A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE HISTORY
Despite the circumstances, Africans brought some of the culture, sophistication, and genius of their homeland with them. In contrast to the European settlers, for example, the Africans who were deposited in South Carolina were accustomed to the open grazing of cattle as was common along the Gambia River. Other skills in husbandry, horsemanship, and herding were also brought with them from Africa (Wood, 1974, p. 30). In a similar manner, they were quite adept at rice cultivation, processing, and utilization and disseminated this knowledge to the European settlers (Wood, 1974, pp. 61-62). As slavery consolidated there was a progressive differentiation of the Black occupational structure within the bowels of the institution. Barbers, cooks, waiters, butchers, gardeners, shoemakers, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, and white-washers were some of the early trades of enslaved Black males. Unskilled slaves would be wasteful expenditure of resources, and, with the passage of time, Black slave labor in many areas came to be preferred over free White labor.
Gender differences in many respects proved irrelevant as Black women were forced to labor as hard as or harder than men, in the fields as well as in the houses of the slave masters. In South Carolina in the early 18th century it was expected that Black men, as well as Black women, would clear three acres of land a year (Wood, 1974, p. 107). Jones (1985) argues that the work of Black men and White women conformed to traditional sex roles. White women on the southern slave plantations were responsible for management of the household, while Black males performed heavy field labor and agricultural tasks similar to the masculine labor of farmers in the nation (Jones, 1985, p. 12). Plowing, planting, weeding, hoeing, picking, and other activity occupied the Black male slave from sunup to past sundown generally. While the nature and variety of tasks varied with the region, crops produced, and historical era, during colder months they generally performed tasks such as fixing fences, bailing hay, and repairing roads (Jones, 1985, pp. 15-16). Slave artisans could derive some amount of satisfaction from their crafts, material rewards, and prestige their accomplishments generated. This "eliteܥe # X 9 U ,8 l ,8 l 8 8 8 5 (8 8 8 T 8 2 = 5 MS Sans Serif Symbol 0 Courier New
The contemporary condition of the Black male in American society is fueled by an explosive mixture of irony, paradox, and controversy. Late 20th Century America is the scene of stunning Black male success stories exemplified by superstar athletes and entertainers. The image of a larger-than-life Michael Jordan exists in stark contrast to the daily grind millions of employed, semi-employed, and unemployed African American men endure. Commercialization of the Black male image, molded historically by the centuries-old Sambo stereotype, has meant fabulous riches to a few African Americans but increased misery to many more. While some Black males are able to globetrot, many more face de facto restrictions that severely circumscribe their movements.
By the fall of 1995, converging factors generated increased levels of racial tension in America. A seemingly endless O. J. Simpson trial, equally endless conservative, and, often liberal, attacks on the remnants of Great Society social programs, and a marked increase in the number of fed-up Whites (with "Black crime" and "dependency"), and fed-up Blacks (with racism), led to a new crisis of confidence in race relations. For the African American male, the continued potency of the criminal stereotype promised to continue the socio-economic stagnation of the past two decades. Perpetuated by the mass media and other institutions, this negative image has been a most effective mobilizing icon for White politicians. Presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton have made use of the symbolism embodied in the centuries-old stereotyped image of the Black male as a criminal. This consistent practice, repeated thousands of times over in local and state elections, together with the systematic structural and institutional violence that has historically formed the socio-political context of Black male existence in America, has made millions of Black males pariahs in the land of their birth engendering deep resentments and anxieties among them. While, in the aftermath of the historic Million Man March on October 16, 1995, and the O.J. Simpson acquittal, anti-Black racial slurs have acquired a renewed popularity, among African Americans, particularly youth, anti-White sentiment has grown exponentially, spawning a widely ranging array of outlooks including some that fall into the category of fascist. Therein lies the seeds of increasingly racial polarization and, also, of a radical transformation of Black male consciousness and behavior.
Other dangers also appear on the horizon, a qualitative transformation in the nature of Black male-female relations, with increasing conflict threatening the already teetering structures of the Black family. Although African American history is usually depicted in gender neutral terms and males have been at the center of its narrative, it has not been male history or a history of males as such. Recent works on the contemporary social status of Black males minimize, avoid, and distort the history of Black males in America. The brief survey of the contours of Black male social, economic, and political history that follows" of sorts often could take advantage of being "hired out" to work for other Whites than the slave master affording them substantial independence. This could sometimes be used to purchase their freedom--a first step to buying the emancipation of other family members.. Carpenters, coopers, wheelwrights, tanners, shoemakers, and blacksmiths all were male occupations (Jones, 1985, p. 18).
Gender differences in the labor performed, however, were minimized by the heavy labor Black females were subjected to. On many plantations they wielded heavy "slave-time hoes," implements constructed from pig iron made to thwart all slave attempts to "accidentally" break it. Black women's physical, emotional, and spiritual beings were stretched to the utmost on the slave plantation as they were forced to labor "like men" in the fields, play substantial domestic labor roles, raise White children, and, create a decent and warm home environment for the African family. As in wartime, a greater degree of gender equality became a necessity as crisis gripped the enslaved Africans from day-to-day, year-to-year, and generation-to-generation. Building on African heritage, complimentary values leaning toward greater role flexibility and gender equality became a feature of the daily culture.
The image of the Black male in Europe revolved, to a considerable extent, around the notion of a highly-charged sexuality embodied in works such as Shakespeare's "Othello." As Winthrop Jordan noted, "Othello's embraces were 'the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor.'..."(Jordan, 1969, p. 34). Factors such as the European disparagement of African religion, civilization, color, culture, and, distortion of their sexuality heavily influenced their initial perceptions (Jordan, 1969, pp. 23-27). By the time of the inception of the slave trade, the association of blackness in English culture with sexuality and evil was quite strong .
