Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities by
Analysis of the complex ways in which black masculinity has been read and misread through contemporary American popular culture. Neal argues that black men and boys are bound, in profound ways, to and by their legibility. The most "legible" black male bodies are often rendered as criminal, bodies in need of policing and containment. Ironically, Neal argues, this sort of legibility brings welcome relief to white America, providing easily identifiable images of black men in an era defined by shifts in racial, sexual, and gender.
Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream by
Including the work of Derrick Bell, Trey Ellis, Haki Madhubuti, Clarence Major, Walter Mosley, Quincy Troupe, John Edgar Wideman, and August Wilson, among others, Speak My Name explores the intimate territory behind the myths about black masculinity.
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art by
Black Male is the catalog for what was a major and somewhat controversial exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In her introductory essay, curator Golden explains that she used "five historic signposts" to guide her study of the evolution of images of African American men in the years following the civil rights movement. The first was the aggressive and rampantly sexual look of the black power era, followed by blaxploitation films, the tragic "endangered" status of black men in America, the rise of rap and hip-hop, and the "video-imaging" of such high-profile tragedies as the Rodney King incident, the Clarence Thomas hearings, Magic Johnson's AIDS confession, and O. J. Simpson's arrest and indictment.
Spatializing Blackness: Architectures of Confinement and Black Masculinity in Chicago by
A geographic study of race and gender, Spatializing Blackness casts light upon the ubiquitous--and ordinary--ways carceral power functions in places where African Americans live. Moving from the kitchenette to the prison cell, and mining forgotten facts from sources as diverse as maps and memoirs, Rashad Shabazz explores the myriad architectures of confinement, policing, surveillance, urban planning, and incarceration.
Big Black Penis: Misadventures in Race and Masculinity by
Being black and male is serious business, but its absurd contradictions are often too funny for words. In this award-winning book, Shawn Taylor deftly leads us on a no-holds-barred tour of his masculine development, acknowledging some deep but often hilarious truths about black men.
Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity by
Statistics show that black males are disproportionately getting in trouble and being suspended from the nation's school systems. Based on three years of participant observation research at an elementary school, Bad Boys offers a richly textured account of daily interactions between teachers and students to understand this serious problem.
Beyond Money, Cars and Women: Examining Black Masculinity in Hip Hop Culture by
An in-depth study of the relationship between hip hop and black masculinity, with commentary from the very men who are affected by it, is missing from the academia. It is with this thought that I have written my book. I wish to give a voice to those who have not yet been heard from, to examine and bring to light the damaging as well as positive affects that hip hop has on black men by talking to every day black men themselves, and to show that the hip hop phenomenon can be used as a great political tool for mobilizing this generation.
Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity by
An engrossing autobiographical exploration of black masculinity as a mode of racial and verbal performance.
Slim's Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity by
Slim's Table is an ethnography in the classical Chicago tradition- participant-observation in a South Side Chicago community. The South Side has been the object of intense scholarly attention, yet the author finds another story to tell within this much-covered territory. As is the beauty of ethnography when it is well done, he captures in the gathering of men at Valois cafeteria the very texture of personal experience and interaction, and he writes well enough to convey this to the reader with clarity and a certain charm.
Manliness and Its Discontents: The Black Middle Class and the Transformation of Masculinity, 1900-1930 by
In a new assessment of the shaping of black male identity in the early 20th C, Martin Summers explores how middle-class African American and African Caribbean immigrant men constructed a gendered sense of self through organizational life, work, leisure, and cultural production. Examining both the public and private aspects of gender formation, Summers challenges the current trajectory of masculinity studies by treating black men as historical agents in their own identity formation, rather than as screens on which white men projected their own racial and gender anxieties and desires.
If We Must Die: From Bigger Thomas to Biggie Smalls by
Investigates a variety of texts in which the self-image of poor, urban black men in the U.S. is formed within, by, and against a culture of racial terror and state violence.
Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment by
A comprehensive, readable analysis of the key issues of the Black Lives Matter movement, this thought-provoking and compelling anthology features essays by some of the nation's most influential and respected criminal justice experts and legal scholars. Policing the Black Man explores and critiques the many ways the criminal justice system impacts the lives of African American boys and men at every stage of the criminal process, from arrest through sentencing.
The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood by
This book offers intellectual, historical, sociological, and psychological evidence that the analysis of patriarchy offered by mainstream feminism (including Black feminism) does not yet fully understand the role that homoeroticism, sexual violence, and vulnerability play in the deaths and lives of Black males.
Cool Pose: the Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America by
Black men learned long ago that the classic American virtues of thrift, preserverance, and hard work did not give them the same tangible rewards that accured to white men. Yet they have defined manhood in similar terms: breadwinner, provider, procreator, protector. Without the means to adequately fulfill these roles, many have become frustrated, impatient, angry, embittered, and alienated.
New Black Man by
From headlines to street corners, the message resounds: Black men are in crisis. Politicians, preachers, and pundits routinely cast blame on those already ostracized within African American communities. But the crisis of black masculinity does not rest with "at-risk" youth of the hip-hop generation or men "on the down low" alone. Neal argues that the "Strong Black Man" may be at the heart of problems facing black men today.
Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles by
This witty, illuminating, and deeply personal account of black male identity deals with an AfricanAmerican professor's midlife experiences when he decides to lock his own hair, and also weaves in a cultural and political history of dreadlocks.
Chokehold: Policing Black Men by
Chokehold powerfully demonstrates why current efforts to reform law enforcement will not create lasting change. Butler's controversial recommendations about how to crash the system, and when it's better for a black man to plead guilty--even if he's innocent--are sure to be game-changers in the national debate about policing, criminal justice, and race relations.
