Sankofa

Sankofa produced and directed by Haile Gerima, uses identity formation in the struggle to fight slavery and to learn about cultural roots in order to understand the people we are today. The film focuses on Mona, a contemporary model who is sent back to the time of slaver to learn an value her African roots. When she is sent back in time by a drummer named Sankofa, Mona becomes Shola, a house slave who faces harsh physical abuse by her white master.  Shola struggles with identity formation because she does not accept her cultural roots because she never had to live in a time in which black folks were forced to live in fear of the with man. It is only when she becomes a slave that she is able to gain appreciation for her African roots. Carson writes that  during the first half of the eighteenth century, one-quarter of slaves died due to inadequate nutrition, repertory diseases, and of overwork (Carson, 75). Slaves were exploited, even when a large number of them were dying due to hard labor, salve owners continued to punish them for taking rests of eating during work hours. When Shola is faced with this situation in the sugar cane plantation, and when she first tried to escape; she feels shameful of who she is. She even tried to deny that she was African by yelling “I’m not African, I’m American!” (Sankofa). As the film continues, Shola becomes more culturally involved with her roots by learning from her elders, such as Nunu, an African born slave. She also learns from Shango, a runaway who motivates her to fight for her freedom, even though masters did anything they could to discourage slaves from running away. They would punish runaways by chopping off their toes, chaining them with iron collars, and even punishing the families of the runaways (Carson, 83). Even so, Shola did not lose her hopes in become a free woman. When she is finally sent back to present time, her thinking has completely changed. Shola. now Mona is able to feel proud of her identity, and proud of her African roots because she now understands the difficulties slaves had to live in to gain freedom for generations to come.    

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

Identity formation in institutional racism and building resistance against the state is seen in The Spook Who Sat by the Door directed by Ivan Dixon in 1973. While institutional racism and segregation are shown through the relationship between agency and candidate in The Spook Who Sat by the Door, institutional racism and segregation are shown through the education system in Carson’s chapter 17. In the film, the main character Dan Freeman, had to work hard and compete against his teammates and at the same time fight against the oppression by his trainers within the CIA agency. After joining the CIA, Freeman decides to go back to his community to teach young gang members skills he learned during his training. The purpose for even recruiting black males into the agency was simply to show racial integration within the system. This same technique was also used within the education system at Oklahoma State University. George W. McLaurin was the first African American to sit in an all white class room at the university level. His integration in the school system may seem fair on the surface, but in reality, McLaurin faced segregation by the university, and by his classmates. McLaurin was forced to sit in the back of the room where he had difficulties hearing and seeing the his instructor. This could only make it more difficult for him to be fully engaged in his studies. He was also assigned to sit at his own private table in the dining commons. The university stated that this was for McLaurins protection. Although, this actually is just an act of isolation from the rest of the students, who did not wish to engage in conversation with him because of his skin tone (Carson, 438-439). In resemblance to the film, McLaurin was also used as a tool to mask segregational acts within the institution, who was trying to show racial interrogation in the system. Both cases are examines of identity formation because Freeman had to create a new identity that would allow him to complete his goal in joining the CIA and eventually help his community. W.E.B Du Bois’s believed that academic education and the franchise would give students self-confidence to master economic challenges, and liberal arts would allow them no make good choices for their society. Which is exactly what Freeman hoped to achieve with his position in the CIA.

The Color Purple

Alice Walker writes The Color Purple to show that women are also a part of history, and they too have fought for there freedoms. Identity formation in The Color Purple is going against the patriarchal ideologies and creating notions of feminism for black women.  The Color Purple focuses on the life of Celie and what her life comes to be after being separated from her sister Netti after being sold to her abusive husband whom she calls “master”. As Celie grows up putting up with her abusive husband, she is also on a journey to find herself and discover her own identity away from the abusive men in her life. In chapter 15 Carson writes of black artists in cultural mainstream during the 1930’s. Margaret Walker, a writer and activist for the black community, worked for the WPA to end isolation for the black artist community (Carson, 398). During her time working with the WPA, she gained support for African American writers. Sugar is a jazz artist in The Color Purple who holds strong perspective on female values in the black community. She uses her position to influence Celie to stand up to her husband and become her own person outside of male domination. Mary McLeod Bethune, the head of the National Youth Administration, founder of the National Council of Negro Women and later director of the Division of Negro Affairs, was a leader in the movement for gaining independence from black and white men, and to create a strong, educated, and independent woman (Carson, 393). Using Bethune’s ideology, I am able to make a connection to both Suga and Celie because both characters symbolize the making of the new independent black woman. They both influence each other and learn to become business woman through their work ethic, which might have not been possible under the restrictions of Ceiles husband.