Intersections of sex and race in America have always been infused with violence. By 1717, the sexual anxieties of White male rulers of the South Carolina colony grew to the point where legislative measures to prohibit the sexual and marital relationships between Black males and White females were enacted. One measure declared its objective as "the better governing and regulating [of] white servants" thereby threatening the status of White women, whether indentured or free, who gave birth to a Black child with a sentence of seven years of servitude. If the child's father was a free Black, then he was to be chained in servitude for seven years while their offspring were condemned to servitude until males attained the age of 21 and females 18 (Wood, 1974, p. 99).
From the point of the first settling of America, the sexuality of Black males and females has been manipulated and exploited. From the Black male perspective, the lack of power accompanying racial oppression has meant witnessing the degradation, humiliation, and exploitation of Black females in addition to being abused himself in a particular manner. While the rape and mistreatment of Black females was conveniently rationalized by imputing an exaggerated sexuality to them, the notion that Black males too were promiscuous was used to justify brutality, torture, and murder against them. While African women in America suffered from repeated rape and related abuse, the White males in power pointed to the threat stemming from an unchained Black male sexuality. Soon the meaning of Black freedom was distorted to signify untrammeled Black male/White female sexual relations (Jordan, 1969, pp. 151-53). This threat served to silence those Whites who would question the system of slavery and constituted one of the most effective means of perpetuating the system of slavery.
While interracial sex routinely occurred on the plantation, hideous tortures were devised for use on those who were perceived as violating sexual mores revolving around race, or who engaged in open rebellion against the system. Southern Whites viewed slave rebellions, at least in part, in sexual terms as the Black male rebels invariably were alleged to have planned to make sexual partners of all of the desirable White females (Jordan, 1969, pp. 150-154). Castration, widely practiced throughout the Americas, was required in 1722 by South Carolina upon the capture of a runaway slave for the fourth time. Although the initial slave code for the colony of Georgia in 1755 banned the practice of castration and Virginia placed severe restrictions on it in 1769, the practice continued and became a regular feature of early slavery in America. An early South Carolina colonist received blessing for his castration of an African who ran away from slavery from a Baptist congregation in England, illustrating the approval of important institutions of this practice (Jordan, 1969, p. 155). Castration was exclusively reserved for Blacks and Indians, and, significantly, for sexual offenses (Jordan, 1969, p. 155).
Manhood takes many forms and shapes; during the long centuries when Black life in America groaned under the heavy weight of slavery, many Black men found ways to achieve dignity, purpose, and power in life. For many, it was never attained, but others, recognizing the reality of their enchained status, worked within the interstices of the institution to carve out niches of opportunity, comfort, and social status for themselves. Although the slave master could generally choose to arbitrarily intrude into the lives of a slave family, Black fathers and family members found ways to discourage this practice, and, indeed, all means were used, sometimes successfully, often not. Others took advantage of circumstances, and their ability and escaped. Free Blacks, hampered by an all-pervaisive discrimination also found ways to achieve a sense of pride and dignity by accomplishing goals of value to themselves, their families, their communities, and their race.
Fatherhood for enslaved Africans took many forms and shapes. While Black males necessarily had to be cautious, circumspect, and deceptive with respect to Whites, they were generally able to maintain their self-respect before their families and communities. It was understood that the penalties for defying the severe restrictions placed on slaves were harsh, unjust, cruel, and brutal. Obedience often involved a consciousness that while one must recognize the reality of the violence that slavery as based on, alternative ways of resistance could be devised. Clearly from the point of view of the slaveholders, the daily terror imbued in slaves collectively was necessary for the continued operation of the plantations. Slavery rested on violence, and the threat of violence. Many slaves acknowledged this as well. One ex-slave explained the necessity of the whipping post:
Black males performed what may be termed the "provider role" to a considerable extent under the slave system. By hunting, fishing, and raising gardens Black males helped supplement the meager diet provided by the slave masters. Sometimes, Black males sold produce and chickens to Whites outside of the plantation. One former slave recalled that her father sold all kinds of plantation products to a hotel owner. When he returned with "sweet potatoes, watermelons, chickens and turkeys" the family would be elated. His hunting trips, if successful, would result in a feasting on roast pig (Sterling, 1984, p. 42). Former slave Frank Adamson at 82 favorably recalled hunting possum with his father. He explained that his father was directly from Africa and that was definitely "a man," as chased away all of the other male competitors for his mother and married her without the permission of the slave master (Rawick, 1972, p. 14). Jeremiah Asher, an unenslaved Black, recalled the model of manhood that his grandfather represented. The veteran of the Revolutionary War instilled in his grandson the instinct to resist insults and defend himself against Whites physically whenever necessary (Berry and Blassingame, 1982, p. 57).
Similar to other aspects of the Black male's effort to forge a decent life, the antebellum fulfillment of the father's provider role involved "crime" early on in America. By 1714, Black resistance reached the level where the White rulers of the South Carolina colony found it necessary to enact a measure fining slave masters if their slaves grew corn, peas or rice or raised hogs, cattle and horses. Thus, for enslaved Blacks growing crops for oneself was a defined as crime. Another 1722 act, with similar aims, cited the frequent "theft" by Blacks of crops and animals. Blacks, feeling little obligation to respect the laws and rules of those who enslaved them, freely encroached upon livestock, animals and crops reportedly becoming adept at changing the brands on cattle. Banning Blacks from keeping horses was also aimed to hamper the Black communication often used for fomenting insurrections (Wood, 1974, pp. 212-13). Wood describes the development of networks of "semi-organized" "criminals" among Blacks. Soon all crime became associated with enslaved Blacks .(Wood, 1974, p. 216).
