Wrap-Up: A Black Woman's Nostalgia Part 2.

Dassit! I'm dun up!

No, that's not it. I'm not finished just yet.

I mentioned a few posts back that I'm reaching a milestone in my life: graduation! Yes, it's that time again. Time for the flipping of the tassels and moving forward onto a completely new and profound adventure. But of course, nobody wants to hear that story! Instead, I'd like to have a conversation about what I learned in my AAWR course.

First off, I've learned and have truly accepted (especially over the past two years) that it's okay to be a Black woman. It's okay to be loud (sometimes) and it's okay to just get shit off your chest. I've learned that going to jail, as many Black women have done, fighting for a worthwhile cause is really not all that bad. It's not bad in this sense because we are imprisoned and oppressed for way worse causes like just having skin that isn't pale. Collectively, we don't have it easy. It's never been easy and I'm sure the road don't get no betta'. However, there exists within Black women a certain special something...a grassroots, deep down, way down, all the way down in the earth kind of strength that is a force to be reckoned with. History, has a way of revealing the faults of nations through those who live it. African Americans have, as many other colored races, been raced and classed and lumped together under an ideal and notion of inferiority. Black people, with attention paid to Black women, have revealed themselves as withstanding and everlastingly determined to overcome that which seeks to hold them back. It takes a certain kind of finesse and acuity to take one's struggle and make it tangible to the rest of the world - a world that may or may not care to bare witness to it all.

I won't make this long, but I will say that Black women...we just got it. there's really no other way to put it. Rhetoric can be found everywhere. It doesn't have to be obtained or preached by a celebrity,and you don't need a million Twitter followers to do it, either. Rhetoric begins at the bottom. It begins locally, and this locality is what enables many rhetors to be so pervasive in our society. It's rhetoric in the mind and body and message of a Black woman that points to realities that other racialized beings could never really hope to be a part of or duplicate. It's rhetoric, more often than not, that gives many of us a purpose. Black women back in the day and Black women now have done the world a great service in spreading their message and opening eyes and ears all over. The battle fought and won is one that should be remebered, honored, and cherished because of what it means to African Americans as a race.

I'm able to get my degree today because a Black woman once stood up and fought and argued and backtalked her way into our access to an education. I'm able to vote and go out in public without the consent of a man because a Black woman put her foot down somewhere along the line. If it wasn't for Black women's rhetoric, I honestly don't know where or who I'd be. And so (before I get emotional), I tip my proverbial hat to Black women everywhere.

To those not here today, you are sorely missed and appreciated.

To those of us still fighting the good fight, we got a long way to go.

(I'd especially and formally like to thank Dr. Carmen Kynard for this experience. I don't know where St. John's found you but they damn sure got lucky! You're an inspiration as a post-secondary educator.)

Blues Women - Don't Nobody Need No Man, Honey (revised)

"The absence of the mother figure in the blues does not imply a rejection of motherhood as such, but rather suggests that blues women found the mainstream cult of motherhood irrelevant to the realities of their lives" (13).

Consideration and inclusion of this quote stems from the general idea that all women were thought of as having no other valuable position than that of mothers, wives, or domestic beings. In their practice, blues women rejected this notion by speaking about and commenting on their newfound liberty and agency by depicting the ways in which institutions like patriarchy, marriage, and motherhood would no longer be accepted as the norm for their lives. I think about this quote in relation to my experience growing up in a single parent household. My mother is nothing short of "fat-abulous" and will let you know in a hot second that she is fiercely independent. She always stresses to my younger sister and I (me, especially, since I'm the oldest) that we should never depend on a man for anything and have to work for whatever it is we want. There are no hand outs, no gimmes, and definitely no knight in shining armor ready and willing to do our bidding whenever we so please. However, she also makes it clear that she had me at a point in her life when her career was firmly established and she had gotten out her partying, hanging out, and the like earlier on before deciding to become a mother. It was a conscious choice and one that is not practiced as much as it should be in today's day and age.