The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters produced by Denzel Washington, shows identity formation in the form of constructing their own reality through education. The film The Great Debaters is based upon a true story of a debate team at Wiley College, who on their journey to the final debate, encounter racial inequalities, segregation, and witness a lynching. The film takes place during the 1930’s in Texas and under the Jim Crow’s separate but equal segregation laws. In an effort to strive in their education under the racist conditions, the debate team use their learnings to form a new identity for African Americans during the progressive era. Education served as a tunnel for the team to work their way out their educational and social restrictions because they were able to voice their own realities and speak out to both black and white audiences of the injustice done to African Americans. The team which consisted of fourteen year old James Farmer Jr., Samantha Booke; the only female on the team, Henry Lowe, Hamilton Burgess, and their debate coach Melvin B. Tolson, are part of the making of the New Negro. The making of the New Negro, that consisted of ideologies taken by the scholar W.E.B. Dubois “to gain equal access for black Americans within Americas existing economic, political, and social framework” (Carson, 359-60). Their education at Wiley College allowed them to learn of black scholars such as Dubois, even though the campus was segregated, it still allowed for them to attain the best education they could offer, in a supremacist community. An example of how the team used their voices to speak out against the injustice are seen when Samantha speaks out on desegregating class rooms and schools at their first debate against the all white college of Oklahoma City. Several white members of the audience walk out in the middle of her debate because they do not agree that there should be racial integrity in the education system. To them, it is still socially unacceptable for African Americans and whites to be socially integrated. Her opponent, a white male, argues that African Americans should not go to the same schools as whites, he says, “Yes a time will come, when Negros and whites walk on the same campus, and share the same classrooms. But sadly that day is not today” (The Great Debaters). Samantha is a powerful character because she is also representing the struggle of the black woman in the segregated south and essentially a physical demonstration of everything that the National Association of Colored Women (NAWC) stood to fight for. In chapter 13, Carson writes that the NAWC was inspired by Ida Wells Barnett, a black feminist scholar who's ideologies for the organization were to improve the lives of African American women by providing education, discipline and better hygiene, all to create “the new intellectual black leadership” (Carson, 323). Black leadership which is a form of identity formation because it is recreating a new identity for black women that is different form the social construction of black womanhood created by white society. 

Daughters of the Dust

The film Daughters of the Dust produced and written by Julie Dash, tells the story of the Gulah Geechee people, who leave their land in search for a better future in the north. Julie Dash focuses on the stories and perspectives of the Peasant women and their different perspectives on modern civilization, and mobility. Identity formation in the shape of culture perseverance in Daughters of the Dust is shown in the generational changes in terms of colonization, an the indulgence of western culture. Nana Peazant symbolizes their native Guhlla Geechee culture, and the need to preserve her culture from western civilization. The Gullah Geechee people lived in Ibo land which was considered an independent community from the state. Carson writes that life after slaver for African Americans meant that many people had the desire for democratic self-governance (Carson, 127). Although Ibo land did not originally belong to the states, they maintained a strong perseverance for their land, and produced their now independent self-governed community, just as many African American attempted to do in the rest of the United States. On the other hand, her grand daughters, Yellow Mary and Viola represent generational change because they choose to leave their native land in search for a better future outside of their isolated community. Carson writes that in the process of black liberation movements, religion became a huge part of self identity (Carson, 126). In the film, Viola, the older daughter, is very religious character who truly is devoted to Christianity. Her religious beliefs conflict with her Gullah Geechee spiritual beliefs, forcing her to choose between identities. Also, Yellow Mary, the younger daughter, had left their Ibo land and worked as a wet nanny, caring for white families children. Since she had a lived experience out side of the Gullah Geechee community, she decided that she had a better connection and identification with withe modern culture, than her Geechee culture. This was common for many African American people during the years 1787-1816, which was life a new life after combating slavery. Religious leaders such as Richard Allen, motivated African Americans to become independent form white domination, but also suggested the form of racial integration and how black folks would fit into the dominant white society (Carson 126). Overall, the different dynamics in which the woman in the Peazant family choose to create or preserve their identities, is relying on cultural and physical expansion and the integration into white society. But also on choosing to preserve their cultural roots and identity that has helped their people be their own independent community, but also isolate them from white civilization.

Identity Formation

Through out my course on African-American history, I learned of identity formation and the struggle to form identity, throughout generations of African-Americans. To further explain my learnings on identity formation in this course, I will be analyzing these five films; Daughters of the Dust, The Great Debaters, The Color Purple, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, and Sankofa.