In this section of the Black Language Homework, we present BLACK RHETORIC. Black language is more than just the words and unique grammar; it's about what you DO with the language. So we highlight rhetoric here--- the ways that Black Language users persuade and move themselves and their audiences.
Welcome to your Black Rhetoric homework page!
In this corner of the syllabus, you will be introduced to some really powerful ways Black Language has been used throughout the history of the US as a means of Black Americans doing, moving, and persuading themselves and their audiences. We call this aspect of Black Language RHETORIC. As we have already established (but cannot be stressed enough), Black Language is not "broken English" or "just slang and bad grammar." Black Language is strategic and deliberate-- that's why we see it works rhetorically. Black Language is also a form of building culture where attempts to erase and degrade Black history have unwittingly failed. It's vitally important to note that Black Language is about layering meaning, infusing a legacy, and embodying a civilization and history that was torn from a myriad of peoples, who then banded together to build something anew. |
Features of Black RhetoricLayering Meaning * Infusing Legacy
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"I think what you're trying to ask is why am I so insistent upon giving out to them that black-ness, that black power, that black pushing them to identify with black culture. I think that's what you're asking. I have no choice over it in the first place. To me we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world --black people. And I mean that in every sense. Outside and inside. And to me I think we have a culture that is surpassed by no other civilization, but we don't know anything about it. So again I think I've said this before, in this same interview, I think at some time before, my job is to somehow make them curious enough and to persuade them by hook or crook to get more aware of themselves and where they came from and what they are into and what is already there and just to bring it out. This is what compels me to compel them, and I will do it by whatever means necessary." - Nina Simone |
For centuries! From Maria Stewart to Ida B. Wells to Megan Thee Stallion, Black Women have been using public spaces as a moment to perform their realness & shine light on our precarious place within the confines of this American democracy.
Black rhetoric, especially from Black women, focuses on protection: the dearth of institutional protection and the lack of our representation as a group who is deserving of respect and dignity within the societal confines of our own national democracy.
And such is the powerful force of prejudice. Let our girls possess what amiable qualities of soul they may; let their characters be fair and spotless as innocence itself; let their natural taste and ingenuity be what they may; it is impossible for scarce an individual of them to rise above the condition of servants. Ah! why is this cruel and unfeeling distinction? Is it merely because God has made our complexion to vary? If it be, O shame to soft, relenting humanity! - Maria Stewart ( September 1832) |
Governor Tillman, of South Carolina, in the month of June, standing under the tree in Barnwell, S.C., on which eight Afro-Americans were hung last year, declared that he would lead a mob to lynch a negro who raped a white woman. So say the pulpits, officials and newspapers of the South. But when the victim is a colored woman it is different... |
. . . Last winter in Baltimore, Md., three white ruffians assaulted a Miss Camphor, a young Afro-American girl, while out walking with a young man of her own race. They held her escort and outraged the girl. It was a deed dastardly enough to arouse Southern blood, which gives its horror of rape as excuse for lawlessness, but she was an Afro-American. The case went to the courts, an Afro-American lawyer defended the men and they were acquitted.
In Nashville, Tenn., there is a white man, Pat Hanifan, who outraged a little Afro-American girl, and, from the physical injuries received, she has been ruined for life. He was jailed for six months, discharged, and is now a detective in that city. In the same city, last May, a white man outraged an Afro-American girl in a drug store. He was arrested, and released on bail at the trial. It was rumored that five hundred Afro-Americans had organized to lynch him. Two hundred and fifty white citizens armed themselves with Winchesters and guarded him. A cannon was placed in front of his home, and the Buchanan Rifles (State Militia) ordered to the scene for his protection. The Afro-American mob did not materialize. Only two weeks before Eph. Grizzard, who had only been charged with rape upon a white woman, had been taken from the jail, with Governor Buchanan and the police and militia standing by, dragged through the streets in broad daylight, knives plunged into him at every step, and with every fiendish cruelty a frenzied mob could devise, he was at last swung out on the bridge with hands cut to pieces as he tried to climb up the stanchions. A naked, bloody example of the blood-thirstiness of the nineteenth-century civilization of the Athens of the South! No cannon or military was called out in his defense. He dared to visit a white woman.
At the very moment these civilized whites were announcing their determination "to protect their wives and daughters," by murdering Grizzard, a white man was in the same jail for raping eight-year-old Maggie Reese, an Afro-American girl. He was not harmed. The "honor" of grown women who were glad enough to be supported by the Grizzard boys and Ed Coy, as long as the liaison was not known, needed protection; they were white. The outrage upon helpless childhood needed no avenging in this case; she was black.
A white man in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, two months ago inflicted such injuries upon another Afro-American child that she died. He was not punished, but an attempt was made in the same town in the month of June to lynch an Afro-American who visited a white woman.
In Memphis, Tenn., in the month of June, Ellerton L. Dorr, who is the husband of Russell Hancock's widow, was arrested for attempted rape on Mattie Cole, a neighbors cook; he was only prevented from accomplishing his purpose, by the appearance of Mattie's employer. Dorr's friends say he was drunk and not responsible for his actions. The grand jury refused to indict him and he was discharged."
