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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
The problem of defining a coherent cultural identity is one that has confronted generations of Afro-Americans. As part of the justification and defence of slavery and the slave trade many whites rationalized their actions by arguing that all Africans were cultureless savages. The same combination of guilt and arrogance induced them to attempt to suppress and denigrate surviving elements of a culture whose very existence they had already denied. Most black Americans responded to these pressures by rejecting Africa and their African heritage as a source of shame and by trying to deny and to erase their blackness. Malcom X clearly understood this when he proclaimed in 1965: ‘ We have been a people who hated our African characteristics. We hated our black heads, we hated the shape of our noses …, we hated the color of our skin.’ Identification with the dominant white culture took many forms. For some Blacks it involved the use of hair straightening and skin bleaching; for others it meant the elimination of any ethnic quality in their speech, dress, cuisine and religion; for many more it meant a life of morality and hard work lived according to the dictates of the Puritan ethic. The loss of any distinctive cultural identity involved in this process was made worse by the unwillingness of white society to recognize and accept the Afro-American as part of the dominant culture. In these circumstances many blacks found themselves in a cultural limbo without an adequate self-image. White domination of the media meant that they sometimes felt literally invisible. James Baldwin drew attention to this dilemma in a speech delivered in June 1963, when he noted that:
A black child born in this country … discovers two terrifying things. First of all he discovers that he does not exits in it, no matter where he looks – by which I mean books, magazines, movies – there is no reflection of himself anywhere … [if] he finds anything which looks like him, he is authoritatively assured that this is a savage, or a comedian who has never contributed anything to civilization.
1 Cited in Weisbord, Robert G., Ebony Kinship. Africa, Africans and the Afro-American (Westport, Conn., 1973), p. 182Google Scholar.
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5 Stokely Carmichael, ‘ Power and Racism ’, in Barbour, op. cit., p. 65. See also Browne, Robert S., ‘ The Case for Two Americas ’, New York Times, 11 08, 1968, vi, pp. 12–13, 50–1Google Scholar.
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8 Cited in Ibid., p. 205.
9 Hughes, Langston, ‘ The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain ’, in Gayle, Addison Jr, ed., The Black Aesthetic (Garden City, N.Y., 1971), pp. 179–80Google Scholar.
10 Cited in Huggins, op. cit., p. 204.
11 Lincoln, C. Eric, The Black Muslims in America (Boston, 1961), p. 36Google Scholar.
12 From the OAAU's ‘ Statement of Basic Aims and Objectives ’, cited in Clarke, John Henrik, Malcolm X: The Man and His Times (Toronto, 1969), p. 341Google Scholar.
13 Ibid.
14 Malcolm X, ‘ Letters from Mecca ’, in Barbour, op. cit., p. 244.
15 John Henrik Clarke, op. cit., p. 337.
16 Cited in Clarke, John Henrik, ‘ Malcolm X: The Man and His Times ’, Negro Digest, 18 (05 1969), 63Google Scholar.
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18 New York Times, 26 February, 1968, p. 31.
19 Robert G. Weisbord, op. cit., p. 188. Much of the material in this section is derived from Weisbord's study.
20 Ibid., p. 209.
21 See, for example, Henderson, Donald, ‘ Black Student Protest in White Universities ’, in Szwed, John F., ed., Black America (New York, 1970), pp. 263–5Google Scholar, and Yates, Frank, ‘ Black Studies at this Juncture ’, Negro Digest, 19 (03 1970), 88Google Scholar.
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23 Hamilton, Charles V., ‘ Black Students Want Relevancy ’, Essence, 1 (05 1970), 25Google Scholar.
24 These issues are discussed in Walker, Sheila, ‘ Black English ’, Black World, 20 (06 1971)Google Scholar, and June Jordan, Ibid., 22 (August 1973).
25 Barbara Ann Teer, ‘ Needed: A New Image ’, in Barbour, op. cit., p. 222.
26 Berger, Bennett, ‘ Black Culture or Lower-Class Culture ’, in Rainwater, Lee, ed., Soul (Chicago, 1970), p. 127Google Scholar. See also Ulf Hannerz, ‘ The Significance of Soul ’, Ibid., pp. 26–8. New York Times, 3 May 1970, 11, p. 17, discusses the commercial exploitation of ‘ Soul ’, and the African heritage.
27 In support of this view see Blauner, Robert, ‘ Black Culture: Myth or Reality? ’, in Whitten, Norman and Szwed, John, ed., Afro-American Anthropology (London, 1970)Google Scholar, and Keil, Charles, Urban Blues (Chicago, 1966)Google Scholar.
