ideological belief in Black women’s agency and empowerment. Furthermore, in order to defend Black feminist ideology from disarticulation, it’s best to undermine intracultural and intercultural negative discourse with artifacts that reflect Black feminist rhetorical principles. Thus, by applying Black feminist rhetorical methodology to subvert negative beliefs, solidarity found in hegemonic environments applies to uplift positive beliefs.

Meaning, if an epideictic argument is used and nonbelievers encounter it, this may result in defensiveness, in an effort to maintain their own group’s solidarity. This preservation of community identity may “result in social and political antagonism toward unbelievers, which is ordinarily handled by argument, although other means, such as withdrawal, coercion, or violence, are certainly available” (Crowley 74). In the case of Black feminist rhetoric, making an epideictic argument is effective when speaking to a Black female audience, because of the appeal to share beliefs of the community. However, to alter the minds of opponents, Crowley’s argument suggests that epideictic rhetoric works best with a rhetorical appeal that arouses emotion. If not, due to the tendency of opposing parties to resist beliefs that don’t conform to their previously held values, even when epideictic rhetoric is present, it is not as effective, as means of persuading those in opposition.

Consequently, Crowley’s Civil Discourse offers rhetorical argumentation as a more effective method for inventing viable arguments that lead to civic discourse.

60 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Even though Black feminist rhetoric is considered more of a progressive argument than a liberal one, both of the aforementioned left leaning ideologies receives resistance from opponents. Since Crowley’s discussion of oppositional rhetoric references the word progressive (“agents of political and social change”) (111), it comports with Pough’s theorization of womanist rhetoric, as Black women using their language and communicative expression, as a means of changing the world. Thus, I use the term progressive, here, to emphasize the use of impassioned rhetoric, as an effective means of persuasion to change minds. In other words, since Black feminist rhetoric would be considered a progressive argument, the most effective way to change beliefs and policies would be for a rhetor to “focus her persuasive efforts on the arousal of passion and desire” (Crowley and Hawhee 195). Black feminist rhetoric does this by communicating via Black women’s lived experiences and narratives to improve their communities.

Traditionally, various African American rhetorical texts and rhetors use both deliberative and epideictic rhetoric to persuade audiences. Coupled with deliberative rhetoric, which focuses on reason, epideictic rhetoric is used to praise or blame. In the case of civil rights leaders, epideictic rhetoric cast blame on an individual, system, structure, or institution. Both Fannie Lou Hamer and Shirley Chisholm used epideictic rhetoric to criticize America’s state of racial oppression and deliberative rhetoric to advocate for social justice. In essence, both types of rhetoric are commonly utilized in

African American rhetoric. With that said, it’s important to acknowledge that deliberative and epideictic rhetoric is present in both Beyond Respectability and

Eloquent Rage. Therefore, since Black feminist rhetoric is a branch of African

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American rhetoric, some critics may suggest that it’s important to identify both how

Black female rhetors use reason or blame to appeal to their audience.

Nonetheless, since I’m using Crowley’s, Toward Civil Discourse as the method for ideological criticism, I plan to focus on epideictic rhetoric’s community appeal, as the method that best comports with my artifacts. In this chapter, I interrogate Cooper’s texts based on how Black feminist rhetoric can be used to invent arguments that will arouse passions and change minds of opposing parties. In this process of using emotion to engage the speaker and the audience, I suggest that agency, empowerment, and inclusion of Black feminist rhetoric are valuable in the classroom. As previously stated, this Black feminist rhetoric project advocates for implementation in university classrooms, not only as a stand-alone course, but also as inclusion within rhetorical courses on theory, feminist rhetoric, African American rhetoric, and visual rhetoric. Implementing Black feminist rhetorical texts may require a change in the beliefs of a student audience and/or in the curriculum or academic policy. For any professor that wishes to study Black feminist rhetorical artifacts, arguments that arouse passion may have persuasive impact toward course implementation. But, to emphasize rhetorical argumentation, as Crowley suggests, I wish to build upon my own foundational understanding, as a Black Women Visiting

Professor teaching at an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), to show how my Black feminist autoethnography are useful for inventing arguments.

62 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Rhetorical Argumentation in Beyond Respectability

From the Margins: Anna Julia Cooper’s Ethos and the Black Female Body

In Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women, Cooper refrains from making deliberative and epideictic arguments of many early Black female rhetors. Due to the threat of sexual assault and potential of bodily harm, often experienced by Black women, they made “their interior thoughts and feelings inaccessible from public view,” which was a preoccupation of “making the race

‘respectable’” to both African American and white audiences (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 3). However, Cooper’s text focuses on race women that resisted invisibility and “forged their understandings of Black racial identity and Black freedom upon terrain of the very visible Black and female body” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 3-4). In terms of Black feminist rhetoric, when it comes to rhetorical agency and empowerment, the Black female body is centered because of its historical status as overburdened capital holding no rights or voice. Furthermore, after the Black female body acquires some mobility and legal freedoms, we were still subjected to erasure in terms of our labor production and intellectual contributions. Thus, Black female rhetors ability to invent arguments via their textual activism is evidenced by insisting on the inclusion of Black bodies (working class women’s bodies, too) “in the text[s] [in which] they write and speak” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 3). Beyond the discourse of respectability, which relies heavy on deliberative and epideictic rhetoric, Black women thinkers of the past offer a form of resistance by inventing arguments that demand agency, empowerment, and inclusion with respect to Black women’s lives and Black possibilities in the public and private sphere.

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The Ethos of Black Female Inclusion

As previously stated, Professor Cooper’s Beyond Respectability centers Anna

Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Fannie Barrier Williams, Pauli Murray, and Toni

Cade Bambara. However, for this portion of the project, I will focus on Anna Julia

Cooper’s rhetorical contribution. Cooper’s Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South (1892) is considered one of the earliest Black feminist texts (Gines,

“Anna Julia Cooper”). Therefore, the roots of Black feminist rhetorical thinking are present when analyzing her theories in terms of inclusion, intersectional oppression, and marginalization. First, since it’s important to consider Anna Julia Cooper’s knowledge base, as a Black feminist foremother, in congruence with the arguments she invented, I address Cooper’s ethos as a rhetor. After all, Anna Julia Cooper was a bold Black female educator. She demanded and expected that her audience take her

“seriously as a thinker and theorist grappling with what she termed the ‘great questions of the age’” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 10). In terms of contemporary discourse, it’s persuasive when ethos “conveys a person as an authority, either by virtue of respectable credentials or long experience in some activity” (Crowley and

Hawhee 158). Based on her intellectual background and good character, Anna Julia

Cooper’s readers more than likely attributed ethos to her as an author.

Despite having been born a slave in 1858, she eventually became the 4th Black woman in America to get a PhD (Steptoe, “Anna Julia”). As an educator and activist, she wrote Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South (1892), which argued that the education of Black women would solve problems in the Black community by advancing racial progress. For her “essay ‘The Higher Education of Women’ (1890–

64 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

1891) Cooper provides a feminist argument for educating women” (Gines, “Anna

Julia Cooper”). Understandably, Anna Julia Cooper is “[s]ometimes referred to at the

Mother of Black Feminism” (Giorgis “How Black Suffragettes Subverted”). As a

Black female educator, I see a Black feminist connection between Anna Julia

Cooper’s past advocacy for Black female education and my current advocacy for

Black feminist rhetoric in university programs. Although the aforementioned intellectual achievements conform to a more contemporary notion of expertise,

Cooper’s and my Black woman status forces our ethos to operate from the margins.

To many feminists, the goal is “to displace the connection between authority and center and to replace it with a tighter connection between discursive authority and the marginal position” (Reynolds 330). Based on a more feminist view of ethos,

Cooper gained her knowledge as a Black female in American culture, specifically in the South: “When that knower is located as a female in this culture, knowledge is experienced, constructed, and recalled in nonhierarchical, nonlinear, and nonobjective forms” (Reynolds 330). Meaning, women are able to “adapt to their male-dominated culture by seeing differently—learning different things” (Reynolds 330). Now, these differences are gaining some value amongst critics, as opposed to inherently deeming these differences as wrong. In essence, “writers earn their rhetorical authority by being responsible—by stating explicitly their identities, positions or locations, and political goals” (Reynolds 330). For Cooper, her rhetorical agency as a Black female educator in the South, which advocated for Black women’s suffrage and education made her moral character evident to the audience.

65 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Anna Julia Cooper’s Discursive Practice of Intersectionality and Empowerment

In addition to Anna Julia Cooper’s rhetorical importance, in terms of inclusion,

Brittney Cooper indicates how Voice from the South innovatively argued for intersectionality. In this 1890s text, “Cooper takes an intersectional approach to examining the interlocking systems of race, gender, and class oppression—explicitly articulating how Black women are simultaneously impacted by racism (the race problem) and sexism (the woman question)” (Gines “Anna Julia Cooper”). As a result, due to the historical exclusion of Black feminist rhetors from the field of rhetoric, it’s important to situate Cooper as a precursor to theories of intersectionality within feminist rhetoric. Based on Anna Julia Cooper’s intersectional approach in her work, she further validates the long history of Black feminist rhetoric.

With some exceptions, such as rhetoricians Gesa Kirsh, Kate Ronald, Keith

Gilyard, and Adam J. Banks, Anna Julia Cooper has been either “unknown or unacknowledged (by white women, white men, or Black men)” for considering how intersectionality plays a vital role “in examining or eliminating these systems of oppression” (Gines “Anna Julia Cooper”). To emphasize the significance of intersectionality within Black feminist rhetoric, Brittney Cooper explains how Anna

Julia Cooper theorized it: “Cooper, using the Black female body as a point of reference, saw intersecting identities—primarily of race and gender, but also of class and nation—as a point of possibility” (Beyond Respectability 6). In Voice from the

South, Anna Julia Cooper says, “To be a woman in such an age carries with it a privilege and an opportunity never implied before. But to be a woman of the Negro race in America, and to be able to grasp the deep significance of the possibilities of the

66 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 crisis, it to have a heritage, it seems to me, unique in all the ages” (143-4). Cooper explains how Anna Julia Cooper uses embryonic imagery to manifest the birth of hope or invention of arguments such an intersectionality, which advocate for a more positive view of Black womanhood and their lived experience as valid discourse.

Here, as I strive to situate Black feminist rhetoric as an integral component of rhetoric, Anna Julia Cooper’s early writings construct Black women’s intersectional position, in a manner that supersedes contemporary notions. Cooper approaches intersectionality as its own kind of ‘crisis’ of ‘possibility,’ as space of ‘hope,’

‘responsibility,’ and even ‘privilege.’ She inverts the logic of marginalization that one would typically assume in an argument about Black women’s position at the intersection of race and gender. She invokes the symbolism of a pregnant female body heavy with weight of racial responsibility. Black women’s capacity to reproduce children who would inherit the slave status of the mother had tethered their material value to their reproductive capacity, simultaneously rendering them vulnerable to endless sexual exploitation. Cooper, however, in her invocation of an expectant female body, offers new creative and procreative possibilities to Black women. At the most literal level, emancipated Black womanhood meant Black women could produce citizens rather than slaves (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 6).

In the process of arguing that Anna Julia Cooper had a deep sense of intersectionality, as early as the late 1800s, I’d argue that Anna Julia Cooper demonstrates how the rhetoric of Black feminist thought creates a sense of rhetorical agency, empowerment, and inclusion. In terms of rhetorical agency, Anna Julia

Cooper’s authority as a writer “constructs Black women’s intersectional position as its

67 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 own kind of ‘crisis’” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 6). Furthermore, by rhetorically connecting one’s marginalized status and intersectional position as “a space of ‘hope,’

‘responsibility,’ and even ‘privilege’,” this demonstrates a sense of Black female empowerment. Due to a status change from enslaved to free women, Anna Julia

Cooper considers the privileges and opportunities faced by Black women. The opportunity to “produce citizens rather than slaves” is an inclusion argument into the

Democratic process, based on their acquired status as citizens.

Lastly, Beyond Respectability’s discussion of binary language is expressed via

Anna Julia Cooper’s experiences. Anna Julia Cooper’s interpretations of binary language, in terms of gender-racial exclusion, are also a precursor to arguments that subvert gender norms. In addition to Anna Julia Cooper seeing her Black female body as a site of possibilities, she “‘writ[es] her body’ onto the pages of her own book”

(Cooper, Beyond Respectability 7). In other words, she tells the story of seeing two binary signs at a train station bathroom. One sign said “‘for ladies’ and the other ‘for colored people,’” which “created a moment of cognitive and experiential dissonance for [Anna Julia] Cooper” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 7). Faced with two choices, either designation would “‘eras[e] some crucial part of her identity’” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 7). Meaning, the two binary signs that compel Black women to prioritize one identity over another are representative of both erasure and intersectional oppression.

In Beyond Respectability, Brittney Cooper explains how discursive technologies faced by Anna Julia Cooper reinforce discriminatory systems. According to Brittney Cooper, “The discursive technologies of race that operate in the signs ‘for

68 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 ladies’ and ‘for colored’ inherently constitute discursive and textual acts of misrecognition for Black women. The only way to achieve any recognition is to insert a body into the text that challenges the identities signified in the labels” (Beyond

Respectability 7). By writing her body into the text, Anna Julia Cooper used Black feminist autoethnography as a method to interrogate oppressive systems in public spaces. As a result of using Black feminist autoethnography to address disparate systems, Anna Julia Cooper shows her audience how to use persuasive language to recognize a problem and evoke change. The inclusion of Anna Julia Cooper, within

Black feminist rhetorical study, emphasizes the importance subverting discursive messages that render Black women’s humanity and intersectionality as invisible. Thus, in terms of Black feminist rhetoric methodology, rhetors such as Anna Julia Cooper construct Black feminist language that acknowledges both our visibility and intersectional identities.

In terms of Brittney Cooper’s inclusion of Anna Julia Cooper’s textual production, within Black feminist rhetorical study, I offer Brittney Cooper’s in depth discussion of civic discourse and Black women’s positionality in public spaces.

Brittney Cooper reminds us that it’s important to note that “public space was designed not only to render Black bodies as inferior, but Black female bodies as unrecognizable and unknowable in civic terms” (Beyond Respectability 7). In other words, historically, public spaces were not designed with Black women’s civil rights in mind.

For those reasons, due to our marginalized status, when an issue pertains to the rights of Black women, Black feminist rhetoric responds by with intellectual production that centers Black women’s civic discourse. Therefore, in terms of Anna Julia Cooper’s

69 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 contribution to Black feminist rhetoric, her positionality expresses how this discipline redresses marginalization and past exclusion, in the public spaces. To Anna Julia

Cooper, “Black women have a unique epistemological standpoint from which to observe society and its oppressive systems as well as a unique ethical contribution to make in confronting and correcting these oppressive systems” (Gines, “Anna Julia

Cooper”). In terms of Black women’s intersectional position, the aforementioned statement is an inclusion argument, which further supports Anna Julia Cooper’s statements with regard to Black women in the public sphere.

By applying Black feminist rhetorical methodology to Anna Julia Cooper’s statement, I conclude that Black women’s “unique epistemological standpoint” is based on our intersectional position and our acquired knowledge, which is based on lived experience. As reflective of Black women’s acquired knowledge and lived experience, Black feminist rhetoric encompasses insight into addressing and changing oppressive systems. Consequently, Anna Julia Cooper’s ideological position of contesting oppressive systems is consistent with my application of Black feminist rhetorical methodology. As a method of resisting oppressive systems, inclusion of

Black feminist rhetorical artifacts—such as discussion of Anna Julia Cooper’s autoethnography—shows students how to invent arguments and engage in civic discourse, which has historically excluded and rejected Black women’s equal rights as citizens.

70 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

From the Margins: Pauli Murray’s Ethos and the Black Female Queer Body

The Ethos of Queer Body Inclusion

In an effort to substantiate Pauli Murray’s inclusion, within my Black feminist rhetorical methodology, I refer back to my rhetorical historiography argument. As previously stated, including queer Black feminists’ voices—such as Pauli Murray— avoid the erasure that has historically occurred by centering white male voices. Black feminist rhetoric seeks to redress those absences by including voices that have been previously marginalized. However, as a methodology to solving problems in private and public spaces, my dissertation emphasizes the importance of including queer voices within Black feminist rhetoric. Since Pauli Murray was a “queer-identified

Black” woman (Cooper, Beyond Respectability, 88), I utilize Brittney Cooper’s text to assert that she has been erased from history (“Black, Queer, Feminist”). Cooper states that “Murray’s open lesbian relationships and her gender nonconforming identity disrupted the dictates of respectability, making it easier to erase her five decades of important intellectual and political contributions from our broader narrative of civil rights” (“Black, Queer, Feminist”).

By articulating “her own counter-narrative of her gender identity—her belief that she was male,” in 1937, Murray’s statements “ran counter to existing medical understandings of sexuality and gender” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 87). As a means of seeking language to describe her experiences, she asked doctors “about her preference for masculine clothing and her desire to be a man among men” (Cooper,

Beyond Respectability 87). In the process of emphasizing, “Murray’s contributions to the intellectual history of Black feminist thought,” Cooper relies on Murray’s

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“archives and her autobiographies . . . to map both the personal and political dimensions of her feminism, with an ultimate view of putting her forth as a feminist legal theorist and a Black feminist theorist more broadly” (Beyond Respectability 89).

By including Beyond Respectability, as an artifact for this dissertation, I use Murray’s early expression of herself as a “physiologically . . . intersex person,” to articulate how

Black feminist rhetorical methodology is applicable to study the study of Pauli Murray

(Beyond Respectability 88). As a Black feminist rhetor, which emphasized nonconforming gender identity within both academia and civil rights leadership,

Murray contested language and practices that refuted her intersectional identity.

During the process of researching the rhetorical practices of Black women, I have not encountered a text, within the discipline of rhetoric that features and/or centers Murray’s contribution. Probably, due to her primary publications, situated within the academic fields of literature and law, she has been invisible within Black feminist rhetorical study. Still, Murray is a major queer feminist figure that used Black feminist rhetoric to contest discrimination. Furthermore, since I’m a Black female professor teaching HBCU students in academia, I find Murray’s rhetorical theories on queer Black feminism, academic inclusion, and intersectional oppression a necessary component for discussing Black female queer body inclusion within Black feminist rhetoric.

In Beyond Respectability, Cooper includes Pauli Murray amongst race women who resisted the constraints of respectability. Cooper invokes Murray’s ethos as a thought leader by referring to her as “A civil rights activist, feminist, attorney,

Episcopal priest, poet, and writer” (Beyond Respectability 87). Furthermore, Cooper

72 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 states “Murray’s work on behalf of antiracist and feminist struggles places her within the most active traditions of Black women’s leadership” (Beyond Respectability 87).

Until Cooper’s chapter entitled “Queering Jane Crow: Pauli Murray’s Quest for an

Unhyphenated Identity: ‘The Inverted Sex Instinct and Other Questions,” I rarely heard Murray’s name mentioned. However, she is one of the most significant civil rights activist, feminist, and theorist of her time. Therefore, as part of this dissertation, due to Cooper’s text, I situate Murray’s rhetoric on race, gender, and sexuality amongst inclusion in Black feminist rhetoric.

Meaning, if Black feminist rhetoric is hampered by its own lack of authentic inclusion, its theoretical and methodological implications cannot exclude the intellectual and knowledge production of queer identities and their accompanying theories. In other words, it’s important that scholars using artifacts to articulate the meaning of Black feminist rhetoric include diverse texts that acknowledge the intersectionality of Black feminists, which includes work by queer theorists.

Furthermore, Cooper credits Murray’s early 1940s creation of the term Jane Crow as

“one of the earliest articulations of intersectional theory within Black feminist thought” (Beyond Respectability 100). Thus, my ethos as a Black female professor, who is also a licensed attorney, compels me to consider how Professor Murray’s experience with gender and sex discrimination, as a law student, rhetorically impacts

Black feminist rhetoric in academia. After all, as a queer Black feminist, Murray embodies the intersectional struggle in both the public and private sphere that makes

Black feminist rhetoric necessary as a discipline of study.

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Murray’s Jane Crow: Discursive Rejection of Traditional Notions of African American Womanhood

To understand how Cooper addresses Murray’s rhetorical arguments, I must provide rhetorical context for how Murray’s personal struggles informed her passion for equal rights in the public sphere. By reviewing archival documents, such as

Murray’s letters, essays, and autobiographies (Proud Shoes: The Story of an American

Family and the posthumous Song in a Weary Throat), Cooper situates her understanding of Murray’s historical impact based on her rhetorical arguments.

Particularly, the term Jane Crow created specifically as a response “to the sexist and homophobic forms of intellectual exclusion that she experienced as a law student there” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 25). To provide more context on the gender discrimination faced by Murray, it’s important to note, “During the 1930s, Howard’s programs in humanities and social sciences housed the most prominent Black public intellectuals of the day” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 98). By the 1940s, Howard

Law School became “the premiere national laboratory in which the legal strategies of the civil rights movement were being formulated and tested” (Beyond Respectability

98).

Consequently, it would not be acknowledged until the 1960s, how one of

Murray’s law school arguments was used as the framework to win the Brown vs.

Board of Education (1956) case. When Murray “ran into [Attorney Spottswood]

Robinson at Howard Law School,” he casually mentioned that “Nearly 10 years later, in 1953,” after she was at Howard, he, “Thurgood Marshall and others pulled out a copy of her senior paper and used it as a guide to strategize how they would argue the

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Brown v. Board case. They didn’t bother to mention this until about 10 years later” after they won (Cooper, “Black, Queer, Feminist, Erased”).

However, due to Murray’s status as a female, she was excluded from researching and preparing civil rights arguments, within an all male group setting. Due to this type of gender exclusion, she was barred from the opportunity to contribute to arguments that would later be argued before the Supreme Court. For instance, within this all male collaboration, faculty members and astute students vigorously interrogated NAACP attorneys. However, when Murray objected to her exclusion from “joining the campus legal fraternity,” she was told, “to start her own legal sorority” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 98). Based on her gender, Murray considered her exclusion from creating civil rights history as far from an isolated incident. Instead, “her experience of patriarchy and sexism directed at her female body demanded a sophisticated and extensive critique of sex roles” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 104). Murray argued that sexist exclusion reflected a prevalent societal practice within the Civil Rights movement. By inventing arguments of her own, such as the Jane Crow theory, she did her best to resist the exclusion she experienced.

In both the private and public sphere, Murray was resistant to traditional notions of womanhood. Meaning, she was a trailblazer. Due to resisting gender norms, in the early 1940s, in both academia and law, Murray was ahead of her time. From a standpoint of rhetorical historiography, she’s an important figure that deserves inclusion within the study of Black feminist rhetoric. Thus, as a matter of rhetorical praxis, Black queer theorizations has much earlier representation in Black feminist rhetoric than academic histories of rhetoric reflects.

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To compel investment in the concept of Black feminist rhetoric, it’s important to also include the lived experiences and narratives of queer Black feminists.

Therefore, Cooper interweaves background knowledge on Murray, to emphasize the personal history that informed Murray’s discursive practices. As an educator who has taught eighteen years, I’ve found that the socio-cultural and historical context of writing draw my student audience into a rhetor’s theories. When a rhetor’s lived experiences are reflected in their writings, students may be more inclined to trust their ethos and their motivation for inventing arguments. As a result, students engage with texts that model how to incorporate their own lived experiences, for the purposes of persuading an audience to incorporate new ideas. For those reasons, in the process of introducing a rhetor to my students, I include the historical and social context of their textual production. Similarly, Cooper’s inclusion of Murray’s personal life, as a manner of arousing an emotional investment from the audience, is an effective rhetorical strategy that is grounded in Black feminist methodologies.

As a background for Murray’s arguments on queer body inclusion and intersectionality, Cooper’s text informs the audience that Murray personally identified as “a biological female” that was sexually attracted to women, but “preferred a masculine gender identity” (Beyond Respectability 87). According to Cooper, “By

1947, Murray had had a few passionate romantic relationships with women, and a very brief failed marriage to a man” (Beyond Respectability 104). Cooper mentions those aforementioned facts, as evidence that Murray resisted “the dictates of respectability around heteronormative marriage” (Beyond Respectability 104). Unfortunately, for

Murray’s peace of mind, as early as 1937, in her twenties and thirties, anxiety and

76 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 depression associated with her questions about both her gender and sexuality resulted in frequent hospitalization stays (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 87; 90). Without understanding the significance of Murray’s trailblazing refutation of gender norms, in terms of Black female queer body inclusion, the impact of Black feminist rhetorical agency and empowerment, will not be fully realized by our student audiences.

Murray’s early life represents the consequence of a lack of inclusion caused by the expectations of heteronormativity and gender conformity.

Not to mention, her published theorization of the Black female queer body emphasizes how rhetorical agency and empowerment provide a voice for those who have been historically marginalized by intersectional oppression. Ultimately, as a method for inventing arguments, Black feminist rhetoric features life stories that are rooted in one’s own lived experiences. As professors seek to teach how rhetoric contributes to civic discourse, Pauli Murray’s discussion of gender norms and sexuality, demonstrate how to use language as a method of interrogating inequality in private and public spaces. By including queer Black feminist rhetorical production, within Black feminist rhetorical methodology, Murray’s agency and self- empowerment teaches students and scholars how to redress marginalized individuals and change institutions that have engaged in intersectional oppression.

Rhetorical Context of Murray’s Gender Trouble

Today, Murray is credited as an early pioneer for her quest to reconcile her racial, sexual, and gender identity. NPR Code Switch referred to her as “The ‘Black,

Queer, Feminist’ Legal Trailblazer You’ve Never Heard Of” (Downs, “Black, Queer,

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Feminist”). At that time, Murray is attempting to understand her position in both the public and private spheres of her world. Even though “transgender people existed, the contemporary category of transgender or trans simply did not exist in any medically ascertainable form by 1940” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 92). Ahead of her time, in terms of articulating her personal desires, on a hospital questionnaire, she considered “herself to be heterosexual not homosexual,” since she “identified as a male, who was attracted to women” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 90). During the

1930s and 1940s, “societally imposed heteronormative assumptions” prevented her from considering “expressions of sexuality and gender that we would call queer or gender nonconforming” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 90). Sadly, the lack of public discourse and scientific understanding of what we would call transgender identity caused her to experience isolation and question her own identity.

Since Murray challenged “existing categories of sexual orientation, gender identity, and biological sex, Murray’s struggle presaged the very debates” that would occur amongst sexologists (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 92). Even though Murray objected to “a strict feminine gender performance,” she eventually came to “identify as a woman” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 100). Truthfully, “In this way, her strategies of negotiation and survival constitute a form of disidentification with the dominant gender norms she encountered during the 1930s and 1940s” (Cooper,

Beyond Respectability 100). For her audience, Cooper defines disidentification as the means by which a person will identify “with some aspects of an oppressive system and rejects others, in pragmatic ways that allow one to live and thrive” (Beyond

Respectability 100). With regard to Murray, “on the one hand, she did not fully see

78 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 herself as a woman” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 100). However, Murray

“recognized that the discrimination that she experienced had everything to do with her being female” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 100).

