The Black Collective Conciousness

A detailed Summary of The Black Collective Conciousness

Slavery is frequently referred to as the school through which Black people passed in it's progress from a primitive state to civilization. It was the means of introduction of African natives to the American culture. The effects of this racial experience have carried over from generation to generation making an imprint in the Black conciseness. This is sometimes referred to as the collective conciseness. These memories of the middle passage, reconstruction era, and civil rights are branded into the Black memory and can be expressed through art. To understand the Black experience, one must analyze the physical, psychological, and spiritual effects of slavery that lead to this collective consciousness, by using a critical analysis of The Colored Museum, by George C. Wolf.

The African slave trade was one of the most heinous crimes committed against one race in history. It can be compared to the genocide of Jews during World War II. This fifty-day journey was inclusive of very harsh and inhumane conditions. Because the trade was highly profitable, there were deliberate slave raids, which entailed a great loss of life(Culp 19). In The Colored Museum, the first exhibit, "Git on Board," establishes the ba

Elam, Henry. "Signifying on African-American Theater: The Colored Museum." Theater Journal. (Fall 1992): 291- 303.

Silverstien, Marc. "Any Baggage you don't claim....The Colored Museum." American Drama. (Fall 1998): 95-101.

In the second exhibit, "Cookin' With Aunt Ethel", Wolfe, uses satire to describe what characteristics contribute to making a Black person. He uses familiar phrases that trigger emotion from the Black memory. Such as, "Now you beat it - really work it (Hatch 864)." He was referring to the vigorous mental and physical abuse that Blacks were exposed to. "Discard and Disown..And in a few hundred years once it's aged and fully grown..ya put in the oven till it's Black..and has sheen..or till it's nice and yella..or any shade in between (864)." These phrases touch on the memory of the hundreds of Black women that were raped and bore biracial children that were then disowned by their biological fathers. With the line, "take'em out and cool 'em..cause they no fun when they hot...and won't you be surprised at the concoction you got (864)", he takes it one more step by triggering that memory. He is sending a message to white people on behalf of all Black people. Just because there was a period where the two races were separated during segregation and Black people had their time to "cool off", now they can deal with the problems in a rational manner without blame. Wolfe says in the last lines basically that they made the problem now they have to fix it. He also implies in the last lines the scars are to deep for Black people to forget and not be angry (Elam 293).

Culp,D.W. Twentieth Century Negro Literature. Miami. Mnemosyne Publishing Co, 1969.

The theme of pain is explored in the "A Soldier With a Secret", and "The Photo Session." The characters suffer the pain of a lost identity or the search for it. Dr. C. V. Roman, a Black physician said during an address to the National Medical Association in 1914,"Slavery taught the Negro

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Approximate Word count = 1332
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics