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Masculinity is a series of features, characteristics, and patterns of behavior that are associated with men. Understanding masculinity may vary depending on country of residence, class, education, age, and many other factors. Jackson and Elmore (2017) distinguish several types of masculinity – dominant (also called hegemonic), complicit, subordinate, and marginalized (pp. 1-2). The latter type is suitable for black men, as they determine their masculinity not only through gender but also adapt it to their race. This feature helps to understand better the difficulties faced by African American men. Black masculinity can be defined through the relationship of a man with his environment and community. In the United States, this relationship is seriously and negatively affected by the historical past. It created conditions for the undeserved unequal position in society and made men to take a defensive stance. The history of slavery and discrimination creates an aggressive, not intellectual, image of black masculinity, which has negative consequences for black men.
A gender identity that defines how people perceive themselves can be distorted in African-American men due to the pressure and prejudice they face. Roles and ideas about black masculinity imposed by the historical past and public opinion can become an obstacle to revealing their inner self. As each person grows older, they encounter gender expectations – in romantic relationships, in clothes preferences, occupation, and other aspects of life. Non-conformity with expectations often leads to condemnation and misunderstanding from a society where there is a clear division of roles for everybody.
Besides gender expectations, racial ones are also imposed on African-American men. Placed in a position where they can only be strong, aggressive, of traditional orientation, men do not get the opportunity to deviate from the role because they will be condemned in this case. Suppressing the inner self can have adverse effects on mental and physical health. Thus, the study of the history of black masculinity demonstrates why society has certain expectations for African-American men and why these prejudices should be abandoned.
Stereotypes and racism are integral to slavery, which flourished during the British colonization of the Americas, and then in the independent United States. Faith in unreasonable, aggressive, but assertive savages helped justify the enslavement of one race. As a result, ideas of white supremacy appeared, because of which slaves were dehumanized and remained only tools, particularly men associated with rough physical work. These ideas were justified in several ways – for example, Bible texts and even scientific racism. The latter method had a strong influence and was rooted in people’s minds for a long time. For instance, scientists seeking evidence of white supremacy spoke of a smaller brain volume and a tendency to barbarism.
Scientific racism intensified along with the need to justify slavery. One of the first to defend the slave trade at the beginning of the 15th century was the Portuguese, who believed that slavery was the salvation of the souls of black people that lived like animals (Ruane, 2019). Thomas Jefferson, who was one of the Founding Fathers, was also a supporter of scientific racism and believed that profound differences in abilities between races exist and are an obstacle to equality (Ruane, 2019). Later, several scientists, for example, Josiah C. Nott, Samuel Cartwright, or Louis Agassiz, were involved in special studies of the physical features of slaves, contributing to the emergence of “polygenism” – belief in different origins of races (Ruane, 2019). The abolition of slavery only transformed this pseudoscientific direction, which finds supporters even among the modern population.
Slaves lived and worked in unfavorable conditions, which affected their character. To prevent possible resistance, Africans were deprived of their own beliefs, learning opportunities and were under control in all imaginable ways (E. Taylor et al., 2019, p. 214). The deprivation of culture and educational opportunities prevented enslaved people from developing spiritually, which consolidated the status of a stupid race. The influence of these actions for a long time determined the masculinity of African American men.
Oppression, mistreatment, hard work, unsuitable living conditions, and other problems naturally caused resistance. The Understanding Slavery Initiative (USI) (n.d.) notes that resistance was manifested in sabotage, theft, refusal to obey, work hours, and other similar measures. Slave owners who did not want to admit the wrongness of their actions interpreted these actions as laziness and applied this characteristic to the whole race. USI (n.d.) also mentions more radical resistance methods – animal poisoning, attack on a slave owner, self-harm, and similar manifestations. Even though there was not a lot of them, such resistance could contribute to creating an aggressive image. Thus, under the oppression of circumstances, slaves were forced to show aggression and sometimes cruelty, even a tiny manifestation of which the enslavers interpreted as a feature of the whole race.