For Black males of the of the last generation of the Slave Era, the Civil War followed by the general Emancipation, were the pivotal events. At the war's outset, only Blacks, north and south, save the small minority of anti-slavery Whites, shared the goal of emancipation. The North was intent on limiting the conflict to the halting of the expansion of slavery, and had no intention of destroying the slave system. No serious consideration was given to arming Black men, as this only conjured up dark visions of Nat Turner and Toussaint L'Overture; terrifying images and figures that had haunted them for years. The nation's political leaders were virtually unanimous in vowing to keep the conflict "a White man's war." (Litwack, 1979, p. 66). President Lincoln, betraying his low opinion of African character, declared, "If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the rebels." Early reverses by the Union army, however, and slow progress for months afterwards, as well as the constant pressure by the national network of Black abolitionists and the mass exodus of Blacks toward Union lines, led President Lincoln to begin considering the enlistment of Black men. By mid-1862, forces were set in motion that would lead to the massive recruitment of African American men.
The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 conceded Africans in America the freedom from slavery that inevitably followed a hemorrhaging of White American unity over the issue of slavery's expansion. The immediate impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on Black males was that it then allowed their wholesale recruitment into the Union Army (Litwack, 1979, p. 69). Following their participation in some of the war's most important theaters, the tide turned against the Confederacy. George W. Hatton was there, on April 12, 1864, as he and other Black Union soldiers prepared for the final assault on the Confederacy in Virginia. He asked, "Who would not celebrate this day?" "What has the colored man done for himself in the past three years? Why, sir, he has proved...that he is a man (Litwack, 1979, p. 65)." As many of the soon-to-be victorious Black troops passed the areas where only three or four years before they had labored as slaves, they must have savored this progress.
The euphoria of victory and emancipation, however, quickly dissipated under the crush of events. Attempts to restore slavery in new guises immediately threatened African Americans. While the Civil Rights Act of 1866 formally guaranteed African American males the same rights as White males, including the right to vote and own, exchange and rent property, it remained dead letter until the post-World War Two period. White southern resistance was fierce, hampering the newly-emancipated people at every turn. In Mississippi, one feature of the Black Codes provided for the awarding of Black children to Whites as apprentices, in effect reducing them to slaves. Even worse, their former slave owners would have first preference for the child (Wharton, 1965, p. 84). Vagrancy laws were also used to secure unfree labor for the former slave masters. The Mississippi law stipulated that all Black males over the age of eighteen without employment would be deemed "vagrants" and subject to imprisonment and fines. This law also covered those Whites who associated with African Americans. Payment of the fines would give the payer the right to the vagrant's labor. The emergence of the convict-lease system trapped Black males into coerced labor and prisons. Mortality rates were high as the Black males so abused faced icy temperatures, non-existence medical care, random beatings, poor nutrition, utter demoralization, and concentration camp-like housing (Wharton, 1965, p. 241).
Another post-slavery measure prohibited the possession of firearms by African Americans crippling their ability to eke out a subsistence-level existence, while simultaneously depriving them of the basic instruments of self-defense. Freedom of speech among Blacks was suppressed through another measure banning virtually every form of public speech for Blacks. These measures forced Black leadership, and Black males in leadership, to operate in areas hidden from the scrutiny of Whites. By these means, once again in American history, the realization of basic individual freedoms on the part of African American males involved the violation of laws. The criminalization of the Black male had entered a new phase, emerging from slavery to take on new forms during the subsequent Reconstruction and Jim Crow periods.
The period following the Hayes-Tilden Compromise of 1877, post-Reconstruction, was characterized by a consistent stream of media images dehumanizing Blacks, particularly males, in the most grotesque manner. Consciously and unconsciously, this media image stereotype was hammered away at driving home the point of the Black male as a half-beast who constituted an immediate and long-term threat to the social order, and White women, if not harshly repressed. Boskin (1986) demonstrated how historically American culture create, absorbed, and spread the stereotype of Black men as "Sambo."
For two-and-one-half centuries, this cultural icon was the dominant societal image of Black males. "Sambo" proved to be the most "humorous" icon in the culture "both the prodder and the butt of the joke." This sorry figure was everywhere in American life, in magazines, newspapers, journals, travelogues, novels, plays, advertisements, pamphlets, comic strips, postage stamps, playing cards, cups, and place mats. "Sambo" adorned front lawns, cupboards, and kitchen tables (Boskin, 1986, p. 11). The Milton Bradley Company produced, "The Darky's Coon Game" and the "Jolly Darkie Target Game," the object of which was to throw a wooden ball at Sambo's face, aiming for the mouth (Boskin, 1986, p. 142;Turner, 1994, p. 11). Boskin writes:
George Frederickson
terms lynching "an ultimate sociological method of racial control and repression,
a way of using terror to check 'dangerous' tendencies in a Black community
considered to be ineffectively regimented or supervised...." (Frederickson,
1971, pp. 272-73) President after president failed to use federal
power to stop the lynchings. The wave of lynchings peaked in 1892
when there were over 161 recorded lynchings of African Americans.
Many lynchings followed the pattern of Ed Coy's in Texarkana, Arkansas
in 1891. Coy was tortured and then burned before an assembled mass
of some fifteen thousand Whites. During one phase of Coy's torture
flesh was sliced off of him for amusement. Coy's alleged crime was
sexually assaulting a White woman (Wells, 1969, p. 43). In June 1893
in Decatur, Illinois Samuel Bush was jailed for assaulting a White woman
despite compelling evidence that a White man was the culprit. Following
his jailing a White mob gathered and decided to lynch him. They dragged
him out of the jail, ripped off his clothes, and hung him from a telephone
pole. No arrests followed despite the clear identities of the attackers
(Wells, 1969, pp. 67-68). In 1899, Sam Hose was lynched in Newman,
Georgia being tortured and burnt alive before a huge White crowd of males
and females, young and old. Slices of Hose's heart and liver were
sold as souvenirs, one man carried a slice of Hose's heart to Atlanta with
the aim of presenting it to the governor (Hair, 1976, p. 107). Until
the concerted efforts of the anti-lynching movement yielded victories in
the 1930s, when the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt made
a cautious move against lynching, the practice served as a collective weapon
drawing the line of Black male ambition in all but relatively small geographic
areas of the country.
