Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
Читать онлайн книгу.
and loyal Sambos, or strong, aggressive, yet stupid brutes, to justify suppression of Black manhood.
Black manhood and masculinities, during this period, were shaped largely in response to enslavement and struggles against oppression (Booker, 2000), and pre-colonial African cultural understandings of manhood and masculinity. Free Blacks during this period were forced to integrate themselves, socially and culturally, into a society shaped largely by White Euro-American culture. This included gender roles. Whites, and many Black social institutions (Free Black societies, newspapers, churches) as well, held Black men to the expectation of earning enough money to support their families so their wives did not have to enter the workforce (Booker, 2000).
Blacks were expected by Free Black communities to adhere to moral-ethical codes that would not reinforce White stereotypes about them. They were encouraged to dress conservatively, use specific etiquette, and not engage in public displays of sexuality (Booker, 2000). It was expected that these behaviors would allow Black women, for example, to be “true ladies” (Booker, 2000, p. 58). Booker (2000) asserts that many Black men and women accepted the notion that Black men should take leadership roles, while women were encouraged to take more passive supportive roles. However, there was stiff resistance to these gender role expectations among Blacks; some ignored them and others openly resisted them. Black organizations had begun accepting female leadership during this period, far more than did their White counterparts (Booker, 2000). The Black Nationalist and abolitionist Alexander Crummell stated that no Black movement could achieve success without Black women (Crummell, 1883). Frederick Douglass advocated openly for sexual equality and leadership roles for ←60 | 61→Black women along with other Black male leaders. At the 1848 Colored National Convention, Black women openly challenged being denied positions of leadership and demanded more voice. Anna Julia Cooper and other Black women leaders challenged race-gender discrimination against Black women in education and politics, before and after the Civil War. Toward the end of this period, there was a shift in gender role consciousness among Black men. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, assaults on free Blacks, and the approaching Civil War, Black males began to assume an even more assertive, bold, and direct kind of masculinity. This increased racial tension because most White Americans, including abolitionists, expected Black men to assume a submissive posture when seeking freedom and equality—an expectation that people like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth routinely violated (Estes, 2005). Black leaders like William Watkins, Henry Highland Garnet and others began to call for Black men to reject submissive masculinity and engage in direct, physical, and intellectual resistance to White oppression. This was a precursor of gender role definitions and challenges that would emerge after slavery.
The third and fourth periods are The Civil War and Reconstruction Eras. During these periods, Black men engaged in resistant masculinity (Clarke-Hine & Jenkins, 1999) in many forms, from revolt to official legal procedures (bringing an issue to the court vs. protest or sabotage or filing lawsuit) of protest. Some Black men exercised resistance in the form of military service. For many Black men, military service, particularly in the Civil War, was seen as a route to freedom and independence, a way of protecting their families, an expression of pride, a way of exercising civic voice, and a way of challenging slavery and stereotypes. The Civil War allowed Black men to express aspects of manhood that slavery demanded they suppress, such as intellect, hostility, aggression, etc. (Cullen, 1999). However, it must be noted that it was certain kinds of aggression—aggression toward Whites and self-determining aggression—that was not permitted for Black males prior to the Civil War. The formerly enslaved Black abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, explains it was his aggressive, physical resistance of Covey (one of his White enslavers) that rekindled his own sense of manhood, dignity, pride, and self-determination (Andrews, 1994). For many Black men, the war was an opportunity for demonstrating their manhood for the purpose of freedom for Black people (Cullen, 1999).
After slavery ended, new conceptualizations of manhood emerged. Some Black men adopted the domineering and patriarchal models of manhood they observed from their former so-called masters. However, many Black men did not, and continued the relatively egalitarian style of male-female relations they had assumed during slavery and in Africa. The formerly enslaved were expected to integrate themselves into society by developing social institutions in the image of White Americans. This included White American family models, codes of behavior, male–female relationship styles, religious practices, etc. (Booker, 2000).
During Reconstruction, Black males were integrated into a social system where they were expected to be the dominant figures in Black economic and political life. Politics was treated as the exclusive province of males. Black males became enfranchised while Black females remained disenfranchised. Missionary schools socialized Black students into mainstream, White Christian-inspired gender roles. Federal institutions such as the Freedmen’s Bureau treated Black males as head of the family, paid them more for their work than Black women, and admonished them to be economic providers (Booker, 2000). Freedmen’s Bureau officials counseled formerly enslaved Black men on proper gender ideals, i.e., mainstream White gender ideals. The Freedmen’s Bureau inculcated newly freed Black men into the patriarchal logical style of dominant White culture by appointing males as the sole powers in labor and contracts agreements for families, in addition to appointing husbands as heads of households (Wiegman, 1993). Black men during this time were influenced by both mainstream White gender ideals and their own cultural gender ideals. For example, according to Becker (1972), the AME church ←61 | 62→promoted a Black Christian manhood with four key characteristics: leadership and self-assertion, Black identity, independence, and Christian vocation.
However, when Reconstruction ended due to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, violent White repression of Blacks resumed. This and the emergence of Jim Crow laws led Whites (and also some Black leaders) to view a much more accommodative form of Black masculinity as the ideal. During this period, Black men were also assigned non-masculine status by law, custom, and violence (Franklin, 1994b). Opportunities emerged for Black men who demonstrated a non-threatening loyalty and subservience to Whites and their social-political agendas. Men like Booker T. Washington emerged—willing to find a pathway for Black progress that did not include challenging Whites politically yet admitting to social inferiority while focusing primarily on economic progress. However, other Black men like William Monroe Trotter and W.E.B. Dubois criticized Washington for his subservience and advocated for Black higher education as well as political power.
The fifth period was the New Negro Movement Era. During this period, African American men made progress in industry and political representation and experienced White backlash in response. According to Summers (2004) and Dancy (2012), during this period hegemonic discourses shaped Black male gender identity. Dancy defines hegemony as “experiences that sustain the power of particular groups while subordinating others to states of powerlessness” (p. 44). Black men like Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, George Washington Carver, and Booker T. Washington separately and collectively promoted ideals of Black self-sufficiency, self-determination, achievement, persistence, and success (Franklin, 1994b). Some African American men adopted class bias toward Black women and other Black men. Black men gained the right to vote during this time period, but Black women would not until the 20th century. It was also during this period that Marcus Garvey and the United Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League promoted race pride and self-reliance among African Americans. Leaders like Garvey affirmed a manhood ideal that included independence and self-determination for Black men’s families, communities, and all African people. These ideals also shaped values associated with Black male gender identity during the era. At the same time, Garvey’s ideas were radical because Black men had previously learned to hide their true feelings, thoughts, and identities due to the ever-present threat of White racial terrorism (Estes, 2005).
King (2005b) asserts that White racial terrorism (i.e., lynching, arson, bombings) against Blacks has historically and presently been to protect White power and privilege. Whiteness is a form of property and it is defended as such. Racial violence by Whites has been enacted to defend the social-political rights and privileges attached to Whiteness (King, 2005b). Racial violence continues as present-day police brutality works to keep Black people in their place, thus protecting Whiteness. King (2005b) points out that White racial violence has typically been a response to Black male social-political advancement (threats to the property