Page 157 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 157 of 200 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large (1000x1000 max)
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
152
speaker stating “yeah./brother/this sister knows/and waits.” The speaker
of the poem believes that black men are weak when confronted with
“grey” women who throw themselves at them.
Like many other Black Arts writers, such as Baraka, Sanchez refers
to mixed-race (mulatto) women as “grey chicks.” Thus she is invested in
the same essentialist notions of blackness that her contemporaries
espouse. “Grey chicks” are not only racially suspect, they are politically
suspect as well. “Blackness” stands in both as a marker of racial
difference (and solidarity) but also as shorthand for political solidarity.
“Black,” in this era, was often contrasted with “Negro” and marked a
political leaning that was different from the politics of the Civil Rights era
“Negroes” like Martin Luther King, Jr. “Grey” (as a signifier of mixed-raceness)
is another way that the boundaries of blackness were policed
from within. As noted in my discussion of Baraka, such constructions of
black identity refuse to acknowledge the mixed-race heritage of most
African Americans. Further, this essentialized blackness supports
theoretical assumptions of racial purity and the racist idea of the rule of
hypodescent.12 Her anger seems not to be directed at the men but at the
women who seduce the men either by stating their intentions (“some will
say out/right/baby I want/to ball you”) or by declaring a false racial pride
(“while smoother/ones will in/tegrate your/blackness”). The speaker of
the poem – a real black woman – waits for the man to come to his senses.
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 157 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 152 speaker stating “yeah./brother/this sister knows/and waits.” The speaker of the poem believes that black men are weak when confronted with “grey” women who throw themselves at them. Like many other Black Arts writers, such as Baraka, Sanchez refers to mixed-race (mulatto) women as “grey chicks.” Thus she is invested in the same essentialist notions of blackness that her contemporaries espouse. “Grey chicks” are not only racially suspect, they are politically suspect as well. “Blackness” stands in both as a marker of racial difference (and solidarity) but also as shorthand for political solidarity. “Black,” in this era, was often contrasted with “Negro” and marked a political leaning that was different from the politics of the Civil Rights era “Negroes” like Martin Luther King, Jr. “Grey” (as a signifier of mixed-raceness) is another way that the boundaries of blackness were policed from within. As noted in my discussion of Baraka, such constructions of black identity refuse to acknowledge the mixed-race heritage of most African Americans. Further, this essentialized blackness supports theoretical assumptions of racial purity and the racist idea of the rule of hypodescent.12 Her anger seems not to be directed at the men but at the women who seduce the men either by stating their intentions (“some will say out/right/baby I want/to ball you”) or by declaring a false racial pride (“while smoother/ones will in/tegrate your/blackness”). The speaker of the poem – a real black woman – waits for the man to come to his senses. |