Urbanization and Industrialization
in the Early Twentieth Century
On the eve of the first World War Black males remained overwhelmingly concentrated in the agricultural sector of the economy. Over half of the Blacks involved in the labor force were engaged in agriculture bound by the sharecropping and tenant systems. Following the emergence of southern industry after 1880, Blacks were bypassed for jobs in the new textile, steel, and iron factories. Nevertheless, from 1890 to 1910 the number of African American workers in the steel and iron industries more than quadrupled (Foner, 1981, p. 122). The expanding railway networks offered limited opportunities for Blacks, primarily males, to gain employment. A minuscule 4.1 percent of Black railroad workers were in skilled positions, including those of firemen, brakemen, switchmen, or yard foremen. The bulk of northern African American railroad workers were Pullman porters. In addition to railroad workers, large numbers of Black males were employed as teamsters, draymen, hackmen, and chauffeurs. Skilled Black craftsman suffered a long-term decline in importance and dwindling numbers. By the turn of the century, for example, the state of Virginia had fewer skilled Black tradesmen than it did prior to the Civil War (Foner, 1981, p. 124). All over the South, African American men were eliminated from trades and crafts, positions they had held since the slave era. They found themselves completely excluded from the trades of steamfitters, hoistmen, machinists, firemen, gas fitters, and plumbers, for example (Foner, 1981, p. 125).
Change began to accelerate with the onset of World War One when immigration from Europe resulted in an unprecedented demand for Black labor. In addition, the onslaught of the boll weevil and a catastrophic crop failure in 1916 cut loose thousands of African Americans from their economic chains sending them northward. Before long, Southern employers counter-mobilized in order to attempt to retain their traditional supply of labor. Laws were utilized, arrests made, and collective violence in the form of lynching employed-to little avail-in an effort to halt the massive out-migration of Black from the rural South (Foner, 1981, p. 131). Resistance to the wave of anti-Black violence and lynchings resulted in even greater violence. Elaine, Arkansas, where one hundred African Americans were slain following the formation of a sharecroppers union and the lodging of demands was but one striking example of this violence (Foner, 1981, p. 147). That the price of such "manly" self-assertion could be genocidal violence was a reality that many would-be organizers were forced to consider. Nevertheless, the urban areas provided some protection from such wholesale violence and autonomous Black labor organizations emerged during this period.
Excluded from the both the existing railroad brotherhoods and the AF of L's Railway Mail Association, African Americans formed the National Alliance of Postal Employees in 1913. In 1915, the Railway Men's Benevolent Association was formed as an independent craft-wide African American labor union. Its membership grew to 15,000 and 187 locals by 1920, and its legacy included the winning of higher wages and better treatment for African American railroad workers (Foner,1981, p. 148). The largest and most influential of such organizations was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organized by A. Philip Randolph and leaders of the African American Pullman porters in 1925. Porters were plagued by demands to work long, and often inconvenient hours for insufficient wages. Given the reality of Jim Crow, however, Pullman porter was one of the better jobs Blacks could obtain during that era. Hence, many college graduates were within their ranks. The 15,000 Pullman porters nationally averaged $67 month (plus tips) as starting salary. This salary rose to only $94.50 after 15 years of service (Foner, 1981, p. 148). The issue of tipping had a racial tinge as the Pullman company was said to have forced Black men to stick their hands out for a tip giving the impression that their payment was a "favor" or "charity." Although Randolph's calling off of the threatened strike in 1928 after an overwhelming vote among the porters for it produced some disillusionment, the Black labor leader argued that the mere threat of a strike "reversed the concept of the American public stereotype of a shuffling, tip-taking porter to an upstanding American worker, demanding his right to organize a union of his own, as well as a living wage...." (Foner, 1981, p. 184).
In France, in 1918, Harry Haywood and the other Black soldiers faced a chilly reception. The Black soldiers were not privy to a secret bulletin that betrayed a racial discrimination in even harsher terms than what was immediately apparent. The document, the Secret Information Bulletin Concerning Black American Troops, warned that the increase of Blacks in the US had created the "menace of degeneracy" which necessitated segregation:
Also ruled out was commending "too highly the black American troops, particularly in the presence of [white] Americans...." The American bulletin advised the French to:
During the period following the First World War, returning Black soldiers helped spur a radicalization process and renaissance within African American culture. When Harry Haywood returned to Chicago following World War One, he obtained a job as a waiter on the Michigan Central Railroad. On July 28, 1919 the bloody Chicago riot began, after Haywood returned from a run to Michigan, he found that his friends were actively involved in designing a strategy to defend the Black community from an anticipated invasion from "Irishmen from west of Wentworth Avenue (Haywood, 1978, p. 81)." This was not the first time that they had clashed with White athletic clubs that were instruments of the city's powerful ward healers (Haywood, 1978, pp. 81-82). They positioned a submachine gun in a strategically-situated apartment, overlooking the expected point of entry into the Black turf (Haywood, 1978, p. 82).
Other Black veterans of World War One were also involved in a mobilization for the defense of the Black community. Many soldiers had vowed that after risking their lives for their country, they would no longer accept humiliating second-class treatment. One ambush of Whites involved in drive-by shootings in the Black community reportedly resulted in the wounding of many Whites in a truck, several of whom were off-duty police officers (Haywood, 1978, p. 82). There is no reason to believe that Harry Haywood was unique in his assessment that this Chicago riot was "a pivotal point" in his life. Following this he was even less likely to take "any insults lying down" leading him to walk out of several jobs (Haywood, 1978, p. 83).
