What do we constitute as
blackness? Blackness has been defined differently through history, society, amongst
white people, and amongst black people. It has become difficult to pinpoint
what blackness is and what it means to people. Blackness has undergone concrete
to abstract meaning. In early America, blackness was majority concrete in
meaning. The color of one’s skin was associated with blackness. When it came to
selling and buying slaves “rituals of the slave pens taught the inexperienced
how to read black bodies for their suitability for slavery, how to imagine
blackness into meaning, how to see solutions to their own problems in the
bodies of the slaves they saw in the market” (Johnson 148). Blackness was
equivalent to slavery during this era. This was blackness made tangible,
blackness that you could command. Society had broken down blackness, yet still
found a way to separate whiteness and blackness. Slaveholders and traders took
precision into separating blackness and whiteness, categorizing blacks as Negro,
mulatto, griffe, quadroon, and so forth. Blackness could be diluted by white
blood but not wiped out completely.
Today we use
blackness abstractly in a celebratory fashion. Blackness is less concrete and
more abstract. Concepts of blackness have been pushed in order to combat the
negative connotations of blackness. “Black Girl Magic” is not a physical thing,
but it is an idea that black woman have created to express their blackness not
solely based on their skin tone. Although, Black Lives Matter is an organization,
it is also a way of thinking. Everything that a person of African descent does
is black. One must accept the concreteness of their blackness in order to
embrace the abstract thought of their blackness. Walter Johnson explained, “the
saving abstraction ‘black blood’—later codified in law as the ‘one-drop rule’—held
the power to distinguish nearly white people from really white people” (Johnson
155). Remnants of the one drop rule is still alive today; however, black people
have turned its negative intentions to good. The smallest amount of black blood
sustains one’s blackness. Blackness was once derogatory; however, black people
have made it something to embrace and to be proud of. It has taken centuries
for African Americans to love there blackness, blackness that was once
associated with slavery and inferiority. Blackness is both a concrete and
abstract concept. The foundation of blackness is based off the one’s heritage;
however, it is also a way of thinking, living, and being.
It's intriguing to consider the ways that blackness has been defined and transformed throughout the years, growing evidently more abstract in nature, whereas, as you wrote, the institution of slavery attempted to monopolize blackness as the prerequisite to being a slave. Your comment that "Blackness could be diluted by white blood but not wiped out completely" is indicative of the commonly held belief in the U.S. during the time of slavery that blackness was impure and inferior, while whiteness was pure and superior. It is grossly paradoxical that blackness could be seen, abstractly, as an impurity, a contaminate, something to "dilute" until it was "wiped out." However, this overtly racist abstraction would not bode well for those whites wanting to own black people, so, of course, steps were not taken to en-graft or "wipe out" black bodies but rather to reproduce them to profit off of them.
ReplyDeleteIt is enlightening and practical that "one must accept the concreteness of their blackness in order to embrace the abstract thought of their blackness." Beyond merely accepting the color of one's skin, there lies the opportunity to celebrate it and all that it stands for and means, both individually and in terms of the vastness of black culture and community. This gradual shift from the concrete definition to the more abstract, ever-changing and growing connotation of blackness reveals the inability of racist ideology to dehumanize an entire group of people for the purposes of subjugation and commodification.
I found this to be very powerful. This concrete association of blackness is what stemmed the race factor as a "by-product" to the institution of slavery as said by Johnson. This was an easy way to enforce dominion over another people; however, that dominion was never fully achieved. Although we have discussed why it was never fully achieved, I believe it is safe to say that ones appreciation for his or her own blackness is also an act of subjectivity. I coincides with the fact that parents began to teach their children the complete opposite to what the white race had to say about them as a buffer to the horrors of enslavement.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the term blackness has evolved into something more celebratory. As you said, it is not just the color of one's skin. I think of it more as a way of living and believing. In our society, we have learned to not listen or believe what other races have to say about blackness. It is definitely something to be proud of, especially considering everything in history that has happened to African Americans. The dehumanizing of our race never prohibited us from creating a culture out of our history.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shavonne in saying that the dehumanizing of the African American race never prohibited them from creating a culture out of their history. The celebration of blackness today is representative of this. Traditions from the times of slavery have carried on and evolved into many of the cultural aspects of African American life throughout history. As we have discussed in class, and as you mentioned in this post blackness has been defined differently throughout history, but I would argue that although it comes in different forms, the culture and celebration among black people has remained the same throughout history.
ReplyDeleteI loved the notion of accepting your concreteness in order to accept your abstractedness. Your post is very powerful in terms of enlightening non-blacks of the power that comes with owning who you are in spite of the negative history associated with your concrete identity. This concept is empowering, and I wonder if there is a way for whites to also own their concrete and abstract selves, but not at the expense of further oppressing other races. Is it necessary for white people to find ownership within themselves or does society do that enough for them? While white people as a whole have not nearly suffered the same history as African-Americans, can we too overcome our history to celebrate ourselves and each other without being defined by our history? I struggle with this, as systematically whites are celebrated every day, but perhaps there is power in everyone learning to appropriately celebrate themselves and their culture.
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