Blues women made it their purpose to express that they could do as they please with whomever, whenever, and that it was their choice. Motherhood did not always fall into these plans; they'd be damned if they would have some man tell them that that's all they were good for or should be doing. Likewise, taking on that responsibility had no place in the newly reinvented lives they established for themselves.

"Blues women provided emphatic examples of black female independence" (20). This quote pretty much embodies everything that was dicussed in my AAWR class. Female empowerment especially comes to mind, but in this context, blues women are the next generation's Ida B. Wells' and Sojourner Truths. These women are telling it like it is. The major difference is that this time around, they are not apologizing for who they are and how they feel. To be a woman, particularly a Black woman, meant one had to act like a puppet to keep men happy or to keep yourself alive in the best way you knew how. As time passed, it meant you had to play a role designated for you by men. These women are basically telling the world, and men especially, that "Ain't nobody got time to be cookin' and cleanin' and keepin' house while you go out and have a grand ole time." Mind you, most men couldn't even imagine being in a woman's shoes. The fact that these women spoke out about what was happening to them, telling the truth about the world from their perspective, provded a foundation for many Black female artists like Beyonce to tell an arrogant man to go "to the left" or for Jasmine Sullivan to tell a cheating fool that she'd bust the windows out his car. They opened doors for these artists, and for all of us, to take back our identity and redefine femininity our way.

"Precisely because the blues confronts raw and emotional sexual matters associated with a very specific historical reality, they make complex statements that transcend the particulars of their origins" (24).

The blues had a uuniversality within it that made it easily identifiable to all Black people everywhere. This universality also spanned time in its ability for anyone experiencing hardships to relate to the musician. The blues evolved from slave music and the institution of slavery. It evolved from oppression, subjugation, and degradation at the hands of white people. However, it revealed deeper and unheard of complexities within the Black community itself by questioning societal dictates.

I found this quote to be interesting because there are few other musical genres that can depict these sorts of emotions or have music recorded under their titles today and be felt years and years later. For example, I didn't grow up during the height of Patti Labelle's and Janet Jackson's careers (when they were superhuge and in their prime versus the possession of the legendary status they now have), but best believe I can "doo-wop" in time with Patti or give my boo the side-eye and ask him "What have you done for me lately?" Though these types of songs were constructed years ago, the themes present within this type of music can still ring bells. I contrast this with early rock music that focuses on getting or being high or wanting peace in a war ravaged world. When the high is over and the war is done, then what's left of these streams of consciousness? I think this music in particular would probably be waiting around for a new drug to come out or a war to break out somewhere.

"It is true that some of the songs recorded by Rainey and Smith seem to exemplify acceptance of male violence and sometimes even masochistic delight in being targets of lover's beatings" (25). In reading this text, it does seem as if these women glorify being abused by their lovers. However, several instances come to mind when reading this: a scene from Claude McKay's Home to Harlem, Ashanti's song "Baby," and that fiasco of a relationship with Chris Brown and Rihanna. First, the scene from McKay's novel involves the protagonist Jake shacking up with a jazz club singer, and he acts against his nature of abusing females and hits her. Apparently she was dissatisfied with the calm and staid relationship they shared. Ashamed of himself, he doesn't come home for a while, but when he does she's giddy with joy and welcomes him back with loving arms because he hit her, and was being a "real" man. I immediately thought of this because the entire situation is simply ridiculous: why would any woman be happy that her man is beating on her? I thought it completely misogynistic of McKay to incorporate this into his novel. "Baby" came to mind because every time I hear it I ask myself how a female could give a man that much power over her. In the song she is basically saying how the man has her so captivated that she "couldn't breathe if he ever said (he would leave)" and she'd give up everything she owns for him because that's how in love she is. Sure.