The rise of the Garvey Movement promoted a distinct model of the ideal Black male replete with a prescribed method, means, and morality of Black male advancement. Garvey pressed for the inculcation of a rugged sense of independence and self-sufficiency for the Black male. Garvey's strong embrace of the contemporary success ethic, including the stress on the self-made man, was translated into a set of moral strictures and advice designed to foster it. Garvey regularly put forth Horatio Alger figures as role models for Black men. In a November 1926 commentary Garvey asked, "Why should not Africa give to the world its Black Rockefeller, Carnegies, Schwab, and Henry Ford?" (Hill and Bair, 1987, pp. xxv-xxvi). Individual African success would foster collective African success, as collective success would engender individual success. Garvey stressed the power of the individual's will, determination, discipline, and steadfastness as basic ingredients of individual as well as collective success. The spirit of Garveyism and the Harlem Renaissance spurred thousands of Black men and women to new efforts. Yet, the situation was constantly changing with the onset of the Great Depression which hit the national Black community with particular severity.
The steady socio-economic progress during the quarter century following the end of the Second World War resulted from a multiplicity of interrelated causes. The decades-old migration from the South; the pressure of Black efforts to win equality on all fronts; the decision by a significant section of the American political elite to abandon crude forms of racial segregation; the expansion of the American economy; and the Cold War all contributed to whatever progress was registered by African Americans. Despite dramatic social change, throughout the last two decades of the twentiethd century, African Americans, males in particular, remain limited in their ability to safely and casually travel in White areas of the nation.
The migrations spurred by the desire for a higher standard of living helped fracture the Black family. By the early 1970s, the rapid demographic changes experienced by African Americans began to erode the quality and breadth of their extended family. The ability of cooperative arrangements to resolve problems to be reached became increasingly difficult as communities grew in size, families grew apart, and individualism grew. As the role of an impersonal market increased, the burgeoning Black communities in large cities lent itself in an anonymity and coldness. The constant army of unemployed that had always existed in urban Black communities spawned a growing sector of lumpen-proletarians who institutionalized gambling, drugs, and prostitution as illegal industries. Increasing crime decreased the sense of community which was also under assault by the high rates of intra-city mobility, especially among the impoverished, and increasing pressure from the mass media.
For all males the trend from 1970 to 1992 features a lower proportion of men in the lowest two categories of annual incomes, "$1 to $2,499 or loss," and "$2,500 to $4,999." Most striking is the markedly lower percentage of men in the $25,000 to 49,999 category, the modal category, from 34.9% in 1970 to 29.1% in 1992. In addition, the number of men in the highest category, $75,000 or more, rose from only 2.9 percent in 1970 to 4.6 percent in 1992. Overall, the richest category of males has increased significantly while the middle has shrunk proportionately. The lowest categories fell slightly, while the lower-middle income categories grew slightly.
For African American males there was, in 1992, a markedly different distribution of income among themselves. The 10.4 million males featured 10.8 percent in the lowest income category, "$1 to $2,499 or loss," compared to 6.4 percent of Whites, and 7.6 percent of Hispanics. While the modal category for all American men and for Whites is the $25,000 to $49,999 category, for Blacks two categories form the mode equally garnering 20.7 percent of the nation's Black males. At the higher categories, a distinct racial differential can be readily observed as the $50,000 to $74,999 category includes 8.8 percent of Whites compared to only 2.7 percent of Blacks. In the highest category, $75,000 or over, 5.0 percent of White males enjoyed this income compared to only 1.1 percent of their African American counterparts (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994a). Only a minuscule 0.2 percent of African American women enjoyed incomes above $75,000 per year, less than one-fifth of the proportion of Black men in this category. Similarly, proportionately twice as many Black males as Black females earned from $50,000 to $74,999 in 1992. At the opposite end of the income spectrum, 15.1 percent of Black females were in the lowest category compared to 9.1 percent of Black males. The most common income category for Black females, including over one-quarter (25.9%), is the generally impoverished "$5,000 to 9,999." (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994a)
This dual disadvantage adds up to a significantly lower family income for African Americans in comparison to White Americans. The upper limit of the lowest income fifth of African American families in 1992 was $7,531 compared to $19,000 for White American families. The same income disparity can be seen in the lower limit of the highest fifth of White and Black families, $109,900 (Whites) compared to $75,619 for Blacks(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994b). Overall, approximately 58 million White families averaged a median income in 1992 of $38,812 compared to the $21,161 for the almost 8 million Black families. White families with "no earners" have a median income of $17,880 per year. There are 8,411,000 of such White families compared to 1,630,000 Black families with "no earners." The Black families of this category had a 1992 median income of $6,532, roughly one-third of non-earning White families. Black "married-couple families," 3,674,000 in 1992, had a median income of $34,196 compared to $42,738 for compared White families. When the female partner was in the labor force White median income jumped to $50,653 while Blacks' rose but remained only $41,799. The price for wives not being in the labor force was quite high in for both races, the median income being $31,013 for Whites and $21,035 for Black married-couples featuring a non-working female partner (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994c).
