Historical+Influences


 * Historical Influences in African American Literature **


 * Histriography ** - Furay and Salevouris (1988) define historiography as "the study of the way history has been and is written — the history of historical writing... When you study 'historiography' you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians."

(//The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide//, 1988, p. 223)

The facts and happenings that influence any piece of historical literature are extremely important. The histories that contributed to the work of Phillips and Cleage are varied and easily researched. In addition, the need to re-examine and re-imagine these happenings should be questioned. Why are the previous historical accounts different? The answer is invariably the same: white American consistently fails to recognize the importance and contribution of African American populations.

This play, in particular, has a history that is deeply mired in racism and politics. More often than not, the two things go hand-in-hand. While the play is set in the mid-1990's, but is rooted in the Mississippi "Freedom Summer" of 1964. Volunteers descended onto Mississippi to try to combat historical measures that kept black voters from participating in elections. While the massive outreach effort was being undertaken to register black voters in Mississippi, violence erupted and racism reared its ugly head.
 * [[image:Freedom_Summer_Window.jpg width="131" height="358" align="right"]]Bourbon at the Border ** (influenced by [|Mississippi Freedom Summer])

At the center of the tragedy was the death of three volunteers: James Chaney (a black volunteer), Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman (both white, Jewish men from New York). While attempting to investigate a church bombing, the three men were falsely arrested, then released. Essentially, they were turned over to a waiting mob of white supremacists / racists. The bodies of the three men were discovered six weeks later, buried under a dam.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, a national outpouring of support for the Civil Rights Movement occurred.

Pictured: A stained glass window honoring the three slain activists in Sage Chapel, Cornell University

//Flyin' West// is a piece of literature where the undercurrents of racism are a little more subtle than in a piece like //Bourbon at the Border//, but the commentary on racism and slavery is still absolutely present.
 * Flyin' West **(influenced by actual [|Reconstruction era westward expansion by African Americans])

Reading the play forces a person to ask, "What would lead a people to give up everything they have ever known in life to strike out for a wilderness land that was completely foreign to them?" The answers are very simple: Fear and Oppression (nps.gov). Although former slaves were supposedly granted freedom following the Civil War, racist sentiments and hatred still prevailed in the minds of many white Americans. Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan thrived in the south and black people were prevented from gaining land, jobs and other rights by unjust laws and through intimidation. With no alternative present for improving ones situation, many African American families headed west to territories that were largely unsettled and more sympathetic to African Americans.

//Blues for an Alabama Sky// is the one piece by Cleage that most closely relates to the characters and themes that readers see in //Dancing in the Dark//, by Caryl Phillips, in that this piece concentrates on the lives of artists who are struggling for success in tough economic times.
 * Blues for an Alabama Sky **(influenced by [|Harlem Renaissance])

The play introduces the themes of homosexuality and women's rights in terms of reproduction. Caryl Phillips also skirted the issue of homosexuality; a facet of Bert Williams' personality that is alluded to, but never outright addressed. Mostly, the focus is on economic hardship and the struggle of African Americans leading into the Great Depression.

** Dancing in the Dark **(influenced by [|the true life of Bert Williams])

//Dancing in the Dark// is based on the life and career of Bert Williams. Williams gained both fame and infamy as a blackface performer. Williams smeared his own black face with burnt cork and played up the stereotype of the ignorant, black man. George Walker, Williams' long-time partner onstage, played the part of the slick (sly) negro.