In Nashville, Tenn., there is a white man, Pat Hanifan, who outraged a little Afro-American girl, and, from the physical injuries received, she has been ruined for life. He was jailed for six months, discharged, and is now a detective in that city. In the same city, last May, a white man outraged an Afro-American girl in a drug store. He was arrested, and released on bail at the trial. It was rumored that five hundred Afro-Americans had organized to lynch him. Two hundred and fifty white citizens armed themselves with Winchesters and guarded him. A cannon was placed in front of his home, and the Buchanan Rifles (State Militia) ordered to the scene for his protection. The Afro-American mob did not materialize. Only two weeks before Eph. Grizzard, who had only been charged with rape upon a white woman, had been taken from the jail, with Governor Buchanan and the police and militia standing by, dragged through the streets in broad daylight, knives plunged into him at every step, and with every fiendish cruelty a frenzied mob could devise, he was at last swung out on the bridge with hands cut to pieces as he tried to climb up the stanchions. A naked, bloody example of the blood-thirstiness of the nineteenth-century civilization of the Athens of the South! No cannon or military was called out in his defense. He dared to visit a white woman.
At the very moment these civilized whites were announcing their determination "to protect their wives and daughters," by murdering Grizzard, a white man was in the same jail for raping eight-year-old Maggie Reese, an Afro-American girl. He was not harmed. The "honor" of grown women who were glad enough to be supported by the Grizzard boys and Ed Coy, as long as the liaison was not known, needed protection; they were white. The outrage upon helpless childhood needed no avenging in this case; she was black.
A white man in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, two months ago inflicted such injuries upon another Afro-American child that she died. He was not punished, but an attempt was made in the same town in the month of June to lynch an Afro-American who visited a white woman.
In Memphis, Tenn., in the month of June, Ellerton L. Dorr, who is the husband of Russell Hancock's widow, was arrested for attempted rape on Mattie Cole, a neighbors cook; he was only prevented from accomplishing his purpose, by the appearance of Mattie's employer. Dorr's friends say he was drunk and not responsible for his actions. The grand jury refused to indict him and he was discharged."
Black Rhetoric Book Bank
Storytelling is a major part of Black Rhetoric--- the structure and origins of Black Language tell and re-inscribe the story of American slavery every time we use it to speak with each other. Check out how these authors use Black Language in their writing to move and persuade their audiences to understanding the power of Black Language and the politics of codifying a skillset without the restrictions of white grammar and the mechanics of White Mainstream English framing and clouding their works.
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Check out this list of scholarly articles that address, research, investigate, and shed light on the myriad ways Black Rhetoric has influenced and shaped American culture and ideas.ntity.
Black Rhetoric Scholarly Article Bank |
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Your Black Rhetoric Video Bank
"The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman." - Malcolm X |
This quote is excerpted from a speech Malcolm X delivered at the funeral service of Ronald Stokes, a Black Korean war veteran who was shot in the back while he attempted to surrender by the LAPD in April 1962. Malcolm X's rhetoric is attuned to the plight of Black women's status in these United States. Most notably in terms of Black Rhetoric, we see Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion imposing, not only excerpts from Malcolm X's speech, but also imposing his voice onto their platforms and performances to harken the audience back to the historical context of his speech, and liken the continuation of this exact same issue to our contemporary moment. In his speech, while not referring to Ida B. Wells overtly, he stresses the idea of Black women needing protection, specifically from white men. When investigating these videos, ask yourself how these artists are layering meaning, imposing value and worth, embodying Black language, and also visualizing Black language as a means of moving and persuading an audience to action.
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Beyonce's reliance on Malcolm X's speech is likely a direct predecessor for Meg's remix of "Savage" in her SNL performance. Beyonce completely stops her visual and aural compositions in "Don't Hurt Yourself" to interpose the Malcolm X speech. The visuals cut to images of everyday Black women as Malcolm X speaks these words. Consider how in a moment when Beyonce is giving one of her more authentic performances she reaches back and brings to our attention the everyday Black women who are unprotected and disrespected even when the cameras aren't rolling.
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Watch closely Meg's remix of "Savage" in her SNL performance above. Meg utilizes her public stage, akin to Maria Stewart, to call out a very specific instance of a Black man being complicit in the institutional degradation of Black women. Consider watching her original music videos for the song, "Savage," and comparing the rhetorical differences of how she layered multiple meanings on the word "savage" and turned her public moment into a stance of bravery to call it like she sees it. Why does Malcolm X still have such resonance today? How are his words motivating Black women's rhetorics right now and why?
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In this video, how does Amiri Baraka use layering to embody Black Rhetoric? What are his tools of persuasion?
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How do we see the illustrious Maya Angelou utilize storytelling to respect the past while making a direct commentary on the present?
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Based on what you have read on this webpage about Black Rhetoric, what keys aspects do you recognize here?
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To reference this page:
Okonkwo, Toya Mary. "Black Rhetoric." Black Language Syllabus, 30 Jan. 2021, http://www.blacklanguagesyllabus.com/black-rhetoric.html
Okonkwo, Toya Mary. "Black Rhetoric." Black Language Syllabus, 30 Jan. 2021, http://www.blacklanguagesyllabus.com/black-rhetoric.html