White Appropriations of Black Masculinities in the Civil PDF
Preview White Appropriations of Black Masculinities in the Civil
He Thinks He’s Down: White Appropriations of Black Masculinities in the Civil Rights Era, 1945-‐1979 Katharine Lizabeth Bausch A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO November, 2014 © Katharine Lizabeth Bausch, 2014 Abstract “He Thinks He’s Down” examines the ways in which a significant and influential collection of white artists and activists in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, seeking an alternative to hegemonic white middle-‐class masculinity, appropriated imaginary black masculinities into their lives and work. The dissertation demonstrates that during the civil rights era images of black men circulated widely in U.S. popular culture, in part because of the acceleration of the black freedom struggle. Media depictions of black men engaging in struggles for civil rights, integration, self-‐determination, and the end of white supremacy highlighted their rebelliousness, strength, freedom, and power. In this same moment, many white middle-‐class men felt anxious, disempowered, insecure, and disillusioned with norms of middle-‐class manhood, especially in the context of a growing white-‐collar economy, the nuclear arms race, suburbanization, and political corruption. These emotions were expressed in various popular culture forums, including literature, political movements, magazines and films. “He Thinks He’s Down” argues that one strategy adopted by white artists and activists to reinvigorate white middle-‐class masculinity was the appropriation of imaginary characteristics of black masculinity circulating in media, including rebelliousness, strength, freedom, and power. The four case studies examined here—Beat writers, Students for a Democratic Society activists, Playboy fashion editors, and Blaxploitation film directors—show that the artistic and political appropriations over the course of the period changed as the images of black men in the media varied, but that they nevertheless had similar consequences. Though ii often celebrating the strength of black masculinity, they ultimately reduced black manhood to a series of consumable images, perpetuated many racist stereotypes, silenced the role of black women and black femininities, and reinforced the structurally-‐based privileges that were denied to black men to either accept or reject hegemonic masculinity. ii i This dissertation is dedicated to the people who continue to struggle to make the dream of a just world a reality. “No Freedom Until We’re Equal.” iv Acknowledgements In honor of a woman who brought magic into my life, these acknowledgements are split seven ways. They are also very long-‐winded, as is my way, so settle in. First, I owe a tremendous debt to my supervisory team. My supervisor, Marc Stein, was my constant guide through this challenging process. He helped me to grow as a scholar, taught me about perseverance, and reminded me that my research and writing deserve careful and thoughtful consideration. He and his partner Jorge also gave up countless hours of their personal time, inviting me to sit at their kitchen table learning to be a better writer, for which I am grateful. I also want to thank Molly Ladd-‐Taylor for her thoughtful critiques that always reminded me to consider the counterarguments, her questions that forced me to contemplate the subtleties of my subject matter, the many research and teaching opportunities she offered me, and the cups of tea she poured for me with a spoonful of guidance and understanding. Finally, I want to thank Michele Johnson for so thoughtfully considering my work and asking the questions I was trying to avoid. Her willingness to make my project a priority in a busy and difficult time in her life is a credit to her unyielding professionalism and commitment. I would also like to thank the members of my examining committee for taking the time to carefully consider my project. Second, I would like to thank the many archivists who helped me navigate the dozens of boxes, hundreds of sheets of paper, and piles of notebooks that make up the bulk of my primary research. The archivists at the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Harry Ransom Center, the Students for a Democratic Society Archives, the Dartmouth Libraries, the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, v the McMaster University Libraries, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the University of Rochester Libraries, and the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project made my research process a pleasant and exciting journey. Those who are trying to cut funding to archives need only spend one long afternoon with an archivist who is helping to decipher the notes that Jack Kerouac wrote on napkins to realize that these cuts are foolish and short sighted. Third, I would like to thank all of the organizations that helped fund this project. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University, the Robert Cuff Fellowship, and the York University Graduate History Program have all provided generous support that took me from the U.S. Northeast to the U.S. Southwest and many places in between. Fourth, I was blessed to spend the last seven years among my professors and colleagues in the York University History Department. I’d like to thank Professors Marlene Shore, Marc Egnal, Craig Heron, Bettina Bradbury, Anne Rubenstein, Boyd Cothran, William Wicken, Kate McPherson, Carolyn Podruchny, and Jennifer Stephen for teaching me in their classrooms, giving me advice in their offices, and always offering their insights and support. I would also like to thank the administrative staff who were helpful and tireless. Thank you Lisa Hoffman, Karen Dancy, Patricia Di Benigno, Dharshi Sivitharshini, Daniela DiNunzio, and Anita Szucsko. Thanks are also necessary to the dozens of colleagues I had throughout my time in the program. They walked the strike line, had too many drinks, and attended v i conferences with me, offered advice, read my work, and filled difficult times with humor and understanding. In particular, I would like to thank the members of the Gender Reading Group, the U.S./Gender/Sexualities Writing Group (Mark Abraham, Ian McPhedran, Healy Thompson, Natalie Gravelle, Mathieu Brûlé, Merrick Pilling, Liane Cheshire, and Nathan Wilson), the Memory Reading Group (Lee Slinger, Dan Bullard, Jay Young, Nathan Wilson, and Colin McCullough) and (in no particular order) Mark Brownlie, Erin Dolmage, Sara Howdle, Andrew Watson, Ashlee Bligh, Jim Clifford, Val Deacon, Gil Fernandes, Brad Meredith, Samira Saramo, Angela Rooke, Sara Muscat, Laura Godsoe, Brian Macdowall, Kris Radford, Ian Milligan, Stacey Alexopoulos, Will Stos…and many more. Fifth, I would like to thank the many friends who helped me through this process and never told me to get a real job: the Bilous-‐Kanach-‐Leventhal family, who have been with me since the Windy City days, always gave me a home away from home, clipped articles from the newspaper, and read my many drafts; Raph and Diane for the hours of library “work” sessions, delightful book clubs, and bad movies; Isidora and Aleks for showing me a piece of heaven on earth, feeding me treats, and giving me solid advice; Sasha for always being just a phone call away; Tara for sticking with me all of these years; Funké and Francesca for always understanding me and making me laugh; Art for trusting me to be his colleague; Kate, Dermont, Malcolm, Isil, and Rita for constant support; Jenn for running next to me; the ladies in both of my book clubs for letting me be a book nerd; Crystal and Michael for feeding my love of pop culture; Shai for the laughter; Susan and Sofi for putting up with my endless typing and piles of books in the apartment; and vi i Madeleine and Dag for making the beautiful pictures and giving me defence against the dark arts lessons. Sixth, this project would not exist were it not for the love, support, and laughter that my family has provided me over the years. All of the mistakes found within are mine, but all of the successes belong to them. So to Michael, Susan, Shawn, Kelly, Mark, Lucas, Jacob, Clare, Kerry, Justin, Elian, Jude, Ada, Donna, and Barry, I would like to say thank you for encouraging me to take huge leaps, applauding the loudest when I succeed and saving my life when I don’t. If you read between the lines of this dissertation you will find them all there. Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the men and women who are the subjects of this dissertation. I may not always agree with their choices or like their art—in fact, sometimes I don’t like it at all—but these writers, activists, editors, and filmmakers had the courage to express a point of view, make an argument, and try to change the way we think with only words, images, and actions. I am now all too familiar with just how hard a project that can be. vi ii Table of Contents Abstract ii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents ix Introduction: Can He Be Down? 1 Chapter 1: “Try to Keep the Rebel Artist in You Alive”: Literary Constructions and Appropriations of Black Masculinity by Norman Mailer and Jack Kerouac, 1945-‐1965 34 Chapter 2: “And They Are Outraged”: Black and White Student Organizing, 1960-‐1965 99 Chapter 3: Hef’s Harlem Hip: The Soul Aesthetic in Playboy Magazine, 154 1964-‐1979 Chapter 4: The New Badass: Blaxploitation Films in White America, 1971-‐1979 202 Conclusion: When Can He Be Down? 266 Bibliography ix Introduction: Can He Be Down? When champion American swimmer Ryan Lochte was photographed with one of his gold medals during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, he smiled to show off his custom-‐made red, white, and blue grill. The grill, a metallic mouthpiece long associated with African American rappers, sparked a conversation among cultural commentators that focused less on whether the fashion accessory is aesthetically pleasing in general and more on whether it was appropriate for a young white swimmer to sport the mouthpiece. In Eric Wilson’s New York Times article, for instance, fashion designer Robert Tateossian bemoaned Lochte’s grill because it was “so nonharmonious with his image and with the sport that he represents.” Tateossian believed that the grill had no place around the pool because “swimming is such an elegant sport”; it’s “all about softness.”1 Implicit in Tateossian’s statement is a judgment about those who are associated with the grill in the mainstream U.S. imagination: African American men. If swimming precludes grills because it is elegant and soft, then those who usually wear the mouthpiece are inelegant and hard. Tateossian seemed to object to the meaning of Lochte's appropriation of this symbol in a sport dominated by white men and women. The media attention that Lochte’s grill garnered was partially a result of the swimmer’s claim that he had been asked by U.S. Olympic officials not to wear it on 1 Eric Wilson, “That Flashing Smile,” NYT, August 1, 2012. For other commentary on Ryan Lochte’s grill, see Nicole Auerbach and Kevin Johnson, “Ryan Lochte’s Post Race Grill Shines with Stars and Stripes,” USA Today, July 29, 2012; Jennifer LaRue Huget, “What’s on Ryan Lochte’s Teeth?” Washington Post, July 30, 2012; Cavan Sieczkowski, “Ryan Lochte Grill: London Olympics Swimmer Shows Off Red, White, and Blue Teeth,” Huffington Post, July 30, 2012. 1
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