Trend data indicate that this represents a long-term stagnation of Black family income which goes some distance in explaining the current crisis within the African American community nationally. Trends in family income show a steady increase in the over two decade span between 1970 and 1992 in the percentage and absolute numbers of Black families that earn less than $10,000 per year in 1992 dollars. In 1970, 20.8 percent of Black families earned less than $10,000 per year compared to 26.3 percent in 1992. A bifurcation in Black income has increased with the top categories of $50,000-$74,999 and $75,000 and over increasing from 1970 to 1992. The $50,000-$74,999 category grew from 8.5 percent of Black families in 1970 to 10.8 percent in 1992 while the top $75,000 and over category increased from 1.7 percent to 5.2 percent. Over the twenty-two year period African American family income stagnated, slightly decreasing from $21,330 in 1970 to 21,161 in 1992. During the same period White family income increased from $34,773 in 1970 to 38,909 in 1992, peaking at $40,704 in 1987 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994d, p. 469).
By the mid-1990s, many had lost hope that "economic recovery" offers any hope for the economic development of urban areas and African American communities. The American economy in mid-1995 offered a typical example of employment and income trends during the 1980s and 1990s. While the overall unemployment rate appeared relatively low at 5.6 percent. Layoffs and job losses through downsizing, mergers, and plant closings loomed. Kellogg Company planned to lay off over 1,000 including 800 at its plant in Battle Creek, Michigan, for example. The merger of the Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank meant layoffs for an estimated 12,000. Baltimore Gas and Electric announced in the fall of 1995 that they would lay off 1,250 workers (AFL-CIO, 1995b). More devastating for African Americans is the fiscal hemorrhage facing federal, state, and local governments. At the federal level, the consequences of the success of the GOP conservatives, epitomized in their master document, the "Contract With America," will test the resiliency and political will of Black America as it will mean new hardship for thousands of already hard-pressed people.
Cutbacks in social programs such as Medicaid, Aid to Families With Dependent Children, food stamps, and Medicare will have significant negative spin-off effects. By reducing the amount of money income in Black communities, other sectors will experience loss of revenue leading to further job loss and increasing the burden on already strained social services. Public hospitals across the nation, often the sole source of health care for a community, are facing closing, cutbacks, and layoffs (AFL-CIO, 1995). Economic growth offers little immediate relief for African American workers, male and female. The new jobs created since 1983 were concentrated in low-wage industries while the jobs lost were in higher-paying industries (AFL-CIO, 1995). Growing numbers of Americans are forced into accepting temporary employment offering little or no benefits. A study of the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that from 2.7 million to over 6 million people labor in temporary jobs most in the service sector. During the March to September 1995 period, over 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost continuing a long-term decrease. Only 32 percent of the unemployed received unemployment insurance compared to 40 percent in 1947. In September 1995, unemployment rates for African American adult men stood officially at 9.6 compared to 4.3 percent for White men and 9.5 percent for Black women (AFL-CIO, 1995b); actual unemployment rates were much higher.
The extent to which the present generation of children and adolescents are engaged and progressing educationally is key to the future socio-economic status of the collective national Black community. Unfortunately, there is scant reason for optimism if education is any indication. The Black male high school dropout rate has declined since 1973 but, in recent years, the rate has begun to rise ominously. While in 1973 the Black male "status" dropout rate, those who have not completed high school between the ages of 18-24, was 25.9 percent, by 1984 it was 20.2 percent, and 13.6 in 1990. However, by 1992 it had climbed back up to 15.5 percent. This compares to a White male dropout rate in 1992 of 13.3 percent, Black female of 17.1 percent, and White female of 11.1 percent in the same year (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994g). In a similar manner, the rate of Black male college completion rose from 2.8 percent in 1960 to 6.7 percent in 1975 to 11.2 percent in 1985. Between 1985 and 1993, however, little progress was registered with the percent only rising to 11.9 percent by 1993 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994h).
Genocide in the 1990s: The Criminalization
of Black Youth
On a typical day in the mid-1990s nearly one in three African American men in their twenties were under some form of criminal justice supervision, either in prison or jail, on probation, or on parole. A veritable army of African American males languish in prisons and jails in America. The 827,440 Black male prisoners cost the nation an estimated $6 billion a year while the costs to their home communities are incalculable. The bulk of these incarcerated men are victims of the escalating drug war against Black communities nationwide. In the decade between 1983 and 1993 the number of prisoners convicted of drug offenses shot up 510 percent (Mauer and Huling, 1995). Accompanying the general rise in drug arrests was a sharp rise in the proportion of Blacks of all arrests, increasing from 24 percent in 1980 to 39 percent in 1993 despite reliable data indicating that Blacks represent approximately 13 percent of all users (Mauer and Huling, 1995, p. 9).
Racial disparities in sentencing were confirmed by the findings of the U.S. Sentencing Commission that in 1993 African Americans represented 84.5 percent of all federal crack possession convictions but only 38 percent of those who reported that they used crack during the past year. In addition, the Commission found a 100-to-1 differential in the length of sentence between powder cocaine, used much more by Whites, and crack cocaine, used more by Blacks (Mauer and Huling, 1995, p. 11). The intimate connection between the growth of the illegal trade economy and the frustration of the legitimate economy for African American males has been well documented.
The 1990 RAND Institute study by Peter Reuter found that financial need was the key motivating force compelling thousands of young Black males to risk life, limb, and imprisonment to sell illegal drugs. They found that the vast majority of those arrested for drug dealing had jobs and used the drug profits to supplement their income. The median earnings were estimated at $2,000 per month for daily sellers (Mauer and Huling, 1995, p. 15). The weight of Black history added to the burdens of the present haunt the dreams of African American male youth. Accumulating few resources, often bereft of positive role models in their immediate surroundings, and dogged by an unrelenting stream of negative images it is little wonder that many are succumbing to despair or anti-social behavior.
As Table 2 indicates the decline in the Black male death rate halted following the decade of the 1970s reaching a plateau (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994j). In 1991, the Black male age-adjusted death rate due to homicide and legal intervention (Table 3) stood at 72.0 (per 100,000 persons) compared to only 9.3 for White males (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994i).
The extent of alienation and deprivation of the Black male is reflected in an increasing trend of singlehood helping to fracture the institution of the Black family. The divorce rate among Black men has increased significantly in recent decades. While in 1970, for example, it stood at 3.6 percent of the Black male population, by 1987 it had more than doubled to 8.2 percent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989a). From 1970 to 1993, African American married couples decreased from 68 percent to only 48 percent of all Black households. During the same period Black single female householders increased from 28 percent to 47 percent, and single Black male householders from 4 to 6 percent. In addition, the number of non-family Black female households increased from 803,000 in 1970 to 1,818,000 in 1993 while those of Black males increased from 564,000 in 1970 and 1,484,000 in 1993 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994e).
The impact of the increasing numbers of single African American males is profound in terms of the Black family and Black male-female relationships. Increasingly it is commonplace for the majority of a Black community's children to be raised by a single, female parent (Table 4). Overall, the percentage of children under 18 years of age who lived with one parent rose from 35.7 percent in 1970 to 59.4 percent in 1988 to 63 percent in 1993 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989b;1994e). Moreover, these parents tend to be younger than the parent couples who have children. In 1988, the median age of Black single parents was 31.1 years compared to 36.9 years for dual couple parents. In addition, their level of educational attainment is, on the average, lower. Overall, they possess fewer resources with which to draw upon in order to help raise their children.
As family income increases the percentage of one-parent families decreases. For example, for families whose income annually exceeds $50,000 there were 1,123,000 two-parent families compared to 161 mother only families in 1993 among Blacks. Among the poorest income categories, however, the numbers are reversed with only 115,000 two-parent families compared with 1,371,000 mother-only families for those with annual incomes less than $5,000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994f).
The Million Man March and Beyond
On October 16, 1995, a massive gathering of roughly a million men took place in Washington, D.C. The Million Man March was sponsored to show the world that African American men were "filled with the determination that we should no longer and never again be looked at as the criminals, the clowns, the buffoons, the dregs of society..." in the words of the organizer of the event, Minister Louis Farrakhan. Recent documents of the Nation of Islam illustrate the organization's views on marriage, the family, and male-female relationships. These documents illustrate the unmitigated patriarchalism of the NOI and suggest that Black male-female conflict will rise dramatically if their views become more popular.
A two-part article entitled, "Allah (God) hates Divorce" by Minister Louis Far rakhan firmly establishes the importance Muslims place on marriage and the family. The "sacredness of marriage" carries with it a "duty" on each mate to prevent the intrusion of "anything that is destructive of this institution, even to thoughts, imagery, or fantasy of another individual other than the husband or wife." This could be interpreted in such a way as to prohibit television, newspapers, books, or other media that feature "images" "destructive" to marriage. Marriage is based upon the "demand" of Allah and the Holy Qur'an that "teaches that the man has rights over the woman, but the woman also has rights over the man," according to Farrakhan. The "nature of the female demands from the male that she be made secure...To be made secure is to be made safe from fear, harm, or danger." This includes not only safe from physical harm but also from mental harm or anxiety. She must also be made spiritually and morally secure by the man as well.
Men, in turn, were "created" by Allah to "struggle," and have "a duty to multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it." "Power," "dominion," and "knowledge" are the male's as he builds society and "maintains" his woman. Upon performing and accomplishing tasks in pursuit of this goal a man "has a natural demand on the nature of a woman" who is obligated, in turn, to "give to him peace and contentment of mind." Farrakhan summarized the basic duty of the woman:
The prime political motivation of the Black male should be to protect Black women. Farrakhan said, a "man should die before he lets a stranger contaminate his woman. A man should kill. We ought to be the number one killers on the earth to keep any man away from our woman..." More specifically, he declared that ..."When the White man comes into our society, he goes to war with that society so that he may have free access to the woman. He has conquered us as men, and therefore we cannot be to our women what God commanded us to be until we are made free of the mind and the power of our enemies...."(Farrakhan, 1995b). Politically, the Nation of Islam leader asserted that manhood means not having to ask for the God-given right to freedom, real men seize their freedom (Farrakhan, 1995b).
The theme of atonement of the March reflected a view of Black history that seemed to dovetail with other varieties of blame-the-victim theories. Farrakhan declared: "We, as men, must atone for the abuse of our women and girls, and our failure to be the leaders of and builders of our community." Many accomplished figures within the Black community questioned the morality and aims of the event. Angela Davis said, "No march, movement or agenda that defines manhood in the narrowest terms and seeks to make women lesser partners...can be considered a positive step." Black feminists, such as Michelle Wallace, spoke out against the march, while political scientist Linda Williams declared in a similar vein that the exclusion of "half of the race" served to undermine the moral authority of the event (Jackson, 1995).
These criticisms failed to faze the The Nation of Islam author who asserted that "Black women have cried and prayed for this day since we were on the slave plantations" and that 99 percent of Black women supported the Million Man March. The one percent who dissented "need our prayers" and are charged with "merely parroting the White, feminist party line (Muhammad, 1995)." Clearly a dialogue must be initiated within the national Black community and those in the Black community who are believe in gender equality must speak out with force. There can and should be no return or reinforcing of patriarchal ideologies that would first disunify and weaken African Americans. The view that men are providers and women are consolers does not accord with reality, morality, or the powers and forces detrimental to contemporary Black welfare. In reality, both genders are both, or should be supportive of the other. Women also provide and men also console in sync with the historic sex role adaptability that has facilitated Black survival and progress in America.
Intolerance
is the greatest enemy of a diverse people. Further, any restriction
of the freedom of African American thought is an obstacle to Black
progress in a rapidly changed world. If the legacy of the Million
Man March is that it marked the beginning of a prolonged mobilization of
Black men particularly and all Blacks in general, it will be positive.