According to Cooper, Murray achieved a great deal on behalf of women’s rights. Even though her “perhaps arrested—transgender identity” was misunderstood and mistreated in a heteronormative dominant society, “feminism did allow Murray to think productively about being a female-bodied person, since an overt male gender- queer performance would not be an option in the circles of racial leadership” (Cooper,

Beyond Respectability 100). Since Murray articulated her feelings of exclusion aurally and textually, she engaged in what Bitzer would call “rhetorical discourse [that] comes into existence as a response to a situation” (5). The situation of gender-sexuality based exclusion “controls the rhetorical response” (Bitzer 5). And the situation in academia is “the source and ground of rhetorical activity” that consciously and subconsciously excludes Murray (Bitzer 5). In other words, due to her experiences at Howard law school, Murray’s rhetorical response seeks to challenge that exclusion. Thus, Cooper effectively places Murray’s response to gender-sexuality exclusion within a Black feminist framework analysis by providing a social and rhetorical context for Murray’s arguments.

Coupled with Cooper’s discussion of Murray’s rhetorical rejection of heteronormativity, particularly in academia, Cooper devotes a section of the chapter to

Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble. As previously stated, by providing theoretical and rhetorical context for Pauli Murray’s “Jane Crow” gender discourse, Cooper assists with placement of queer Black feminism within Black feminist rhetoric. To

79 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 communicate with her audience, Cooper states some major points theorized by

“Butler’s now-classic formulation of gender performativity as ‘gender trouble’”

(Beyond Respectability 94). According to Butler, “the law names women as a group that must have certain rights, privileges, and protections, and . . . creates a category of individual called woman” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 94). As a result of gender performance expectations, it’s a social construct that Murray consciously rejected. For

Murray, her social performance “marked her as male, including her preference for pants over dresses and her desire to do things that she perceived to be male social amusements” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 95). Still, due to gender social constructs, when Murray had an “encounter with law enforcement” it “offers us a picture of what it meant for Black women in the Civil Rights era to be interpellated by the law as women, even when their own sense of gender identity was in conflict with official definitions” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 95). Here, Brittney Cooper’s use of the word “interpellated” is consistent with Cambridge dictionary’s meaning: “to make someone or something start to exist or to have a particular identity”

(“Interpellate”). Therefore, I use this quote emphasize how Murray was constantly subject to societal gender norms because of the binary designations of the law. By providing this context for her audience, Brittney Cooper assists them in focusing on the professional and private pressures that Murray faced due to heteronormative expectations. Especially, particularly at a time when society was reluctant to engage in discourse, which negated their notion of gender conformity.

80 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Murray’s Intersectional Voice: Empowerment, Agency and Authority

In terms of intersectionality within Black feminist rhetoric, Cooper’s chapter on Murray is an ideal artifact. Murray’s gender exclusion at an all-male law school,

Howard, and her subsequent denial of admittance from Harvard law, for what we could consider now a post-graduate program, emphasizes the lack of inclusion experienced by Murray. According to Cooper, Murray’s leadership style rejected

“compulsory heterosexuality demanded of all respectable race figures, especially its women” (Beyond Respectability 96). In terms of advancing racial causes, the delivery of “Her leadership style was precocious, aggressive, combative, unrelenting, and intellectual. With regard to her intellectual and rhetorical ability, Murray never suffered from a lack of confidence” (Cooper, Beyond Respectability 96). Thus, Cooper credits Murray with “early formulation of intersectional theory” because the construction of Jane Crow “sought to name a powerful system of gender disciplining within Black intellectual communities” (Beyond Respectability 88). Unfortunately, this Jane Crow system was deeply invested “in the heteronorms of respectability politics;” therefore, race leaders were expected to engage in “proper sexual and gender performances,” particularly if they were “Black women” (Cooper, Beyond

Respectability 88). As a result, if Black women refused to comply with proper sexual and gender performances, in their quest to gain leadership in the Civil Rights

Movement, the Jane Crow system “attempted to silence, humiliate, and isolate them”

(Cooper, Beyond Respectability 88). For those reasons, within that patriarchal structure of leadership, Murray didn’t feel comfortable expressing her full identity.

81 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

To further establish Pauli Murray’s position within Black feminist rhetoric, it’s important to note that Murray further theorized race-gender discrimination in a co- authored George Washington Law Review article entitled “Jane Crow and the law:

Sex Discrimination and Title VII” (1965-1966). When speaking of Black women’s voices and subsequent confrontation with silence, I look to Jacqueline Jones Royster.

Royster’s “When the First Voice You Hear is Not Your Own” contributes to students and professors understanding of Black feminist rhetoric. Thus, coupled with Murray’s

Jane Crow theorization of silencing nonconforming voices, Royster’s theorization of voice does the work of expressing how marginalized individuals negotiate issues of identity, authority, and agency (29). In the process of confronting silence, Royster identifies strategies for reevaluating systematic and systemic “beliefs and actions” in various discourse communities such as “colleges, universities, and classrooms” (30).

Royster draws her analysis and interpretations from personal stories, which is particularly applicable to how lived experience informs Black feminist rhetoric. By offering the willingness “to teach, to engage in research, to write, and to speak with

Others with care and to understand that, when we do not act respectfully and responsibly, we leave ourselves rightly open to wrath” (Royster 33). When we apply

Royster’s demand for respect of marginalized voices to Murray’s discourse, it forces

African American communities to look inward and examine if they are internalizing a patriarchal system of gender discrimination.

Overall, Royster argues that she, like W. E. B. Du Bois wishes to raise the veil.

In other words, Royster like Murray seek to override “systems of insulation” by raising their voices (Royster 33). Still, it’s important to keep in mind that although

82 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Royster, an Afrafeminist rhetorician, centers the African American community in opposition to whiteness, I use Royster for the purpose of centering queer Black feminism in opposition to heteronormativity that maintains systems of discrimination.

Thus, by discussing Royster in conjunction with Murray’s lived experience, it would assist our students; particularly marginalized students in understanding why they feel silenced and how discussions of intersectionality in Black feminist rhetoric can assist them in finding their voice (e.g. empowerment), agency, and authority.

In terms of implications for rhetorical study, once students understand the application of Black feminist thematic terms—such as empowerment and agency— they will recognize rhetors that identify systemic, structural, and institutional issues.

Additionally, how rhetors that identify those aforementioned issues use language to address adversely affected communities. For those reasons, Black feminist rhetoric gives voice to communicate students’ concerns both aurally and textually. Therefore, when we teach Black feminist rhetoric, we’re instructing students on how rhetorical production may result in the invention of arguments, which lead to systemic, structural, and institutional change. In the process of transitioning from Beyond

Respectability to my second artifact, Eloquent Rage, I continue Cooper’s rhetorical mediation beyond Murray’s rejection of heteronormative respectability politics. With

Eloquent Rage, Cooper continues to emphasize rejection of respectability politics via discussion of the benefit of Black women’s anger, in terms of civic discourse that advances social change.

83 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Rhetorical Argumentation in Eloquent Rage

In Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, a year later,

Cooper published a follow-up text to Beyond Respectability’s Black rhetorical foremothers with an examination of contemporary rhetors in popular and political

Black culture. Essentially, Eloquent Rage is best characterized as a “personal narrative, a memoir, a story with multiple timelines embedded—the author’s, her family’s, the nation’s—with attention as sharply focused on ideas as on the circumstances of our social moment” (Lubiano, “Recognitions and Company”).

During an interview for Eloquent Rage with Mark Thompson, the podcast host of

SiriusXM’s Make It Plain, Cooper stresses the importance of the relationship between

Black women’s discourse and socio-political change. In this conversational exchange, she stresses the exigency of why Black women must set up a list of political priorities for their community and the nation. Cooper states Black women “are really trying to move the needle in this country . . . It’s incredibly critical that we make a shift in this moment. You know, we can not continue to do things the way that we have done them in the past” (Thompson, “Brittney Cooper” 2:00-2:15). Then, when Thompson asks her whether “the issues that Black women are most concerned about and are most involved in tend to be the issues that end up impacting people of all races across the board,” Brittney affirms that he’s correct with his assertion (Thompson, “Brittney

Cooper” 2:42-3:03). Meaning, Black women’s rhetorical impact is not singularly about improving the conditions for Black women only. Instead, our discursive practices and our history in this country make it evident that Black feminist rhetoric is a community-centered effort that seeks to improve the social and political systems,

84 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 structures, and institutions for every marginalized group.

The Ethos of A Self-Identified Grown-Ass Woman

Like my interrogation of Beyond Respectability, I want to probe into rhetors’ ethos, kairos, and the rhetorical situation presented by Cooper’s text. However, first I address Cooper’s ethos as it pertains to the field of rhetoric. According to renowned rhetoricians, On African-American Rhetoric’s Keith Gilyard and Adam J. Banks,

Brittney Cooper’s The Crunk Feminist Collective (2017) places her amongst a respected tradition of multi-generational Black female rhetors. As a successor of Black female rhetors that sought to change the conditions of the Black community, like her predecessors, Cooper challenges authority. In a section entitled the “Rhetorics of

Black Feminism,” they note her contributions to the field (Gilyard and Adams 69).

According to Cooper, crunk feminism is a version of hip hop feminism aiming to disassemble the patriarchy (Gilyard and Adams 69).

With Eloquent Rage, Cooper’s solo authored text continues that tradition of creating rhetorics of Black feminist resistance. As a result, the delivery and the tone are highly impacted by Cooper’s ethos as a first-person narrator choosing to use informal discourse. In this case, Cooper’s use of informal discourse is for the purpose of engaging a pop culture audience. For her readers, this creates a sense of trust that she is intimately involved in the subject matter she writes. Just as Anna Julia Cooper and Pauli Murray were educators who wrote their intersectional bodies into the pages of the text, Cooper a.k.a. Professor Crunk follows a similar rhetorical path by

85 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 theorizing her lived experiences in juxtaposition with her view of Black feminism in

Eloquent Rage.

According to Aristotle, “the ethical appeal evokes the speaker’s moral authority . . . or the shared concerns of speaker and audience” (Bizell and Herzberg

31). Cooper successfully does this by interweaving her personal narrative into her analysis of Beyoncé’s feminism and Michelle Obama’s microresistance to respectability politics. By stressing her experiences as a Black youth, college student, and educator, Cooper invents an ethos that evokes her moral authority to speak on the aforementioned subjects. Also, her choice of subject matter demonstrates that as a

Black feminist, she has the same socio-political community-centered concerns as her primary Black female audience. To Aristotle, invented ethos occurs when rhetors

“invent a character suitable to an occasion” (Crowley and Hawhee 149). Since Cooper benefits from various features, in publications such as PBS, NPR, TED Talks, Time, and Washington Post, she has situated ethos. Meaning, she experiences “a good reputation in the community” due to national familiarity with her work (Crowley and

Hawhee 149). However, I plan to explore how Cooper uses invented ethos to relate to her audience, as further justification of why this pop cultural text, is a viable study for

Black feminist rhetoric.

Keep in mind, despite Cooper’s well-known status, inside and outside academic circles, she still encounters audiences who may or may not know of her.

Therefore, consistent with the tradition of many Black rhetors, regardless of gender, within the context of Eloquent Rage, she invents a character or persona for herself.

Crowley and Hawhee state “Atlantic editor Ta-Nehisi Coates invented an authoritative

86 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 ethos for himself by drawing on his experience as a black man in America with a blog post entitled ‘The Sacred Art of Giving Dap’” (151). By exhibiting cultural expertise on a form of Black discourse, he “reinforces his place in black culture” (Crowley and

Hawhee 151). When Cooper says, “This is a book by a grown-ass woman written for other grown-ass women,” stating further, “This is a book for women who know shit is fucked up. These women want to change things but don’t know where to begin,” she’s directly addressing her audience (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 1). By using informal language, such as the colloquial expression “grown-ass woman,” Cooper makes a connection to the Black women reading her book. In Black culture, a grown-ass woman is a woman who is responsible “for her grown-ass actions and can pay her own bills,” and she “has the maturity as well as the presence of” mind to manage her own affairs (Coleman, “Grown Ass Woman”). As an element of managing one’s own affairs, this means knowing when “shit is fucked up,” and engaging in discourse that will lead to a change in one’s personal and/or communal circumstances. In essence, with these introductory sentences, Cooper establishes herself as a straightforward and dependable narrator because she’s willing to connect with her audience.

Within the context of Cooper, self-identifying herself as a grown-ass woman who has the ethos to address her audience, she presents the rhetorical situation for them. In essence, Eloquent Rage is for Black women who know there are issues in their community and beyond that need changing. Admittedly, Cooper states that she’s not “into self-help books;” therefore, she’s not presenting any “catchy three-step plans” (Eloquent Rage 1). But, what Cooper does offer is anger: “Rage, actually. And that’s the place where more women should begin—with the things that make” them

87 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 angry (Eloquent Rage 1). When examining a rhetorical situation, one must remember that “rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to situation,” and “a rhetorical situation must exist as a necessary condition to rhetorical discourse” (Bitzer

6). Cooper’s text came into existence as a response to the socio-political needs of

Black women. Since there is an existing rhetorical situation, caused by the issues facing Black women, her discourse is an artifact of Black feminist rhetoric.

Furthermore, Bitzer claims “a situation is rhetorical insofar as it needs and invites discourse capable of participating with situation and thereby altering its reality”

(6). When Black feminist Cooper leads with her ethos and invites her readers to engage in discourse, which will lead to a change, she offers a chance for empowerment with her Black feminist rhetoric featured in Eloquent Rage. Lastly,

Bitzer states, “the situation controls the rhetorical response” (6). As previously stated,

“Not the rhetor and not persuasive intent, but the situation is the source and ground of rhetorical activity” (Bitzer 6). In other words it’s not Cooper’s persuasive skills as a writer or her persuasive voice that makes this book rhetorical. Instead, it’s within the context of the Black woman’s lived experience that results in this rhetorical situation.

Issues such as equality and social justice that continue to plague Black women’s progress is the necessary condition for Cooper’s rhetorical discourse.

However, Crowley suggests that you should consider kairos and how it functions within the rhetorical situation. Kairos plays into “the situatedness of arguments in time and place” (Crowley and Hawhee 41). Keep in mind, the specifics

“of a rhetorical situation include the rhetor, of course: her opinions and beliefs, her past experiences, as well as her position on issues at the time she composes discourse

88 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 about it” (Crowley and Hawhee 41). Due to the structural arrangement of Eloquent

Rage, Cooper interweaves her opinions, beliefs, past experiences, and positions within the discourse. For instance, Cooper makes evident both the exigency and kairos of the moment when she makes her declaration: “I am fat, Black, and Southern. But this is not a sassy Black girl’s tale. Black women turn to sass when rage is too risky— because we have jobs to keep, families to feed, and bills to pay” (Eloquent Rage 2).

The urgency of the moment is presented by the risk of Black female rage to life’s maintenance. In conjunction with the exigency of Black women rage, kairos is the daily need to keep jobs, feed our families, and pay our bills under unjust social conditions.

Crowley and Hawhee say “the rhetorical situation also includes the opinions and beliefs of her audience at that time and in that place, as well as the history of the issue within the communities with which they identify” (41). Within the rhetorical context of Cooper’s statement, her response to “Angry Black Women” rhetoric, reflects the opinions, beliefs, time, place, and history of Black women her community:

“We are told we are irrational, crazy, out of touch, entitled, disruptive, and not team players” (Eloquent Rage 3). On a consistent, daily basis, “Angry Black Women” are considered Black bodies “to be contained, as inconvenient citizens who keep on talking about their rights while refusing to do their duty and smile at everyone”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 3). In essence, as part of our continued public and private labor in this country, we’re expected to offer whites comfort by smiling even when we’re just trying to maintain our jobs and families. In the event, we’re not able to

89 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 achieve this duty under life’s daily pressures; our bodies are subject to more regulation and containment.

Ersula Ore discusses some of the daily pressures referred to by Cooper. Here, I use Ore’s commentary to interrogate her experiences within academia. With Ore’s discussion, she teaches the audience that her status as an educator does not bar her from the regulation faced by other Black women. In an article entitled “They Call Me

Dr. Ore,” Ore details how that regulation and containment of Black women’s bodies occurs. While reading this text, it’s evident how Black female academics must navigate their desire teach their classes, the microaggressions that arise when students question your ethos, and law enforcement’s assumptions that we are Angry Black

Women. With Ore’s book entitled Lynching: Violence, Rhetoric, and American

Identity, she explores “lynching, American citizenship, and American civic identity”

(Ore, “They Call Me”). Sadly, America’s “tradition of lynching” persists in a manner that make us question who people really are (Ore, “They Call Me”). Here, she acknowledges how her experiences within the academic realm inform how her student audience perceives her. Meaning, oftentimes, her qualifications to teach her class are questioned by her students despite her doctoral degree. According to Ore, “[p]assive aggressive whiteness” is a daily experience. Thus, she has learned to “take this bullshit in stride; battling an epistemological system that assumes” she’s “always already ‘out of place’ is a constitutive feature of” her “lived experience and, thus, a chief component of” her “rhetorical situation” (Ore “The Call Me”). However, when a police officer questioned her identity and demanded to see her license, this emphasizes the exigency of danger that Black women face when our ethos faces inquiry.

90 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

The Arrangement and Style of a Grown-Ass Woman

In ancient rhetoric, the rhetor had two major issues: argument selection and persuasive arrangement (Crowley and Hawhee 222). Meaning, “arrangement primarily concerned two processes: selecting the arguments to be used and arranging these in an order that was clear and persuasive. Arrangement depends in large part on the rhetorical situation” (Crowley and Hawhee 222). In particular, the arrangement is influenced by the kairos, or time and place of the rhetorical situation. Therefore, prior to interrogating the arrangement and placement of the following chapters, “The

Problem with Sass,” “Capital B, Capital F,” and “Orchestrated Fury,” I discuss the function of kairos within the rhetorical situation. For those reasons, throughout the following sections of my dissertation, I will consider how both the rhetor and audience constrains on the rhetorical situation and influences the time and place (Crowley and

Hawhee 223). In the exordium of “The Problem with Sass,” Cooper establishes the exigency, kairos, and rhetorical situation of Grown-Ass Women, while refuting the

“Angry Black Woman stereotype” that pervades public and private discourse. Based on Cicero’s five kinds of cases, I would consider Cooper’s rhetoric as honorable. An honorable case is one that “has immediate support from the audience” (Crowley and

Hawhee 225). Since Cooper’s primary audience is Black women, her passionate appeals to Black women experiencing the daily grind of life would receive immediate support.

After Cooper offers a narrative on gaining her Black feminist wings, in the conclusion, she directs her audience to consider rage that’s eloquently articulated as a superpower. Meaning, Cooper suggests resisting the societal constraints that frame

91 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 anger via a negative context. Instead, Cooper offers a discussion of how Venus and

Serena Williams use anger to the benefit of themselves and their Black women audience. Here, Cooper ends with a narrative about the power of Venus and Serena

Williams on the tennis court. According to Cooper, “Until they learned how to use their power, it often became a liability, causing them to make lots of mistakes on and off the court” (Eloquent Rage 6). However, after twenty years of dominating tennis, the Williams sisters learned how “to corral all that power into precise serves and shots that are nearly unmatched” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 6). Like the typical Black woman, they received all kinds of disparaging criticism. Needless to say, the disparaging criticism was for the purpose of constraining and/or controlling the outcome. Perhaps, if the Williams sisters had internalized the negative messages from critics and some audience members, they would have ceased dominating the sport of tennis. Instead, they excelled at their chosen sport.

Remember, the Williams sisters were subjected to “racial slurs and insults”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 6). They also received negative criticism claiming their bodies where “ugly” and “too manly” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 6). Still, Cooper refers to watching the Williams sisters as watching a ballet performance. Cooper says

“Watching Serena play . . . is like watching eloquent rage personified. Her shots are clear and expressive. Her victories belong to all of us, even though she’s the one who does all the work” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 7). All in all, for Black women, one Black woman’s victories “belong to everyone” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 7). And “That’s kind of how it feels to be a Black woman” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 7). With that said,

Cooper suggests that the communicative expression of Black women should not

92 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 moderate itself based on societal constraints. Here, in terms of our communicative expression, the message Cooper sends to her audience is that Black women’s anger is useful. When Black women engage with the rhetorical messages, that empower our shared community of women, anger is useful. Societal messages that frame anger as negative are constraints that we must resist. In essence, for Black women there is a diasporic feeling of community that extends beyond position, borders, and regions.

After all, that’s what sisterhood is about. The Black women’s individual circumstance is a microcosm of our communal circumstances.

Black Feminism According to Beyoncé

When it comes to Black feminist musical icons, Beyoncé generally comes to mind. That’s why, in effort to convey her message to grown-ass women, in a chapter entitled “Capital B. Capital F,” Cooper identifies with her audience by evoking the name, image, and anthems of Beyoncé. Cooper says, “Beyoncé is my feminist muse”

(Eloquent Rage 26). By reminding her audience of Beyoncé’s former group, Destiny’s

Child and her musical dominance due to albums such as Lemonade, Cooper is appealing to her audience’s cultural values. According to Cooper, songs like “Get Me

Bodied” inspired Cooper to theorize about feminism. In terms of feminist body politics, what “might it mean for a Black girl to really get in her body, love it, and stay there” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 27). With regard to Black feminist rhetoric, examining how Black women redefine their image and carve out spaces for themselves in their every day life exemplifies Black women empowerment and rhetorical agency.

93 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Still, Cooper is aware that in terms of defining Black feminism there are some disputed definitions. As a result, she partitions her argument by moving from general understanding of Black feminism into a disputed definition. Cooper concurs with

Beyoncé’s definition of Black feminism. She notes “When I heard Beyoncé articulate friendships with Black women as the core of what feminism was for her, it felt to me like she got the core essence of what this is all about” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 28).

Then, Cooper proceeds to refute arguments that exclude trans women from the

“general category of woman” (Eloquent Rage 28). Cooper says it’s important not to exclude women based on race. But, also to consider that while “cis, gender nonconforming, trans, queer, bi, or straight might have different experiences,” they are all women (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 28). To Cooper, this is an area that Black feminism needs to clarify. Unless all women’s concerns are addressed, “particularly the most marginalized women’s concerns, aren’t taken seriously,” the spirit of feminism is not fulfilled.

Respectability Politics: Michelle Obama’s Microresistance

In the chapter entitled “Orchestrated Fury,” Cooper uses the trope of respectability politics to examine how Michelle’s microresistance to such pressures exemplifies the meaning of Black feminism. Historically, respectability politics places constraints on the performance of Black womanhood. Thus, the first line of the exordium encapsulates Michelle Obama’s microresistance to the restrictions of respectability politics. Cooper writes “Respectability politics died the day Michelle

Obama showed up to her last official engagement as First Lady with a thrown-together

94 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 ponytail-bun combination and a facial expression fit for a funeral” (Eloquent Rage

147). Subsequently, since the term is commonly used and understood within the Black community, Cooper defines respectability politics for her secondary audience, non-

Black women. By defining the term respectability politics, it becomes evident that

Cooper knows that her audience reaches beyond African Americans. Therefore, she assists her secondary audience by defining respectability politics as “the belief that

Black people can overcome many of the everyday, acute impacts of racism by dressing properly and having education and social comportment is, first and foremost, performed as a kind of sartorial prerogative” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 147). When

Cooper chooses the words “sartorial prerogative” to emphasize her claim, she’s expressing that respectability politics is a performance because it feigns the notion that proper dress overcomes a lack of privilege. In other words, “fashion choices [by Black women] are subject to great scrutiny” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 147). According to

Cooper, Black women’s hairstyles are influenced by “mood, life circumstances, and who exactly will be seeing us on any given day” (Eloquent Rage 149). When Michelle rejected the “inaugural pomp and circumstance” by wearing a ponytail, Cooper claims this was an act of microresistance. Consequently, I’d add that Michelle Obama’s ponytail was an act of Black feminist response to the kairos of the rhetorical situation.

As a Black feminist fashion icon, Michelle Obama “showed up to the inauguration of Donald Trump with a quick and convenient on-the-go ’do, and what looked like a good church dress she had pulled from the closet” (Cooper, Eloquent

Rage 150). Instead of throwing “her middle fingers up at the system,” which responded to eight years of Barack Obama with Making America Great Trump, the

95 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

First Lady invoked her subtle rage as microresistance to respectability politics. In other words, Michelle’s response to the rhetorical situation was to wear a ponytail that read full of “‘I-refuse-to-be-botheredness’” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 150). For Cooper, the “ponytail evinced rage of both the eloquent and the elegant varieties” (Eloquent

Rage 150). The ponytail-bun coupled with a pretty, yet unremarkable dress “signaled a kind of pulling back, a disengagement, with the American public (Cooper, Eloquent

Rage 150). The rejection of “pomp and circumstance” expressed “a deep disdain for the way in which the American people had rejected her work, and that of President

Obama, by installing his nemesis—a man who had started a whole movement questioning his citizenship—in the White House” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 150-151).

Clearly, according to Cooper’s analysis, respectability politics did not spare Barack or

Michelle from race-gender politics that questioned their performance as leaders.

At the peroration of the Michelle Obama microresistance narrative, Cooper makes an emotional appeal to her audience. When Michelle didn’t overtly conform to respectability politics via a white lens, the First Lady was stereotyped as the Angry

Black Woman. Therefore, Michelle channeled “her energy into slaying the American public . . . by offering an impeccable standard of fashion to a watching world”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 151). According to Cooper, Michelle’s position as First Lady prevented her from exposing her rage. However, as previously stated by Cooper, when evoked as a form of microresistance, rage has its purpose for the Black woman.

Cooper says “Rage is fundamentally more reasonable response to America’s cultural investment in the disrespect of Black women than being respectable” (Eloquent Rage

151). Rage and respectability can’t cohabit the same space (Cooper, Eloquent Rage

96 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

151). That’s why, when Michelle refused to slay, her rage was a form of refusal “to be silenced, to be shamed, or to stand for anybody’s bullshit. It is a refusal of the lie that

Black women’s anger in the face of routine, everyday injustice is not legitimate”

(Cooper, Eloquent Rage 151). In other words, a “Black women’s rage is a way of looking these mischaracterizations in the face and responding, “You got me all the way fucked up” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage 151). Consequently, a Black women’s rage and her subsequent refusal to conform to the confines of respectability politics is an appropriate rhetorical response of a Black feminist.

Black Feminist Rhetorical Invention in the Writing Classroom

Respectability Politics: Do You Wear That Hat When You Teach?

With the subsequent personal narrative, I’m following in the Black feminist tradition of writing my intersectional body into the pages of the text. Recently, I had my own experience with a Black woman who violated the sisterhood code of Black feminism, as prescribed by Beyoncé and theorized by Professor Cooper. When a

Black female colleague imposed her definitions of womanhood and respectability politics onto me, she was subconscious appealing to the social construct of whiteness.

According to Cooper, “It also bears noting that white people’s regulation of Black women’s bodies in the public sphere is one reason that Black people have been obsessed over outward appearance” (Eloquent Rage 156). Meaning respectability equates to an aesthetic appeal to the social confines of whiteness. After attending a work luncheon, two days earlier, I was feeling Michelle Obama low-key level un- botheredness, when I decided to microresist respectability politics. The day before,

97 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 having received many compliments on my blue designer pantsuit from my fellow

Black female colleagues, I literally wanted to liberate myself from the gold and silver jeweled collar that captured everyone’s eye. So that Friday morning, my black jeans and a grey baseball cap read immediate Black female liberation to me.

After all, I had no one to impress. That day, I was not being observed by a colleague or evaluated by an administrator for job my performance. Besides, my students were familiar with my ethos as both a professor and writer. Thus, I didn’t consider my jeans and cap on Casual Friday also known as (a. k. a) Spirit Day to be a violation of my Black educated womanhood. However, respectability politics does not take a rest when a Black woman feels weary. Respectability politics dictates that agency and empowerment is acquired based on the approval of whiteness and those who identify with whiteness. The definition of respectability politics dictates that you absolutely care “what white folks and everybody else thinks” (Cooper, Eloquent Rage

152). Further, I’d add that respectability politics dictates a manner of speaking and behaving, in addition to a manner of dressing. However, as Cooper says, respectability politics and not caring what society thinks, “cannot coexist in the same body”

(Eloquent Rage 152). Therefore, I was surprised by the following conversational exchange. As I sat on a hard library seat reading and researching, the librarian appeared at the doorway. When I looked up, wondering why I was being interrupted, she had an earful of unsolicited commentary for me.

“I overhead you speaking to my one of my student workers,” my colleague

said.

98 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

I nodded. Quite frankly, no sooner had she arrived, I was waiting for her to

leave.

“I don’t let them come to work with hats on. I try to teach them

professionalism.”

That’s nice, I’m thinking. I’m just here trying to get my work done.

“Do you wear a hat when you teach your students?”

At that moment, with my grey cap tipped down, I looked upward at her eyes.

“I wear a hat when I need to wear a hat,” I replied.

Perhaps, surprised by my curt answer; she changed the subject and made a few more irrelevant comments. Then, she scurried on her way. To be quite honest, I was shocked by this intrusive and judgmental moment by a colleague. She had forgotten her place in the unofficial sisterhood codebook and exhibited toxic behavior by offering unsolicited negative criticism. For Black women, Cooper’s discourse on mean girl behavior between young Black women is not unfamiliar (Eloquent Rage 16).

Furthermore, Cooper identifies with her audience when she talks about how mean girl behavior between grown Black women interferes with the sisterhood component of

Black feminism. Cooper says, “I’m asking us to sit with the mean-girl tendencies we all have, with the ways that we hurt each other and don’t show up for each other”

(Eloquent Rage 30). Second, my colleague admitted to eavesdropping when she was in an adjacent room. Third, her evaluation on my professor-student conversation was based on respectability politics acquired from internalized identification with whiteness. In other words, a week prior to Midterms, she was determining my self- worth to model professionalism, based on my Casual Friday a.k.a. Spirit Day outfit.

99 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Fourth, it’s simply inappropriate to comment negatively on a co-workers manner of dress. School policy advises employees against commenting on co-workers manner of dress. Nevertheless, to my colleague, at that moment, since she perceived my jeans and hat as not professional or respectable, I lacked the moral authority to teach my students.

However, this librarian knew that my most recent book: African American

Literature Anthology: Slavery, Liberation, and Resistance (2019) was on reserve for my African American Literature students in the university library. Additionally, she was aware that two of my other books, Colson Whitehead: The Postracial Voice of

American Literature (2015) and Black Hollywood: From Butlers to Superheroes, the

Changing Role of African American Men in the Movies (2015), were located in TSU’s collections and general circulation. Therefore, it was mind-boggling that on a Casual

Friday, when the average professor wore a university hoodie or t-shirt, jeans, and sometimes a baseball cap, I was deemed as unqualified to teach my African American literature students. Years earlier, when I attended Thurgood Marshall Law School, some of the male professors dressed like they were members of Bob Seger’s road crew. Yet, they were well-liked and respected professors known for their legal expertise. However, those rules didn’t apply to me at the intersection of gender-racial exclusion. From the lens of this co-worker, Black women professors were expected to look like they were headed to church or something. With that said, this was clearly a case of the toxic Black mean-girl syndrome coursing through her veins. Nevertheless, this narrative provides an example of how a lack of solidarity between Black women

100 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 robs each other of empowerment. Truly, it’s important not to internalize behaviors associated with the social construct of whiteness, such as white privilege.

When it comes to emphasizing rhetorical concepts of Black feminist rhetoric,

Katherine Fredlund’s article, entitled “Forget the Master’s Tools, We Will Build Our

Own House: The Woman’s Era as a Rhetorical Forum for the Invention of African

American Womanhood” is enlightening. In this article, Black womanhood is based not on dressing in a pleasing manner to African Americans or whites. Instead, the Black women writers of the Women’s Era 1890s publication constructed a collaborative literary space that represented their expressions of identity in America. They exhibited

“‘authority over the terms in which they described themselves and their activities’” and used their own media “‘to refute the negative and thoughtless representations of

Black womanhood that surrounded them’” (Fredlund 69). As a result, by providing students with an article that demonstrates how writing can deconstruct negative images and construct positive images for marginalized individuals, a professor is demonstrating how Black feminist rhetoric is applicable beyond Black women.

Finally, this article is a wonderful way to teach Black feminist rhetoric in the classroom because it models how to invent arguments that can persuade an audience to change their position. Fredlund says that “African American women were not just presenting themselves in these pages; they were inventing African American womanhood” (69). In essence, these African American women were creating “their own vision” as a means of exercising agency and empowerment in an era that didn’t understand or respect Black womanhood.

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Feminists Know: The Personal Is Political

For instructing academics on teaching Black feminist rhetoric, I would encourage them to share a narrative that begins with an emotional appeal to their student audience. In the case of a Black professor, particularly a Black woman, I would share a story connected to one of Cooper’s primary textual themes. For Beyond

Respectability, consider focusing on intersectionality, agency, and empowerment to acquire one’s voice. For Eloquent Rage, consider focusing on sisterhood, rage, and microresistance to understand elements of Black feminism. Hopefully, a personal anecdote will assist students, particularly African Americans and women of all demographics, in understanding the rhetorical concepts of Black womanhood and respectability politics, since both themes run through both texts. By presenting Black feminism as a rhetorical response to kairos and exigency within a rhetorical situation, the professor’s student audience is called to respond by inventing a Black feminist rhetorical argument.

Professors should remember that the narrative should pertain to himself or herself, someone they know, or a celebrity. Whatever the story, when I share an anecdote, I generally express my moral authority to share the narrative by providing rhetorical context. However, keep in mind, some narratives are best told years after their occurrence. Especially, if the parties involved are easily identified at the university. Still, Jacqueline Jones Royster provides a framework for the personal is political with the following texts: “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own” and Traces of A Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American

Women. In both texts, she integrates personal narratives of her lived experiences by

102 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 introducing diverse thinking and/or content to non-Black audiences. Royster uses her white audience’s complex reactions to her, Black women’s rhetoric, and/or African

American culture as a prototype for inclusion of diverse peoples, beliefs, and concepts to solve rhetorical problems such as cross-cultural communication. As I perused

Royster, I couldn’t help connecting my own experiences with academia to hers.

However, my lived experience as an educator is not occurring at public white institution (PWI). Instead, I’m a Visiting Professor at a Historically Black College and

University (HBCU). However, in terms of understanding Black women’s discourse, this narrative works well.

Limitations, Implications, and Significance

In summation, there are multiple limitations and implications in terms of Black feminist rhetoric inclusion. As previously stated by Harrison, there are idiosyncrasies ideologically that may place constraints on potential change at an institution.

However, Black feminist professors such as Brittney Cooper recognize that diversity and inclusion are frustrated when working with Black feminist centered content at a

PWI. Therefore, when engaging in the labor of diversity, she spoke to the challenges professors of color might expect to face. With that said, it is important to expect that teaching Black feminist rhetoric at an HBCU might receive less resistance. However, if you’re at a PWI, it’s important to realize that the university may coopt, issues of diversity and inclusion, in a manner to create and maintain safe spaces for whiteness.

According to Cooper, “Far too often diversity work begins from the question of asking how white students can have a diverse experience” (“Beyond Diversity” 25:18-25:24).

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Even the language of inclusion implies that the simple presence of previously excluded bodies satisfies diversity efforts. Instead, Cooper claims that a critical shift occurs, “When we begin to ask questions about whether students of color deserve safe spaces” (Cooper, “Beyond Diversity” 25:36-25:40). However, the aforementioned question is often considered antagonistic to whites and/or conservative students rights to free speech.

First, Cooper says that without academic freedom she and other professors of color would not be able to teach their courses. Consequently, of course professor of color support the free speech rights of all students. Second, Cooper encourages her audience to contemplate “Whether students of color should have the academic freedom to learn in environments that are not racially antagonistic or anti-black.

Teaching against white supremacy does not constitute racial hostility or antagonism to white students” (Cooper, “Beyond Diversity” 26:15-26:30). Cooper insists, since ensuring white comfort is a priority of universities, it should also become an institutional priority to ensure the comfort of students of color as well. In line with

Cooper’s thinking, creating a safe space for students of color means including works of Blacks on the syllabus. For those reasons, this further supports my argument that

Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage are exemplars of Black feminist rhetoric.

Using these comprehensive texts as methodological and theoretical evidence of the magnitude of what these Black feminists accomplished, in terms of advancing Black women, their communities, and the nation, with rhetorical arguments that move diverse people and change the way people think and live is rhetorically necessary to the field of rhetoric. Thus, including Black feminist rhetorically diverse texts in the

104 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 curriculum makes inclusion practical as opposed to an inauthentic performance of diversity.

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CHAPTER 3

BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN GAY AND COTTOM’S HEAR TO SLAY

How Black women persuade audiences to transform their thinking and modify their behavior, in terms of organizational leadership and Black female inclusion, is the focus of this chapter of the dissertation. Like their featured Black feminist leaders,

Gay and Cottom have both a primary African American audience and a secondary audience, such as non-Black women of color and/or white women who are open to persuasion. Like Cooper, as rhetors, both Gay and Cottom are aware that without engaging women of diverse backgrounds, transformation of American society is frustrated. However, both Gay and Cottom make it evident via their definitions and expressions of Black feminist leadership style that they are not seeking permission or approval from white society. In essence, based on their experiences in the fields of academia and writing, they embody how Black women leaders warrant inclusion due to their feminist rhetorical practices.

Both texts are exemplars in terms of arguing and teaching the theoretical and methodological application of Black feminist rhetoric. As previously stated, the term text is used to include the multimodal aspects of a podcast, such as the sound and transcription of an episode or series of episodes. Therefore, I discuss the importance of the Hear to Slay podcast as a site of teaching Black feminist agency. Historically, technology has been used to regulate Black women’s bodies. Instead, Gay and Cottom use the Luminary platform to disseminate messages of Black feminist rhetoric to their audience. Furthermore, in terms of teaching Black feminist rhetorical methodology,

106 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 scholar Jennifer Bowie offers solutions. For instance, Jennifer Bowie published in

Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, which featured “a hypertextual webtext and a seven episode podcast series” entitled “Rhetorical Roots and Media Future: How Podcasting Fits in the Computers and Writing Classroom,” which explores how podcasting functions rhetorically in a writing class (“Episode 4:

Rhetorical Roots and Media Future”). To express to teachers how to use Hear to Slay in the classroom, I specifically focus on Bowie’s “Episode 3: Rethinking the Old in

New Ways—Invention.” In this chapter, I use Bowie to show how to apply rhetorical invention in a classroom where texts are becoming more and more digital. To Bowie, it’s imperative that teachers’ methods reflect digital technology such as podcast.

Therefore, this series is a framework for how Hear to Slay may be integrated into the classroom in order to teach how Gay, Cottom, Abrams, and Saint John make Black feminist theory with their rhetorical views on leadership and inclusion.

Like the series “Rhetorical Roots and Media Future,” this chapter will include scholarship on podcasting in the writing classroom, Invention, Arrangement, Delivery,

Audience, Purposes, Context, and Tone. Meaning, with this exemplar text, Hear to

Slay, I will examine how various canons, such as invention, arrangement, and delivery function in these podcast episodes, and how Cottom, Gay, Abrams, and Saint John convey messages to the audience based on their purpose, context, and tone. Lastly, I address how objections to Black feminist rhetoric in the writing classroom may be overcome, as a means for benefiting diverse students and avoiding institutional exploitation that dilutes the impact of the Black feminist discursive practices.

Ultimately, Hear to Slay conveys Black feminist rhetorical themes such as Black

107 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 feminist leadership and inclusion, which lead to agency and empowerment via rhetorical canons than can be used to both solve problems and experience full citizenship.

For this chapter, I further examine Black women’s rhetorical practices, in terms of leadership and inclusion. Here, Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom’s

Luminary podcast series Hear to Slay communicate theories of Black feminism. For the 40-episode Hear to Slay podcast series (Fall 2019-Spring 2020), the Intro,

Interview, and Question and Answer segments express the impact of Black feminist leadership on organizations, as reflected in our management style, goals, speeches and writings. During Season 1, Gay and Cottom interview attorney, activist organizer, and writer Stacey Abrams, the first Black woman to run for governor in Georgia. For

“Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC),” episode 2, in 54 minutes, Abrams insists that social change happens when feminist leadership occurs at every level of government. Abrams emphasizes that Black female leadership is about shaping political agendas and the future of communities (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black

Women In Charge (CBWIC)”). In other words, Black female participation in civic democracy stretches beyond our foremothers fight for women’s suffrage. Expressions of civic participation are enhanced when Black women lead activist organizations and political campaigns. Meaning, Abrams is interested in more than Black female representation and inclusion in the voting process. In essence, since Stacey Abrams wants to make a difference, she ran for governor (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black

Women In Charge (CBWIC)”) and continues to run Fair Fight, an anti-voter suppression organization.

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Also, during this podcast season, Gay and Cottom interview Bozoma Saint

John, Chief Marketing Officer at Endeavor, a company formerly known as William

Morris Endeavor Entertainment. In this episode’s description, Gay and Cottom refer to this former Chief Brand Officer at Uber and marketing executive at Apple Music as a genius (“Badass Leadership”). In this segment, episode 6, Saint John defines the meaning of “Badass Leadership,” subverts the Difficult Black Woman trope, and emphasizes how inclusion is more than a seat at the table. Instead, Black female inclusion is about leadership and decision-making power to orchestrate organizational and societal change. Particularly relevant, when she communicates within organizations, Saint John discusses how her Black vernacular and Black feminist leadership style impacts both her delivery and discursive practices. Undoubtedly, Saint

John is aware of how her vernacular impacts the level of resistance she receives within an organization and how humor and storytelling transforms ideology and participant behavior. Both “Chief Black Woman in Charge (CBWIC)” and “Badass Leadership” function as a dialectical conversation between Black women, conveying the continuum of Black female leadership, despite intersectional oppression and a communal link between Black female rhetors.

Since Gay and Cottom are both writing professors, they rhetorically engage with their speakers by emphasizing how their guests’ wisdom can improve Black women’s work life and home life. Moreover, by engaging with their audience, throughout each segment, they interrogate how definitions and themes of Black feminist leadership and inclusion function within academia. For instance, they discuss how power and authority in the hands of feminists does not have to follow past male

109 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 prototypes of oppression. Instead, Black feminist leadership is exhibited by rhetorical agency and empowerment that considers all members of an organization or community. Additionally, this discussion will emphasize how Black feminist rhetoric transforms systems, structures, and institutions because it’s responds beyond mere inclusion. Black feminist rhetoric is about Black women’s leadership on a transformative level, which has the power to influence organizations and academies on how to think, reason, interpret, and engage with the world differently.

The Road to Impassioned Civil Discourse

Rhetorical Situation

Prior to examining the Black feminist rhetorical elements of Gay and Cottom’s podcast Hear to Slay, it’s imperative to consider aspects of the rhetorical situation, such as exigence, audience, and various constraints. Depending on the podcast episode and segment, the hosts are engaged in multiple rhetorical situations with various rhetors. Here, although I return briefly to Lloyd Bitzer, I want to build on his analysis of the rhetorical situation by prioritizing Barbara A. Biesecker’s discussion on rhetorical engagement, as I explore the rhetorical situation regarding this primary artifact. With my analysis on Brittney Cooper’s texts, I applied the basic elements of a rhetorical situation. Therefore, with Hear to Slay, I plan to build on that analysis with

Biesecker’s interpretations. By providing a deeper discussion of the exigence, audience, and constraints, “[p]rior to the creation and presentation of discourse,”

(Bitzer 6) this chapter explores the rhetorical situation with regard to podcasts.

First, I discuss the significance of exigence with regard to Hear to Slay. For

110 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 any rhetorical situation, there is a minimal of “one controlling exigence” (Bitzer 6).

The organizing principle dictates the following: “the audience to be addressed and the change to be effected” (Bitzer 6). As previously stated, the primary audience to be addressed is Black women. Both Gay and Cottom understand the exigence presented by the rhetorical situation. The hosts address Black women in their Hear to Slay description featured on the Luminary website. Every episode, they speak directly to

Black women; they discuss topics that center Black women; and they feature interviews of Black women. However, Biesecker reminds us that if the audience beliefs coincide with the rhetors, Bitzer’s analysis of the rhetorical situation, if applied here, would be insufficient for persuading the audience to change their beliefs. Thus, in terms of the change to be effected, Gay and Cottom are acutely aware of that aspect.

At the exordium of each episode, the hosts introduce the topic, what’s at stake, and the featured interviewee that will provide solutions via their lived experience and personal narratives. Based on their format of addressing audience members that share their intersectional identity, the Hear to Slay podcast is rhetorical because of the engagement that occurs between the speakers and their audience (Biesecker 113).

Lastly, Gay and Cottom’s episode format concludes with a question and answer segment, which is drawn from social media posts and emailed questions. Within their organizational format, specifically, they offer both ideological and practical solutions to audience’s issues.

Here, since Gay and Cottom perceive the exigence of the rhetorical situation, there are various constraints placed upon their audience. Based on the format of Gay and Cottom’s episodes, introduction of themselves as hosts, introduction of topic and

111 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 interviewee, and question and answer segment, the hosts have an expectation that decisions and actions of their audience will change based on their Black feminist discourse. Bitzer refers to a rhetorical audience as “persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change” (Bitzer 8). Thus, it’s not enough that the Hear to Slay audience receives an arousing message. Nor is it enough that they participate in the experience by responding to their audience’s questions.

Instead, as we move beyond Bitzer, Biesecker’s reexamination of the rhetorical situation would suggest that the Hear to Slay rhetors motivate their audience to act on their similarly held beliefs, as opposed to changing their beliefs.

However, in addition to examining the exigence and audience of a rhetorical situation, it’s important to determine some of the constraints on both the rhetor and the message. Yet, as I move beyond Bitzer, I use Biesecker to reiterate the importance of the rhetorical engagement between the rhetor and the audience. Therefore, in terms of the limitations of Bitzer, after briefly discussing aspects of his theory, I want to include Jenny Edbauer’s examination of the rhetorical situation. Bitzer claims that various constraints are “made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (8). For instance, the fact that these Black women hosts are both writers and teach in academia places constraints on their topics of interest. Furthermore, “sources of constraint” such as “beliefs, attitudes, documents, facts, traditions, images, interests, motives and the like” impact the rhetorical situation

(Bitzer 8). In this case, topics such as Black women leadership and inclusion are relevant subject matter of the Hear to Slay Black feminist podcast. Since those topics

112 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 reflect both the beliefs and attitudes of Gay and Cottom, as rhetors, and their audience as participants, they reflect some of the constraints placed on the rhetorical situation.

With that said, critics of Bitzer state that the rhetorical situation is far more complex than the following discrete elements. Here, Edbauer cites discrete elements as the “audience, rhetor, exigence, constraints, and text” (7). Instead, rhetoric is more reflective of an “a wider sphere of active, historical, and lived processes” (Edbauer 8).

Instead, both Edbauer and Biesecker assist in understanding that the rhetorical situation is far more complex than theorized by Bitzer. In fact, when interpreting the exigence of a situation, there are “various mixes of felt interests” (Edbauer 8).

According to Edbauer, “Instead, what we dub exigence is more like a shorthand way of describing a series of events” (8). Therefore, when I apply Edbauer’s interpretation of the weakness of the “‘conglomeration’ of distinct elements” model (8), it’s appropriate to consider each episode of Hear to Slay as a series of events between

Gay, Cottom, and their audience. Within these series of events, “What is shared between them is not the situation, but certain contagions and energy” (Edbauer 14). As a result, this “same rhetoric” results in “infect[ing] and connect[ing] various processes, events, and bodies” (Edbauer 14). Within rhetorical ecologies, Gay and Cottom are able to affect an audience even though they experience a shared belief system. Due to the public rhetoric of Hear to Slay, Gay and Cottom’s message is like a metaphorical virus that continues to infect events and bodies that rhetorical engage with their podcast.

Additionally, documents such as social media posts and audience emails dictate the manner and delivery of the question and answer segment. Furthermore, if a

113 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 document places a constraint on the rhetorical situation, the method, such as a podcast platform must place a constraint on the rhetorical situation as well. For instance, since a podcast is pretaped, it is not a live production with excited utterances and unexpected discourse. Meaning, Gay and Cottom, as perceptive rhetors, can steer the impact of their discourse, on the audience, based on their planning prior to the discourse, and the editing and production process that occurs both concurrently and subsequent to the discursive exchange. In essence, Gay and Cottom place constraints on the rhetorical situation, based on their Black feminist ideology, rhetorical practices, and the podcast method used to motivate a positive change in their audience.

Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation

Impassioned Discourse via Digital Spaces

In the introduction, I used Sharon Crowley’s work to advocate for the utility of arguments that arouse passion. Here, I apply Crowley’s ideological criticism to the

Black feminist podcast Hear to Slay. In the process of examining the rhetorical aspects of Hear to Slay’s message, I wish to discuss how Black feminist ideology is disseminated via the podcast platform. When Crowley discusses how emotions move the audience, she draws her interpretation from Cicero. Of course, a rhetor must establish their claims by providing evidence, and assure that the “audience respects her character and her argument” (Crowley 58). With regard to Hear to Slay, both Gay and

Cottom establish their ethos. As previously stated, they establish this in the description of their podcast. Also, they establish their ethos in multiple segments of an episode, such as in their introduction to the topic, via their interview exchange, and during their

114 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 question and answer segment. In terms of ensuring that their target Black women audience respects their arguments, it is presumed that their audience respects most if not all of their Black feminist claims. After all, to listen to Hear to Slay, an audience member must have a free trial or subscription to Luminary. Then, listeners have to search for it amongst many podcast choices. Therefore, it’s reasonable to conclude that if a person is listening to Gay and Cottom’s podcast, they are in ideological agreement with the topoi of Black feminist rhetoric.

One of the many strengths of Hear to Slay is the ability to arouse emotions in their audience. This is due in part to the choice involved, in terms of accessing and listening. Furthermore, the rhetor “must arouse whatever emotions are necessary to move an audience toward acceptance” (Crowley 58). Meaning, even if their primary audience does not agree with all of their arguments, they use what Royster refers to as participant/observer Black feminist method of moving their audience toward their position a.k.a. acceptance. In other words, “While persuasion can of course be effected by means of reasoned argument, I posit that ideology, fantasy, and emotion are primary motivators of belief and action” (Crowley 59). With that said, it’s the rhetorical beliefs of Black feminist ideology and the emotion evoked by the rhetors,

Gay, Cottom, and guests that motivate a potential change in belief and a motivation to act on those newly acquired beliefs. For instance, although a listener may support

Black women in positions of authority, they may not know how to engage with Black women leaders and/or acquire that type of agency and empowerment for themselves.

However, the lived experience and narratives of these Hear to Slay rhetors provide strategies on how to rhetorically respond in accordance with Black feminist rhetoric.

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Keep in mind, Gay and Cottom make rational appeals to their audience’s common sense of fairness and equality. However, when they make those rational appeals, their use of logic still evokes emotion. When contemplating ideology, logic communicates, “beliefs [that] connect, disconnect, and reconnect” (Crowley 76).

However, there are limits to rational appeals. Crowley states that there is a gulf,

“Between the facts and the moral evaluation of facts,” in “which no logic can bridge”

(90). Thus, I offer Crowley’s statement to emphasize that ideological appeals must offer more than logic to persuade. Primarily, Gay and Cottom rely on ideological appeals based on the “belief, passion, values, desires” of their audience (Crowley 61).

Rarely, if ever due Gay and Cottom provide empirical evidence such as statistics to sway their audience. But, they do use reason coupled with an emotional appeal.

According to Crowley, once a speaker appeals to the beliefs of their audience, this may activate a new set of belief systems: “For one thing, an appeal to a belief can stimulate an emotional response that in turn can activate other, closely related beliefs”

(61). That’s why Hear to Slay’s hosts and their guests use their own personal experience with leadership and inclusion within the community, academia, government, and/or the corporate realm as a form of ethos and passionate appeal to their audience, they express the importance of improving Black women’s lives in both public and private spaces.

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Black Feminist Podcasts: Rooted in the African American Oral Tradition

Podcasting provides a platform that’s consistent with past modes of African

American oral communication. A podcast incorporates the oral tradition of past Black women rhetors. Traditionally, Black feminist rhetoricians have used whatever platform, in terms of venue or genre that was available to them (Royster, Traces of a

Stream 235). For a Black feminist rhetorician “it is a decision of which genre or form will better reach her audience. Most times she will put the same message in a variety of forms to connect with and influence numerous people and push them toward change” (Pough, “Each One” 69). In the past, “black nineteenth-century club women

[activists/organizers],” engaged with diverse oratory and “written genres such as the essay, fiction, diaries, poetry, and drama” (Pough, “Each One” 69). Therefore, a podcast is also consistent with genres, such as spirituals, folklore, speeches, and music that have historical roots in the African American oral culture. Gilyard and Banks’s concept of “Black rhetorical virtuosity” emphasizes those historical roots (118).

