do we need the city to understand the complexities of black life?

Peter Sellers (Chance, the gardener) and Ruth Attaway (Louise, the maid)

This Wednesday, the students will continue exploring “black” urban culture by reading two writings. The first, written by Thomas Bender, reveals the thoughts that some early American leaders had about the open land. The second, written by David S. Cecelski, looks at the critical role that African Americans played in “maritime,” or sea life, before the Civil War. The students will also watch “Wade in the Water,” a portion of a famous dance by African American choreographer Alvin Ailey. 

One of the things at stake in this class meeting is helping the students to see how the black body, which has often been associated with cities, could be found in other spaces. But the biggest issue is how no matter where the black body is found, we see it resisting something.  Among the questions before us: “How do African Americans fit into the vision of rural life that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington preferred?,”   “How did port cities like Wilmington, NC, permit African Americans – free or enslaved – to exercise freedom and independence?”  and finally, “What kinds of emotions do Alvin Ailey capture about black life before the Civil War in ‘Wade in the Water’?”

Finding answers to such questions should prompt us to return to what we have discussed in our first two meetings. In those meetings, we thought about the iconic Miss Anne of 1930s Harlem, Miley Cyrus and slam poetry performances  and the ways in which a gardener learns about the world around him via television.  All of these things made us think about black identity, or how we come to have agreements about what we think blackness is and how the city sometimes helps us find answers. 

Before the students departed last week, they were all given opportunities to turn in short replies to questions that were designed to stimulate discussion and thinking. I enjoyed reading what was turned in as I got a better sense of how some of them are digesting the material. If any of the others have more thoughts, they were welcomed to share them via email before we meet again. It is always good to see them thinking things through. Sometimes I have to step back from what I have read or watched before I really understand my position on it. I want to now share a few ideas that some of the students had after seeing excerpts from the 1979 movie “Being There,” which introduced us to the gardener in question, and after reading the Susan B.A. Somers-Willet article on slam poetry.

Anne Marie thought that Chance, the gardener, could understand “black life without the city.”  Though she did not say as much, I wonder if she believes this after seeing his interactions with Louise, the black maid who gave him his meals, or because of the images he saw of African Americans on television (something that Trakayla, another student, understood). Worth noting, Anne Marie was more explicit about Chance’s ability to understand black rural life. She said he could do as much if he saw pre-Civil War depictions of African Americans on television.

Marcia, another student, said while Chance was introduced to black life on television, he only understood its “complexities” once he got out into the city. Marcia was also reflective about the Somers-Willet article. She rightly saw that Somers-Willet was as interested in showing how African Americans share their identity as a marginalized group via slam poetry as she was in showing how such poetry “challenge[s]” its audiences who are often white middle class people (Brandy, yet another student, also understood this). I would have loved to hear Marcia and the rest of the class pull apart the idea of “challenge” and whiteness more. Why should white audiences be challenged when they hear the many topics about race discussed via slam poetry? This question is pertinent as we read Bender's article, which addresses something specific - maybe something beyond land - that early and antebellum American whites cherished.

As we go forward, we should keep thinking about all of these difficult issues and always keep the city, or urban life, black “identity” and now black “resistance” in view.

"...all will be well in the garden."

Still from "Being There,"(Dir. Hal Ashby), a 1979 film, starring Peter Sellers. It traces the experiences of a simple-minded gardener whose impressions of the world are based almost entirely on what he has seen on television. The film, which is set in the 1970s,  is ultimately a commentary on various aspects of contemporary culture.

Here goes. This is the first blog entry for the students taking “African Americans in the City.” Sorta. Since we have not yet done any readings, I am posting “their” first entry, which contains some insightful replies to the following prompt: “When I saw ___________________it made me ____________________________.” These replies were composed in response to clips from  “Being There,” a film about a Chance aka Chauncey Gardner, a simple-minded, Washington D.C.-based, er, uh, gardener, who for the first time is forced to leave the house in which he has lived all of his life. He is a middle-aged white man in a postwar city in which African Americans, especially males, young and old, are not flourishing socially. But Chance/Chauncey approaches them all with seeming ease. He has nothing to fear. The only African American he has ever known is Louise, a maid in the house in which he lived, and she was very nice (“She brought me my meals.”). Beyond her and his now-dead benefactor (the “Old Man”), nearly everything he knows is based on what he has seen on television. I used this comedy, in which Peter Sellers stars, as a way to push the students to think about several things, among them, the degree to which we make assumptions based on what we think we know about so much, African Americans included. The students composed a five-minute written reflection. Here are excerpts from what the students wrote:

1.       “When I saw Chauncey [interact with the African American teenagers]….it made me think a message was being sent.”

2.       “When I saw Louise’s response to Chance [speaking on television as a political authority after meeting the President of the United States] (“It’s a white man’s world!” she said), it made me think [that's] a general statement often repeated.

3.       When I saw Chance walking down the street near the Washington Monument, it made me think of when I rode down that street over the summer. Being in D.C… [makes you] overwhelmed by all [of] the history you’re surrounded by.”

4.       When I saw Chauncey interact with the black doctor, it made me think that he saw some sort of connection…between small and large black males, as if …they inherently know each other.”

5.       When I saw Chance take his first steps outside of the only home he knew, it made me think of the times when stepping out of your comfort zone becomes necessary…He draws from what he learns from T.V. to function in the ‘real world.’ College [,] for me [,] was a similar experience.”

6.       When I saw the way Chauncey interacted with the world…it made me think about the way people assume things…based on their limited experiences – often failing to truly understand.”

7.       When I saw Chauncey[lying] on the table getting an X-ray, it made me think of the movie “I Am Sam”…when Sam had to prepare the birthday party for his daughter. Their facial expressions were the same.”

8.       When I saw “Chauncey Gardner/Chance’s” obsession with the television and gardening, it made me think of my great grandmother’s former neighbor, _______________. Whenever my sister or I would go next door, he would always give us a seed to plant. Whenever we would visit he would take us to water our seed [and] he always assured us that he would take care of our seeds while we were [away]….”

9.       When I saw Chance describe the different seasons, it made me think of how much I dislike the cold, rainy weather we have been getting for the past week.”