If the outpouring of community, unity, and oneness can lead to a spurt
in organizational creation and institutional development this will result
in a bolstering of Black power. For African American males, the greatest
danger is that the Million Man March movement will reinforce a variety
of Black male chauvinism that ignores the rights, interests, and needs
of women. Any individual, group, race, or gender that demands superiority
as a birthright is inviting perpetual conflict. Embracing gender
equality does not imply being any less assertive, aggressive, or forthright.
A decrease in sexism and an increase in gender equality would serve to
enhance the quality of leadership, whether national, racial, or domestic,
by introducing a principled competition that encourages discussion, debate,
and dialogue, and, ultimately, accountability. The victor in these
contests can exercise a leadership role.
Looking Toward the 21st Century
Existing strategies, programs, and projects aimed at improving the socio-economic status of the African American male must be placed in proper context in relationship to overarching global economic, social, and political forces. The rate of impoverishment and various forms of degradation relative to the improvements registered by private and public efforts to improve the status of African American males should be considered. Moreover, programs must be evaluated for their effectiveness in meeting their stated objectives without blindly believing that they are universally effective. A modest list of programmatic suggestions follow:
Anti-Violence Measures and Criminal Justice Reform -- The social and psychological literature point to the fact that aggressive personality characteristics are formed early in life and show a great deal of stability over time (Farrington, 1983; Olweus, 1979; Robins, 1966). Intervention efforts aimed at youth still in their formative years have a long-term payoff to society. Parenting programs, if widely available and evaluated as effective, offer considerable potential for the long-term. Those individuals deemed at-risk for engaging in aggressive behavior can be targeted for special attention. Gary (1989) concluded that several specific goals sharply reduce the probability of later involvement in violence: 1) Fostering a high degree of identification with viable role models; 2) inculcating a high degree of commitment to the familial process; 3) developing good interpersonal and intra-personal skills; 4) fostering positive racial identification; 5) fostering the ability to solve problems; 6) developing a purpose in life; and 7) developing an ability to channel rage constructively. Similarly, Malin (1994) identified seven areas of service delivery that have the potential to positively impact the vulnerable Black male youth: 1) Practical skills/competency development; 2) life skills; 3) racial identity; 4) self-esteem; 5) behavioral orientation; 6) awareness of opportunities; and 7) support and affiliation.
Sentencing and Drug Law Reform -- This is critical to begin to stem the rising criminalization of Black youth, male and female. Alternative sentencing reforms should be instituted. Numerical timetables for reducing the rate of Black imprisonment should be established. At the voluntary level, it is recommended that committees and networks to be formed to exert pressures on issues related to Black male media images. In addition, it is recommended that parents be encouraged to monitor their child's television watching practices, and, in general, discourage the viewing of television.
Educational Reform -- Funding and committment must be restored to educational systems operating in Black communities. The decaying classrooms signify the lack of commitment to Black education. For African American males specifically, drastic measures should be taken to rapidly and dramatically increase the proportion of Black males who are teachers at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels.
Social-Cultural Mobilization -- While recognizing that there are limitations on the capacity of voluntary, "self-help" efforts to transform communities, cities, and nations without accompanying structural and institutional reforms, voluntarism in the Black community should be increased to the greatest extent possible. Dr. Alvin Poussaint pointed to one shortcoming of mentoring programs: the shortage of time in busy lives of adult men. Given the magnitude of the problem of lack of positive role models for many African American boys, fulfilling this need is a monumental task for qualified volunteer mentors. The increasing demands on time from employers, the distance between many middle-class African American neighborhoods and those of the most impoverished, and the time demands from one's own family all mitigate against giving a non-related youth quality time. Dr. Alvin Poussaint observed that, "Mentoring is a big commitment," and that "the need is so enormous that even if you had a thousand men out there, it would help only a small number," concluding that there "is no magic solution."(Madrigde, 1994).
Educational Interventions -- Epidemiological data show that violence generally takes place in the context of family, friend and acquaintance settings. With this reality in mind, Wilson-Brewer and Jacklin (1990) based their preventive recommendations on the assumption that violence almost always involves one or more personal choices. Educational interventions strive to provide the individual with options other than violent ones. The self-esteem building efforts embrace manhood development curricula, mentoring and role model provision efforts, and the controversial immersion schools. Other innovative scholars based their preventive recommendations on an empowering racial consciousness combined with more conventional preventive techniques (Oliver, 1989; Thomas, 1987). Clearly, comprehensive and wholistic approaches to the promotion of healthy Black male development are required. These approaches have the potential of inspiring participating youth with the prospect of not merely a non-pathological future but a rewarding and exciting life.
Equality of the sexes has never been a reality in Black American life although it historically has been valued more than in Anglo American social life. Black political, cultural life, and social life have been for the most part dominated by males and supported by dominant patriarchal views despite the reality that Black women have often been the principal forces underlying the strength of institutions, movements, and organizations. Any movement that seeks to foist a post-modern patriarchalism on Black America is doomed to failure. Unfortunately, an attempt to do so will result in considerable internal conflict and, perhaps, divert African Americans from aggressively seeking to change the overall economic, social, and political system.
Finally, the dangers and opportunities that lie before us in the wake of the Million Man March must be fully appreciated. This can be done by the initiation of a dialogue within the national African American community on the question of male-female relationships and how to foster gender equality within them. Any embrace of patriarchy in the Black community is merely a formula for conflict and prolonged stagnation. Hopefully, the reality of African American female power and consciousness, as well as the instincts toward equality and justice on the part of her male counterpart, will prevail and unity will be maximized.
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Vincent, Theodore, G. (no year). Black Power and the Garvey Movement. Berkeley: The Ramparts Press, Berkeley.
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