With the prohibition of slavery, discrimination and an entrenched image have not disappeared. Many white people have long been guided by ideas of supremacy and reacted negatively to any attempts to establish equal rights. When the Civil War ended, the Ku Klux Klan’s activities led to many African-Americans’ deaths. Government attempts to protect the liberated people failed, and white citizens took the opportunity to make segregation legal (J. Talor, 2019). Between 1876 and 1964, an African American’s fate and attitude towards them were determined by the Jim Crow segregation laws (E. Taylor et al., 2019, p. 214). They guaranteed that blacks would not receive the same rights as whites, and as a result, oppressed people had fewer opportunities for education, employment, and housing.
The dissatisfaction of white people, their biases, and fears led to another negative phenomenon, which affected African-American men – Lynch’s Law or lynching. This tool of oppression and imposing of the racial hierarchy was lynching – the crowd appointed and committed punishment for a crime, without any legal rights to do it. Such actions were widespread among citizens and were significantly justified by the myth of a black rapist (Schwenk, 1994, p. 312). Jim Crow laws limited communication between races, especially between white women and black men. However, the myth of aggressiveness and barbarism gave rise to a narrative about African-Americans attacking white girls. As a result, any indictment of the white women without verification led to lynching. African-American activist Wells-Barnett (1900), in her speech on the horrors of Lynch Law, notes that many investigations following the execution proved the innocence of the victims. Nevertheless, the crowd’s actions that justified themselves by the protection of women were ignored or even supported by law enforcement agencies.
The negative image was fueled by a culture that reflected the unwillingness of white people to accept equity with freed race. For example, the first long film, The Birth of a Nation, exposed African-Americans as ignorant and rude (Griffith, 1915). Limited opportunities for blacks forced them to live in disadvantaged areas and take on low-paid jobs, which further contributed to the existing masculinity image. Thus, the heritage of slavery and Jim Crow contributed to systemic racism manifested in the 20th-21st centuries.
As society changed, so did the ways in which African Americans were oppressed and portrayed as aggressors. One striking example is how newspapers covered the activities of the Black Panthers Party. Even though the civil rights movement, which used non-violent methods, contributed to Jim Crow laws’ repeal, African-Americans’ discrimination has not disappeared. In search of work, they moved, settled in the ghetto, and continued to live in poverty. At the same time, law enforcement officials increasingly showed cruelty to African-Americans. Weary and frightened by such cases, the discriminated population wanted to defend themselves and created the Black Panther Party. Initially, they sought to conduct citizens’ patrols to prevent cruelty and then expanded their activities and engaged in social programs.
The media, influenced by their own beliefs and public opinion, reflected the party’s men as cruel and aggressive. Russonello (2016), in an article dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Black Panthers party, considers how the media wrote about them. Not expecting such actions and resistance from African Americans, newspapers in which journalists mainly were white reacted sharply. For example, in one of their first articles about Panthers, Times called party representatives “Armed Negroes” (Russonello, 2016, para. 9). Similar negatively colored descriptions arose in other articles, exposing the party as an anti-white marginal group. The media did not describe how the party’s activities were provoked, what role the policemen play in it. Panther’s social activities were presented as a way of influencing children’s minds and were also given a negative color. Thus, discriminatory police activities continued and then led to the emergence of new movements.
Police actions confirming the discriminatory misconception about African-Americans as aggressive criminals led to the emergence of another movement in the 21st century. Black Lives Matter (BLM) originated in response to the killings of black people by the police. One of the first victims whose death caused the public outcry was Eric Garner, killed in 2014 due to strangulation during a police arrest (Bennett, 2021). In the same year, a twelve-year-old boy Tamir Rice was killed, because of a toy weapon in his hands (Bennett, 2021). The mass protests of 2020 were caused by the murder of George Floyd, who was injured due to police brutality. These killings demonstrate the prejudices inherent in humans, and, in these cases, biased individuals have abused their power.
In the modern world, the view of black masculinity is still strong. Its image is manifested in culture, media and is sometimes supported by black men themselves. Music and films contributed to creating a unique culture associated with African Americans’ lives (Sexton, 2017, p. viii). It often contains elements such as drug or arms trafficking, particular patterns of behavior, and even clothing style. For example, the image source is hip-hop music, whose representatives are mainly African American men (Máthé, 2019, p.65). Films such as Snitch, directed by Waugh (2013), support stereotypes by inviting black actors to drug-dealers’ roles. A significant number of black successful in sports supports the stereotype of special physical abilities. As a result, the image of black masculinity has become valuable for advertising, making race a commodity again (Matlon, 2019). These manifestations of culture had a special force at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The world, nevertheless, develops trying to hear oppressed groups and to achieve equality and justice. The image of black masculinity is also modified, in particular in culture. For example, according to Máthé (2019), the new generation of hip-hop performers use a more intellectual approach to the personal image (p. 65). Cinema, in turn, is also noted by several changes and deviations from the invitation of the African Americans to typical roles of criminals. For example, the director Jenkins’s (2016) movie Moonlight represents the main character from the emotional side. It shows how the pressure from society and the aspiration to correspond to the idea of black masculinity brings negative consequences. Indeed, research by Griffith et al. (2012) proves that similar desire “to correspond” can negatively affect the mental and physical health of men. Considering current trends in openness, and justice there is a chance that the existing image of toxic black masculinity will be reconceptualized.
In conclusion, the vision of black masculinity is composed of not only gender but also race. Historically, in America, black men were seen as chattel necessary for physical work. Discriminatory laws have long also restricted access to education and other privileges. Men were forced to protect themselves and their families, live in disadvantaged areas, and take up any work. As a result, the image of aggressive, strong physically, but not intellectually men arose, which affects black masculinity. The image in various historical periods was supported by culture and the media influencing existing biases and leading to harmful actions, particularly police brutality. Such toxic masculinity can have more adverse effects on personal identity. However, in current conditions, it is possible to rethink the existing image of black masculinity, and changes are already manifested in culture.
References
Bennett, G. (2021). Black history. The Guardian. Web.
Griffith, D. M., Gunter, K., & Watkins, D. C. (2012). Measuring masculinity in research on men of color: Findings and future directions. American Journal of Public Health, 102(S2), S187-S194. Web.
Griffith, D. W. (1915). The Birth of a Nation [Film]. Epoch Producing Co.
Jackson, R. L., & Elmore, B. (2017). Black masculinity. In K. Y. Yun (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication (pp. 1-5). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Web.
Jenkins, B. (2016). Moonlight [Film]. A24.
Máthé, N. (2019). Representations of black masculinity in the 2010s Hip-Hop. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai-Philologia, 64(1), 65-80.
Matlon, J. (2019). Black masculinity under racial capitalism. Boston Review. Web.
Ruane, M. E. (2019). A brief history of the enduring phony science that perpetuates white supremacy. The Washington Post. Web.
Russonello, G. (2016). Fascination and fear: Covering the Black Panthers. The New York Times. Web.
Schwenk, K. (1994). Lynching and rape: Border cases in African American history and fiction. In W. Sollors & M. Diedrich (Eds.), The Columbiad: Defining moments in African American literature and culture (pp. 312-324). Harvard University Press.
Sexton, J. (2017). Black masculinity and the cinema of policing. Palgrave Macmillan.
Taylor, E., Guy-Walls, P., Wilkerson, P., & Addae, R. (2019). The historical perspectives of stereotypes on African American males. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(3), 213-225. Web.
Taylor, J. R. (2019). A history of tolerance for violence has laid the groundwork for injustice today. American Bar Association. Web.
Understanding Slavery Initiative (USI). (n.d.). Resistance and rebellion. Understanding Slavery. Web.
Waugh, R. R. (2013). Snitch [Film]. Summit Entertainment.
Wells-Barnett, I. B. (1900). Lynch Law in America. Blackpast. Web.
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