Black Masculinity and the U. S. South: from Uncle Tom to Gangsta by
Reveals the South's influence on the formation of black masculinity at the national level. Investigates how mililtary policy, Huey Newton's and Malcolm X's political rhetoric, and the music production of Master P, the Cash Money Millionaires, and other Dirty South rappers are just some of the instruments by which pathologies of black masculinity in southern history have been sustained.
From Jim Crow to Jay-Z: Race, Rap, and the Performance of Masculinity by
This multilayered study of the representation of black masculinity in musical and cultural performance takes aim at the reduction of African American male culture to stereotypes of deviance, misogyny, and excess. Broadening the significance of hip-hop culture by linking it to other expressive forms within popular culture, Miles White examines how these representations have both encouraged the demonization of young black males.
Deconstructing Tyrone: a New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation by
n Deconstructing Tyrone, the authors, journalists Natalie Y. Moore and Natalie Hopkinson, examine Black masculinity from a variety of perspectives, looking not for consensus but for insight.
Black Male Frames: African Americans in a Century of Hollywood Cinema, 1903-2003 by
Black Male Frames charts the development and shifting popularity of two stereotypes of black masculinity in popular American film: 'the shaman' or 'the scoundrel.'
Black on Black: Urban Youth Films and the Multicultural Audience by
Images of violent black masculinity are not new in American culture, but in the late 1980s and early'90s, the social and economic climate in the country contributed to an unprecedented number of films about ghetto life. Black on Black tackles the under-examined subject of black, male-focused, coming-of-age films in American society. Of central concern is an analysis of responses made by culturally diverse young adults to selected 'Hood' films of the early 1990s.
Straightening the Bell Curve: How Stereotypes About Black Masculinity Drive Research on Race and Intelligence by
Straightening the Bell Curve offers a new way of looking at the distressingly persistent subject of intelligence research as it relates to race and gender. Constance Hilliard's premise—that researchers preoccupied with proving racial hierarchies often sacrifice scientific truth to masculine insecurities—rests on her examination of works of historical and contemporary figures in the field of racial research.
Are We Not Men? Masculine Anxiety and the Problem of African-American Identity by
Harper explores issues of race and representation and shows that ideas about black masculinity have always played a troubled role both in the formation of African-American identity and in the mass media at large. Using examples from a variety of cultural contests, ranging from sports and pop music to literature and television, Harper shows the ways in which narrow definitions of black manhood have failed to acknowledge real differences within the African-American community - to grave social and political effect.
Black and White Masculinity in the American South, 1800-2000 by
This book consists of a range of essays written by historians and literary critics which examine the historical construction of Southern masculinities, rich and poor, white and black, in a variety of contexts, from slavery in the antebellum period, through the struggle for Civil Rights, right up to the recent South.
Scripting the Black Masculine Body: Identity, Discourse, and Racial Politics in Popular Media by
Scripting the Black Masculine Body traces the origins of Black body politics in the United States and its contemporary manifestations in popular cultural productions. From early blackface cinema through contemporary portrayals of the Black body in hip-hop music and film, Ronald L. Jackson II examines how African American identities have been socially constructed, constituted, and publicly understood, and argues that popular music artists and film producers often are complicit with Black body stereotypes.
Hyper Sexual, Hyper Masculine? Gender, Race and Sexuality in the Identities of Contemporary Black Men by
This book provides critical insights into the many, often overlooked, challenges and societal issues that face contemporary black men, focusing in particular on the ways in which governing societal expectations result in internal and external constraints on black male identity formation, sexuality and black 'masculine' expression.
I Am a Man! I Am a Man! : Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement by
Estes explores key groups, leaders, and events in the movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be.Estes demonstrates that, at crucial turning points in the movement, both segregationists and civil rights activists harnessed masculinist rhetoric, tapping into implicit assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality.
Being Black, Being Male on Campus by
This work marks a radical shift away from the pervasive focus on the challenges that Black male students face and the deficit rhetoric that often limits perspectives about them. Instead, Derrick R. Brooms offers reflective counter-narratives of success. He uses in-depth interviews to investigate the collegiate experiences of Black male students at historically White institutions. Framed through Critical Race Theory and Blackmaleness, the study provides new analysis on the utility and importance of Black Male Initiatives.
Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress by
For African American men without a high school diploma, being in prison or jail is more common than being employed- a sobering reality that calls into question post-Civil Rights era social gains. Nearly 70 percent of young black men with low levels of education will be imprisoned at some point in their lives
Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball by
Through interviews with and observations of urban basketball players, Onaje X. O. Woodbine composes a rare portrait of a passionate, committed, and resilient group of athletes who use the court to mine what urban life cannot corrupt. If people turn to religion to reimagine their place in the world, then black streetball players are indeed the hierophants of the asphalt.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men by
Rich, chair of the department of health management and policy at the Drexel University School of Public Health, considers the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on the survivors. His account is professional, as he finds analogies between his subjects and combat veterans and victims of sexual assault, and personal, as he reports how spending hours and days with these young men transformed him.
Heavy: an American Memoir by
Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about the physical manifestations of violence, grief, trauma, and abuse on his own body. He writes of his own eating disorder and gambling addiction as well as similar issues that run throughout his family. Heavy seeks to bring what has been hidden into the light and to reckon with all of its myriad sources, from the most intimate, to the most universal--a society that has undervalued and abused black bodies for centuries.
Black Men and Divorce by
This book draws on in-depth interviews with 50 working and middle-class Black men to chronicle and analyze their passage from courtship and marriage to divorce, and ultimately to the establishment of a new life.
Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl?: the Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women by
Passionate and frank, Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl? explores the plight of America's fatherless daughters from the unique perspective of the African-American community.