28 Larry Neal, ‘ The Black Arts Movement ’, in Addison Gayle, Jr, op. cit., p. 272.
29 Cited in Runcie, John, ‘ Black and Blue ’, Luciad (03 1967), p. 15Google Scholar.
30 Cited in Kofsky, Frank, Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music (New York, 1970), p. 141Google Scholar. For Shepp's views see also Runcie, John, ‘ Archie Shepp: Afro-America and the Black Counter Culture ’, Melody Maker, 21 09, 1974, p. 30Google Scholar.
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37 See, for example, Clayton Riley, ‘ On Black Theater ’ in Gayle, Jr, op. cit., pp. 315–27.
38 Baraka, Imamu Amiri (Jones, LeRoi), ‘ Black Revolutionary Poets Should Also Be Play wrights ’, Black World, 21 (04 1972), 4Google Scholar. See also New York Times, 5 January 1968, 1, p. 33, for an account of Jones's involvement in the Newark riot of 1967.
39 Ron Karenga, , ‘ Black Cultural Nationalism ’, Negro Digest, 17 (01 1968), 5, 9Google Scholar.
40 Bruce Milliam, cited in Johnson, Helen, ‘ Playwrights, Audiences and Critics ’, Negro Digest, 19 (04 1970), 23Google Scholar.
41 Hayden, Robert, in excerpts from a writers' symposium, Negro Digest, 17 (01 1968), 33Google Scholar.
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43 Ellison, Ralph, ‘ Romare Bearden: Paintings and Projections ’, Crisis, 77 (03 1970), 81–86Google Scholar.
44 New York Times, 13 02, 1972, vii, p. 47Google Scholar.
45 West, Hollie, ‘ Black Poets Reach Back to the Streets ’, Black Times, 1 (08 1971), 6Google Scholar.
46 This and previous quotations are from Halisi, Clyde and Mtume, James, eds., The Quotable Karenga (Los Angeles, 1967)Google Scholar.
47 Robert G. Weisbord, op. cit., p. 201. For the transformation of US into the Temple of Kawaida and the development of Karenga's ideas on cultural nationalism into the doctrine of Kawaida see Karenga, Ron, ‘ Overturning Ourselves: From Mystification to Meaningful Struggle ’, Black Scholar, 4 (10 1972)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and ‘ A Strategy for Struggle ’, Ibid., 5 (November 1973).
48 Cited in Clarke, John Henrik, ‘ Black Power and Black History ’, Negro Digest, 18 (02 1969), 14Google Scholar.
49 Lester, Julius, Look Out Whitey! Black Power's Gon Get Your Mama (London, 1970), p. 88Google Scholar.
50 See, for example, Muhammad Speaks, 18 October 1968, p. 25, and 20 December 1968, P. 13.
51 Ibid., 11 October 1969, p. 37; see also 20 December 1968, p. 37.
52 Ibid., 31 May 1968, p. 29.
53 Ibid., 28 July, 1967.
54 Ibid., 20 December 1968, pp. 37–8.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid., 25 August 1967, p. 21.
57 Ibid., 13 September 1968, p. 23; 20 September 1968, p. 23.
58 Ibid., 3 May 1968, p. 21.
59 Ibid., 10 January 1969, p. 35. 17 January 1969, p. 10; 18 September 1970, p. 21; and 25 December 1970, p. 28, contain advertisements for Black Power Cologne, Black Power After Shave, the 1969 Calendar of Soul (with illustrations of Jomo Kenyatta and Patrice Lumumba), Black is Beautiful Sweatshirts and Amulets containing ‘ genuine soil from Mother Africa ’.
60 New York Times, 15 April 1972.
61 Floyd McKissick, ‘ Programs for Black Power ’, in Barbour, op. cit., p. 180.
62 New York Times, 15 January 1968, p. 46; 4 February 1968, vi, p. 28.
63 Core Magazine, 3 (Fall/Winter 1973), 5Google Scholar.
64 For an analysis of CORE's policies and the debt which they owe to the ideology of Marcus Garvey, see Ed Brown, ‘ Core and Garveyism ’, Ibid., pp. 41–3.
