Page 73 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 73 of 200 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large (1000x1000 max)
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
68
to drive us mad.
(like them)33
This is poem of colonization. For Lee, the true home of black people is
“Mother Africa,” from which Africans were stolen and brought to the New
World. While we may be critical of Lee’s idealization of Africa, history has
proven that life for those taken across the Atlantic was considerably worse
than whatever they may have experienced in the homeland. Christianity
and the Bible were insufficient recompense for what was lost. Beyond a
loss of a homeland, blacks also lost their own minds. That is, they lost an
understanding of who they were separately from whites. In essence,
“Africans” became “black” during this process and learned to hate
themselves.34 Hence, Lee’s references to straight hair and bleaching
creams. One can easily understand how the works of Franz Fanon would
resonate with a poet like Lee.35 Fanon’s assertion that the colonization of
land results in the colonization of minds is precisely what Lee is
articulating in this poem. The results are disastrous – drug addiction
(“reefer”) and fighting unjust wars in Southeast Asia (“napalm”). Blacks
were given “european history” and, it is implied, lost their own. The
“promises” (of equality) have gone unfulfilled. “Civilization” is thus a
“weapon” wielded against Africans. Like many black writers before him,
Lee uses the inhumanity of slavery to prove the inhumanity of whites.
Rather than blacks being “savages,” the whites who enslaved and continue
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 73 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 68 to drive us mad. (like them)33 This is poem of colonization. For Lee, the true home of black people is “Mother Africa,” from which Africans were stolen and brought to the New World. While we may be critical of Lee’s idealization of Africa, history has proven that life for those taken across the Atlantic was considerably worse than whatever they may have experienced in the homeland. Christianity and the Bible were insufficient recompense for what was lost. Beyond a loss of a homeland, blacks also lost their own minds. That is, they lost an understanding of who they were separately from whites. In essence, “Africans” became “black” during this process and learned to hate themselves.34 Hence, Lee’s references to straight hair and bleaching creams. One can easily understand how the works of Franz Fanon would resonate with a poet like Lee.35 Fanon’s assertion that the colonization of land results in the colonization of minds is precisely what Lee is articulating in this poem. The results are disastrous – drug addiction (“reefer”) and fighting unjust wars in Southeast Asia (“napalm”). Blacks were given “european history” and, it is implied, lost their own. The “promises” (of equality) have gone unfulfilled. “Civilization” is thus a “weapon” wielded against Africans. Like many black writers before him, Lee uses the inhumanity of slavery to prove the inhumanity of whites. Rather than blacks being “savages,” the whites who enslaved and continue |