Finally, the "Chrianna" situation involving Chris' beating of Rihanna came to mind because there is still so much controversy surrounding the fact that they are still seen together off and on despite what he did to her. Fans are divided because many are against domestic violence and by her being with him, it is a support statement on the victim's behalf of staying with her attacker depite him clearly being no good for her. In each instance, what happens at face value is taken as the truth, as fact. However, and similar to Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, it is clear that there is an underlying message behind every word spoken or action taken. Just because it seems as if Ma Rainey claims her man abuses her and she likes it has questionable value when considering her delivery of these exact words. The significance lies, then, not only in what is said, but the delivery of the words themselves, which is a critical component of the blues.

"Your Freedom is Shackled in Chains to Mine" (Revised)

The line that most impacted me comes from the second YouTube video “Fanie Lou Hamer Tells Her Story.” She states “And then I spent one night with Mrs. Tucker. And after about two days in September, they shot in the house about 15 times, thinkin’ I was there.” I found this statement to be so powerful because even though I do not know this woman that she speaks about, the act she speaks of shows the depth of ignorance and maliciousness so readily evidenced in white people during this era. That they did not care and only assumed Fannie to be there is just another case of the disregard for Black life in America. How could someone just shoot into a house, unsure of whether or not the target is actually inside? They clearly did not care about killing her or even doing the same or injuring any other person who may have been there at the time.

When looking at events like these and hearing accounts of how far white people were willing to go to stifle Black progress in this country, it astounds and angers me. This country, as Hamer says in her speech, “was built on the blood and sweat of black people” (125). There was a deep fermentation of hatred within white supremacists and their institutions that, to me, undermine Christianity and our so-called multicultural society. Those in power cannot ignore the heavy historical presence of African Americans in the foundation of this country, one that is supposed to be “free” with promises of “the pursuit of happiness.” During these turbulent times, there was no such thing as the pursuit of happiness. What they meant to say in our lovely Constitution was “You can pursue happiness so long as you are white and not one of the savage colored people we’ve exploited, abused, and subsequently disenfranchised.”

Listening to Hamer is one of those things where, in so many words, it is hard to witness because it is too difficult to contemplate and sheds light on characteristics within ourselves that we’d rather ignore. In my modern mindset, I am ashamed, but simultaneously proud. The shame comes from a place where I ignore my ancestors and the powerful and adamant Black women before me who fought and died and sacrificed their entire lives so that I could be free today. Many Black females today, myself included, do not take more time to honor these women and keep their messages and struggles alive in our hearts. I take pride, however, in knowing that the reemergence of these topics instills a need in me to recount what these women went through and just what it means to be Black and a female to my younger sister, female cousins and peers in the same way my mother and grandmothers taught me. More and more every day we live fatherless lives, so it becomes imperative to embody these strides of determination against the odds and not give in to societal pressures. A community effort, like the one recognized by Hamer in the pages of her speech, is one that encompasses individual accomplishment as a way to further and better our community. Without her and women like her we would not even have the opportunity to study her in an academic setting.

Good Ole Penitentiary Blues (Revised)

Erykah Badu's song "Penitentiary Blues" goes hand in hand with a presentation I did on Assata Shakur and her stance on the political implications and racist undertones of Black males and women accounting for a majority of the American prison population. In this song, Badu uses her aesthetic dimension to pursue this cause. She targets the everyday struggle of Black men and fights back with her words in saying, "Evil, don't test me/ Evil, you won't win." These words are powerful in their meaning and their implication that black men will eventually rise up and overcome the institutionalized slavery of the body and mind. The chorus of this song laments the fact that the world is seemingly out to get Badu, or any Black person in general. She asks "Oh, why world/ Do you want me to be so mad?" This question can be envisioned coming from countless African Americans as they struggle to grasp the purpose of their oppression as well as fighting to realize that they they don't deserve the unfair and unjust treatment they receive at the hands of those in power.