65 The Black Panther, 9 February 1974, pp. 1–2.
66 Ibid., 18 May 1974, p. 4.
67 Foner, Philip S., ed., The Black Panthers Speak (Philadelphia, New York, 1970), p. 18Google Scholar.
68 The Black Panther, 18 May 1974, p. 4.
69 King, Martin Luther, Chaos or Community? (New York, 1967), p. 57Google Scholar.
70 Ibid., p. 46.
71 Ibid., p. 57.
72 Ibid., p. 48.
73 New York Times, 16 August 1970, p. 56.
74 The Probe, 1 (05 1967), pp. 20–2Google Scholar.
75 Ibid., i (Winter 1968), 23.
76 New York Times, 26 June 1968, p. 32.
77 Ibid., 7 July 1968, pp. 1, 38.
78 Ibid., 1 August 1968, p. 48; 3 August 1969, p. 42.
79 In an interview published in the National Observer, 9 March 1974, Whitney Young's successor, Vernon Jordan, voiced his support for self-determination, ethnicity, and cultural pluralism.
80 The Crisis, 76 (02 1969), p. 61Google Scholar.
81 Ibid., 74 (November 1967), p. 440.
82 Ibid., 76 (February 1969), p. 84.
83 New York Times, 25 June 1968, p. 29.
84 Ibid., 29 June 1968, p. 26.
85 Muhammad Speaks, 31 May 1968, p. 29.
86 Ibid., 4 October 1968, p. 7.
87 Ibid., 29 November 1968, p. 30.
88 Ibid., 27 December 1968, pp. 20–2.
89 Ibid., 20 March 1970. See also 29 November 1968, p. 37, in which Muhammad asked ‘ How can a particular food make one more black when its purpose is assimilation for nourishment, not pigmentation for improvement? ’
90 Ibid., 22 May 1970, p. 17.
91 Ibid., 10 July 1970, p. 24.
92 Ibid., 11 September 1970, p. 3. See also 2 October 1970, pp. 11–12.
93 Ibid., 13 November 1970, p. 12.
94 The Black Panther, 3 March 1969.
95 See, for example, Foner, op. cit., p. 152.
96 The Black. Panther, 25 May 1969, p. 4.
97 Lee Lockwood, , Conversation with Eldridge Cleaver/Algiers (London, 1971), pp. 111–12Google Scholar.
98 The Black Panther, 31 May 1969.
99 Foner, op. cit., p. 50.
100 Ibid., p. xvi.
101 Ibid., p. 105.
102 Julius Lester, op. cit., p. 79. For the racist element in cultural nationalism, see Foner, op. cit., p. 153.
103 The Crisis, 77 (08-09 1970), 260–3Google Scholar.
104 For Wilkins' views see The Crisis, 76 (02 1969), 84Google Scholar, and the New York Times, 14 January 1969, 1. Also useful were, Rivers, Francis, ‘ Black Nationalism on the Campus ’, The Crisis, 75 (04 1968)Google Scholar, and Martin Kilson, ‘ The Black Studies Movement: A Plea for Perspective ’, Ibid., 76 (October 1969).
105 Ibid., 78 (April-May 1971), 78.
106 Griffin, Junius, ‘ Hollywood and the Black Community ’, The Crisis, 80 (05 1973), 171Google Scholar
107 Cruse, Harold, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (New York, 1967), pp. 98–9Google Scholar.
108 According to one critic the Black Theatre, in particular, had failed to shake off its image as ‘ an artifact of middle class snobbishness ’. Wesley, Richard, ‘ Toward a Viable Black Film Industry ’, Black World, 22 (07 1973), 24Google Scholar.
109 Cited in Goldman, Peter, ‘ Black America Now ’, Newsweek, 19 02 1973Google Scholar.
110 The change in Black Panther policies and the progress of Bobby Seale's campaign for the Oakland mayoralty election are discussed in the New York Times, 20 August 1972, 1, p. 59; 8 April 1973, p. 38; and 20 May 1973, iv, p. 8. For SCLC and Urban League activities see Ibid., 7 January 1972, p. 9, and the League's National Progress Report for 1972.
111 New York Times, 11 September 1971, p. 54. For Jones's activities during this period see also Ibid., 5 September 1970, p. 6; 11 March 1972, p. 12; and Baraka, Imamu Amiri (Jones, LeRoi), ‘ Gary and Miami – Before and After ’, Black World, 21 (10 1972)Google Scholar.
112 Cited in the New York Times, 29 August 1973, p. 16.
113 This disagreement is mentioned in the New York Times, 10 March 1972, p. 20; 13 March 1972, 1; 14 March 1972, p. 31. For the final withdrawal of the NAACP, see the issue of 17 May 1972, p. 9.
114 Ibid., 9 July 1972, p. 21.
115 Ibid., 29 August 1973, p. 16.
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