Meaning, the ability to craft, “carry and reinvigorate the old stories” in “print, oral, and digital communication” signifies the meaning of “Black rhetorical virtuosity”

(Gilyard and Banks 118). Based on this analysis of African American rhetorical tradition, Gay and Cottom’s Black feminist podcast is a rhetorical exemplar of craft, storytelling, orality, and digital communication.

Clearly, Gay and Cottom draw on their rhetorical roots of genre and vernacular to keep their audience engaged. In fact, when it comes to genres of rhetorical study, within the African American rhetorical tradition, there is an “arc of strategic language use by African Americans as incorporated in rhetorical forms such as slave narratives,

117 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 the spirituals, poetry, fiction, folklore, speeches, music, film, and memes” (Gilyard and Banks 6). That’s why, the podcasting platform is another avenue to perform and circulate new ways of Black womanhood via a digital space. In terms of Gay and

Cottom’s discursive practices, they engage in multiple-genres, such as essay writing, non-fiction texts, and podcasting to engage with their audience. By producing their own podcast series, Gay and Cottom control the venue, the genre, the message, and the language used to persuade their audience toward both a personal and societal change.

However, when examining Gay and Cottom’s rhetorical exchange in the podcasting venue, it’s important to know some factors in terms of hosts, audience members, and discursive practices. In Briana Barber’s Bitchmedia article “Safe and

Sound: How Podcasts Became Audio Enclaves for Black Women,” Black creators and listeners are partially responsible for the boom in podcasting; they reflect “12 percent of monthly listeners” (“Safe and Sound”). Still, according to Spotify, there is more work necessary, in terms of diversity. Despite the growth in Black listeners, Black women represent a small percent of women hosts. Although women host “22 percent of podcasts,” there are “even fewer when it comes to minority women” (“Amplifying

Female Voices of Color”). Keep in mind, when the term “minority women” is used, it’s inclusive of a diverse racial group of women who are marginalized.

Based on those statistics, Gay and Cottom occupy a digital space that is rarely comprised of Black female voices. Therefore, their articulate yet informal style of speaking to both their guests and audience is consistent with audience preferences.

Black women audiences “respond to a vocal style and language that’s looser than ‘the

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NPR voice’ typically found on public radio” (Barber, “Safe and Sound”). Meaning,

Black women audiences of podcasts feel comfortable with a more conversational tone than a formal one. In this mode, Black women are able to forge more of a sisterhood bond due to the host-guest (e.g. speaker-audience) relationship. Ultimately, this sisterhood bond is relaxed, informal, and personal.

For those reasons, Podcasts that appeal to “common Black cultural references, have a loose format, and seek to replicate Black community spaces like hair salons and barbershops” are more likely to resonate with Black listeners (Barber, “Safe and

Sound”). In this space, Gay and Cottom can engage with their Black feminist audience, in a manner that demonstrates mutual respect for one another and cultural adherence to sisterhood-style communication. After all for hosts of podcasts, it is “a space where they can speak to audiences who share and reflect their values, beliefs, and culture” (Barber, “Safe and Sound”). Since Gay and Cottom share similar values, beliefs, and culture with their listeners, their audience feels like they are listening to a conversation at hair salon, as opposed to being lectured at or spoken down to. For audience members, “Hear to Slay creates a space where women can support, challenge, and grow with one another through critical conversation and whole lot of laughs” (Jones et. al., “The Best New Podcasts”). In essence, those shared “values, beliefs, and culture” are a reflection of the common interests that determine the topoi of the arguments that are discussed and explored on Hear to Slay.

Based on those diverse methods of transforming an audience via multimedia, in addition to the oral components, podcasting offers a viable genre for Black women’s rhetorical study. According to Royster, marginalized people “systematically

119 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 constrained by issues of race, class, gender, culture, and so on . . . have nevertheless been successful in questioning the world and constructing spaces from which to assert their viewpoints” (Traces of a Stream 54). During every episode, Gay and Cottom use their digital space to question issues such as leadership and inclusion that impact

Black women, as they assert their Black feminist perspective on how to respond to these personal and societal concerns. Since their listeners share similar values, beliefs, and culture, they are likely to persuade their audience to incorporate more Black feminist rhetoric into their ideological belief system. For those reasons, Barbara

Biesecker’s “logic of articulation” offers away of interpreting the rhetorical situation.

Here, since Gay and Cottom affirm the existing beliefs of their audience, there is more

“of a symbolic engagement between the speaker and audience” (Biesecker 112). In other words, the rhetorical aspect of Gay and Cottom’s podcast is determined “not by a logic of influence but a logic of articulation” (Biesecker 126). That’s why, using new media technology such as podcasting, as a space for Black feminist rhetoric to question the world, is consistent with using resistance to combat narrow thinking that limits the opportunities and possibilities of Black women.

Rhetorical Argumentation in Hear to Slay

Podcasting: Technological Sites of Black Feminist Agency

In an effort to determine whether Hear to Slay is a technological site of Black feminist agency, rhetorical factors such as exigence and access for marginalized voices should be considered. According to Keith Gilyard and Adam J. Banks On

African American Rhetoric, technology has always impacted discursive practices of

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African Americans. In their text, they devote chapter 5 to the relationship between

“Technology and African American Rhetoric.” Since Black feminist rhetoric is a subgenre of African American rhetoric, it’s of theoretical import to include what

African American rhetoricians write, in terms of the impact of technology as a site of

Black agency. To Gilyard and Banks, it’s important to disrupt the notion that technology is “value free or value neutral” (73). By rejecting the “fallacy of technological neutrality,” the audience acknowledges, “technological systems are implicated in enduring systems of exclusion and oppression as well as being sites of

Black agency, techne, knowledge, and creativity” (Gilyard and Banks 73). To some, the device not “[T]he social-networking site, or the code that lies just beneath any digital interface” matter (Gilyard and Banks 73). Instead, Gilyard and Banks argue that “Technologies are interconnected systems of tools, politics, policies, labor, design, marketing, and use” (73). Thus, Gilyard and Banks recommend a more intersectional approach in terms of “exigence and production, to call and response”

(74). Instead, when determining the value of technology, wherever “communication takes place” our perspective “must also be multimodal” (Gilyard and Banks 74). Since dissidents of White Supremacy are often “disciplined by systems of technology— schools, courts, prisons, media, labor practices,” I’d argue that digital technologies, such as a Luminary podcast series by two Black feminists writers and professors offer a rhetorical response to the regulation of Black women’s bodies.

Historically, technology has been employed to regulate Black communities

(Gilyard and Banks 75). Therefore, Black rhetors and rhetoricians are cognizant of the need to subvert technology as means for rhetorical expression. In other words, various

121 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 digital tools are sites of rhetorical resistance and agency used to elevate Black voices.

The Luminary podcast platform presents possibilities of resistance for podcast hosts such as Roxane Gay and Tressie Gilliam Cottom. Based on Luminary’s website, there is no expressed advocacy toward socio-political disruption. Still, Roxane Gay stated that Luminary is fully aware of their advocacy of Black Women. Gay states, “We are particularly excited to be joining Luminary and are thrilled that they have so warmly embraced our vision for an unapologetically black feminist podcast” (Stidhum,

“Roxane Gay and Dr. Tressie McMillan”). Therefore, it’s no surprise some of the categories and voices featured on Luminary. Some of the diverse categories listed on their website are Society & Culture, News & Politics, and Government &

Organizations (“All Categories”). However, podcasts entitled Guys We F****D and

The C-Word demonstrate openness to feature feminists’ hosts. In terms of Black feminists podcasts, there are series such as Stoop Talks, Ratchet & Respectable, and

Hear to Slay. Additionally, Luminary features other Black content such as Code

Switch, Omari Hardwick Poetics, Tupac Shakur Slow Burn Notorious B.I.G., and the

Trevor Noah Podcast. Based on the featured podcast series, it appears that Luminary seeks to elevate marginalized voices that are denied spaces in other venues.

In terms of accessibility for users, Luminary offers two premium plans

“Annual,” which is “$2.99/mo after 7-day free trial: Auto-billed annually and $34.99 for the first year” and “Monthly,” which is “$4.99/mo after 7-day free trial” (“Choose a Luminary”). Based on those low prices, many users regardless of race would have access to the platform. After all, it’s important to note that access is not the only element for transforming a digital tool into a site of agency. The Luminary app is

122 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 accessible on various devices such as the “iPhone, Android, and on desktop” (Colyard,

“Roxane Gay’s Podcast”). Furthermore, there is no cost to download the Luminary app (Colyard, “Roxane Gay’s Podcast”). Nevertheless, Banks and Gilyard stress,

“having the tools and means to use the Internet is only the most basic element of access” (81). Banks and Gilyard offer other considerations such as a user’s intentions.

Issues such as aligning the mode of technology with “one’s goals and objectives,” leadership, and ownership “enable individuals and communities to make informed decisions about balancing use, critique and resistance” (Gilyard and Banks

81). Although Gay and Cottom don’t own Luminary, they are the executive producers of their show. Therefore, Hear to Slay becomes a technological site of Black agency, specifically Black feminist agency because they create their own content, choose their own guests, and discuss principles of Black feminism. Furthermore, in addition to reasonable access, by choosing to engage with their platform, audience members are participating in a form of rhetorical agency by listening and responding to various discussion points when they email questions in and act on newly acquired information.

After all, Gay and Cottom make it clear in the Hear to Slay description their purpose and intent: “Hear to Slay is the black feminist podcast of your dreams— compelling conversations curated in only the way black women can. Roxane Gay and

Tressie McMillan Cottom offer uncommonly incisive reads of the politics that shape the world we live in and the popular culture we consume” (“Hear to Slay”). In other words, Gay and Cottom are intentionally engaging in conversation in a manner that only “black women can” (“Hear to Slay”). Hear to Slay’s description makes evident that Gay and Cottom are using their platform and rhetorical performance to lift up

123 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Black women’s voices, such as their own, public officials, celebrities, and everyday

Black women as a feminist rhetorical project of their own making. In essence, the

Hear to Slay podcast is a site of Black feminist agency because the hosts lead, executively produce, and create content based on their critique of Black women’s discourse of the world in which they live. As a result, audiences have an opportunity to self-critique their own viewpoints and transform their own thinking, in terms of rhetoric that disparages Black women’s leadership, discursive practices, and cultural contributions.

The Ethos of Black Feminist Leadership

In the process of examining Black feminist rhetoric, the expressive manner in which Black women build ethos and communicate messages to their audience is significant. Historically, Black women rhetors have used their ethos to implore audiences to listen, respond, and act on their messages. Therefore, I address Roxane

Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom’s strategies for building ethos, in order to emphasize how inventing a sense of self works in context with using language to make meaning and evoke social action. For this purpose, I will draw on Jacqueline Jones

Royster’s discussion of ethos in Traces of a Stream, to emphasize these points.

According to Royster, “race, gender, class, cultural origins, and language (among others)” function as “marks against rather than for African American women” (Traces of a Stream 65). In other words, those aforementioned “marks” are factors used to stereotype and criticize Black women, in their attempts to communicate and engage with the world. Particularly, when Black women engage outside of “their immediate

124 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 home community” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 65). Perhaps, a lack of familiarity with Black women rhetors results in erroneous assumptions. Consequently, when

Black women rhetors engage with audiences, we are acutely aware of these negative presumptions. As a result, Black women approach inventing ethos with a set of markers, in order to subvert obstacles between the audience and themselves.

For the purposes of analyzing how Gay and Cottom invent their ethos, they clearly intend to combat social markers that question their ethos to rhetorically engage with their audience. As a participant/observer of Black women’s discursive practices, I realize that there are rhetorical practices employed to reach our audience. Therefore, when Royster explains how Black women writers invent a sense of self by building ethos with their audience, it’s applicable to the rhetorical practices of Gay and Cottom.

Royster claims “African American women are called upon to define themselves against stereotypes and other negative expectations, and thereby to shift the ground of rhetorical engagement by means of their abilities to invent themselves and create their own sense of character, agency, authority, and power” (Traces of a Stream 65).

However, when audience members engage with the Hear to Slay podcast, Gay and

Cottom build on previous writing accomplishments to discuss such issues as Black women leadership. That’s why, in the process of considering the ethos of the co-hosts,

I examine their Hear to Slay website. The website serves as textual and visual mode of persuasion, encouraging audiences to trust Gay and Cottom, based on their bios, featured guests, and features in popular online magazines. Thus, their Hear to Slay website is a persuasive tool that uses ethos to motivate listeners to engage.

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When web visitors reach the Hear to Slay site, Gay and Cottom use various methods to invent a “sense of character, agency, authority, and power” (Royster,

Traces of a Stream 65). First, once visitors arrive to the site they’ll notice the colorful simplicity of Gay and Cottom’s image on each page. Then, visitors have the option to click on the “Home” & “Podcast” buttons to listen to recent episodes. However, each episode contains sizeable images of mostly Black women leaders in various genres of society. For instance, the following episodes and their titles demonstrate an emphasis on inventing the ethos of Black women leadership: Episode 01: “Allow Us To

Reintroduce Ourselves” features hosts Gay and Cottom on their black feminist perspective and rhetorical goals and intentions for the audience; Episode 02: “Chief

Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” discusses how Black women are becoming high- level decision-makers; Episode 06: Badass Leadership 101 features “Endeavor’s CMO and marketing genius Bozoma Saint John” (Gay and Cottom “Podcast”). Based on the language used to title various segments, there is an effort to relate to Black women audiences.

Second, the third section of the website is an “About Us” page that explicitly builds Gay and Cottom’s character and expertise to speak to their audience. Beneath

Hear to Slay’s description as a Black feminist podcast are the following words:

“compelling conversations curated in only the way black women can” (Gay and

Cottom “About Us”). The purpose of this section reiterates the ethos building as one of relation to the community and identification with one’s audience. It’s as if Gay and

Cottom are saying, “We can speak to you, about you, because we’re just like you.”

Then, beneath the ethos building for Hear to Slay is an image of Gay and Cottom

126 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 together and individual images of them above their bios. Meaning, they are visually communicating that they self-identify with community because they look like members of the community. Furthermore, the featured images picture them in the midst of conversation, which means the podcast will have a conversational and familiar tone reflecting a community of Black women leaders.

Gay and Cottom strategically use their bios to create a sense of rhetorical competence based on their ethos as writers. Royster suggests that the rhetorical performance of essay writing is a method for engaging in sociopolitical action. In this case, Gay and Cottom use their podcast the same way as Black women essayists.

Meaning, Gay and Cottom participate in the podcast format to form ethos and use their

“rhetorical expertise to engage in action” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 62). In their case, the titles of their past work demonstrate their lived experience to produce and circulate narratives that would provoke an audience to engage in sociopolitical action.

In addition to participating in “the formation of ethos,” Gay and Cottom use their

“professional identities” to create a writing self that signifies agency, authority, and empowerment. Royster refers to this ethos formation as “the creation of a writing self”

(Royster, Traces of a Stream 11). The creation of the writing self refutes various markers that question Black women rhetors authority to speak and move an audience.

More than likely, Gay and Cottom’s past accomplishments as writers provided the ethos and celebrity needed for Luminary to promote their talent as Black feminist podcast hosts.

Since Cottom’s description is first, I will state her credentials used to persuade her audience that she has the authority to represent Black women. Cottom has a PhD

127 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 in sociology, which means that her analysis is based not only on lived experience, but research and writing on the social condition of Black women. Cottom is considered to be “one of the most exciting public intellectuals and voices working today” (Gay and

Cottom, “Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom”). By using both the words intellectual and voice, the bio emphasizes that Cottom is a trusted expert and voice that can reliably represent Black women’s socio-political concerns such as intersectionality and inequality. Furthermore, she demonstrates an intention to create rhetorical competence with her listeners based on the following statement: “Audiences and readers connect with her ability to make complex ideas relatable. She has spoken across the nation and the world on technology, higher education, race, gender, class, and social inequality”

(Gay and Cottom, “Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom”). Cottom’s rhetorical performance, as written in her bio, functions in the traditional manner of Black women rhetors. Like

Royster says, in response to sociopolitical conditions, Black women have formed ethos, identified communicative and expressive mandates and chosen the essay habitually as an expressive form (Traces of a Stream, 59). However, in this case, the

Hear to Slay’s website and podcast are Gay and Cottom’s rhetorical response to

“sociopolitical conditions” and their invention of ethos reflects their “communicative and expressive mandates” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 59). These mandates are the implicit authority to communicate with their chosen audience and a digital mode of expression that reflects the demographic growth of Black women creators and hosts of podcasts.

With regard to Cottom’s co-host, Roxane Gay, her published novels are a reflection of her socio-political intentions to persuade her audiences to her mode of

128 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 thinking. Since all of these titles are bestsellers, it’s evident that her writing inspires readers. Both Bad Feminist and Hunger: A Memoir of My Body were New York Times bestsellers. Difficult Women was a bestseller nationally. As a researcher, I share similar rhetorical goals as Royster. She seeks to document the “rhetorical habits and choices of individual writers,” which is “an effort that requires attention to ethos and context, as well as to message and medium” (Royster, Traces of a Stream 43). Based on the titles of Gay’s former books, there is an intention to reach women audiences with subject matter that pertains to feminism, weight, and temperament. Gay reflects what Royster refers to as a deliberate use “of written language to meet sociopolitical purposes” (Traces of a Stream 43). Furthermore, like her co-host Gay, Cottom’s bio cites her most recent book, emphasizing similar rhetorical intentions. Cottom’s “latest book, Thick, draws on ten years of writing for the public on many of our society’s most pressing fault lines” (Gay and Cottom, “Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom”). With that said, Gay and Cottom’s strategic use of their Hear to Slay website, as a method for building ethos, connecting to their audience, and messaging to current and future podcast listeners is effective due to its persuasiveness. Despite the historical markers that seek to compromise their rhetorical performance, based on the context, subject matter, and language featured on the Hear to Slay website, Gay and Cottom exhibit rhetorical competence to speak to their audience with agency, authority, and power via the podcasting medium.

Lastly, Gay and Cottom’s website has a “Press” and “Contact” page. With regard to the press page, it refers to three articles by the following pop-culture publications: The Root, Bustle, and Marie Claire. Root features in interview with Gay

129 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 and Cottom where they state that their podcasts are for “badass” women. In fact, in

The Root, Cottom refers to Hear to Slay as a “group chat” for “smart Black women everywhere” who “are balancing self-care with hustling” (Stidhum, “Roxane Gay”).

Bustle refers to both Gay and Cottom as “acclaimed writers” (Colyard, “Roxane Gay’s

Podcast”). Marie Claire featured them in an article entitled “The Best New Podcasts of 2019” (Jones, et. al., “The Best New”). The aforementioned commentary buffers

Gay and Cottom’s ethos as empowered Black women who seek to empower other

Black women. As previously stated, their Gay and Cottom’s language is targeted to

Black women based on their Black vernacular and colloquialisms used to attract their audience. Culturally familiar language demonstrates relatability of the co-hosts, an authentic connection to the audience, and authority to speak on the social condition of

Black women.

Consequently, if a potential guest accesses the “Contact” page, she should only do so, if her leadership background is relatable to their Black women audience. Both the co-host rhetors and guests must exhibit the ethos and the agency to engage truthfully with their audience. Additionally, Gay’s Bad Feminist and Hunger and

Cottom’s Thick are for audiences that read essay collections. This adds further credence to Royster’s insistence that the Black women essay writers respond to sociopolitical conditions with her ethos. Gay and Cottom use their ethos as essayists to transcend from one genre to another. In this case, the digital genre of podcasting accesses African American rhetorical roots of orality and their skills as rhetors.

Meaning, the podcast format may be more intimate for their built-in book reading audience. After all, Cottom says that Hear to Slay is like a group chat with badass,

130 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 smart, Black women. Meaning, the podcast format reflects the intimacy of an in- person badass Black women group chat.

The Arrangement of Chief Black Women In Charge

Black Feminist Leadership

For the purposes of analyzing the “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” episode featuring politician, community organizer, and activist Stacey Abrams, I examine the introduction and guest interview segments for the rhetorical practices of

Black women leaders. In this chapter, I address organizational elements of this podcast episode, Gay and Cottom’s introductory discussion of organizational leadership amongst Black women, and how Black women leadership leads to Black women having a voice and power over their own possibilities. Within this digital space of podcasting, Gay and Cottom have created a community space where they use their digital storytelling skills as rhetors to communicate messages that will persuade their audience. First, in the process of analyzing the arrangement of this Hear to Slay episode there are several factors to consider. When analyzing the arrangement of a podcast, elements such as genre, subgenres, date, episode title, length, and the use of music are considerations (Bowie, “Episode 4: Rhetorical Roots” 1-2). Thus, it’s important to discuss some of those aforementioned factors in terms of this episode of

Hear to Slay.

Based on Luminary’s categorization system, Hear to Slay would fall under the genre of Society & Culture. Yet, as previously stated, in terms of a subgenre, Hear to

Slay would be considered a Black feminist podcast. In the prooemium of “Chief Black

131 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Women in Charge (CBWIC),” Episode 2 (54 minutes), dated May 14, 2019, there is intro music that precedes Gay and Cottom’s personal introduction. Then, both Gay and Cottom provide an opener for identifying themselves to the audience. Prior to their Stacey Abrams’s interview, interval music plays as the podcast transitions to a conversational exchange between Gay and Cottom. Here, when the hosts set up the scene for discussing principles of Black women leadership, the topoi of the episode become evident. While the introduction portion lasts for 33 seconds, the interval music, lasts 8 seconds, and the conversational exchange between the co-hosts lasts almost 9 minutes.

Within this multimodal method of interacting with the digital medium of podcasting, as a researcher, I’m intrigued by “the use of rhetorical methods for uncovering and interrogating ideologies and cultural formation in digital work”

(Eyman 44). In other words, in this rhetorical method of using Hear to Slay’s podcast as an artifact for teaching Black feminist rhetoric, there are some ideological and cultural statements by Gay and Cottom that further this digital work. Cottom reminds the audience that behind the political leaders that foreground their own campaigns, there are Black women behind the scenes, in the background with decision-making capacity. According to Cottom, Black women are assuming “high-ranking campaign staff positions” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 1:08-

1:22). To Gay, “Right now, beyond the symbolism of having Black women in key leadership positions, we know it’s important, but it isn’t everything. Because something we’re not talking about is this larger black woman political economy that keeps this political machine running, and we don’t get enough credit for the roles that

132 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 we’re playing in this economy” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge

(CBWIC)” 1:22-1:42). Based on Gay and Cottom’s understanding of their audience, they demonstrate a keen understanding of kairos. Rhetorically, Gay and Cottom know where to arrange their arguments. Since they’re aware of the recent trends in political campaigns, their timing is appropriate culturally. Gay states that nationally there are

Black women influencing “political agendas and their own economic futures and those futures of Black communities” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge

(CBWIC)” 1:55-2:03). Since Black women are starting “run things,” Gay and Cottom refer to this mode of sociopolitical impact as “Chief Black Women in Charge

Economy” (“Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC): 1:47-1:49). Thus, this conversational exchange demonstrates their awareness, in terms of what their audience wants to hear. Which in this case is the progress behind Black women in decision- making positions. And how does this socio-political leadership translate into progress, in terms of Black women empowerment, agency, and authority.

That’s why, Crowley and Hawhee remind us that the “The composition of an introduction was determined by a rhetor’s guess about the attitude of the targeted audience toward a rhetor’s ethos and his subject” (223). Clearly, Gay and Cottom’s tone reveals that their audience is receptive to their Black feminist message. Cottom reminds her audience that these new campaign structures are a reflection of the

“Democratic political economy [that] relies on Black women voters” (Gay and

Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 6:33-6:37). Judging by Cottom’s rhetoric, Black women’s presence in the political milieu is beyond symbolism and representation. Instead, Black women are leaders that shape political agendas and

133 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 build communities. Because Cottom is not speaking to an audience that ideologically opposes them, there is no need to refute their own argument. Cottom knows that when she speaks to her Black women audience, in a sisterhood conversational mode, they appreciate and identify with her tone and use of Black vernacular.

Like Cottom says, there are “badass Black women who have been out there on the hustle doing the grind for the political machine taking names and taking charge”

(Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 7:02-7:12). In other words, socio-political progress has led to Black women having a voice and influence over their own opportunities and possibilities. Lastly, at the end of this introduction segment, Gay states that “as an extension of this political economy is the growing number of Black women organizations that are dedicated not only to putting more

Black women in positions of power and putting the right candidates on the map, they are helping to sustain social movements (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in

Charge (CBWIC)” 7:13-7:28). Ultimately, this statement is important because it makes evident the rhetorical intentions of this Black feminist podcast. Clearly, Gay and Cottom chose to engage in this socio-political discourse via this digital platform, in order to highlight voices that engage in socio-political action that changes Black women’s lives and the communities in which they live. Based on the exordium of this podcast, Gay and Cottom present themselves as informed rhetors. They demonstrate their respect for their primary audience by sticking to their topics of interest; they know how their audience will respond to the topic of Black women leadership; and they understand how their audience will react to their delivery and ideological reiteration of Black feminist rhetoric.

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Stacey Abrams: Chief Black Woman In Charge

In this segment, Stacey Abrams exemplifies the connection between Black women’s persuasive discursive practices and socio-political activist leadership, which results in societal change. With this discussion of the rhetorical practices of Black feminist leaders, after mentioning how Gay, Cottom, and Abrams engage in ethos building, I discuss the arguments presented by Abrams. In terms of the arrangement of arguments, Abram’s interview segment lasts nearly 26 minutes. Prior to her interview, as they transition from their conversational exchange to the interview guest portion, a few seconds of jazzy music plays. Then, both hosts take turns introducing Stacey

Abrams. Within the exordium of this segment, both Gay and Cottom reiterate her ethos as a site of knowledge, credible enough to address their Black feminist audience.

Cottom builds Abrams character by mentioning facts that the audience may or may not have known about. Cottom states “Stacey Abrams is a politician. A damn good one. A lawyer. A damn good one. A civil rights advocate. A damn good one . . .

A novelist. A damn good one who made history . . . by becoming the first Black women gubernatorial candidate of any party when she ran for governor . . . in

Georgia” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 9:50-10:13).

Ideologically, mentioning that Abrams ran for governor in Georgia is impressive. As a community, many Black people have a set of beliefs that is influenced by the struggles of the Civil Rights movement. When she mentions Georgia, Cottom knows her audience will associate that state with the historic 1950s-1960s Black suffrage movement. Moreover, the Hear to Slay Black feminist audience will gain respect for

Abram’s character as a trailblazing Black woman leader. Abrams ability to

135 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 communicate her ideas and goals, in the political sphere, for the Black community demonstrates rhetorical agency despite historical systems of oppression.

