After Senator Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Texas’s House Bill 2 in 2013, she was vilified in ... more After Senator Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Texas’s House Bill 2 in 2013, she was vilified in the media as “Abortion Barbie.” As a term, “Abortion Barbie” was circulated in conservative and libe...
This essay examines the mythification of former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member As... more This essay examines the mythification of former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur by hip hop artists Paris, Common, Mos Def, Tuiya Autry and Walidah Imarisha and provides a framework for understanding the importance of the "love ethic" in the black liberation movement in the 1960s and 70s as well as today. It argues that the "love talk" of Common and Paris provide conflicting accounts of Shakur's activism and legacy, though she is heroized as a living martyr who continues to inspire revolutionary black activism, particularly among women.
In her concluding chapter, Lisa Corrigan confirms the initial claim made by Sara M. Evans: that t... more In her concluding chapter, Lisa Corrigan confirms the initial claim made by Sara M. Evans: that the wave metaphor should be replaced by a broader, more-inclusive history that accurately depicts the continuous and overlapping efforts of women activists. And our work is just beginning, notes Corrigan. Now, with the gift of hindsight and the awareness of the mistakes and the limitations of the Second Wave, is the time to reflect on the feminist cause in America and to chart its path forward.
This chapter examines Martin Luther King, Jr.’s production of the “beloved community” that he wan... more This chapter examines Martin Luther King, Jr.’s production of the “beloved community” that he wanted to produce through direct action protests in places like Birmingham, Selma, and Chicago. It evaluates how hope, disappointment, indignation, and despair framed King’s direct action and the SCLC’s intimate relationship with the black middle class, the White House, and white liberals. After John F. Kennedy’s assassination, King’s faith and optimism were shaken and his language about emotion shifted as he was forced to reconsider and respond to the use of rage as a black political emotion because the decade gave way to a more militant black posture about the white political and emotional inadequacies. Corrigan argues that white failure to perform intimate citizenship limited the civil rights movement and fueled rhetorical expressions that engaged a very different emotional repertoire for both whites and blacks. Many of King’s discourses, especially in relation to Birmingham, focused on ...
This chapter examines the ways in which Black Power activists used memories of King’s assassinati... more This chapter examines the ways in which Black Power activists used memories of King’s assassination as an instrumental as well as an affective rhetorical resource to help shape the memory and direction of the Black Power movement after 1968. It argues that King’s murder provided context and clarity for the Black Power movement, justifying a more militant and assertive identity for black activists working in opposition to an increasingly hostile federal government even as these intellectuals expressed their closeness with King. King’s death was an instance of cruel optimism that calcified an affective and rhetorical shift from black optimism to black pessimism because his assassination was a chronopolitical moment that not only ended integration politics but that fundamentally stopped time and also spurred more riots. For Black Power activists, King’s assassination confirmed both the impotence and duplicitousness of the federal government, particularly in the Johnson Administration a...
While the tensions between white hope and black despair were a dynamic that characterized politic... more While the tensions between white hope and black despair were a dynamic that characterized politics in the Long Sixties, their structure is recursive. That is, the (positive and negative racial) feelings that undergird racial liberalism did not stop emerging and receding after law and order campaigns destroyed civil rights and Black Power organizing in the mid-70s. Nowhere is this clearer than in the entrance and disappearance of the so-called “Obama coalition” in 2008 to elect Barack Obama as the first biracial/black president in U.S. history. In considering how hope continues to be inextricably linked to rage, contempt, and despair, this brief conclusion considers hope as an ironic discourse of liberalism, particularly as it is racialized. The birth of Afro- pessimism as a coterminous discourse with what we now call the “post-racial” Obama coalition is important because it demonstrates how black feelings in the Long Sixties continue to shape national political discourse, demonstrat...
ABSTRACT In this essay, we describe the protest cycle that begins when scholars from the margins ... more ABSTRACT In this essay, we describe the protest cycle that begins when scholars from the margins make demands on an institution or on the discipline for changes to ameliorate structural inequalities and offer two interventions related to the gridlock described above. First, we chart the patronage dynamic that produces pathological economies of liberal reform in the field of rhetoric. And second, we present possible solutions to break those cycles to produce a more equitable academic culture. We ultimately argue for divesting from cis-hetero whiteness and masculinity, particularly as it is sedimented in the distributed academic property rights through which white scholars retain control over disciplinary boundaries, publication decisions, faculty hiring, and tenure and promotion.
This chapter contextualizes Malcolm X’s interventions about black feelings in the contemporary ps... more This chapter contextualizes Malcolm X’s interventions about black feelings in the contemporary psychological literatures that framed and circulated about blackness to understand how new black psychology informed Malcolm’s emotional and rhetorical repertoire. Then, in excavating Malcolm’s performances of black rage as an easily identifiable feeling and an intended goal of his rhetorical corpus, Corrigan argues that Malcolm’s psychological strategy articulated what she calls “American Negritude.” Marrying black psychology to the work of African and Caribbean intellectuals theorizing postcolonial black subjectivity, Malcolm’s rhetorical skills hinged on his ability to resituate black political and social consciousness around black pride and disidentification from whites. Malcolm’s American Negritude, particularly as it embraced rage, was at odds with the affective orientation and the racial liberalism of the integrationists and created both tension and opportunity for a global blacknes...
