Quiz 7 - Chapters 22, 23, 24, and 25 from Handbook for Black Studies

The Emergence of Black Studies

• The pioneers of Black Studies were mostly undergraduate students or graduate students who were the first-generation college students in their families.
• They were determined to challenge the White racism that was being taught as universal knowledge and were driven by a political desire for a discipline that would begin with African people as subjects rather than objects.

Student Demands and Activism

• Students demanded additional Black faculty members, Black cultural centers, lecture programs featuring outstanding Black scholars, and sensitivity classes for White faculty members.
• Many African American students were arrested during this period, with some receiving unfairly long sentences.
• These students are considered heroes of the struggle for equal education.

The Search for Faculty

• The early movement faced the issue of finding qualified professors to teach Black Studies courses.
• Some African professors, such as Boniface Obichere, were exceptionally brilliant and made a significant impact.
• However, some continental African professors struggled to adapt to the African American context and faced racism themselves.
• In some cases, universities hired African Americans without terminal degrees, but with significant community experience and achievement.

The General Revolution

• There have been three movements for academic enrichment within the general revolution initiated by the Black Studies revolution.
• The terminal degree for most academic disciplines is the doctorate, but in the 1960s, most African Americans with doctorates taught at predominantly Black institutions in the South.
• The hiring of continental African professors proved to be a challenging action, as they often lacked knowledge of the African American experience and had to adapt quickly.
• The emphasis on the race of professors led to a misunderstanding of the cultural, social, and psychological experiences necessary for empathetic relationships.

Preparation for the Interview

• It is essential to test your equipment before each interview session to ensure comfort during the interview.
• Bring extra cassette tapes, batteries, and an extension cord to the interview.
• Recommended equipment includes Marantz PMD series, Sony Walkman Mini Disk, or Sony Memory Digital Voice Recorder with Dragon.

Preliminary Research

• Learn as much as possible about the informants/interviewees, including their family life, career, and contributions.
• Research the times in which they lived and significant historical, social, and cultural changes that occurred during their lives.
• Use research sources such as newspapers, journal articles, magazines, autobiographies, diaries, and published interviews.

Question Outline

• Create a question outline containing biographical and subject information to formulate into questions.
• Write detailed questions under each topic heading.
• The outline can be used as a guide during the interview.

Initial Contact

• Make a relaxed, not pushy, introduction by telephone, stating the purpose of the interview.
• Use intuition to gain the confidence of the interviewee, which may require multiple telephone calls.
• Send a letter stating the purpose and follow up with another telephone call.

Interview Session

• Set up arrangements to meet the interviewee at their home or office to provide a level of comfort and access to primary source materials.
• Bring the question outline, paper, pens, and necessary research materials to the interview.
• Begin the session with light, pleasurable questions to break the ice and help the interviewee overcome initial anxiety.

Interview Techniques

• Ask clear, brief, open-ended questions that yield detailed narrative descriptions.
• Avoid asking "yes" or "no" questions.
• Let the interviewee speak freely about a topic to establish ease.
• Avoid interrupting the interviewee and take notes on questions to ask later.
• Establish eye contact and avoid signaling during the interviewee's monologue.

Critique of Statements by Jackson and West

• Tony Brown resents statements by Jesse Jackson and Cornel West, citing his personal experience as evidence against their claims.
• Jackson's statement: feeling relieved when seeing a White person behind him at night, implying subconscious racism.
• West's statement: poverty leads to criminality, drugs, and alcoholism among Black people.

Alternative Perspective on Poverty and Crime

• Brown argues that West's statement is not necessarily true and applies to poor Whites as well.
• He provides evidence from his personal experience to counter West's claim.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vision of Integration

• Brown contends that King understood the need for economic self-sufficiency and inclusive desegregation (pluralism), mislabeled as "integration".
• Most Black leaders misunderstood King's vision, thinking that being around Whites would bring acceptance and equality.
• Brown believes that integration, as cultural assimilation into the White community, is a mechanism to marginalize Blacks and prevent their empowerment.

Use of African American Proverbs and Metaphors

• Brown uses African American proverbs, metaphors, and analogies to convey his message, e.g., "When Whites catch a cold, Blacks get pneumonia".
• This proverb illustrates how the weakest members of society suffer the greatest impact of social evils.

Threats to National Sovereignty

• Brown identifies the loss of moral virtue, racial conflict, and national debt as primary threats to national sovereignty.
• He warns that unless America confronts its racism, greed, and moral rot, it will experience a drastically reduced standard of living or even racial conflagration and national bankruptcy.

Affirmative Action

• Brown argues that affirmative action, revised to strengthen the weak, ultimately strengthens the strong.
• He cites an example from professional sports, where the weakest team gets first chance at drafting the best new player, creating a win-win situation.

Importance of Helping the Weakest

• Brown advocates for helping the weakest, which in turn helps the strongest, using examples from history and statistics to support his argument.
• He encourages Blacks to revisit the wisdom of their ancestors, emphasizing "Pride, education, and economic self-sufficiency".

The Role of Film in Perpetuating Racism

• The script is the foundation of film production, and films about Africa have often been based on fictional literary works that perpetuate prejudice and racism.
• The 1915 film "Birth of a Nation" is an example of this, as it was an adaptation of Thomas Dixon's novel "The Clansman," which advocated for the inferiority of African Americans and the danger they posed to southern women.

Literary Works that Shaped Western Cinema in Africa

• Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (1902)
• Henry Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" (1885)
• Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Tarzan of the Apes" (1914)
• Alfred Aloysius Horn's "Trader Horn" (circa 1870)

The Impact of Western Cinema on Racial Attitudes

• Western cinema has played a significant role in mis-educating the public about Africa and perpetuating anti-African sentiments and racism.
• The film industry has reproduced works that are racist and demeaning to people of African descent, such as "Cleopatra" and "Birth of a Nation".

The Relationship Between Colonization and Racism

• There is a direct link between colonization and the role of Western cinema in perpetuating anti-African sentiments and racism.
• The British concern was to justify colonization and imperialism, while the United States' concern was to express its racial attitudes and racial history.

The Academy Awards and Racism

• Since the inception of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, no film solely based on the African American experience has won an award.
• The few African Americans who have won awards have done so for roles that served a white agenda or where they were in service to whites.

Scientific Racism and the Construction of Blackness

• 19th-century anatomists and physicians, such as Dr. Jeffries Wyman and Dr. Samuel Cartwright, contributed to the construction of blackness as inferior and diseased.
• Cartwright's publication "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro" (1854) emphasized the supposed physiological and anatomical differences between Africans and Europeans.
• The diagnosis of "dysthaesia Aethiopia" was used to pathologize enslaved Africans' resistance to slavery, labeling their acts of defiance as a disease.

Chapter 22: The Pursuit of Africology: On the Creation and Sus- taining of Black Studies Chapter 23: The Interview Technique as Oral History in Black Studies Chapter 24: Decapitated and Lynched Forms: Suggested Ways of Examining Contemporary Texts Chapter 25: Film as Historical Method in Black Studies: Docu- menting the African Experience