By the end of the introduction, the audience learns from Gay that Abrams launched Fair Fight, which is a non-profit organization that fights voter suppression by

“ensuring fair and free elections” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge

(CBWIC)” 11:08-11:15). Lastly, Gay continues with their theme of Black women leadership by reminding the audience that Abrams was the first Black woman to give the State of the Union response for the Democratic Party (Gay and Cottom, “Chief

Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 11:16-21). Both and Gay and Cottom emphasize how important it is to recognize and acknowledge when Black women become the first to accomplish a new feat. In fact, they both state with amazement that Black firsts still happen, as they have also been first to accomplish something within the past couple of years. However, they decline to mention those feats. Thus, I would assume that the co-hosts want to remain focused on their guest’s achievements and how those achievements inspire and empower other Black women.

After 11 minutes and 33 seconds, the Abrams interview begins. In terms of establishing Abrams contribution to Black feminist efforts to empower other Black women, Abrams discusses her activist efforts. Specifically, Abrams has played a role in staffing Black women in political campaigns and she developed a team to increase

Black women’s access, in terms of political involvement. Furthermore, with her organization referred to as the BLUE Institute, she specifically focused on elevating the roles that Black women play in politics (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in

Charge (CBWIC)” 11:59-12:38). Moreover, Abrams does not seek mere inclusion of

136 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Black female presence within political activity. Instead, Abrams organizational efforts worked on Black women attaining positions such as campaign managers and campaign fundraisers (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)”

12:50-12:56).

According to Abrams, when a campaign hires a Black woman, they’re gaining

“access to a broader community” and “and that lens on inclusivity and diversity” (Gay and Cottom, “Chief Black Women in Charge (CBWIC)” 13:03-13:10). Abrams belief that one’s ideological viewpoints should transform into action is consistent with Black feminist rhetorical thought. Likewise, by stating that hiring a Black woman within a campaign leads to access, inclusivity, and diversity, she redresses past cultural power imbalances. In essence, Abram’s interview effectively expresses the mutual benefits of

Black feminist rhetoric for non-Black leadership, Black women, and the Black community. Since Black women face intersecting oppressions based on classifications such as “race, class, gender, sexuality,” and nationality, we advocate for intersectionality (Collins 273). Black women understand that when they improve their communities, they also improve their lives. Furthermore, due to the concept of intersectionality, Black women understand the importance of including and supporting non-Black leadership that has been historically marginalized. Due to the fact that people are shaped by multiple identities, intersectionality provides a way to understand social inequality in a complicated world (Collins and Bilge 193). Thus, this activist understanding of social inequality is beneficial for non-Black leadership as well. Keep in mind, “the relationship between African-American women’s activism and Black feminist thought as an intellectual and political philosophy integral to that

137 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 endeavor for” Patricia Collins “are inextricably linked” (XI). In other words, African-

American women’s activism and Black feminist thought are ideologically linked as both an intellectual and political philosophy. For those reasons, since Black feminist thought is invested in a socio-political viewpoint of national and/or global change,

Black feminist thought is ideologically rhetorical.

Abram’s goal to improve not only her life, but also the life of other Black women, and the communities in which they live is consistent with Black feminist principles. Even though Black women are centered on their “own experiences,” they should be “engaged in coalitions with others. In this sense, Black feminist thought works on behalf of Black women, but does so in conjunction with other similar social justice projects” (Collins X). Consequently, Black women’s rhetorical response to the socio-political conditions that oppress them involves using their own experiences, as motivation to involve themselves in coalitions. Specifically, Black women oftentimes avoid individualistic interpretations of their hardship. Instead, we see our individual circumstances as a microcosm of the collective experience of being Black women.

Thus, the most effective way to act on the messages that we receive from society, such as repressive policies from politicians that disenfranchise our rights is to organize based on Black feminist rhetorical principles.

Social justice projects provide the socio-political outlet for transforming society. However, Collins emphasizes that Black women can’t transform society without having an understanding of what needs to change (XI). Organizations such as

Fair Fight and the Blue Institute serve as a rhetorical response to the social conditions that oppress Black women. Furthermore, Abrams organizational effort moves beyond

138 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 representation and inclusion in the electorate process. These organizations seek to empower Black women by placing them in all levels of politics, in order to lead the efforts to improve their lives and the lives around them. These types of initiatives reflect how discursive practices of Black women result in rhetorical action that transforms society.

The Hear to Slay podcast provides the exigence for Abrams to make her rhetorical intentions known to their audience, yet there are message constraints. First, the interview provides Abrams with a rhetorical purpose, which is to influence her supporters to continue their support due to the context for her arguments. However, the podcast format has a time limit, and the pre-taped format creates constraints on rhetors. As Abrams speaks, she is unable to immediately respond and engage with audience. As a result, her answers don’t reflect the emotion from a live crowd. Nor does her speech reflect the call and response oral culture of both the African American and Black feminist rhetorical traditions. Furthermore, the circulation of Abrams message is narrowed and the potential listeners are limited due to the podcast subscription required by Luminary.

Nevertheless, this podcast format does provide the opportunity to communicate

Black feminist ideology to an audience capable of being influenced enough to take action on the messages of empowerment. Considering that Gay and Cottom’s audience is inspired to act on their own beliefs of Black feminist rhetoric, rhetorical engagement is most applicable to this artifact. Specifically, Abrams wants the Black women audience to become more active citizens, in terms of socio-political engagement.

Based on the leadership model that she presents, due to past accomplishments, she is

139 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 suggesting that Black women not wait for the social milieu to change. Instead, they should move beyond symbolic representation and inclusion and strive for creating and/or assuming leadership positions that will center Black women and their communities needs. Ultimately, Black women leadership based on Black feminist rhetorical ideology results in change that benefits society as a whole.

Rhetorical Argumentation of Black Feminist Leadership

For the Introduction of Episode 6 entitled “Badass Leadership 101” (1:22:21 minutes), Gay and Cottom spend the first 18 minutes and 33 seconds discussing two primary arguments. First, what exactly is a Black feminist organizational leadership model? Second, what are the best ways to handle authority and power in an ethical and moral manner? As Gay and Cottom speak to their audience they demonstrate rhetorics of Black feminism. Black feminist rhetoric is “[s]pirited semantic work” on black feminism and “refers generally to identity formation and initiatives for social change fueled by the experiences and perspectives of Black women” (Gilyard and Banks 60).

As previously stated, the principles of Black feminist rhetoric are evident in the discursive practices Black women use to communicate their desire for social change.

In the process of moving toward social change, Black feminist rhetoric derives from the positive and negative experiences that form Black women’s identities and the local, national, and/or global change that’s driven by Black women’s perspectives.

Both Gay and Cottom, as rhetors, share their expertise with their audience when they discuss how Black feminist leadership differs from patriarchal leadership models. For instance, the co-hosts mention how feminist books such as Cheryl

140 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Sandburg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead leave marginalized women out. To them, the book does not address the “intersectional identities and unique challenges that Black women, women of color, immigrant women, disabled women, low-income, working class women, queer people all face in the workplace,” such as ways to address those resistant to their leadership due to their status (Gay and Cottom,

“Badass Leadership 101” 2:24-2:36). Due to their positions as professors, Gay and

Cottom specifically address how as educators they handle leadership. However, this section will focus on the commentary made at the end of the Introduction segment.

Cottom leads the discussion on what she refers to as Democratic/Participatory

Leadership, which in essence means that leadership that prioritizes social justice and equality by considering and including marginalized voices.

As an educator, Cottom realizes that power and authority must be handled

“morally and ethically” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 11:29-11:31).

Yet, she also realizes that leaders should model how to hand over power and authority as well. Moreover, African-American women must contemplate issues that white women don’t encounter when they lead. Oftentimes, Black women are handed authority when things go wrong and things need to be fixed (Gay and Cottom,

“Badass Leadership 101” 12:05-12:10). Cottom asks how do we inhabit these Black female bodies in a way that doesn’t threaten white sensibilities? Also, how do we

“protect white fragility” and avoid negative stereotypes such as the “Angry Black woman” when we “speak up” or we’re direct? (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership

101” 11:21-12:44) On one hand, Cottom says we must exhibit confidence, but we can’t appear too confident (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 12:25-12:29).

141 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Unfortunately, confidence in Black women is intimidating for some white men and women. For us, the aforementioned markers of class, race, gender, region, and education that influence how society judges Black women lead to more complex and weighted considerations. Here, it’s useful to mention how Barbara Tomlinson deconstructs the trope of the angry feminist in Feminism and Affect at the Scene of

Argument. According to Tomlinson, the feminist that argues on behalf of an issue that affects the Black community, such as “the black family faces spite and contempt in everyday discourse” (20). Thus, even though a Black feminist leadership model dictates a Democratic/Participatory model of caring for everyone, based on the gender-racial baggage people bring to an organization, there is still pushback when

Black women lead.

Thus, when I contemplate compassionate leadership, Royster offers her theory on argumentation that is beneficial to this Black feminist leadership analysis. From a non-Westernized perspective there is a relationship “between experience and truth”

(Royster, Traces of a Stream 67). When “African American women invoke ‘truth’ or experience as a source of both passion and commitment,” they are engaged in the process of “constructing and presenting the speaking self” (Royster, Traces of a

Stream 67). Meaning, for Black women the moral and ethical way to handle power and authority involves truth based on experience. Remember, Black women live in a majority white nation, yet they experience a good deal of their lives within Black communities. By working and living in both mainstream and marginalized communities, at different points in our lives, we have a wider base of experience to draw on when seeking truth. And that truth and experience is delivered in a manner

142 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 that exhibits our passion and commitment to a project. In the process of protecting white sensibilities and white fragility, in order to lead ethically and morally, we still must present our subjective personal truth, cultural collective truth, and the objective truth within an organization. Shielding others feelings from harsh realities should not involve losing the authentic speaking self, which has been consciously or unconsciously crafted. In essence, this is a balancing act that is both frustrated and enhanced by our intersectional status.

Gay contributes to the Black women leadership discussion by asking how does someone lead when they are “not a heterosexual white man”? (Gay and Cottom,

“Badass Leadership 101” 13:01-13:03). There is a sociocultural reality that Black women leaders must be aware of at all times. To Gay, Black women are always negotiating on how to lead in white spaces. Consequently, she speaks to young women about how we’re labeled as “difficult,” when we address these “social or socio-cultural realities” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 13:10-13:27). Meaning, these white spaces are dominated by people, practices, and power imbalances that don’t reflect a Black feminist Democratic/Participatory leadership style. Then, both Gay and

Cottom contemplate how Black women should lead without “becoming like them”

(“Badass Leadership 101” 14:37-14:38). Meaning, after a marginalized group has been oppressed for long, how do they avoid adopting an oppressive leadership style.

For instance, how do we lead in an ethical manner that respects the ideas, the rights, and the contributions of all parties, while maintaining our identities and sense of self?

Therefore, when Cottom offers solutions they reflect the historical and rhetorical practices of Black women.

143 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

According to Gay and Cottom, a Black feminist rhetorical leadership style should address the following democratic/participatory principles. First, leadership should not be repressive to “queer people of color,” in a manner that suggests they lead “just like white men” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership” 14:44-14:48).

Second, we must “redefine leadership” in a manner that reduces oppression (Gay and

Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 14:49-14:54). Third, as Black women leaders, feminist principles must be the core of that leadership (Gay and Cottom, “Badass

Leadership 101” 14:57-14:59. Fourth, ethically we must take care of ourselves and other people (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 15:00-15:03). Then, she sums this up with African American vernacular by using the term “Boss Bitch,” which

Cottom defines as a “feminist reclaiming of the idea that you don’t have to be a man to lead” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 15:11-15:19). Again, Gay reminds the audience that there is a value in leading like a woman (Gay and Cottom, “Badass

Leadership 101” 15:30-15:35). Lastly, Gay claims that she’s not going to dim her light to allow others “to shine” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 15:40-15:43).

Meaning, Gay does not acquiesce to those who can’t accept her leadership, excellence, or authority (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 15:44-15:50). However, as a person that “creates opportunities for others,” she doesn’t want anyone working for her to “dim their light either” (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 15:51-

16:01). Quite frankly, this theorization of Black feminist leadership, in a badass manner, transforms Gay and Cottom beyond their role as rhetors; they are also rhetoricians in this Hear to Slay podcast platform.

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These Black feminist leadership solutions by Gay and Cottom are evidence of what Royster refers to as passionate argumentation. Royster states “African American women writers on a regular basis privilege both ethical and pathetic arguments. They appeal to a sense of “good” character and “right” action” (Traces of a Stream 67).

That’s why Cottom and Gay express how it’s not enough to place Black women in leadership positions. Black women must lead consciously with intent to exhibit good character and engage in the right actions for those that follow them. Meaning, within an organization, Black feminist leadership should exhibit mutual respect between peer and peer or boss and subordinate. These arguments on how to treat people ethically is centered “not just rationally and ethically, but in the body — in the head, the heart, the stomach, the backbone— in the interests, apparently, of inducing not just an intellectual response but a holistic one, that is, a whole-body involvement” (Royster,

Traces of a Stream 68). In essence, the rhetoric of Black feminist leadership means that we should not center our arguments for a better environment in a merely rational or ethical manner. Instead, Black feminist leadership rhetorically centers the entire body. We include our heart, which is our compassion for others.

We also lead with our stomach, which means our gut instincts provide insight based on our past experiences. We lead with our backbone, which means that we stand our ground, in terms of our Black feminist principles. Our leadership is not just intellectual, it’s a holistic whole-body experience, taking others needs into account to create a more just process. In essence, Black feminist leadership is about considering the needs of everyone in the organization. In a continued effort to privilege their needs over other marginalized people, leadership should not center those who have

145 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 historically benefited from oppressive systems, structures, and institutions. Thus,

Black feminist leadership offers a rhetorical alternative that creates personal and collective agency, empowers those on all levels of an organization, and is inclusive of diverse people and perspectives.

The Arrangement and Style of Badass Leadership

Black Feminist Leadership: Bozoma “Badassboz” Saint John

In this 1 hour and 22 minute episode, Bozoma Saint John’s interview is located between Gay and Cottom’s introductory conversation and prior to their segment entitled “The Gathering.” As previously stated, “The Gathering” is space where the hosts answer audience questions, which are emailed or posted via social media. As

Gay and Cottom transition from their conversational exchange to the interview guest portion, a few seconds of jazzy music plays. Then, both hosts take turns introducing

Bozoma Saint John. Saint John’s interview segment lasts nearly 50 minutes. Within the exordium of this segment, both Gay and Cottom reiterate Saint John’s ethos as an experienced executive, trustworthy enough to share her perspectives with their Black feminist audience. The talented executive, Saint John, expresses how style and vernacular impact Black feminist leadership. As she provides brief anecdotes throughout the interview, she discusses how her leadership influenced CEOs and companies to make changes due to an exigency of their own making. In other words, a crisis caused by gender and/or a racial offense that required damage control. Amongst those who follow her leadership, she has a credible reputation as a problem solver.

Therefore, I discuss how Saint John uses her African American vernacular and

146 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 rhetorical style to build and maintain her ethos with both her subordinates and the

Hear to Slay audience.

Within this interview segment, Saint John demonstrates how kairos and style work together to build ethos with both African American and white audiences. When speaking with Gay and Cottom, Saint John unapologetically expresses how she uses her African American vernacular within corporate settings. Thus, in her effort to demonstrate her authenticity, her delivery and use of African American vernacular with the Hear to Slay audience builds credibility. At the beginning of the interview,

Saint John addresses how our vernacular is not superficial. Moreover, our cultural language is complicated like our varied backgrounds and experiences, which makes us complex people (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 20:04-20:15). Saint John enjoys talking about Black people, especially to non-Black people, because she wants them to avoid assumptions and to know that “Our humanity is more deep than just the surface stereotypes that are, of course, fed through a lot of narratives” (Gay and

Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 20:16-20:36). As Saint John speaks with Gay and

Cottom, it’s evident that she understands the Black feminist community she’s engaging with. Therefore, her language is appropriate for the aforementioned community. According to Crowley and Hawhee, “Like ethical proof, attention to kairos in style requires sensitivity to community standards of behavior because appropriateness is dictated by standards of the community in which we live” (254). In this case, Black women listeners dictate the community standards of this podcast series. Consequently, demonstrating a comfort with Black women’s discourse with

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Black feminists hosts assures the Hear to Slay community of Black women that Saint

John is a trustworthy rhetor.

As Saint John speaks to the Hear to Slay listeners, she continues to build their trust; she understands who Black women are and how they communicate.

Furthermore, Saint John’s rhetorical style adheres to the goals of ancient rhetoric teachers. Meaning, “style should be suited to subject, occasion, and audience”

(Crowley and Hawhee 254). Saint John establishes her authenticity by understanding that she’s there to speak about a Black feminist leadership style. However, Saint John further demonstrates her authenticity by expressing the importance of Black feminist leadership to the audience. Crowley and Hawhee, further state that a rhetor achieves the appropriate style when they “pay attention to the conventional rules for verbal behavior in a given context, rules that have been laid down by their culture” (255). As a Black woman, Saint John is aware of the appropriate style, conventional rules, and verbal behavior necessary in this conversational style atmosphere. Additionally, Saint

John is aware of these rules, as applicable to African American vernacular. Based on her experiences as a Black woman leader, she narrates how her black womanness has impacted those experiences and the vernacular she uses to define those experiences.

Moreover, how her delivery and vernacular shapes those experiences as a Black feminist leader.

Due to the cultural norms and socio-economic factors that have impacted

American blackness, it’s a natural conclusion that Saint John has been impacted by these power imbalances in America. According to Saint John, she uses humor to combat stereotypes that pervade the work place environment. Jokingly, she says to the

148 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 audience “I’m not some scary Black woman that will come and attack you and steal your ideas” (“Badass Leadership 101”). For the audience, this removes some of the sting that accompanies negative stereotypes of Black women. Both consciously and subconsciously, Black women are aware of the class, race, and gender markers that dismiss our humanity. White supremacy held the perception that Black women were

“unladylike, unfit, and immoral” (Richardson 79). Historically, these stereotypes work to subvert the agency, empowerment, and inclusion of Black women. Meaning, these negative perceptions of Black women are still pervasive thoughts for those that acquiesce to anti-Black stereotypes.

On the subject of Black women and African American vernacular, I draw on

Elaine Richardson for her Black feminist perspective. Since Black women are aware of these misconceptions, we construct ways to progress in society despite the negative images casted upon us. As Richardson says, “The African American females’ struggle included devising ways to protect and advance themselves and their families— to assert their humanity— against stereotypes and controlling images” (79). For those reasons, Saint John’s attempt at humor, both in a corporate setting and on Hear to

Slay, is evidence of Black women’s understanding of their audience. When we speak, our storytelling is suited to the subject, occasion, and, audience. According to

Richardson, “The Black woman’s consciousness of her condition/ing, her position/ing in American society, the condition/ing of her audiences must be factored into her language and literacy practices” (82). Therefore, our knowledge of the appropriate vernacular and rhetorical ability to thwart stereotypes demonstrates both self-agency and self-empowerment. In the midst of subverting racial rhetoric that disregards our

149 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 humanity, as leaders, Black feminist rhetors create language to progress toward socio- cultural change.

Toward the end of the interview, Saint John shares the story of her social media profile name: instagram@badassboz. Badassboz is also the title of her Starz upcoming docuseries (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 35:14-35:16). In an article from The Root, “Badass: Marketing Maven Bozoma Saint John to Star In Her

Own Starz Docuseries,” Maiysha Kai writes that “She’s known for transforming corporate images—and boardrooms—in her own inimitable, unapologetic style.” For this docuseries, Saint John, the Black woman that “made a name for herself across industries, working for globally known names like PepsiCo (where she co-produced the Beyoncé Super Bowl halftime show), Beats, Apple, Uber, and now as CMO of international multimedia agency Endeavor” will also produce (“Badass: Marketing

Maven Bozama”). Based on Saint John’s discourse, badass signifies a sense of self- assurance and a sense of self-worth. In the words and impassion voice inflections of

Saint John, “confidence is fearlessness showing up” as result of the experiences she’s faced in life (Gay and Cottom, “Badass Leadership 101” 37:40-37:50). Nevertheless, once employees of the company discovered her social media handle, they asked her directly whether it was appropriate for an executive to have profile name such as

Badassboz (“Badass Leadership 101” 38:38-38:55). Of course, the Black feminist

Saint John disagreed. Her response to this confrontational inquiry was that Badassboz is the best way to describe her.

First, this story is appropriate for the Hear to Slay audience because “Badass” is the first word in the title of this episode. Second, this story is appropriate for this

150 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 podcast community of Black women, primarily because Saint John is the subject of this episode, which is devoted to Black feminist badass leadership. Therefore, she employs the literacy practices identified by Richardson: “storytelling, performative silence, strategic use of polite and assertive language, style shifting/ codeswitching, indirection, steppin’/rhyming, and preaching” (82). In this case, storytelling with a strategic use of assertive language is most evident here. For the Hear to Slay audience, she engages in storytelling. Yet, for her corporate audience, she demonstrates her assertiveness by her supposed response to negative conclusions drawn from her public persona profile name.

When Saint John responds to her white critics by saying that badass is the best way to describe her, the name Badassboz signifies her reinvention of self strengthened by her own ethos. In fact, her knowledge of self and transformation of life experiences into an epic story of survival is a Black feminist rhetoric core principle. After all,

“Storytelling remains one of the most powerful language and literacy practices that

Black women use to convey their special knowledge” (Richardson 82). Naming oneself based on life experiences is a form of reinvention and storytelling rooted in

African American vernacular. Moreover, Saint John’s method of naming her self is a persuasive tool of subverting those who try to diminish her confidence and self-worth.

As previously stated, Saint John’s vernacular and style of speaking builds and maintains her ethos with the Black feminist audience. Saint John speaks up for herself in both African American and white spaces. Also, she stands by her perception of self; she unapologetically subverts negative perceptions of Black womanhood with a profile name such as Badassboz, which signifies both her agency and empowerment as

151 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 a Black feminist leader. Even if it makes mainstream society feel less threatened or insecure, Saint John is unwilling to waver the tone of her Black feminist rhetoric delivery. Ultimately, Saint John’s personal journey is a personal microcosm of the communal experience of Black women who seek socio-cultural change. Hopefully, when Black women hear her story, they will feel inspired to respect and/or incorporate

African American vernacular as part of their Black feminist leadership practices. In essence, in our effort to lead persuasively and effectively there should be no shame in creating language and expressions that redefine us for our audience.

Black Feminist Rhetorical Podcasts in the Writing Classroom

Black Feminist Leaders Know: The Personal Is Political

Generally, as a Black woman scholar, I share a story of my own. Years ago, due to prejudicial doubts about my character, there was a time when I was denied a leadership opportunity. Unfortunately, in the field of academia, there are some hierarchies and competencies that are more subjective than objective. For instance, when I taught in a high school setting there was a competitive environment, based on race and class, as opposed to educational achievement. In terms of teaching advanced progress (AP) students, the criteria for teaching those classes were not based on skill or ability. Instead, it was based on school politics. Meaning, since the advanced progress classes were composed of primarily white students, the administration wanted me to teach the regular classes that were primarily African American and

Latinx students. Due to this implicit belief, which was exhibited by the

Administration’s actions, that only white teachers were intellectually capable of

152 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 teaching white students, it was years before I was offered to teach the Gifted and

Talented classes, which were comprised of both white and non-white students.

Perhaps, students may have wondered how I drew such a conclusion. First, the

Department had 20-25 English teachers. However, there were never more than three

Blacks in the Department. Generally, there were only one or two Blacks in the English

Department. Second, the counselors wanted me to teach AP classes due to requests by parents of all demographics requesting. Third, there is nothing like good storytelling within the halls of the teacher grapevine. One of more of my white teacher friends shared with me one leader’s fabricated concern: Fain uses “bad grammar” a.k.a.

African American vernacular. Keep in mind, I had a Juris Doctor and a Master's in

English degree at the time. This meant that I was capable of reading and writing on a graduate level. Also, as previously stated, I had two books and numerous journal article publications. However, I quickly realized after reading an administrator evaluative feedback that “bad grammar” meant the use of African American vernacular. Thus, this brings me to the fourth reason why I was denied an opportunity to teach AP students.

In the process of teaching my students, I have always loved to tell true stories.

However, a story is told best with gestures, voice inflections, tone change, and the use of varied language structure of real-life characters. And each of these stories ended with a moral or a lesson like a proverb. Yet, when my students of all demographics were laughing and learning, white teachers were complaining that my class was laughing too loud. Then, when administrators came to observe, I didn’t codeswitch unless the story called for a change in speech patterns. Ironically, despite their

153 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 overblown concerns, my students ended up demonstrating high achievement in both reading and writing. Meanwhile, some Black parents feared I was too bougie3 because

I spoke too proper on Parents Night.

With that said, Elaine B. Richardson’s African American Literacies is a dynamic text because it addresses how and why Black women engage in certain types of literacies for various purposes. For my students, it was about bringing the characters to life. For speaking to white, Latinx, and African American parents, I generally chose

Standard English because it was about institutional progression. Yet, if I were conversing with a Black parent who I had become familiar with, I would use Black vernacular. Therefore, I engaged in codeswitching based on whether it was appropriate for the audience, time, and/or situation. All in all, whether a person is Black or not, everyone has a different way of speaking in front of different audiences. Therefore, vernacular is a fun subject that I think all students, regardless of demographics, would enjoy.

Nevertheless, if it had not been for this blatant disregard for my expertise and joy for storytelling, I would have not have left secondary education and made an upwardly mobile move toward higher education. By centering myself in a narrative, this demonstrates credibility to discuss the subject matter of Black feminist leadership.

Also, it’s beneficial to share relevant stories of triumphant despite challenges. Still, I would also solicit discussion from the students. Oftentimes, students have had school and work experiences where they were denied leadership opportunities despite their

3 “So bougie, boujee, bourgie all stem from bourgeoisie, a French word that simply means ‘of middle class status’” (Tulp, “What You’re Really Saying”).

154 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 qualifications. Even though students will be of diverse backgrounds, their contribution is still applicable due to a myriad of intersectional oppression.

