The Trope of Race in African American Women's Writing

African American Women’s writing was excluded from literary collections and critical studies because they were considered to be non-normative. It was only the work of white men, white women and to some extent Black men that were considered to be mainstream, while the practices of Black women were recognized as being deviant (McDowell 167). As Barbra Smith says in her essay ‘Toward a Black Feminist Criticism’, the existence of Black women together with their experiences and culture were “beneath consideration, invisible unknown.” They were also faced with a complex system of oppression that shaped their reality. She also critiques the feminist and lesbian movements which were “blinded to the implication of any womanhood that is not white” and had to battle with the racist attitude they harboured consciously or unconsciously (Smith 132). Alice Walker, in her essay ‘In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens’, discusses how the restrictive nature of slavery and racism in the realm of politics, economics and society has historically contributed to curbing the “creative lives of Black women” (Smith 133). However it is important to highlight that it is not only the whites who restricted the works of Black women but Black men as well. Black men were as sexist in their treatment of Black women as their white counterparts. They considered the writing of Black women to be weak shallow and unworthy of consideration (Smith 136). Thereby it is clear that Black women did not only have to battle the race politics as well as sex politics of the white majority, but the sexist attitude of the Black male population as well. These are some of the key factors that led to the need for the recovery and canon formation of African American women’s writers. This essay sets out to problematize the concept of canon formation taking into consideration African American Women’s literature. It will analyze the role of the trope of race and how race complicates the recovery of early Black women’s

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