In undertaking a historical and theoretical exploration of the co-constitutive nationalisms that ... more In undertaking a historical and theoretical exploration of the co-constitutive nationalisms that have characterized US-Cuban relations since the Cuban War of Independence in , John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco's Cuba, the United States, and Cultures of the Transnational Left, - provides several fresh perspectives notable to scholars working on the origins and trajectories of Cuban and American exceptionalism. The book centers on the failures and triumphs of two Left generations that saw revolution as a touchstone for campaigns of racial equality, anti-imperialism, and women's liberation. Cuba was a literal and figurative terrain for US radicals and revolutionaries in the generational transition from the Good Neighbor Policy to cold war containment. ()
Prison Power centers imprisonment in the history of black liberation as a rhetorical, theoretical... more Prison Power centers imprisonment in the history of black liberation as a rhetorical, theoretical, physical, and media resource as activists developed movement tactics and ideology to counter white supremacy. In highlighting imprisonment as a site for both political and personal transformation, Prison Power underscores how imprisonment shaped movement leaders by influencing their political analysis and organizational strategies. The book suggests that prison became the critical space for the transformation from civil rights to Black Power, especially as southern civil rights activists faced setbacks in achieving equality. In centering the prison as a locus of political inquiry, Black Power activists produced autobiographical writings, essays, and letters about and from prison beginning with the early sit-in movement. Prison Power introduces the critical optic of the “Black Power vernacular” to describe how Black Power activists deployed rhetorical forms in their writings that invent...
ABSTRACT This essay considers the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination to understand... more ABSTRACT This essay considers the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination to understand how Malcolm's public advocacy continues to resonate in a contemporary political context that continues to be punctuated by police violence against Black citizens, generally, and Black men, in particular. Using news accounts commemorating the anniversary of Malcolm's death, as well as stories invoking him or avoiding his invocation in #BlackLivesMatter coverage, this essay charts the political significance of invocations of Malcolm as rhetorical frames for understanding the man and his times as well as us in our milieu to understand how Malcolm's contribution to the #BlackLivesMatter has been minimized by their reformist agenda.
After Senator Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Texas’s House Bill 2 in 2013, she was vilified in ... more After Senator Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster of Texas’s House Bill 2 in 2013, she was vilified in the media as “Abortion Barbie.” As a term, “Abortion Barbie” was circulated in conservative and libe...
This essay examines the mythification of former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member As... more This essay examines the mythification of former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur by hip hop artists Paris, Common, Mos Def, Tuiya Autry and Walidah Imarisha and provides a framework for understanding the importance of the "love ethic" in the black liberation movement in the 1960s and 70s as well as today. It argues that the "love talk" of Common and Paris provide conflicting accounts of Shakur's activism and legacy, though she is heroized as a living martyr who continues to inspire revolutionary black activism, particularly among women.
In her concluding chapter, Lisa Corrigan confirms the initial claim made by Sara M. Evans: that t... more In her concluding chapter, Lisa Corrigan confirms the initial claim made by Sara M. Evans: that the wave metaphor should be replaced by a broader, more-inclusive history that accurately depicts the continuous and overlapping efforts of women activists. And our work is just beginning, notes Corrigan. Now, with the gift of hindsight and the awareness of the mistakes and the limitations of the Second Wave, is the time to reflect on the feminist cause in America and to chart its path forward.
This chapter examines Martin Luther King, Jr.’s production of the “beloved community” that he wan... more This chapter examines Martin Luther King, Jr.’s production of the “beloved community” that he wanted to produce through direct action protests in places like Birmingham, Selma, and Chicago. It evaluates how hope, disappointment, indignation, and despair framed King’s direct action and the SCLC’s intimate relationship with the black middle class, the White House, and white liberals. After John F. Kennedy’s assassination, King’s faith and optimism were shaken and his language about emotion shifted as he was forced to reconsider and respond to the use of rage as a black political emotion because the decade gave way to a more militant black posture about the white political and emotional inadequacies. Corrigan argues that white failure to perform intimate citizenship limited the civil rights movement and fueled rhetorical expressions that engaged a very different emotional repertoire for both whites and blacks. Many of King’s discourses, especially in relation to Birmingham, focused on ...
