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63
argue for full citizenship for African Americans. United States slavery
served as both an historical and metaphoric touchstone for blacks. The
history of enslavement and the legacy of inequality, poverty and brutality
that it produced had to be redressed by any organization truly interested
in full liberation of African Americans. Thus, the Black Panther Party’s
10-Point Plan called for (among other things) decent housing,
employment, education and black control of black communities.20 But
slavery also served in a more metaphoric sense, as a site of commonality
and of collective action.
By invoking slavery, black leaders could close the gap between
diverse black populations – all (or nearly all) black people had a history of
slavery in their family backgrounds.21 For example, arguments based on
the differences between “house” and “field” slaves resonated with many
black audiences.22 House slaves were vilified, both for their supposed
loyalty to their white masters and for their light skin, which was assumed
to cause house slaves to feel superior to the darker field slaves. However,
the reality of the sexual exploitation that created light-skinned blacks was
also a reminder for some of who the enemy really was. For example, red-headed
Malcolm X often spoke of the rape that resulted in his own mixed-race
ancestry. He thus used his own body as proof of the inhumanity of
whites and a visual reminder of what the liberation struggle was truly
about.23 This house/field slave dichotomy had mixed results. On the one
Object Description
| Title | "As shelters against the cold": women writers of the Black Arts and Chicano movements, 1965-1978 |
| Author | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Author email | uryder@usc.edu; uryder@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | American Studies & Ethnicity |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-27 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 October 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | McKenna, Teresa |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sanchez, George J. Johnson, Dana |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the work of women writers in the Black Arts and Chicano movements during the years 1965-1978. I argue that understanding the intersectional nature of the women's experiences is crucial for understanding their literary output. Further, I argue that Chicanas and African American women of this era challenged homogenous notions of community and racial identity and that we can trace the development of the Third World feminism and multiculturalism that came to the fore in the 1980s to this earlier period. Thus, this study also impacts the way we conceptualize identity formation and the creation of the literary canon. Investigating the ways in which these women integrated nationalist and feminist rhetoric and activism in their work is crucial for a full understanding of this critical period in U.S. history. At stake is an understanding of how Chicana and African American women in the United States have formed identities and communities; struggled for liberation and equality; and become part of the U.S. literary canon. |
| Keyword | Black Power; Black Arts movement; Chicano movement; civil rights; racial identity formation; womanism; borderlands theory; feminism; Third World feminism; nationalism; intersectionality |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1965/1978 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1698 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Ryder-2415 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Ryder-2415.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 68 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 63 argue for full citizenship for African Americans. United States slavery served as both an historical and metaphoric touchstone for blacks. The history of enslavement and the legacy of inequality, poverty and brutality that it produced had to be redressed by any organization truly interested in full liberation of African Americans. Thus, the Black Panther Party’s 10-Point Plan called for (among other things) decent housing, employment, education and black control of black communities.20 But slavery also served in a more metaphoric sense, as a site of commonality and of collective action. By invoking slavery, black leaders could close the gap between diverse black populations – all (or nearly all) black people had a history of slavery in their family backgrounds.21 For example, arguments based on the differences between “house” and “field” slaves resonated with many black audiences.22 House slaves were vilified, both for their supposed loyalty to their white masters and for their light skin, which was assumed to cause house slaves to feel superior to the darker field slaves. However, the reality of the sexual exploitation that created light-skinned blacks was also a reminder for some of who the enemy really was. For example, red-headed Malcolm X often spoke of the rape that resulted in his own mixed-race ancestry. He thus used his own body as proof of the inhumanity of whites and a visual reminder of what the liberation struggle was truly about.23 This house/field slave dichotomy had mixed results. On the one |