I appreciate the next stanza of this song. Badu exclaims "Since you ain't playing by the rules/ I'm 'bout to kick you off your stool." Here, she is expressing the thoughts of many by basically saying that they've tried to do the right thing, the best thing, but their best just ain't good enough. Instead, putting feet down is the only way to get what you want 'cause enough is enough. Further along she makes it a point to breach the topic of unity and togetherness, which becomes a greater problem as the years progress. A line that particularly struck me was "With the same look ya mama had." Picturing this song as a story, it is easy to imagine the continued failures of the African American community to rise up and obtain their own upward mobility as promised by the doctrines that founded this country.Though easy to imagine, this is not a concept easily accepted. "The same look ya mama had" shows that class and race struggles are generational, while every generation hopes for the next one to be better, the defeatist overtones suggest that today isn't the successful one.

In response to Angela Davis' piece on language, Badu, like Billie Holiday, rewrites the English language for her own purposes. "Black people did not embrace the spoken English language without fiercely challenging the cultural oppression it implied and without incorporating this challenge into their daily speech" (166). Here Badu not only challenges the language, reworking it to suit her needs, but also ironically uses it as a way to point out that prison life and jail are the only stable constants in a black male's life.

Oh, Y'all Thought I Was Done with Ethos and Nommo? Not Really.

“Black women have always appreciated Nommo – the force of the word, the power of giving things their names and thereby bestowing upon them her life force.” (Dance, 2)

In connection to this quote, I feel that it embodies everything that we have been talking about so far in this course. Words and language have always been a way for people to communicate with each other. The actual words that someone speaks or uses conveys their message and what they have to tell someone else. Interestingly enough, African Americans, dating way back to slavery, had to come to grips with the fact that whatever native African language they were used to had to conform to the white man’s standard. In typical fashion, however, black people were able to take the English language and transform it into something palatable and accessible. To this day, black women have especially been able to use their words, and therefore this Nommo that Dance speaks of, as a way to not only express a variety of topics and emotions, but to do so in a way that compels people to pay attention.

This impacts me because I know the power of my words. Often we abuse or become ignorant of this power in the sense that what we say has the power to build or to break. In this context I refer to instances where I say things rashly out of emotion and they backfire, or being able to empower and transform the minds and thought processes of an entire nation just by saying and expressing what is on my heart. Also, I want to become a published writer. But after having someone read my work, especially someone who is not black, there is a more general assumption made that what I choose to write and how I represent my characters is reflective of not only myself, but the African American community as well (since people love to make big claims).

“Such a female was bad…Such a female is ba-ad.” (Dance, 3)

Here I want to pay attention to the differences in “bad.” Today, you hear this word being attributed to a female who has it together physically, financially, and mentally. This is a female who looks good, is independent, and “wants but don’t need no man” to do what she has to do. However, the significance in this quote has more to do with the fact that this one word has several different meanings when placed in the same context. The initial “bad” refers to its traditional meaning of being the undesirable opposite of something that is good. In this context, Dance refers to a sassy woman and how she is considered “bad” at an earlier period in time. Over time, this bad characteristic evolves and becomes one that allows for Ms. Sassy to overcome her trials and reject as well as fight against the idea that she cannot speak her mind on things that affect her.

An Ode To a Black Woman’s Courage (Revised)

You say in your speech “African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, and excite in his bosom a lively, deep, decided and heart-felt interest.” Well, I’m interested, and I’m definitely fired up. I want to start by saying that we haven’t come very far. It took women like you and Ms. Wells and Sojourner to tell both blacks and whites that slavery had to end. It took men like Martin and Malcolm to let the world know that the white man was keeping us down and we had to learn to fight back peacefully. But sadly, none of that matters. Not really. Not when we have a culture that glorifies being the wife of a rapper or professional athlete. Or even the wife of someone who isn’t famous and isn’t afraid to spend money on said wife. There’s no progress when men are openly allowed to disrespect females who disrespect themselves and their fellow sisters.