For instructing academics on teaching Black feminist rhetoric podcasting style,

I would encourage them to share Hear to Slay’s introductory episode 1 “Allow Us to

Introduce Ourselves.” As part of the lesson, students should hear how Gay and Cottom use their ethos to invent arguments. Furthermore, discuss how the arrangement of that episode is impacted by the podcast format. In terms of arrangement, compare and contrast what characteristics digital podcast share with traditional print? Then, for the purposes of discussing Black feminist rhetoric, remind students of the themes of Black feminist leadership while studying the podcast episodes: “Chief Black Women In

Charge (CBWIC)” and “Badass Leadership 101”. For the purpose of understanding

Black feminist rhetorical principles, discuss how students invent impassioned arguments and the podcast arrangement, ask students to define what Black feminist leadership looks like in a classroom, organization, government, and/or company.

However, in the process of this definition, they should include concepts of inclusion beyond mere representation. And how Black feminist leadership leads to agency and empowerment for varied groups of marginalized individuals.

Podcasting: Rhetoric, Writing, and Literacy

Additionally, I would look to scholars who do this work for analysis of the podcast arrangement. Since the arrangement assists students in making more rhetorical connections. Jennifer L. Bowie has suggestions. When thinking about podcasts as a site of Black feminist rhetorical agency, it’s important to consider how podcasts may

155 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 be a transformative digital tool for our student audience. Regardless of the genre of rhetoric, Jennifer L. Bowie’s multimodal podcast series Rhetorical Roots and Media

Future: How Podcasting Fits into the Computers and Writing Classroom presents new ways of contemplating rhetoric. In “Episode 3: Rethinking the Old in New Ways—

Invention,” Bowie states her ethos as a university professor to present this work as drawing from her own experiences “[i]nside and outside the academy,” as a teacher and researcher of “podcasting, digital media, writing, usability, and rhetoric”

(“Episode 3: Rethinking”). Therefore, Bowie’s academic audience is aware that her rhetorical analysis is based on her teacher experience and research on relevant digital tools. According to Bowie, “As more texts become digital texts—from those written on a computer and printed, to those created solely for reading or access online—the need to teach our students methods and skills to write these texts becomes even more vital” (“Episode 3: “Rethinking”). Thus, as rhetoricians our methods should reflect use of the most recent technology, when engaging in the discipline of rhetoric.

Bowie cites Aundrea Lunsford as referring to this relationship between oral forms and writing as a “second literacy” (“Episode 3: Rethinking”). Meaning, “writing has become more oral” (Bowie, “Episode 3: Rethinking”). As a result, using podcasts in the classroom is another way for students “to deliver the knowledge they produce”

(Lunsford Quoted in Bowie “Episode 3: Rethinking”). Considering that African

American rhetoric is rooted in our oral African culture, Black feminist rhetoric is ideally suited for the multimodal relationship between orality and written discourse.

Online discourse engages in all five rhetorical canons, due in part to the argument forms, familiar topics, and various other structures (Bowie, “Episode 3: Rethinking”).

156 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

In essence, “[P]odcasting, when done well, should heavily draw on ideas from our ancient rhetorical roots especially in ways typographic-based media cannot.

Podcasting provides a medium through which we and our students may rethink our rhetorical roots in new ways” (Bowie, “Episode 3: Rethinking”). Thus, as an exemplar of this dissertation project, Hear to Slay presents an opportunity to engage in our ancient rhetorical roots from a Black feminist rhetorical perspective.

Particularly, in Episode 3, Bowie mentions the use of music as a form of invention. According to Bowie, “While music plays into arrangement, style, and delivery, the inclusion of music begins with invention” (“Episode 3: Rethinking”).

When her students compose a podcast, she has them consider whether the music assists with the persuasiveness of their message. For instance, should music play in the introduction or in the background, while people are speaking? With regard to Hear to

Slay, I noticed that mid-tempo jazzy music played in the beginning, prior to Gay and

Cottom speaking, and then it played in the background as they introduced themselves.

Also, the relaxing jazz-like music plays at the end of the episode. To Bowie, “The possibilities of music add to the list of tools the podcaster may use when deciding what to say” (“Episode 3: Rethinking”). In addition to music, Bowie mentions that her students include “interviews, quotes by famous people” and “proverbs” as mode of invention (“Episode 3: Rethinking”). However, prior to the interview of a public official or celebrity, Gay and Cottom’s use of invention includes the introduction of their topic and discussion of the Black feminist themes. With that said, Hear to Slay is an exemplar of Black feminist rhetoric because its podcast platform is consistent with a multimodal literacy that engages students, as they respond via an original writing or

157 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 produce a podcast episode or series from a Black feminist rhetorical perspective.

Limitations, Implications, and Significance

In summation, the Hear to Slay podcast addresses qualities of Black feminist rhetoric such as rhetorical agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion. As previously stated, Hear to Slay is a technological site of Black feminist agency because Gay and Cottom create their own content, choose their own guests, and discuss principles of Black feminism. From gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams the audience learns about how Black women are seeking change in their everyday circumstances by engaging in organizational and political leadership. Corporate leader

Bozoma “Badass Boz” Saint John expresses her love for Black language practices.

Also, how renaming yourself equates to redefining yourself, which is a form of rhetorical agency and empowerment. Lastly, Gay and Cottom discuss how participatory leadership by Black women includes marginalized voices to lead in an equitable manner. As previously stated, Black feminists support for participatory leadership is beneficial for both Black and non-Black leadership. Fortunately, due to our multiple identities, there is a belief in social equality that benefits both marginalized individuals, because Black feminist rhetoric still encourages a sense of fairness for demographics that have traditionally led.

Additionally, when teaching digital/multimodal texts, the rhetorical situation is altered. Thus, I address how rhetorical scholars such as Biesecker and Edbauer criticize and move beyond the rhetorical claims made by Bitzer. Meaning, Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation places limitations on the rhetor, text, and the audience

158 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 by considering that there is one agency. Instead, Biesecker refutes the conglomeration of “distinct” elements found within the rhetorical situation. In it’s place Biesecker suggests considering the rhetorical engagement that occurs between the rhetor, text, and audience. With respect to my Hear to Slay podcast, the rhetorical engagement is the interaction and the shared feelings between Gay, Cottom, and their audience.

Furthermore, Edbauer builds on Biesecker by asking readers to consider the rhetorical ecologies that occur due to multiple exigencies and the network that occurs between multiple forces. After all, due to their digital/multimodal format, Hear to Slay is an episodic podcast representing a series of events, which relate to each other as symbolic engagement between the hosts, Gay and Cottom, and their audience.

Still, there are various limitations of using this multi-modal podcasting format.

For instance, the Luminary platform and the Hear to Slay website does not have the transcriptions of the first season’s 40 episodes. Therefore, prior to assigning lessons associated with the Hear to Slay podcast, an instructor should listen and transcribe the appropriate episodes for their classes. In the process of transcription, mistakes may occur. That’s why I had to play back sections, repeatedly to ensure the integrity of my transcription. However, after modeling lessons and introducing theory, having students transcribe other episodes in the season, perhaps, in groups is also an effective lesson in identifying the five canons of rhetoric.

Another limitation of this podcast was in terms of the delivery. When listening to a podcast, the audience member does not have the benefit seeing the eyes and bodily movements of the co-hosts and the interviewees. According to Crowley and

Hawhee, “the eyes focus on the rhetor’s facial and bodily gestures (or lack thereof)”

159 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 when audiences “tune into the voice of the rhetor” (329). The absence of viewing facial and bodily gestures as they coincide with the sounds of African American vernacular is a loss for the student audience. Although Gay and Cottom have wonderful voice inflections that speak to the delivery of Hear to Slay, I wish that I could see the movement of their eyes or tilt of their heads. These are all gestures that have made African American storytelling so powerful. Furthermore, Crowley and

Hawhee state, “Just as speakers think about facial and bodily animation, sound, and so on, digital rhetors may incorporate digital features that simulate these very qualities”

(345). However, Hear to Slay’s podcast does not present any sound clips that might mimic facial expressions or bodily movements. These are features of delivery that would make up for the visual absence incurred in the podcast format.

With regard to implications and significance, it’s important for students to consider Black women inclusion beyond mere representation. When we teach, we are teaching future leaders of America. Therefore, students should be aware of the diversity of Black women’s voices and rhetorical expertise to lead communities, organizations, and institutions. As a signification that Black feminist leadership is transformative, Hear to Slay as an artifact stresses the use of Black feminist rhetoric.

Additionally, after engaging with Black feminist rhetoric, those transformations should occur within the audience’s thinking and behavior, for the purposes of changing systems, structures, and institutions. If leadership reflects marginalized members of society, those individuals would experience agency and empowerment because their presence would reflect authentic inclusion and they could incorporate their backgrounds, their experiences, and their language into the leadership process.

160 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

CHAPTER 4

BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC IN BEYONCÉ’S HOMECOMING

With regard to Black women’s rhetorical practices, in terms of agency, empowerment intersectionality and inclusion, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

(2019) communicates theories of Black feminism. For the two-hour and seventeen- minute musical/concert film, behind the scenes narration of rehearsal footage, spoken quotes from African American icons, and Beyoncé’s narration are interweaved in between Coachella concert footage. As the black and white scene footage features

Beyoncé’s narration of her process, as both the headline performer and primary creator, Beyoncé’s high energy singing and dancing foregrounds Homceoming’s band, drumline, choir, and dancers. As the writer, director, and executive producer, Beyoncé plays multiple roles conveying her impact as a rhetor to convey powerful messages to her various audiences. Furthermore, she is a socially conscious rhetor that is aware of the social impact of her discourse, as a Black woman celebrity, in private and public spaces. In the past, with projects such as Lemonade (2016), an epic aural/visual album,

Beyoncé has embraced her language practices as an African American Woman to evoke agency and empowerment both for herself and her community. Here, with

Homecoming, Beyoncé communicates similar rhetorical intentions. However, as the first Black woman to headline Coachella, she communicates her role as a culture maker and trailblazer to shift her audience’s thinking, promote activism, and shape social movements. Meaning, Beyoncé’s rhetorical intentions stretch beyond her 200

161 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 performers. As perhaps, the most successful woman performer in the world, she aims to influence both the Coachella audience and Netflix audience with Homecoming.

During this Homecoming film, Beyoncé performs various songs from past albums to convey various rhetorical messages. By featuring positive images of Black women, Beyoncé demonstrates knowledge and resistance to negative stereotypes.

Here, scholar Melissa Harris-Perry is useful for understanding the hypersexualized and asexual stereotypes that are used to shame celebrities and everyday Black women in politics and media. Due to those types of negative categorizations, multi-faceted aspects of Black women’s sexual identity are flattened into one-dimensional stereotypes. Like scholar Melissa Harris-Perry says, “the internal, psychological, emotional, and personal experiences of black women are inherently political” (5). In other words, Beyoncé’s Homecoming reflects experiences of Black woman that are also inherently political. Thus, her audio/visual production reflects those internal, emotional, and personal experiences.

According to Harris-Perry, Black women’s experiences “are political because black women in America have always had to wrestle with derogatory assumptions about their character and identity” (5). For instance, Beyoncé subverts the Black inferiority trope by featuring uniquely talented Black performers, representing the

Historical Black College and University (HBCU) annual homecoming experience.

Additionally, she subverts the Black Women Are Ugly trope by featuring herself, performance ensemble, sister/singer/songwriter Solange, and best friends/former

Destiny Child members in her legendary performance. Confidently, these women express their provocative dance moves with their diverse hair textures, skin tones, and

162 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 sizes. Unapologetically, Beyoncé rejects negative notions of Black women’s visual appeal and sexuality as ugly, hypervisible, or invisible. Instead, Black women’s diverse appeal and sexuality is another means of expressing Black womanhood.

Meaning, Beyoncé’s expression of Black womanhood emphasizes Black women’s self-acceptance as a form of inclusion within the Black community. Within the production of Homecoming, inclusion does not reflect a desire for white or male acceptance. Instead, Beyoncé stresses that defeating marginalization is about including complex, diverse and talented Black bodies, in public and private spaces. Beyoncé is an acutely aware rhetor, in terms of understanding that the liberated movement of

Black women’s bodies represents both resistance to white social norms and nonconformity to Black men’s standards of beauty. Instead, Beyoncé compels Black women to accept their own discursive practices and rhetorical expression.

By scripting, narrating, directing, and executively producing Homecoming,

Beyoncé exhibits rhetorical control over how Black women’s bodies are portrayed and the language used to portray them. Beyoncé’s epic agency, authority, and empowerment over the intertexual relationship between the behind the scenes commentary, narration, famous quotes, and performance lyrics communicate this message of both self-acceptance and community acceptance. In other words, Beyoncé message of Black women’s self-acceptance reaches beyond a message of sisterhood.

Homecoming also features a message of community acceptance via the visual and emotional appeal of the HBCU experience. Beyoncé’s rhetorical style involves multiple texts, working in conjunction with one another, persuasively, to sway her audience that the Black Homecoming experience, as representative of HBCU

163 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 greatness, impacts lives by transforming culture. Based on the empowering messages of Homecoming, Beyoncé demonstrates that her songs are for more than popular consumption and enjoyment. By using her rhetorical agency to feature black and white narrated, behind the scene footage, Beyoncé connects themes of Black womanhood and sexuality to Black feminist rhetoric via her song lyrics and dynamic performance at Coachella. Thus, the Black feminist rhetoric of Homecoming is about more than agency and empowerment. Instead, Beyoncé seems to have every intention of modeling Black feminist rhetorical practices, in an effort to inspire the Black community to resist negative messages of disempowerment.

In this chapter, I address how Beyoncé, a Black woman with a celebrity platform persuades audiences to transform their concepts of Black women, Black people and Black culture. Moreover, Homecoming represents more than a Coachella performance. Instead, due to the international attendees, Homecoming symbolizes a social and cultural movement beyond local California and national implications. Like

Cooper, Gay, and Cottom, Beyoncé has both a Black audience and a non-Black audience. Due to Beyoncé’s worldwide popularity, it’s unrealistic for Beyoncé to create a text that does not receive viewership from diverse audiences. Especially, since the Homecoming film is featured on Netflix’s streaming platform, Beyoncé’s targeted

Black audience shares her message with the world. Still, the Black audience is her target group, in terms of using rhetoric to transform our cultural appreciation of ourselves. In essence, based on her experience as a Southern Black Woman, who has achieved unprecedented notoriety as a performer, she embodies how Black Women’s rhetorical practices are impacting the world.

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Homecoming is an exemplar text in terms of arguing and teaching the theoretical and methodological application of Black feminist rhetoric. Here, the term text encompasses Beyoncé’s narration of her Homecoming script, which, as previously stated includes black and white scenes of rehearsals, colorful home movies, quotes from Black icons, Beyoncé’s song lyrics, and accompanying ensemble performance.

In terms of past studies of the social impact of Beyoncé’s Black feminism, Kinitra D.

Brooks and Kameelah L. Martin’s Lemonade Reader (2019) feature interdisciplinary contributors, including Alexis McGee’s “The Language of Lemonade: The

Sociolinguistic and Rhetorical Strategies of Beyoncé’s Lemonade.” This article functions as framework for Beyoncé’s use of African American Women’s Language

(AAWL) in Homecoming to shape and evoke change in private and public spaces, navigate multiple discursive communities and communicate Black feminist theories of agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion.

Additionally, Beyoncé’s Homecoming functions rhetorically in the writing classroom, in terms of communicating invention, arrangement, delivery, audience, purpose, context, and tone. In other words, with this exemplar text, Homecoming, I will determine how various canons of rhetoric function persuasively. By keeping the aforementioned elements in mind, when teaching rhetoric and writing, our students will learn how to use these conventions with a more relatable pop culture artifact such as Homecoming. With respect to rhetorical invention, Crowley’s method of rhetorical analysis explains how belief and ideology work to inspire Beyoncé’s audience. In terms of arrangement and delivery, I discuss the structure of Homecoming and how

Beyoncé presents concert footage from two Coachella performances on April 14 and

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April 21 of 20184, and her behind the scenes footage to communicate messages of agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion. Additionally, with the arrangement and delivery aspects of rhetoric, Beyoncé demonstrates purpose and reflection by emphasizing her artistic process to her audience. Furthermore, I discuss the purpose, context, and the tone of Beyoncé’s Homecoming performance. Beyoncé’s comfortable expression of sexuality and Black womanhood inspire her audience to embrace positive images of Black women.

Finally, I’ll focus on Black feminist rhetoric in the writing classroom. First, I’ll discuss the importance of how HBCUs center the Black experience, and create safe spaces for Black people to connect. Second, I’ll explain the significance of maintaining an HBCU family legacy. Third, I’ll address how Black feminist autoethnography maybe used to advocate for the HBCU experience and overcome negative depictions of Black womanhood, as a means for acquiring agency and empowering diverse students on how to advocate for themselves via Black feminist discursive practices. Ultimately, Homecoming communicates Black feminist rhetorical themes such as Black feminist agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion via rhetorical canons that be used to solve problems via creativity and performance.

4 Joey Guerra’s “Netflix’s ‘Homecoming’ Captures Beyoncé’s Historic Coachella Performance” features images from Beyoncé’s two Coachella performances, which were dubbed “Beychella” by her fans. 166 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

The Musicality of Impassioned Civil Discourse

Rhetorical Situation

Prior to interrogating the Black feminist rhetorical elements of Beyoncé’s

Homecoming, it’s necessary to consider the rhetorical situation, such as exigence, audience, and various constraints. Based on the epic nature of Homecoming’s ensemble performances, Beyoncé is engaged in multiple rhetorical situations with multiple rhetors. However, my focus will remain on Beyoncé’s rhetorical effect as the main rhetor and producer of the primary messages. Formerly, in terms of their artifacts, I used Bitzer to discuss Cooper, Gay and Cottom’s rhetorical situation. Yet, for this artifact, I’m building on that analysis by using “She Made Angry Black

Woman Something That People Would Want To Be: Lemonade and Black Women as

Audiences and Subjects” (Toone, et. al.) to discuss the relationship between the rhetor, message, and audience. By examining the rhetorical relationship presented in the

Lemonade visual album, I can enhance understanding of the rhetorical situation in

Homecoming.

For the Beyoncé’s Homecoming, the exigency is created by the need to communicate the everyday struggle of Black women regardless of celebrity status.

Despite her notoriety and awarded talent, it does not shield her from the pain of living while Black. Like Walker discusses “in her groundbreaking discussion of Womanism,

Black women often bring entirely different problems, concerns, and interests to the table from White women and other women of color” (Toone et. al. 207). Thus, the urgency of Homecoming reflects the divergent life experiences of Black women and

White women due to intersectional oppression. For those reasons, Beyoncé is speaking

167 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 directly to Black women with the healing songs featured in Homecoming. With regard to the change that Beyoncé wishes to evoke, Beyoncé features scenes of her rhetorical process. Via the struggles she faces as a mother, in terms of finding time for her newborn twins and elder daughter, despite the upcoming Coachella performance and her need to fit into her costumes for the upcoming performance, she hopes to heal and inspire everyday Black women who struggle, too. Brooks and Martin state that “The urgency of the moment—the multivalent dialogues about black women’s emotional labor, joy, and healing in love—relationships—propels us toward . . . numerous paths along black feminism” (1). Thus, Beyoncé’s message as a rhetor demonstrates the

“emotional labor, joy, and healing in love—relationships,” according to Brooks and

Martin that communicate Black feminism to her audience.

Still, there are constraints placed upon this racially diverse audience. For instance, since Beyoncé’s unapologetically Black belief in self is rooted in her

Southern Black womanhood, the traditions and images of HBCUs Homecoming may primarily create a change in those who support Black women empowerment. As audience members, people of color often negotiate their standpoints based on being

“underrepresented and overly stereotyped in popular media, Black audiences often work within the dominant structure of representation to read and understand media on their own terms” (Toone, et. al. 207). Therefore, as a form of self-help, Beyoncé’s healing subject matter is relatable to her target Black women audience. With “complex projects like self-help,” rhetors “advance African American communities”

(Richardson, “Carey, Tamika L.” 401). Theorizing “African American rhetorical traditions as a set of action-taking, knowledge-making, and community sustaining

168 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 resources . . . put projects such as Black women’s healing into everyday, critical use”

(Carey 146). Mainly, because those messages of love as a method of healing resonate with an audience that’s not accustomed to seeing themselves accurately depicted in an aural/visual manner. With Homecoming, Black women see themselves and their stories centered as a method of healing the community. Thus, they are the primary audience for Beyoncé’s Homecoming.

Another constraint on Homecoming’s message of self-healing is the Netflix platform itself. First, people must have access to a free trial or subscription to access her message. Since Homecoming is a filmed production of a live performance, the excited utterances and unexpected discourse from the audience members comes from people that attended the live production. However, even with the excited utterances and discourse from the concert attendees, the film audience views recorded and edited images. Nevertheless, as a rhetor, Beyoncé’s call and response is limited to those who are present at the time of her performance. As a result, Beyoncé is not immediately aware of her rhetorical impact, which places constraints on her interactive discourse with the audience. Nevertheless, based on her consistent expression of Black feminist ideology and the rhetorical practices in her work, her awards, critical acclaim, Netflix film ratings, and continued appeal provide a level of awareness that her multi-layered messages evoke positive and impactful change on her audience.

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Arousing Passions for Rhetorical Argumentation

Impassioned Discourse via Aural/Visual Spaces

With respect to Beyoncé’s use of rhetoric via aural/visual spaces, ideological criticism expresses how belief and emotional responses influence an audience to accept messages from a rhetor. Perhaps, intuitively, Beyoncé expresses how her lived experience as a Black women performer heightens her awareness that persuasion involves an emotional appeal via aural/visual spaces. In the following quote, Sharon

Crowley expresses how belief is tied to emotions. I use the quote here to express how

Beyoncé, as a rhetor connects to her audience and uses relatable language, in her music, to evoke an emotional response:

Belief is stimulated, supported, or changed by emotional responses to an

environment. Emotions can be stimulated, in turn, by appeals to beliefs already

in place. Ancient rhetoricians knew that language can move people to shout or

weep just as circumstances do, and anyone who has cried or laughed at a

movie or book— or cowered during a sermon— knows this too (Crowley 87).

Based on Beyoncé’s past anthems, such as “Get Me Bodied” and “Single Ladies (Put a

Ring on It)” featuring Black women’s sexual empowerment, she’s performing for her target audience-Black women. With “Get Me Bodied” lyrics like “I ain’t worried, doin’ me tonight/ Ain’t no shame ‘cause I gotta get mine/ I swing my hair and kick off my shoes/ Come here, boy, let me work on you,” Beyoncé persuasively sings about

Black women’s liberation, as she dances freely in the club. When women in the audience hear this song, they are reminded to have fun and remember that they have

170 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 choices, they don’t have to sit at home waiting for any man to call. Instead, they can act on Beyoncé’s lyrics and head to a club and have fun with their homegirls.

In the song “Single Ladies,” Beyoncé successfully roused women up to demand that men have a long-term plan for the relationship. If not, women should be on their way and enjoy themselves freely “up in the club.” In the musical scenario,

Beyoncé evokes a call and response by saying “Everybody put your hands together/

Do we have any single ladies in the house tonight?” Upon identifying with the single ladies, Beyoncé sings:

All the sing ladies

Now put your hands up

Up in the club (club)

Just broke up (up)

I’m doing my own little thing

You decided to dip (dip)

But now you wanna trip (trip)

‘Cause another brother noticed me

I’m up on him (him)

He up on me (me)

Don’t pay him any attention

I cried my tears (tears)

For three good years (years)

You can’t be mad at me

(Beyoncé “Single Ladies”)

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Based on the past aforementioned hits, Beyoncé knows that when she performs those songs on stage or in a video, she is stimulating her Black women audience with an ideology that they already support. Thus, she further stimulates those beliefs with her epic Coachella performance featuring a gargantuan band, drumline, and dancers who express their Black bodies to the music. Beyoncé’s lyrics may move women to shout or cry as they listen. However, if a woman is unsatisfied with the progression of her relationship or she’s just been dumped, Beyoncé’s lyrics and joyful performance may move a woman to liberate herself from the confines of a doomed relationship.

Inevitably, this rhetorical response involves bodily expression of Black women’s language. Thus, by encouraging women to free themselves from a confining unsatisfactory relationship, Beyoncé’s Black feminist rhetoric of sexual empowerment arouses emotions by changing how women feel as their Black bodies move in the world.

Black Feminist Musical Documentary: Rooted in Hip Hop Culture

Beyoncé’s Black Womanhood in Hip Hop

When professors in academia examine the role of hip hop in Beyoncé’s formation of Black womanhood, it’s important not to minimize or misrepresent the art form. Professor and rhetorical performer A. D. Carson, author of Owning My Masters:

The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions warns against the following: “hip-hop presented in academia risks being translated and sanitized in some way” (Newman,

“Meet A. D. Carson”). Instead of trying to change and/or translate the language of hip hop, as professors we should emphasize the historical and cultural significance

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(Newman, “Meet A. D. Carson”). Although Beyoncé would not be typically classified as a rap singer, her music can be categorized as “pop or hip hop tinged R&B” (B.

Johnson 235). Perhaps, growing up during an era of hip-hop’s pop cultural reign, she’s infused the controversial genre into her messaging as a musical performer. In Sheldon

Pearce’s article entitled “Beyoncé, the Rapper,” he argues that Beyoncé uses rap as a way to reinvent her persona by evoking an edge to her image. In this section, prior to discussing the rhetoric of Black womanhood, for the purpose of connecting with her audience, I’ll argue how Beyoncé’s use of hip-hop has been a strategy for her identity construction and ethos building.

When Beyoncé collaborates with other artists, she authenticates her realness by working with the most well-known hip-hop artists around. In the past, Beyoncé has collaborated with popular rap artists such as Missy Elliot, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick

Lamar, Drake, and Kanye West on various hit songs. Moreover, Beyoncé has collaborated with her husband, rap mogul Jay-Z by co-headlining their On the Run I

Tour and On the Run II Tour. Moreover, “When Jay-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he tweeted a list of all the rappers who inspired him and emphatically added, ‘B a rapper too!’” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the

Rapper”). Considering the fact that Jay-Z is often ranked amongst the top 5 living rap artists, his commentary as “the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of

Fame,” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the Rapper”) has credible weight. However, as we say in the community, Beyoncé has receipts. Jay-Z’s unexpected proclamation that

Beyoncé’s raps have inspired him is not merely words.

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As early as 1992, Beyoncé demonstrated diversity and an interest in the integration of hip-hop and R&B. Ed McMahon introduced Beyoncé and her group members as the “hip hop rappin Girls Tyme” (“Destiny’s Child”). According to

Pearce, Destiny’s Child originally named “Girls Tyme competed in the rap category on ‘Star Search’” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the Rapper”). In a song entitled “Flawless,”

Beyoncé features a clip from this rap performance at the beginning of her black and white video. Visually audiences view the metamorphosis of Beyoncé. From a young musical artist under patriarchal control, Beyoncé transforms into a woman that exhibits agency by controlling her own imaging.

