"say it loud. i'm black and i'm proud!"

still image from The Commitments (1991)

I am still grading the students' mid-terms exams while writing new lectures for my US Since 1865 survey so, I am behind on keeping up this blog. I especially wanted to share more of the students' ideas about identity. We will certainly return to this issue this week by completing Lynda Barry's book The Good Times Are Killing Me and watching one of my favorite films of all time, "The Commitments." This 1991 motion picture, which is set in Dublin, presents an Irish band that has an incredible love for African American music - especially tunes from the 1950s and 1960s. At one point,  they declare, "Say it loud. I'm black and I'm proud" a la James Brown. 

I first fell in love with this film by accident. I was still working as a journalist and stumbled upon a promotional poster for this movie in a newspaper library. It was a freebie. I took it home. I loved the many black and white images and decided to look for the film on VHS. 

Years later, I recall watching the film with new eyes as I learned more about how race is socially constructed. Indeed, upon hearing that today some Irish people do not like African immigrants in their country, fearing as did some antebellum Irish in the United States , that they will take away much needed resources, I wondered how I could still love the film. I was reminded of the lyrics in one Sounds of Blackness tune that go, "Everybody wants to sing my blues, but nobody wants to live my blues." I am still working through this inner conflict and lean more toward seeing the complexities in people and being very curious about how to find meaning in it all.

My students and I will take up the issue of identity again by looking again at music. American singer Miley Cyrus' "performance" of "blackness" certainly prompted lively conversation not just in class, but in at least one poem that a student turned in for her mid-term. Yes, in addition to 30 multiple choice questions, the students had a choice of exploring identity, resistance, housing and labor across time via a short essay question or a poem. I was stunned by the creativity seen in those who decided to address these themes via poetry.

I am reminded again of the value in exploring the alternatives to writing essays. Instructors often see students with different skill sets and it is worth it to allow those who "get" the material to find new ways of showing as much. Three colleagues here at Alabama and I recently proposed a panel talk for an upcoming conference on this subject. To be continued....