2021: The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity

The Association for the Study of African American History and Life (ASAHL) has selected this annual theme to focus on the black family in America: 

The black family has been a topic of study in many disciplines—history, literature, the visual arts and film studies, sociology, anthropology, and social policy.  Its representation, identity, and diversity have been reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time. The black family knows no single location, since family reunions and genetic-ancestry searches testify to the spread of family members across states, nations, and continents. Not only are individual black families diasporic, but Africa and the diaspora itself have been long portrayed as the black family at large.

While the role of the black family has been described by some as a microcosm of the entire race, its complexity as the “foundation” of African American life and history can be seen in numerous debates over how to represent its meaning and typicality from a historical perspective—as slave or free, as patriarchal or matriarchal/matrifocal, as single-headed or dual-headed household, as extended or nuclear, as fictive kin or blood lineage, as legal or common law, and as black or interracial, etc. Variation appears, as well, in discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality, and incarceration. The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.

Check out these links to learn more about historical and contemporary issues in the black family:

• Black Families, 4th Edition by Hariette Pipes McAdoo
• The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925, 1st Edition by Herbert Gutman
• The Chubbs: A Free Black Family's Journey from the Antebellum Era to the Mid-1900s by Clemmie Whatley
• The Strengths of Black Families, Second Edition by Robert Hill
• The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wiencek
• African American History & Devotions: Readings and Activities for Individuals, Families, and Communities by Teresa Fry Brown
• Black Family Reunions: Finding the Rest of Me by Iones Vargus
• Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• Black Families in Therapy: Understanding the African American Experience, Second Edition by Nancy Boyd-Franklin
• Whole Brother: Debunking the Myths That Break the Black Family by Maliek Blade

TIME: 25 Most Important Films on Race

TIME magazine has released the 25 most important films on race in America:

To celebrate Black History Month, we've chosen 25 movies to honor the artistry, appeal and determination of African Americans on and behind the screen. The films span nine decades, and reveal a legacy that was tragic before it was triumphant. At first, blacks were invisible; when they were allowed to be seen, it was mostly as derisive comic relief. The 1950s ushered in the age of the noble Negro, in the imposing person of Sidney Poitier — the Jackie Robinson of movies. Only when Hollywood realized that a sizable black audience would pay to see films more reflective of their lives, whether funny, poignant or violent, were they given control of the means of production. Sometimes. The fact remains that of the 25 films here, chosen to cover the widest range of black films, fewer than half were directed by blacks.

I highly recommend browsing the list. Many of the films, such as Imitation of Life, Gone with the Wind, and In the Heat of the Night, were produced in a time where race relations were very intense in the nation. More recent films, such as Do the Right Thing and Bamboozled, explore modern perspectives on race. This is a great link for film and cinema studies enthuasists.

Review: The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912)

The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912), by James Weldon Johnson, narrates the story of a young mulatto man who decides to permanently "pass for white" at the turn of the century (early 1900s). Throughout his young adulthood, he embraces African American (Negro) musical traditions but struggles with the daily difficulties of identifying as a black man in American society.

In his childhood, he and his black mother relocate to Connecticut from Georgia where he excells brilliantly in his studies, especially becoming a music prodigy on the piano. However, one day in school, he is stunned when the teacher asked for him to sit down when all the white students continue to stand. He wonders why he was treated differently from his peers.

He rushes home to tell his mother what happened in school. As he compares his dark curly hair and fair skin complexion to his mother, he learns that he is indeed considered black (because of the racial identity of his mother) and that his father is a white Southerner.This news shocks him. By high school graduation, the sudden death of his mother and the sale of his home leaves him alone with little money to attend Harvard. Following his mother's wishes, he heads south to Atlanta University to pursue his music studies.

Unfortunately, as he reaches the university, he discovers someone has stolen his money. To recover his loss, he finds a job at a cigar factory in Florida and teaches piano lessons on the side. When the factory shuts down, he relocates to New York City where he discovers ragtime music. An older, white gentleman overhears the young man playing the piano at a club and persuades him to tag along on a tour of Europe.

Although he enjoys his trip in Europe, he desires to return to America to pursue his studies on Negro music. His curiosity and admiration for Negro culture is shattered when he witnesses firsthand a white mob lynch a black man. In the wake of this experience, he abandons his musical ambitions. He feels too much shame to associate himself to a group of people "treated worse than animals."

This is a riveting story of the struggles of a young mulatto man living in two separate worlds: one black and one white. As he travels throughout New England and the American South, he develops an appreciation for African American musical traditions, such as ragtime music. Unfortunately, the incident with the white lynch mob terrifies the narrator greatly. Although this book written nearly 80 years ago, its importance in African American literature is still essential. African Americans developed a sense of double consciousness, where they struggled in a society where racial identities were rigid and binary. Racial prejudice was very common and harsh , and those who could escape it "passed for white", or crossed the color line.

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), best known as the composer to Life Every Voice and Sing, wrote his first and only novel on the complexity of race in American society at the turn of the century. As one of the first fictional novels using the first person written by an African-American author, this famous book inspired other African-American writers, such as Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, to create fictional novels on African American life and culture. Johnson would later become an active leader and writer in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), African Diaspora studies and the Harlem Renaissance.

I also recommend Danzy Senna's Caucasia and Nella Larsen's Passing, which also explores themes of race and biracial identity throughout African American history.