In 2001, Beyoncé starred in Carmen: A Hip Hopera, which is “MTV’s rap take on George Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen,” featuring her performing a rap duet with Mos

Def entitled “If Looks Could Kill (You Would Be Dead)” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the

Rapper”). Still, Pearce referred to her flow as “a bit rusty and contrived, but you can hear the talent working” (“Beyoncé, the Rapper”). However, her confidence is clearly building as she continues to reinvent her identity. In 2003, Beyoncé chose to cover 50

Cent’s hit rap song “In Da Club” with her cover song entitled “‘Sexy Lil Thug,’ which closely followed the song’s structure and 50’s stresses, employing sung raps” (Pearce,

“Beyoncé the Rapper”). For Beyoncé’s B’Day sophomore LP with rap producers

Neptunes and Swizz Beatz, the song “Upgrade U” moves and punches like a rap song, and she even stunts in her half-rapped verses on the song “Kitty Kat,” which was co- written “with Jay and Pharell, she whisper-raps the hook, and the song’s outro oozes with Houston rap flavor” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the Rapper”).

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However, with 2008’s I Am . . . Sasha Fierce Beyoncé has her first authentic rap song with the “world-conquering flex anthem in ‘Diva’” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the

Rapper”). Then, in the remix of Beyoncé’s song “Bow Down/I Been On,” she raps while featuring the “Who’s Who of H-town rap greats: Willie, Bun B, Scarface, Z-Ro,

Slim Thug, and Lil’ Keke” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the Rapper”). With the image of

Beyoncé rapping with legendary hip-hop artists, Beyoncé accomplishes the task of infusing her Black feminist rhetoric into hip-hop culture. Years earlier, when Beyoncé was the lead member of Destiny’s Child, she had a squeaky clean image that appeared carefully crafted by her management. However, as a Southern Black woman, her identity and range has evolved beyond her sheltered image. Meaning, in Beyoncé’s music, her storytelling is informed by the trauma of slavery, spirituality, and “the southern social-cultural landscape” that impacts the Southern Black woman experience (Brooks and Martin 250-251).

As part of Beyoncé’s “rhetorical navigation of Southern, Black womanhood,” her integration of “linguistic markers suggest that Beyoncé’s cultivation and demonstration of her Southern, Black womanhood identity are firmly constructed by the conditioning of her acceptance within various Black public/private spheres

(McGee 63). By featuring trailblazing male rap artists, as the only female on the song, she exhibits confidence and the ability to center herself as an unapologetic Southern

Black woman. As a result, her audience realizes that she’s respected and embraced by a Southern community of Houston rappers. Thus, she builds credibility as a Black woman that everyday audiences can relate, too.

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Lastly, in this process of establishing Beyoncé’s ethos within the genre of hip- hop culture, it’s imperative to mention Lemonade’s “Formation”. Pearce declares

“Formation” to be “one of the best rap songs of 2016” (“Beyoncé, the Rapper”).

Furthermore, Pearce refers to her use of alliteration as “striking phonetic stuff” that

“seem[s] to snap out of her lips: ‘Paparazzi catch my fly and my cocky fresh/I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress/ I’m so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces’” (Pearce, “Beyoncé the Rapper”). By embracing and celebrating how the paparazzi snaps her every move, with her designer clothes on and Jay-Z’s chains on her neck, Beyoncé expresses her confidence in her womanhood and her ability to commodify and convert her image into capital. Beyoncé’s rap lyrics are a reflection of her attitude and the clothes she wears to present her hip hop image. Thus, hip-hop has been traditionally infused into Beyoncé’s performance as a musical icon. Due to

Beyoncé’s appeal and genre-bending performances, that’s the reason she continues attract a wide-range of fans spanning all ages.

As Beyoncé’s music has evolved, the message of “Formation” incorporates

Black women’s liberation with a socio-political message that is traditional hip-hop.

With the “revolutionary Black female community-centered ethos” of Lemonade (B.

Johnson 235), Beyoncé merges sexual freedom with the activist elements of social movements. Within Lemonade’s aural/visual album, “Formation” is “perhaps one of the most spectacular videos in terms of visual imagery. Hegemonic images of slavery, the Antebellum South, and southern urban dilapidation demonstrate the complexity of black life, culture, and heritage” (Fain, “The Black Aesthetic”). As an aware rhetor,

Beyoncé knows she’s identifying with her audience as she engages in identity

176 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 construction and ethos building, in which she expresses her Black womanhood in

“Formation”. Beyoncé “dances powerfully and provocatively in the dark halls of a plantation home” (Fain, “The Black Aesthetic: Sexuality”). In the following quote, I discuss how Beyoncé subverts the Ugly Black Woman trope with her performance and the rhetorical response of her audience to Black women’s sexuality and empowerment:

[Then] we witness her embrace the desirability of black femaleness, the audience is empowered by watching her later dance in a drained pool with black women, wearing natural hair and revealing grey leotards. In this scene, Beyoncé positions herself around other black women whose dance movements says, ‘This is who I am, this is who I identify with, this is who empowers me.’ Inversely, people around the world view black women embracing their physicality and ability to arouse interest. Thus, Beyoncé’s visual and rhetorical representation of black femaleness is both sexually desirable and empowering for women worldwide. (Fain, “The Black

Aesthetic: Sexuality”). Despite her empowering message of Black women’s sexuality, within the video arrangement of Lemonade’s “Formation,” critics wondered if

Beyoncé was “becoming too political—especially after her tribute to the Black

Panther Party at Super Bowl 50 in 2016” (B. Johnson 236). Still, Beyoncé’s critics did not dismay her. She proudly features “Formation” in Homecoming. Perhaps, some critics are unable to widen their lens beyond the grown ass woman who is now aware of her sexuality. However, if critics had paid attention to her integration of hip hop within her R&B lyrics, they would have realized that Beyoncé was constructing her

Southern Black woman identity, while sending social-political messages about Black woman empowerment and agency alongside her sexuality for some time.

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The Rhetoric of Black Womanhood

In the midst of difficult circumstances, truth telling and keeping it real is emblematic of hip-hop, as a representation of this rhetorical music genre. Pough writes in Check It While I Wreck It that African Americans truth telling is rooted in slave narratives such as W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folks and other autobiographies (104). In fact, Pough refers to this desire to evoke change in society with narrative storytelling as an illocutionary force. Other narratives such as “Malcolm

X’s autobiography, Angela Davis’s autobiography, and Huey P. Newton’s

Revolutionary Suicide” exhibit this illocutionary force (Pough, Check It 104). Like in the past, the purpose of these personal stories was to evoke change in racial, cultural, and political circumstances. Since hip-hop is rooted in the struggle of the Black experience, inevitably this genre shares similar intentions. However, Pough stresses that in the past, hip-hop commentary centered males writing from a male perspective.

Yet, when theoretical analysis omits Black women, this is not the full picture of the hip-hop genre.

Like Pough, I wish to analyze the socio-political elements of hip-hop from a

Black feminist rhetorical perspective. By taking into account rejections to preconceived notions of Black womanhood, audience members will interpret hip-hop from a Black feminist lens that incorporates the complex nature of Black women.

Pough refers to this as the “rhetoric of Black womanhood” by examining how Black women “use the language of the past and present to construct their identities as Black women and create a rhetoric of wreck that claims agency and encourages self-

178 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 definition not only for themselves but also for contemporary young Black women”

(Check It 106).

While Beyoncé narrates her story leading up to Coachella and reads the quotes from African American icons in Homecoming, this is clearly a strategy to express how she utilizes her agency to construct her identity and engage in self-definition. As

Beyoncé narrates her story as a performer, Black woman, and Black mother, she’s centering her life experiences as she brings the story of HBCU Homecomings to

Coachella and Netflix. Ultimately, she is hoping to inspire transformative change in

Black women’s feelings about themselves, and the socially oppressive milieu in which

Black women must live. Beyoncé does this, in part, by including brief narratives of her dancers, some of whom are also mothers. Despite Beyoncé’s celebrity privilege of having access to caregivers, she makes a racial-gender connection to her performers.

By featuring their stories as Black mothers, despite class differences, their intersectional status establishes a communal connection between them. Thus, like

Pough says, Beyoncé as a Black woman, “claims agency and encourages self- definition” as both a personal and communal act (Check It 106).

With another text, Pough theorizes the rhetoric of Black womanhood in terms of the dual messaging of storytelling as truth telling. In Pough’s text, “Personal

Narratives and Rhetorics of Black Womanhood in Hip Hop,” she provides a framework for examining how Black women in hip-hop communicate messages.

Pough states that there are some rappers who “articulate community issues and concerns via their lyrics” (“Personal Narratives” 111). Furthermore, rappers could be considered “self-designated tellers of the people’s suffering and deliver messages that

179 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 otherwise might not be heard” (“Personal Narratives” 111). As previously discussed in Check It While I Wreck It, Black women’s experiences are oftentimes invisible or omitted from hip-hop discourse. Based on Pough’s discussion in Check It While I

Wreck It and this chapter on personal narratives, I’d argue that Homecoming is in the

Black autobiographical tradition of seeking revolutionary change in Black women’s thinking about themselves and how society responds their revelatory thinking.

Based on the rhetorics of Black womanhood, performers that create autobiographical texts for a societal change, they seek to subvert “stereotypical images and constructions” (Pough, “Personal Narratives” 112). During the behind the scenes narration, Beyoncé expresses how she is aware of society’s negative viewpoints. Thus,

I argue that she presents her Coachella/Homecoming production as tangible proof that those misconceptions of Black womanhood are in error. Beyoncé engages in the politics of #CiteBlackWomen, when she makes a point of quoting Black women icons, which are spoken in their own voice during Homecoming. In these scenes, where

Beyoncé includes quotes from African American iconic educators, writers, and activists such as Audre Lorde and Maya Angelou, in between her narration, Beyoncé uses “language of the past and present to construct” her identity as a Black woman and creates “a rhetoric of agency and self-definition” (Pough, “Personal Narratives” 112).

In the process of creating rhetorical agency and self-definition, since these stereotypes don’t mirror their lives, Black women hope to replace viewpoints that are harmful to them and their communities.

Not to mention, when Black women share their autobiographies, they’re able to offer social commentary (Pough, “Personal Narratives” 112). By providing social

180 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 commentary intertwined with their life stories, Black women further reiterate how the personal is political. The personal experiences of Black women impact the community. And the community’s experiences impact the Black woman. As result,

Pough states that these “texts serve dual functions as life stories and message texts, with each author attempting to uplift and heal others through the telling of her story”

(“Personal Narratives” 112). Within this process of reconstructing Beyoncé’s identity, she attempts to empower other Black women by inspiring feelings of positivity.

Furthermore, based on the empowering messages she sends, Beyoncé reshapes her image and how other Black women are perceived. By changing how one sees oneself, one can redefine themselves for themselves. Ultimately, Beyoncé is an aware rhetor that realizes her uplifting messages have the power to transform Black women’s thinking and feelings about themselves and their community.

Rhetorical Argumentation of Beyoncé’s Image

The Ethos of Beyoncé’s Black Feminism

In the process of interpreting how Beyoncé communicates with her audience, it’s imperative to address her ethos as a credible Black feminist rhetor. Unsurprisingly,

Beyoncé’s dance lyrics and seductive movements have led to problematic readings, which cause some critics to miss the Black empowerment and socio-political elements of her message. On a panel with trans woman activist Janet Mock, bell hooks expressed her issues with Beyoncé’s performance in a discussion from The New

School “Are You Still a Slave?” in 2014. In response to bell hooks previous criticisms of Beyoncé, Janet Mock explains how Beyoncé influenced her to feel more positive

181 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 about her body. Mock notes, how in this rarefied space of sexual freedom, Beyoncé exhibits power and independence from the patriarchal influences of her father,

Matthew Knowles, Destiny Child’s creator and her husband, rap mogul Jay-Z. Mock states:

But also having ‘Partition’ come out . . . when I’m writing about . . . issues

with my body my sexuality it was freeing to have Beyoncé showing her ass

and owning her body and claiming that space that meant a lot to me . . . it gave

me the okay as someone I look up to since I was fifteen to have that . . . but I

do think there is power in her leaving her father and I don’t think she’s going

straight to Jay-Z’s hands . . . but that documentary [Beyoncé: Life is But a

Dream] was about leaving her father and saying I will not let you give this

distilled image of me of me anymore and that resonates with me on so many

levels, too.

(“Are You Still a Slave” 46:33-47:15)

Here, Mock communicates the power of Black feminist rhetoric to have authority over one’s bodily expression and the spaces a Black woman inhabits. Mock’s response to

Beyoncé as a viewer, Black woman feminist, and trans woman activist emphasizes

Beyoncé’s wide reaching impact on her audience. Not only does Beyoncé’s musical freedom impact cisgender Black women. As she expresses her sexuality, Beyoncé’s claiming of sexual freedom in various spaces is also an inspiration to queer Black bodies. Meaning, when claiming space, Beyoncé’s lyrics and movement affirm the inclusion of queer bodies in both her personal and communal quest for Black women empowerment and agency. Instead of delving deeper into Mock’s insightful

182 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 interpretation of Beyoncé’s agency over her own body, despite strong male celebrity influences in her life, hooks’s commentary takes a problematic turn.

Without blinking an eye, hooks states “I see a part of Beyoncé that is in fact anti-feminist. That is assaulting. That is a terrorist . . . especially in terms of the impact on young girls . . . I actually feel like the major assault on feminism in our society has come from visual media” (“Are You Still a Slave” 47:37-47:59). And, perhaps, there is value in hooks discussion of the media’s assault on feminism. Yet, she does not justify her argument for interpreting Beyoncé’s rhetorical expression as anti-feminist and terroristic. Quite frankly, this response to Mock’s expression of sexual-gender inclusion is removed from both Beyoncé’s message and Mock’s response to that message as an audience member.

In Roxane Gay’s article entitled “Beyoncé’s Control of Her Image Belies the bell hooks ‘Slave’ Critique,” she responds to hooks unbridled criticism of Beyoncé as destructive to the concept of feminism. According to hooks, Beyoncé’s presentation is contradictory and is devoid of expressing a “liberatory image”. Hooks claims “This rhetoric of women ‘enslaving themselves”, becoming ever more beholden to the patriarchy when they present themselves sexually, is common” (Gay “Beyoncé’s

Control of Her Image”). However, this interpretation of Beyoncé as having a lack of agency over her own image demonstrates a lack of acknowledgement of Beyoncé as a cultural producer. Gay notes, Beyoncé has “long acted as her own manager, produced and directed a documentary about her life and made many a lucrative business deal”

(Gay “Beyoncé’s Control of Her Image”). Meaning, Beyoncé exhibits behind the scenes agency, which is far removed from hooks likening Beyoncé to a slave beholden

183 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 to the patriarchy. Embracing one’s sexuality includes liberation from divergent generational interpretations of sexuality. If the goal is to improve the lives of other women, there is no one-way to be feminist. Thus, without evaluating Beyoncé’s positive impact on Black women and the community, for the purpose of drawing negative conclusions, hooks’s second wave feminism narrowly interpret Beyoncé’s rhetorical expression.

In fact, feminism is the freedom to embrace one’s own sexuality, under her own terms. As feminists, “We have to trust that women can be feminists, good role models and embrace sexuality. We have to believe that we can hold different points of view without labeling each other bad feminists” (Gay “Beyoncé’s Control of Her

Image”). Gay and Mock’s intuitive response to hooks narrow view of feminism reflects Black feminist rhetorical principles. As a manner of communicating sexual freedom and authority over one’s body, the language Black feminists use to speak of each other should demonstrate a belief that sexuality may be expressed differently.

Exposing or hiding one’s body does not necessarily denote acquiescence to male patriarchal influences. In fact, when a woman such as Beyoncé determines how an audience will see her and has intention behind the delivery of her own messaging, she is exhibiting how Black feminist rhetoric leads to agency. Judging by the various roles that Beyoncé plays, such as managing, producing, and directing her own documentary,

Homecoming, she demonstrates rhetorical control over how her own image and the messages she distributes, while impacting her audience.

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The Arrangement and Style of Beyoncé’s Homecoming

The Rhetoric of Social Activism

Beyoncé’s Coachella performance in Homecoming can be described as “a pep rally for Beyoncé’s imagined black college or university” (Kornhaber, “Beyoncé

Masters”). However, a more introspective examination reveals that the message of

Homecoming is far more than an aesthetic endeavor. Within “this portrayal of an

African American educational tradition were call-outs to other legendary institutions of black excellence—the Nubian kingdom (the bleachers formed a pyramid), and

Southern hip-hop” (Kornhaber, “Beyoncé Masters”). As previously stated, this use of hip hop by Beyoncé represents “An artistic, social, and cultural movement, it is diverse and reflects the local histories, cultures and concerns of its worldwide practitioners, while adhering to hip-hop’s ideological and aesthetic imperatives”

(Richardson & Pough 129). Meaning, Beyoncé’s use of hip-hop represents the artistic, social, and cultural movement of the African American community. Beyoncé demonstrates her understanding of her audience’s history, culture, and concerns by interweaving the hip-hop tradition with her R&B lyrics, expressive movements, and costumes.

When Beyoncé’s Coachella performance opens, she walks the stage in her

Queen Nefertiti Outfit. By adorning this cultural homage to African royalty, Beyoncé exhibits Black feminist rhetorical principles because her Black body becomes a site of historical knowledge. In this stage outfit, Beyoncé reminds the audience of a real

African Queen who ruled Egypt. Thus, the representation of Nefertiti is simultaneously a site of historical knowledge and rhetorical agency because Beyoncé

185 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 is sending a message of empowerment to Black women. Since Beyoncé’s “cape featured an emblazoned . . . image of Nefertiti” (Borge, “The Meaning”), the message is effectively communicated to her audience. With this cultural homage to African history and culture, she builds on this message: “Beyoncé’s larger-than-life hat is similar to one researchers discovered on the bust of Nefertiti in 1912” (Borge, “The

Meaning”). Furthermore, “Beyoncé’s dancers wore catsuits that . . . had images of the

Sphinx from ancient Greek lore” (Borge, “The Meaning”). With audience’s eyes on them, Beyoncé’s dancers perform sorority Greek-like steps, with Black Panther beret hats (Homecoming 2:15-2:30). Thus, this ideological message that Black power is knowledge of Black women leaders such as Queen Nefertiti is converged. By subverting notions of Black inferiority and elevating the aesthetic beauty of African history, Beyoncé is evoking an ideological sense of pride.

For the second weekend of Beyoncé’s Coachella performance, she adorns “an all-silver take on the Nefertiti ensemble” (Borge, “The Meaning”). On the back of this epic outfit, are the Greek letters Beta Delta Kappa. Evidently, this intentional nexus between Egyptian history and Greek sororities are a method of connecting African heritage with the rhetorical missions of HBCUs. As previously stated in the

Introduction, Martin Bernal’s Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical

Civilization argues for a reevaluation of the connection between Africa and Greece

(Welch 46). Rhetorical historiography offers an opportunity to redress past absences of African and African American influence in academia. Beyoncé’s use of both

Egyptian and Greek symbolism demonstrates her understanding of this connection.

Furthermore, her use of Egyptian and Greek imagery evokes community pride in the

186 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

HBCU experience. Additionally, drawing a rhetorical historiographical connection between African and Greek history is symbolic of double consciousness. Effectively,

Homecoming maintains an academic connection to Black historical figures such as W.

E. B. Du Bois that theorized the duality of the Black American experience.

It’s fitting, then, that Homecoming is now an extension of this artistic double

consciousness (and notably quotes W. E. B. Du Bois who coined the term).

Throughout the documentary, Beyoncé weaves in text and audio snippets from

multiple black authors, historians, and public thinkers, most often culling from

moments when they spoke directly to black audiences. The nearly two-and-a-

half-hour production, which Beyoncé wrote, directed, and executively-

produced, is as much a celebration of black-intellectual history as it is a

concert film.

(Giorgis, “Beyoncé’s Black Intellectual Homecoming”)

In other words, there is a rhetorical correlation between African history, HBCUs, and

Black intellectuals. When Beyoncé pays homage to Queen Nefertiti, she evokes a

Black feminist rhetorical message of Black women empowerment. However, when she introduces Greek sorority life to the audience, she’s sending a message that history and intellect represents an artistic, cultural, and social movement of advancement that is reflective of Black feminist rhetorical ideology. As previously stated, knowledge of

Black history equates to Black power. Meaning, the knowledge of self comes from knowledge of African history. As previously stated, Beyoncé’s homage to Queen

Nefertiti is site of knowledge. Thus, when Beyoncé promotes the rhetorical words of

Black intellectuals who were educators, writers, and activists, such as W. E. B. Du

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Bois, Toni Morrison, Marian Wright Edelman, and Audre Lorde, she further transforms Homecoming into a site of intellectual and textual production.

In Homecoming, when Beyoncé discusses the nexus between her artistic endeavors and intellectual growth, her personal story connects with her Black audience. Even for Blacks who have gone to public white institutions, in terms of this

African American intellectual-cultural tradition, they are generally aware of the

HBCUs Homecoming experience. Since W. E. B. Du Bois attended Fisk University, by Beyoncé stating in Homecoming that her father attended Fisk University, as well, she’s connecting her personal history to our African American intellectual history as well. Growing up, this “Houston-born singer” was raised “near Prairie View A&M

University and spent much of her early career rehearsing at Texas Southern

University” (Giorgis, “Beyoncé’s Black Intellectual Homecoming”). However, due to the success of her musical career, she was unable to experience college life at an

HBCU. Since Beyoncé says her “‘college was Destiny’s Child,’” she “channeled the institutions’ distinct vibrancy” (Giorgis, “Beyoncé’s Black Intellectual

Homecoming”). Beyoncé said, “‘I wanted a black orchestra. I wanted the steppers. I needed the vocalists. I wanted different characters; I didn’t want us all doing the same thing” (Giorgis, “Beyoncé’s Black Intellectual Homecoming”). In essence, Beyoncé sought to create the Black experience onstage for her fans. For those reasons, her band and dancers reflect the African American heritage of the average HBCU student. To accurately express the authenticity of the HBCU experience, Beyoncé creates a safe space for historically marginalized individuals. Not to mention, African Americans see a reflection of themselves onstage.

188 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

With that said, at the close of Homecoming, Beyoncé includes a rhetorical message of activism. A black background features the following words in white: “So many people who are culturally aware and intellectually sound are graduates of

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including my father. There is something incredibly important about the HBCU experience that must be celebrated and protected” (Homecoming 2:12:46). By featuring this message, at the end of

Homecoming, Beyoncé creates a call to action for her audience. Through her performance, ensemble dancers, behind the scenes narration, and intertwined quotes from Black intellectuals, Beyoncé communicates the message that celebrating HBCUs is about saving African American culture. When Beyoncé requests a monetary response from her Homecoming audience, she exhibits her primary rhetorical intention, which is to highlight the intellectual, social, and artistic impact of HBCUs on American culture. Quite frankly, HBCUs have produced a significant number of

Black activist-intellectuals and professionals.

Rhetorically, Beyoncé is aware of the power she has an artist and Black feminist. Beyoncé fuses Black women language practices with her Black identity, which includes the use of hip-hop to communicate with her Black audience. More than likely, Beyoncé is aware that “hip-hop’s global impact is unequivocally linked to a rooted commitment to local language practices, identities and expressive cultures”

(Richardson and Pough 130). Thus, this intertwining of music and intellectual production is a manifestation of Black feminist rhetoric in the hands of Beyoncé.

Homecoming is Beyoncé’s opportunity to demonstrate what Richardson and Pough refer to as an “interconnectedness of the Black American feminisms” on a global scale

189 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

(Richardson and Pough 131). Furthermore, Beyoncé’s Homecoming demonstrates

Black feminist rhetorical principles by featuring how “hip-hop feminism” functions

“as a politic of solidarity and mutual empowerment for Black women and girls throughout the Americas” (Richardson and Pough 131). Meaning, when Beyoncé is the headlining performer at an international festival such as Coachella, she is centering

Black women and our power to lead, in this case a musical production, on a global scale. Thus, when Beyoncé makes her plea to support HBCUs at the conclusion of

Homecoming, for the purpose of supporting future great Black leaders, she is using her rhetorical agency to evoke an emotional response that will lead to monetary support for Black intellectualism, history and culture.

Beyoncé’s Rhetorical Agency: Behind the Scenes Narration

Behind the scenes of the glittery costumes and ensemble performers, Beyoncé exhibits profound understanding of the relationship between herself, her message, and her audience. Within this cultural production, she creates a rhetorical atmosphere that evokes both emotions from her screaming fans and behind the scenes commentary revealing her profound understanding of the rhetor-audience relationship. However, the attendees at Coachella didn’t have privilege of hearing the behind the scenes commentary. This is a message constraint that’s not placed on the Netflix

Homecoming audience. Therefore, for the purpose of interpreting Homecoming, I look to Alexis McGee’s Lemonade analysis of Beyoncé communicative practices as a

Southern Black woman navigating “multiple discourse identities” (56). Even though my discussion is devoted to Homecoming, Alexis McGee’s “The Language of

190 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Lemonade: The Sociolinguistic and rhetorical strategies of Beyoncé’s Lemonade,” provides a framework for interpreting the behind the scenes language of this aural/visual film (55). Intentionally, Beyoncé situates Homecoming in Black feminist discourse and language mirroring Black women’s experience. As previously stated in the Introduction, the behind the scenes commentary explores the rhetorical effect of

Beyoncé’s rhetoric:

It’s hard to believe that . . . after all these years, I was the first African

American . . . woman to headline . . . Coachella. It was important to me . . .

that everyone that had never seen themselves represented . . . felt like they

were on that stage with us. As a Black woman, I used to feel like the world

wanted me to stay in my little box. And Black women often feel . . .

underestimated. I wanted us to be proud of not only the show . . . but . . . the

process. Proud of the struggle. Thankful for the beauty that comes with . . . a

painful history and rejoice in the pain. Rejoice in the imperfections and the

wrongs that are so damn right. And wanted everyone to feel grateful for their

curves . . . their sass . . . their honesty, thankful for their freedom. It was no

rules . . . and we were able to create a free, safe space where none of us were

marginalized.

(Homecoming, 1:07.20-1:08.22)

In the process of analyzing the effect of Beyoncé’s rhetoric, as she addresses her Homecoming audience, it’s important to identify her discursive practices.