I believe initiative is hindered by fear and doubt. We doubt ourselves,that we can accomplish what we wish to, that success is inevitable. Nothing comes without hard work. However, knowing that there are “haters” out there, in this case, white people, who wish to see us fail because that’s what they believe we always do, stops this hard work in its tracks. I’m certain you had haters. I’m certain that your haters are the reason why after such a short lecturing career you gave your farewell address and spoke no more. And I’m sure that haters are the reason why slavery lasted for as long a time as it did.

I completely agree with the idea that revolution comes from education and that the notion of education should be fostered in the home. I look at my generation and the generation directly after mine and all I can do is shake my head. Progressively and quite bluntly, kids are getting dumber and dumber as the years go on. Technology has molded us into a completely new species of beings that don’t have to try or work as hard as we need to be. And this is not exclusive to African Americans, but everyone in general. Education has become an option instead of a priority and with parents being younger and younger, there is not as much emphasis on getting a proper education since parenthood has excluded or hindered these people in some ways. In order for us to get anywhere and instill a better opinion of our race in other races, we have to be the first ones to get things going. That immigrants see more success in this country than native born Americans has a lot to do with what is taught at home. We, especially African Americans, have this idea that we are entitled to the world “just because.” There is no ‘just because.” We got comfortable with affirmative action. We got comfortable with welfare. We got comfortable with the drugs and the pain and the disenfranchisement. Nobody is comfortable with progress, though. Or are we?

Many African Americans aren’t taught these values throughout their childhood. Ideals like equality and prosperity are only expressed in the face of adversity. It shouldn’t have to be brought up for us to realize that we are worth so much more and need to be doing way better than we are. The fact that it takes an innocent black male getting gunned down or the exposure of occupational discrimination in a sole corporation is just sad. I am happy to point out, however, that over the years, great strides have been made in the advancement of colored people. We are no longer slaves. We no longer experience a tangible oppression of our race by whites. We are no longer denied access to education and rights. And women, especially, have a greater role in society. There is much to be said about the amount of support and love we show for one another, though. There is also much to be said about the differences that exist between black and white women, but we no longer have to beg for recognition and acceptance in the eyes of a race that reaps the benefits of all with no actual labor put in.

I want to thank you, Ms. Stewart. For your sacrifice, your strength, and your bravery. I want to thank you, and women like you, for having the courage to overcome adversity and just do you. These characteristics are some that I envelop and carry down from you and women like you. These characteristics will ensure that your purpose and your legacy is not forgotten nor undervalued. There is no greater being than one who envisions a truly better future for all. So, I say thank you. Your strides will not be in vain.

Wrap-Up: A Black Woman's Nostalgia Part 1.

This post is just a briefing on writing that I've cleaned up and will be posting on here shortly.

These writings reflect me from a personally academic standpoint. This is just to say that, when you're in school, and regardless of the level, you always have to take a step back in some type of way. There's always pressure put upon you to conform to some standard and by it you are judged. This course I've been taking on African American Women's Rhetoric has been just... mindblowing. For one, I don't think I've ever had this much freedom academically. I've been able to say and do what I want with my writing and I can honestly say that I think it's more positive than any other methodology could ever be. When you allow someone with as big a mouth as me to just go off in typical black woman fashion, not only are you getting an unfiltered truth and break down of the real world according to me, but you're also allowing me the chance to think rhetorically (which is something I often don't do). Not many educators do this, so shout out to Dr. Kynard, cause she's mad real! All that, too fly...you get it.

I titled this piece with nostalgia in mind because nostalgia is really what I'm feeling as I write this. I have an overwhelming sense of growth where my writing is concerned, even if my thought patterns haven't changed. I've realized that the rhetoric of a Black woman is nostalgia when she is actively able to step back after enacting change and saying "I did that!" *Tamar's voice*. I don't think there's anything greater than knowing that your being proactive is bringing the change you want or envision happening in some way. If your voice and your message and the how of your whole everything is the way that you accomplish this, then that's a beautiful thing! It's been encouraged in me this semester and throughout my entire college career, so I'm definitely eager to go out and share what I've learned.