The ideology of blackness.

228 Pages·1971·17.611 MB·English

by  Raymond F. Betts

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THE IDEOLOGY
of
BLACKNESS

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THE IDEOLOGY
of
BLACKNESS
Edited and with an
Introduction by
RAYMOND BETTS
F.
GRINNELL COLLEGE
HEATH AND COMPANY
D. C.
Lexington, Massachusetts
©
Copyright 1971 hyD.C. Heath and Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retriev-
al system, w^ithout permission in writing from the publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
Printedin the United States ofAmerica.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-145699
—
Preface
The history ofAfrica in the modern world is charged with drama and
wracked with suffering. Undergoing a diaspora more tragic than that
endured by the Jewish people, the Africans were forced, with the
advent of the slave trade, into the most widespread involuntary mi-
gration the world has known. They were also forced to assume the
habits and social patterns of the alien cultures into which they were
intruded. Those many more who remained in Africa underwent a
much less severe but still disorienting experience when European
imperialism spread over the continent at the end of the nineteenth
century.
Everywhere he found himself, the black was thus placed in a
psychologically disturbing and socially oppressive system. He was
told thathe had no past, at least no past worth recording; he was told
that his future depended upon his ability to imitate the very peoples
who had enslaved him. In reaction to such condescending assertions,
the radicalblackintellectual began to respond ideologically. Ideology
is here used in a cultural sense, to denote the verbal iconography
by which a people represents itself in order to achieve communal
purpose.
The attempt to define a culture and a social order which issued
from and would respond to the needs of black people was the intel-
lectual concern of the persons whose works have been excerpted in
this anthology. Editorial attention has therefore—been centered on
those assessments of the historical, literary, and most obviously
cultural characteristics that authors have considered to be the distinc-
tive qualities of the black experience and ethos. Particular political
strategies and policies, ranging from the American civil rights move-
ment to the Pan-African movement, do not therefore figure in this
anthology.
As the cultural phenomenon here being considered is of triconti-
nental proportions, an effort has been made to select works that
suggest the commonalty of themes, most of which revolve about a
particular life-style that is believed either to inhere in the black or
PREFACE
to be traditionally derived from a precolonial past or to be emergent
from the constraints of white racism.
The editor would argue that while intimate familiarity with the
sense and meaning of this ideology may be available only to the
black himself, knowledge and appreciation of the ideology can and
ought to be grasped by anyone who would openly try. It is hoped
that the anthology will serve this particular purpose.
R.F.B.
VI
Contents
INTRODUCTION
1
PART
I
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD
Toward CulturalDefinition
MARTIN ROBINSON DELANY
Selections fromThe Condition, Elevation, Emigration, andDestinyof
the Colored People ofthe United States
21
EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN
Selectionsfrom Christianity,Islam, and theNegro Race
25
MOJOLA AGBEBI
Selections from Inaugural Sermon
43
WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DU BOIS
SelectionfromThe Souls ofBlack Folk
47
CASELY HAYFORD
E.
J.
Selections from Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation
55
vii
CONTENTS
MARCUS AURELIUS GARVEY
Selections from Philosophy and Opinions ofMarcus Garvey
63
PART
II
CULTURAL RENAISSANCE
BlackAesthetics andLife-Style
COUNTEE CULLEN
Heritage
75
LANGSTON HUGHES
The Negro Artist and theRacialMountain
81
JEAN PRICE-MARS
Selections from Ainsi pariaJ'oncle
87
LOUIS-THOMAS ACHILLE
Art and theBlacks
95
AIME CESAIRE
Selections from Cahierd'un retourau paysnatal
103
LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR
Black Woman
107
African-Negro Aesthetics
110
viii