According to McGee, “Beyoncé’s explicit inclusion of AAWL markers like codeswitching [sic], signifying, and nonverbal sonic rhetorics—'hush harbors' or silence—

191 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 shows her navigation of constructing intersectional identities” (61). Within the aforementioned quote, from Beyoncé’s behind the scenes commentary, the ellipses represent moments of brief anecdotal pauses or silences. In fact, even the commas separating clauses and periods separating sentences work in conjunction with moments of intersentence or interclause silences. As Beyoncé engages in codeswitching, by enunciating each word and refraining from Southern English, her pauses demonstrate her navigation of her intersectional identities. Moreover, as part of this nonverbal sonic rhetoric, she resists public and communal exclusion perpetrated by mainstream society, which negatively impacts Black women, as individuals, in the private sphere. Beyoncé knows that this rejection of self comes from society’s rejection of Black women’s communicative expressions. Thus, Beyoncé’s manner, in which, she delivers her message uses silence to address the systemic issues of marginalization experienced by her audience.

As Beyoncé narrates these words, she features images that support themes of Black feminist rhetoric; each visual image emphasizes

Beyoncé’s agency, empowerment, and sense of inclusion. When Beyoncé says that it mystifies her that she’s “the first African American woman to headline Coachella,” (Homecoming,

1:07:20-1:07:27) located on a table, there is 5.1 BEY – CHELLA 2018 Homecoming Binder a humongous white binder with the following words on the cover: BEY – CHELLA 2018.

192 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

To center her experience, Beyoncé uses the name Beychella. As result, when she expresses her behind the scenes commentary, she transforms Homecoming into a site of rhetorical agency. Within this site of agency, as a trailblazer, Beyoncé expresses her desire for visible cultural and social change. Since Beyoncé has the celebrity power and authority to write, direct and produce her Homecoming film, when she uses language to express this experience, she exhibits Black women empowerment and agency. According to McGee, “This agency through language describes her maneuvering of multiple identities, politics, and locations for our consumption and reflection” (58). In this behind the scenes moment, despite cultural politics that barred other successful Black women performers before her, Beyoncé conveys her position as a pioneering first. Additionally, as part of her expression of agency, as a Black woman pop cultural icon, she has the freedom to use language that conveys the complexity of her multiple identities and discourse communities. Ultimately, the image of that

BEYCHELLA white binder expresses her behind the scenes agency, in the private sphere. And the Homecoming movie itself expresses Beyoncé’s agency in the public sphere.

In the following black and white image, while wearing her Nefertiti costume, the Homecoming audience views Beyoncé in the public/private sphere. As she enters the side door of a building, holding her daughter Blue Ivy’s hand, her stage performers patiently wait for Beychella a. k. a. Beyoncé to enter first. Here, the image further conveys Black feminist rhetorical themes of agency and empowerment. Beyoncé narrates the following words in this scene: “It was important to me . . . that everyone that had never seen themselves represented . . . felt like they were on that stage with

193 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 us” (Homecoming 1:07.20-1:08.22). The audience is privy to the behind the scenes message of Beyoncé. As a cultural producer, she wants to arouse feelings of Black kinship amongst members of the community. By wanting her audience to feel like

“they were on that stage” with Beyoncé and her dancers, she redefines both herself and what it means to be a Black woman. Beyoncé exhibits, as previously stated, rhetorical agency, in a manner that “enables us to redefine ourselves in order to work on behalf of self and community in the midst of our social realities” (K. Johnson 162).

As Beyoncé continues to redefine herself, partially with renaming practices like the name Beychella, her Homecoming film also signifies a reframing of Coachella experiences, which were previously headlined by whites. Using her cultural power, she encourages her community to transcend their social reality within a system of oppression.

As an aware rhetor, Beyoncé relates her Black feminist rhetorical message of community, to her personal experience as a performer and to her communal experience with her ensemble cast of performers. Within this behind the scenes narration, Beyoncé’s language associates her with various discursive communities.

According to McGee, Beyoncé’s “rhetorical use of AAWL signifies” how “Bey is more than a public pop-culture icon; she is also part of the audience, part citizen who is disproportionately misrecognized as other by a solipsistic nation” (59). In other words, Beyoncé’s discursive practices create a nexus between she and her Black woman audience. Furthermore, her iconic pop-culture status does not exclude her from participating in this Coachella experience as both a rhetor/performer and an audience member. Also, she is a citizen. Specifically, Beyoncé is a Black woman citizen that

194 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 has a sense of equality by wanting her audience to experience what she and her stage performers are experiencing. Lastly, Beyoncé acknowledges that her personal experience is not isolated. As she and her dancers are emotionally moved, she hopes to redefine her audience’s vision, with regard to their own possibilities. Meaning, the

Coachella experience and the Homecoming film are a communal celebration of redefining Black womanhood and blackness for an international audience.

As the next rhetorical scene unfolds, prior to the big band performance,

Beyoncé’s oral storytelling continues. Prior to the start of the dress rehearsal, Beyoncé stands in the foreground, at the base of the stage. Meanwhile, her dancers sit mostly in silence, waiting to be addressed. Beyoncé speaks the words, “As a Black woman, I used to feel like the world wanted me to stay in my little box. And Black women often feel . . . underestimated” (Homecoming 1:07.20-1:08.22). As Beyoncé communicates these words of marginalization and invisibility, her figure is visible. However, she is intentionally a black silhouette due to the lighting. Then, as she discusses further how to make those who are marginalized feel more visible than invisible, she continues to communicate her rhetorical intentions. Beyoncé says, “I wanted us to be proud of not only the show . . . but . . . the process. Proud of the struggle. Thankful for the beauty that comes with . . . a painful history and rejoice in the pain” (Homecoming 1:07.20-

1:08.22). As Beyoncé speaks those words, the camera focuses on the performers, as they sit in the bleachers. Some fine tuning their trumpets, horns and violins.

However, when speaks of the inclusion of Black bodies, the camera focuses on images of her Black women dancers in yellow leotards, white boots, and white gloves.

As colorful images of her performers flash by, Beyoncé says “And wanted everyone to

19 5 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 feel grateful for their curves . . . their sass . . . their honesty, thankful for their freedom” (Homecoming 1:07.20-1:08.22). By expressing Black feminist rhetorical principles of inclusion of diverse Black bodies and forms of expression, she engages in the sociolinguistic and rhetorical strategies that McGee talks about. During this narration, Beyoncé’s Southern dialect is barely detectable. However, the tone and tenor of her speech still conform to African American Women Language principles.

Here, Beyoncé is “communicating meaning, agency, support, and resistance to normative practices and/or policies that may be in opposition to the betterment of one’s self” (McGee 61). In other words, Beyoncé uses her Coachella platform to subvert negative images of Black bodies. By including performers of diverse sizes, she’s expressing the importance of including all-sized bodies as part of our communal agency. Additionally, when Beyoncé includes feeling grateful for our sass and honesty, she resists negative commentary of Black women’s attitudes and wants us to celebrate our honesty as truthtellers. Lastly, Beyoncé promotes the idea that resisting normative practices that seek to control Black women’s bodies and methods of expression is in the best interest of self.

As the camera flashes on the bleachers again, the focus becomes all of her performers, which includes both women and men. Beyoncé says the words, “It was no rules . . . and we were able to create a free, safe space where none of us were marginalized” (Homecoming 1:07.20-1:08.22). Beyoncé's discursive practices and the language used to communicate her rhetorical intentions is how Black women “subvert power structures and assert or validate experiences through developing and sustaining particular identities, individually and communally” (McGee 61). As a cultural

196 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 producer, Beyoncé uses her rhetorical agency and power to affirm the humanity of those who have been both historically hypervisible and visible. Within this oppressive system that perpetuates dehumanizing images, Beyoncé creates a space behind the scenes and onstage that negates demoralizing images of Black bodies. Ultimately,

Beyoncé uses her cultural power to include and demarginalize diverse identities for her dancers in both an individual and communal sense.

Black Feminist Aural/Visual Rhetoric in the Writing Classroom

Black Feminists Know: The Personal Is Political

As a member of the HBCU legacy, in the past, I’ve shared some of those homecoming stories with my students. For those aforementioned reasons, when teaching the importance of auto-ethnography as a form of truth telling, written for the purpose of evoking change in an audience member’s feelings and/or behavior, I would recommend the following article “I Am an Angry Black Woman: Black Feminist

Autoethnography, Voice, and Resistance” by Rachel Alicia Griffin. In this article,

Griffin advocates for “Black feminist thought (Collins, 2009) and autoethnography to advocate for Black feminist autoethnography (BFA) as a theoretical and methodological means for Black female academics to critically narrate the pride and pain of Black womanhood” (138). For the purpose of teaching Homecoming, I’d use this article to position agency, empowerment, and inclusion as method to achieving voice and engaging in resistance to dehumanizing messages of Black womanhood. By sharing the intersectionality of the HBCU Homecoming experience, I frustrate the gender-racial exclusions that occur from everyday sexism and racism.

197 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

As a double alumni and Visiting Professor at Texas Southern University, an

HBCU, I have multiple points of connection, as researcher and audience member of

Homecoming. Like Beyoncé, who is able to interpret her Coachella experience from multiple-perspectives, such as both performer and audience member, I interpret

Beyoncé’s discursive practices from multiple-identities and discursive communities.

Moreover, like Beyoncé mentions in the documentary that her father attended an

HBCU, Fisk University, I, too, have parents that attended an HBCU, Cheyney

University in Pennsylvania. And since Beyoncé’s father, Matthew Knowles is a professor at TSU, I’ve passed him on several occasions working in the same building as I. Quite frankly, I’ve run into Knowles more than my own mother who is a law professor at TSU as well.

With that said, the HBCU experience is about legacy. As a child, I remember my parents’ determination to make that drive from their hometown Philadelphia to their alma mater Cheyney University. Founded in 1837, Cheyney University is the oldest HBCU in the United States. After graduating from Cheyney University, my parents attended graduate school at Texas Southern University. Yet, I still attended

HBCU Homecoming events, while grouping up and attending white schools from K-

12. Then, after I graduated from Texas A&M University, which is a public white institution, I was ready to continue the HBCU legacy at TSU. As part of the legacy of

HBCU Homecoming celebrations, the events may last from a week to the entire month. Regardless of the duration, every event leads up to the big game.

With Homecoming, Beyoncé brings that big game experience to Coachella.

Ultimately, for a few hours, she takes the HBCU experience mainstream. And as

198 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 anyone knows, who has attended an HBCU Homecoming, a big part of that celebration includes fundraising, particularly, solicitations of donations from HBCU alumni. That’s why Beyoncé’s call to action at the peroration of the Homecoming film resonates for me and anyone else that comes from an HBCU tradition. To promote

Beyoncé’s cause as a rhetor, she uses the peroration to summarize her argument.

Speakers like Beyoncé, may use the peroration to arouse “sympathy for the rhetor’s own case” (Crowley & Hawhee 241). In this moment, Beyoncé clarifies and jogs “the audience’s memory” (Crowley & Hawhee 241). Meaning, the rhetorical purpose of

Homecoming is about arguing for the continued existence of HBCUs by making audiences feel good about the HBCU experience and reminding Blacks of the intellectual contributions of HBCU graduates. In essence, by acknowledging HBCU intellectual contribution, part of that homecoming tradition is about honoring past graduates and current students. Thus, Beyoncé’s rhetorical message in Homecoming is consistent with a primary message of HBCU Homecomings: learn, contribute, and give back to society and future generations of HBCU attendees.

For instructing academics on teaching Black feminist rhetoric for

Homecoming, I would encourage students to read the following article “My Family is

Rooted in Black Colleges and Now I am, too” written by Randall C. Williams.

Considering the fact that his grandparents attended an HBCU, Williams considered his attendance as a method of fulfilling his legacy (“My Family is Rooted”). Even though a Black woman does not write this article, it still reflects principles of Black feminist rhetoric. First, Williams says “after attending predominantly white schools for all of

K-12,” he “decided it was time for a breath of fresh air” (“My Family is Rooted”).

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Like Williams, I felt a similar pull to empower myself by attending an HBCU that would center my Black experience. Second, Williams stresses aspects of the HBCU experience that build community. According to Williams “I followed my father’s footsteps to Hampton, and four years later, I can finally say that I understand the

HBCU experience. It means connecting with young black folks from all around the world, blossoming, creating memories that will last a lifetime and building foundational steps for their desired profession” (“My Family is Rooted”). As previously stated, like Williams I followed my parents’ footsteps to their alma mater

TSU. Third, when Williams says that he connected “with young black folks from all around the world,” he expresses the diasporic connection between Blacks, particularly

Black women, which is something that Patricia Collins speaks of in Black feminist thought.

Coupled with Williams’ article, there are numerous video clips of the HBCU

Homecoming experience located on YouTube. Therefore, rhetoric and writing instructors could motivate their students to include their personal stories within their

Black feminist rhetorical arguments, as a form of creating context and expressing the emotional connections for their belief system. By discussing artifacts like

Homecoming, particularly how the behind the scenes commentary expresses

Beyoncé’s rhetorical intentions for the audience, whether she is off the stage or on the stage, students learn how to use autoethnography to create arguments that would sway belief systems to further uplift principles of Black feminist rhetoric: agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion.

200 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Musical Documentaries: Rhetoric, Writing, and Literacy

In terms of assisting students with inventing arguments, consistent with

Beyoncé’s musical documentary, it’s best to focus on Homecoming events or other college events that evoke Black feminist rhetorical principles of agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion. As previously stated, the autoethnography of Homecoming offer an opportunity to examine an artifact, which is emblematic of a Black feminist autoethnography. Prior to teaching students a rhetorical writing exercise, based on the film Homecoming, I recommend reading

Keith Gilyard’s Race Rhetoric and Composition (1999) and Keith Gilyard’s and

Vorris Nunley’s Rhetoric and Ethnicity (2004). Both books feature contributions from racially diverse rhetoricians, which are rooted in resisting white normative rhetoric of writing and pedagogy. For professors interested in creating safe spaces for marginalized students, the aforementioned texts are beneficial in terms of a professor’s rhetorical study.

In particular, for this chapter, I emphasized Gwendolyn D. Pough’s “Personal

Narratives and Rhetorics of Black Womanhood in Hip-Hop,” which is located in the

Rhetoric and Ethnicity book. As previously stated, she provided analysis of hip hop as autoethnography tool, which is rooted in truth telling for the rhetorical purpose of evoking change in African American life. As for Race Rhetoric and Composition,

Keith Gilyard’s “Higher Learning Composition’s Racialized Reflection,” Gilyard offers a rhetorical analysis of how students and instructors may resist white educational norms. According to Gilyard, “composition instructors—especially those who speak often of diversity and of getting students to understand, manipulate, or

201 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 resist dominant discourses—will want to urge students to begin writing themselves outside the prevailing discourse on race” (Race 52). In other words, by using Black feminist artifacts such as Homecoming, we’re teaching students to use pop cultural artifacts, which are created and produced by Black women, to assist them with inventing arguments that subvert predominant notions of Black womanhood. For instance, Homecoming offers a valuable opportunity to discuss Beyoncé’s writing process. Beyoncé’s behind the scenes narration offers an introspective look at the motivational talks, the reflection, and rehearsals of the she and her performers. By looking at Beyoncé’s artistic process, students see how Black feminist rhetoric works in practice.

Limitations, Implications, and Significance

In summation, there are various limitations that are presented by using

Beyoncé’s Homecoming. First, there are colleagues who would initially scoff at using pop culture, such as a musical documentary to teach rhetoric and writing. However, it’s important as instructors to present material that is relatable to our student audience. For an instructor that’s teaching Black feminist rhetoric, Beyoncé’s

Homecoming is an effective exemplar because of her popularity and students’ familiarity with her music, at least on a surface level. As result, instructors and students will benefit from prior knowledge of the subject matter. However, when examining Beyoncé’s Homecoming from a rhetorical perspective, students will have the opportunity to engage with an intuitive rhetor that constantly centers her Black feminist rhetorical messages and the perceptions of her audience.

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As for instructors that are unfamiliar with the HBCU Homecoming experience, there is endless material on the web, YouTube, in particular that would provide a background for teaching and understanding various rhetorical messages. With that said, after Beyoncé’s Coachella performance, Beyoncé donated a $100,000 in scholarships to HBCUs (Kennedy, “Beyoncé Announces $100,000”). As a result,

Beyoncé rhetorical message of social activism is reflected in both her art and in her life. By supporting HBCUs, she emphasizes the legacy of Black intellectualism and pride. Lastly, Beyoncé defeats negative notions that suggest African Americans have no culture and our ancestry does not reflect experiences beyond slavery. When

Beyoncé uses her celebrity platform to encourage reinvestment in Black culture and and Black people, she is demonstrating Black feminist rhetorical principles of leadership. In other words, Beyoncé is modeling how those who have been advantaged, in some manner, should contribute to their communities.

In terms of my personal experiences, Beyoncé’s hard work behind the scenes and in front of the Coachella audience motivates me. By including the quotations of

Black women icons, Beyoncé reminds me of the importance of Black women’s language. In other words, as I communicate with an audience via writing or presenting, it’s important to retain my sense of heritage. With this Homecoming artifact, Beyoncé emphasizes the importance of sisterhood and acceptance of one another. Most importantly, Beyoncé reminds women that companionship is important, yet we as women are not defined by our partnerships.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION: WHY BLACK FEMINIST RHETORIC MATTERS

As previously discussed in the Introduction, this dissertation uses Crowley’s

Toward a Civil Discourse as a framework for studying Black feminist rhetorical ideology. Crowley’s use of ideological criticism teaches students how to use civic discourse to invent arguments that solve problems like intersectional oppression. This dissertation also couples Crowley’s Toward a Civil Discourse and Black feminist autoethnography as methods for critically narrating my personal experiences and reflections of Black womanhood, particularly, in academia. By grounding my analysis of ideological criticism and autoethnography, as methods for studying Black feminist rhetorical methodology, this does the work of my rhetorical analysis of the following artifacts. More specifically, for the subject of my rhetorical analysis, I employ artifacts such as Brittney Cooper’s Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race

Women (2017) and Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

(2018), Roxanne Gay and Dr. Tressie McMillam Cottom’s Luminary podcast Hear to

Slay, and Beyoncé’s recent Netflix documentary Homecoming. Thus, Black feminist rhetoric can employ pop culture artifacts, as a method of ideological critique in academic spaces for inventing rhetorical arguments for challenging systems and institutions of power.

204 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

Black Feminist Rhetoric Defined

Having been through an extensive analysis of several artifacts of Black feminist rhetoric, it seems fitting that I now make an attempt to define the term. Here,

I use the term Black feminist rhetoric in the following way. Black feminist rhetoric examines the language, discourse, and persuasive techniques used to study artifacts

(inside and outside the academy) that are inclusive and center the lived experiences of

Black women. Meaning, when studying Black feminist rhetoric, African American women are not marginalized in their own narratives, invisible where they are historically and currently present, and/or hypervisible due to a white gaze of both intentional and unintentional misunderstandings. For instance, in both public and private spaces, Anna Julia Cooper and Pauli Murray teach students how to argue against gender conforming spaces. By writing their bodies into the text, they demonstrate how to invent arguments, while resisting oppressive and binary language, particularly in academia.

What Distinguishes Black Feminist Rhetoric

To distinguish Black feminist rhetoric from rhetoric in general, I look to

Crowley’s contemporary interpretation of ancient rhetoric and African American scholars such as Patricia Collins, Gwendolyn Pough, Jacqueline Jones Royster, Elaine

Richardson, Tamika L. Carey, and Alexis McGee. Black feminist rhetoric distinguishes itself from rhetoric in general in terms of using persuasion to solve problems, resistance to the default white norm narrative via rhetorical historiography, providing solutions for intersectional oppression, and treatment of artifacts. First, like

205 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 rhetoric in general, Black feminist rhetoric studies citizenship by confronting significant issues and solves socio-political problems via rhetorical persuasion.

Meaning, Black feminist rhetoric also utilizes rhetorical modes of communication, such as writing and speech to persuade audiences to change their minds and/or actions.

For instance, as a subgenre of African American rhetoric, Black feminist rhetoric centers Black women’s modes of persuasion. Meaning, the communicative practices and persuasive techniques are drawn from African American resources such as pop culture artifacts. Thus, when engaging in the work of Black feminist rhetoric, focus centers specifically on the lived experiences and narratives of Black women’s freedom struggle and resistance.

Second, rhetorical historiography challenges traditional notions of rhetorical modes of persuasion. Historically, rhetoric in general, centered the white male perspective by marginalizing groups based on race, gender, and class. In other words, when examining the contribution of rhetoric, Black feminist rhetoric defines and theorizes communicative practices based on the experiences of Black women. In other words, cite Black women such as Collins, Pough, Royster, Richardson, Carey, and

McGee as authorities of Black women’s discourse. Treat Black women’s cultural production as theory making, in terms of the language, discourse, and persuasive techniques used to engage audiences. In other words, in order to practice intersectionality and engage in authentic inclusion, as professors, we should integrate the rhetorical work of Black feminist scholars not only in our classrooms, but also in our research, writing, and presentations to colleagues. Hopefully, knowledge of their work will increase due to more circulation. Lastly, scholars in the field of rhetoric will

206 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 learn more solutions to solving institutional problems via Black women’s narratives, methods, methodologies, and theories.

Third, since rhetoric in general does not prioritize our narratives, Black feminist rhetoric provides solutions for intersectional oppression that are oftentimes absent from discussions of rhetoric. Thus, due to this lack of consistent and sustained advocacy for our causes, Black feminist rhetoric has created the language that contributes to the activism when solving issues. Unlike rhetoric in general, Black feminist rhetoric exclusively uses artifacts that are produced by Black women to define, theorize, and engage with the genre of rhetoric. For instance, when it comes to activism, Black women have been at the forefront since the abolitionist era. Thus, during Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and Black Lives Matter eras, Black women have created a rhetorical roadmap that offers guidance for change. For instance, with the artifact Homecoming, Beyoncé uses her artistic platform to inspire her audience.

Beyoncé accomplishes this by including the voices of Black women icons, revealing her writing process as both a performer and director, and lastly she presents a call to action at the end of her film. Within this call to action, she uses her platform to make

African Americans feel inspired enough to donate money to HBCUs. Hopefully, monetary donations will provide the necessary resources to continue the legacy of graduating influential Black scholars. Therefore, discussing change moves beyond theory and transforms into useful practice for students who seek institutional, systemic, and structural change.

207 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

The Argumentation of Black Feminist Rhetoric

Now that I’ve reiterated how Black feminist rhetoric distinguishes itself from rhetoric in general, I’ll remind the audience the meaning of argumentation in terms of

Black feminist rhetoric. For studying my Black feminist rhetorical arguments, my dissertation centers four rhetorical themes to express the ideology of this study: agency, empowerment, intersectionality, and inclusion. Due to the aforementioned statement, this is one entry into what should be a rapidly growing bibliography on

Black feminist rhetoric. Within this dissertation, as formerly stated, I used artifacts such as Brittney Cooper’s Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage, Roxane Gay and

Tressie Cottom Gay’s Hear to Slay, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming to engage my audience with these rhetorical themes. Each of those artifacts is impactful in terms of teaching Black feminist rhetoric.

With respect to Beyond Respectability and Eloquent Rage, Cooper offers various lessons on theorizing Black feminism and microresistance. Both artifacts express why and how Black women resist negative messaging about our communicative expression. Specifically, via the success of the Venus and Serena

Williams, Cooper emphasizes the importance of resisting the negative rhetoric of those who disparage Black womanhood. With regard to Gay and Cottom’s Hear to

Slay, I used this artifact to emphasize the importance of Black women leadership. Not only do Gay and Cottom stress the importance of Black women’s agency and authority, but also their featured Black feminist guests discuss the participatory aspects of shared leadership by centering marginalized individuals. Lastly, with respect to Beyoncé’s Homecoming, the theme of leadership continues to emphasize

208 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020 how Black women demonstrate agency, empowerment, and intersectionality when they have an opportunity to engage in the rhetorical process. In other words, by changing our public and private spaces, to reflect the diversity of those around us, we seek to empower and give voice to historically marginalized individuals.

With that said, I still want to emphasize how Black feminist rhetoric works theoretically. First, in terms of rhetorical agency, all of these multi-modal texts demonstrate how the Black female body is a site of rhetorical research on oppression and activism. When Black women produce pop cultural artifacts and engage in textual production, despite cultural power imbalances and historical systems of oppression, they become sites of knowledge by using their bodies to communicate rhetorical agency.

Second, with regard to Black women empowerment, Black feminist rhetoric solves problems in feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric itself. However, it distinguishes itself, as a means of acquiring rhetorical empowerment, since it specifically addresses issues affecting Black women in a manner that reinforces the research and theoretical implications of Black feminist thought.

Third, to emphasize intersectionality and inclusion, Black feminist rhetoric uses pop cultural artifacts in academic spaces to explore the lived experiences of Black women. For the purpose of including Black feminist rhetoric within the study of feminist rhetoric and the field of rhetoric itself, the study teaches scholars and professors within academies how to think, reason, interpret, and engage differently with the world by addressing intersectional oppression and lack of inclusion.

209 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

How Black Feminist Rhetoric Impacts the World

Limitations, Implications & Significance

When advancing and/or changing any curriculum, there are universities and administrators that are resistant to diverse content. Not to mention, faculty members may be unwilling to teach Black feminist rhetoric subject matter because of ideological differences. Then, there are colleagues who are resistant to having a diverse curriculum or resist changing their teaching materials, because they’re more comfortable maintaining the same teaching practice. Finally, there are universities that may exploit the subject matter by culturally appropriating ideas and/or exploit the resources, and the labor of professors who do this work.

Nevertheless, teaching this subject matter offers a wonderful opportunity to connect with diverse students. In terms of the field of rhetoric, this project assists professors in using pop culture artifacts to teach Black feminist rhetoric in feminist rhetoric, African American rhetoric, rhetorical theory, and visual rhetoric classes.

Also, this Black feminist rhetorical project assists professors in teaching marginalized students how to use their voices to persuade, engage in civic discourse, and evoke social change. Furthermore, as a method of rhetorical persuasion, this project teaches students how to use their own autoethnography to include Black women’s language practices and communicative expression to evoke social action. Finally, this project uses rhetorical persuasion to teach students how to invent impassioned arguments for the purpose of resisting systems and institutions that engage in intersectional oppression.

210 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

When determining the impact of my artifacts, I find it necessary to reiterate how Black feminist rhetoric changes the world. By emphasizing the importance of

Black women’s narratives and their experiences, within academia, professors impact the way Black women perceive themselves and how others perceive them. Although

Black feminist rhetoric does not seek to please the white gaze, Black women are impacted by the misconceptions of white society. Therefore, by neglecting to center this discipline of study, as a stand-alone course or unit in a rhetorical theory, feminist rhetoric, or visual rhetoric course, academia does not fully perform its mission to advance informed citizens that can contribute to the betterment of our society in meaningful ways.

211 Texas Tech University, Kimberly Fain, August 2020

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