This chapter examines the ways in which Black Power activists used memories of King’s assassinati... more This chapter examines the ways in which Black Power activists used memories of King’s assassination as an instrumental as well as an affective rhetorical resource to help shape the memory and direction of the Black Power movement after 1968. It argues that King’s murder provided context and clarity for the Black Power movement, justifying a more militant and assertive identity for black activists working in opposition to an increasingly hostile federal government even as these intellectuals expressed their closeness with King. King’s death was an instance of cruel optimism that calcified an affective and rhetorical shift from black optimism to black pessimism because his assassination was a chronopolitical moment that not only ended integration politics but that fundamentally stopped time and also spurred more riots. For Black Power activists, King’s assassination confirmed both the impotence and duplicitousness of the federal government, particularly in the Johnson Administration a...
While the tensions between white hope and black despair were a dynamic that characterized politic... more While the tensions between white hope and black despair were a dynamic that characterized politics in the Long Sixties, their structure is recursive. That is, the (positive and negative racial) feelings that undergird racial liberalism did not stop emerging and receding after law and order campaigns destroyed civil rights and Black Power organizing in the mid-70s. Nowhere is this clearer than in the entrance and disappearance of the so-called “Obama coalition” in 2008 to elect Barack Obama as the first biracial/black president in U.S. history. In considering how hope continues to be inextricably linked to rage, contempt, and despair, this brief conclusion considers hope as an ironic discourse of liberalism, particularly as it is racialized. The birth of Afro- pessimism as a coterminous discourse with what we now call the “post-racial” Obama coalition is important because it demonstrates how black feelings in the Long Sixties continue to shape national political discourse, demonstrat...
ABSTRACT In this essay, we describe the protest cycle that begins when scholars from the margins ... more ABSTRACT In this essay, we describe the protest cycle that begins when scholars from the margins make demands on an institution or on the discipline for changes to ameliorate structural inequalities and offer two interventions related to the gridlock described above. First, we chart the patronage dynamic that produces pathological economies of liberal reform in the field of rhetoric. And second, we present possible solutions to break those cycles to produce a more equitable academic culture. We ultimately argue for divesting from cis-hetero whiteness and masculinity, particularly as it is sedimented in the distributed academic property rights through which white scholars retain control over disciplinary boundaries, publication decisions, faculty hiring, and tenure and promotion.
This chapter contextualizes Malcolm X’s interventions about black feelings in the contemporary ps... more This chapter contextualizes Malcolm X’s interventions about black feelings in the contemporary psychological literatures that framed and circulated about blackness to understand how new black psychology informed Malcolm’s emotional and rhetorical repertoire. Then, in excavating Malcolm’s performances of black rage as an easily identifiable feeling and an intended goal of his rhetorical corpus, Corrigan argues that Malcolm’s psychological strategy articulated what she calls “American Negritude.” Marrying black psychology to the work of African and Caribbean intellectuals theorizing postcolonial black subjectivity, Malcolm’s rhetorical skills hinged on his ability to resituate black political and social consciousness around black pride and disidentification from whites. Malcolm’s American Negritude, particularly as it embraced rage, was at odds with the affective orientation and the racial liberalism of the integrationists and created both tension and opportunity for a global blacknes...
In undertaking a historical and theoretical exploration of the co-constitutive nationalisms that ... more In undertaking a historical and theoretical exploration of the co-constitutive nationalisms that have characterized US-Cuban relations since the Cuban War of Independence in , John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco's Cuba, the United States, and Cultures of the Transnational Left, - provides several fresh perspectives notable to scholars working on the origins and trajectories of Cuban and American exceptionalism. The book centers on the failures and triumphs of two Left generations that saw revolution as a touchstone for campaigns of racial equality, anti-imperialism, and women's liberation. Cuba was a literal and figurative terrain for US radicals and revolutionaries in the generational transition from the Good Neighbor Policy to cold war containment. ()
Prison Power centers imprisonment in the history of black liberation as a rhetorical, theoretical... more Prison Power centers imprisonment in the history of black liberation as a rhetorical, theoretical, physical, and media resource as activists developed movement tactics and ideology to counter white supremacy. In highlighting imprisonment as a site for both political and personal transformation, Prison Power underscores how imprisonment shaped movement leaders by influencing their political analysis and organizational strategies. The book suggests that prison became the critical space for the transformation from civil rights to Black Power, especially as southern civil rights activists faced setbacks in achieving equality. In centering the prison as a locus of political inquiry, Black Power activists produced autobiographical writings, essays, and letters about and from prison beginning with the early sit-in movement. Prison Power introduces the critical optic of the “Black Power vernacular” to describe how Black Power activists deployed rhetorical forms in their writings that invent...
ABSTRACT This essay considers the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination to understand... more ABSTRACT This essay considers the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination to understand how Malcolm's public advocacy continues to resonate in a contemporary political context that continues to be punctuated by police violence against Black citizens, generally, and Black men, in particular. Using news accounts commemorating the anniversary of Malcolm's death, as well as stories invoking him or avoiding his invocation in #BlackLivesMatter coverage, this essay charts the political significance of invocations of Malcolm as rhetorical frames for understanding the man and his times as well as us in our milieu to understand how Malcolm's contribution to the #BlackLivesMatter has been minimized by their reformist agenda.
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