On the surface, it seemed as if the African Americans would achieve finally achieve their goal; the government passed the Thirteenth (abolishment of slavery), Fourteenth (naturalization of American citizens), and Fifteenth amendments (freedom to vote) while also establishing the Freedmen’s Bureau which provided housing, schooling, and medical supplies for African Americans. Even though African Americans were gaining political power, newly freed African Americans did not have a stable base to be economically independent due to the government’s failure to fulfill the promise of redistributing seized land from Confederate territory, otherwise known as the “Forty Acres and A Mule” promise. With this failure, many freedmen had to return to those farms and become tenant farmers, who were subjected to the demands and taxes of the landowners, who were majority white.
With this dilemma, many prominent African Americans provided many different solutions in how to gain this economic freedom. Booker T. Washington, in his book Up From Slavery, believed that through hard work and labor will African Americans may get equal economic opportunity. Contrary to Washington, W E. B. Dubois believed that with higher education African Americans would be able to. George Washington Carver, a peanut researcher, tried to convert the Southern African Americans to grow other crops rather than the established cotton monopoly in order to be more economically independent. Marcus Garvey planned to go international to Liberia to provide African Americans a new homeland independent from the government. Even the Black Panthers, founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, attempted to domestically become independent to the non responsive government. As one may see, the failures overtime of the African American people to obtain their own economic freedoms provided many poets and authors the material to create poems and works with underlying themes of economic desperation. In both Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” and August Wilson’s “Fences,” an underlying plotline is how the pursuit for wealth negatively affects the family structure, from the present to future generations.
In the play “Fences” by August Wilson, it follows garbage worker Troy Maxson as he struggles to provide and connect with his family as he refuses to change his view on racial tensions. In this play, it is prevalent how the failure to provide African Americans with a foundation for economic growth negatively affects the family structure, not only the present family but also may extend to generations. In Troy’s flashback about his father, one may see how his relationship to his father had influenced the way Troy himself parents Cory and how he interacts with other characters. As Troy stated, his father would “all he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working” and that his primary concern was “about was getting them bales of cotton in to Mr. Lubin,” displaying how the economic burden of keeping up with Mr.Lubin’s demand for cotton made Troy’s father view his eleven offspring not as children but rather was his little workers. The economic burden on the family placed a large emphasis on treating the provider with the utmost respect, with Troy stating how “when it come time for eating…he ate first. If there was anything left over, that’s what you got. Man would sit down and eat two chickens and give you the wing,” Even though he was mistreated by his father, Troy appreciated how his father still took the responsibility to raise the eleven children instead of getting the “walking blues” and leaving the family. Troy also learns that the provider of the house always gets his way, such as when his father whips him in front of Joe Canewell’s daughter, chasing Troy away from her. However, when Troy realized that “[his father] was chasing me off so he could have the gal for himself,” he states that he “I lost all fear of my daddy” and attempts to fight his father for his girl. As Troy used the mule belts to whip his father, the girl was able to escape. Troy’s father, infuriated by the girl leaving, then proceeded to beat Troy until he was unconscious. As Troy woke up, he knew that ”the time had come for me to leave my daddy’s house. And right there the world suddenly got big. And it was a long time before I could cut it down to where I could handle it.” This background story gives a clear origin for many of Troy’s mannerisms and actions. Due to the economic burden Troy’s father had undertaken, it has produced not only a failed relationship between father and son, but skewed Troy’s understanding of the responsibility of a father.
Cory Maxson, son of Troy, is one character that was negatively affected by economic burden of the family. Cory Maxson is an aspiring football player, hoping to be able to play football in college. However, Troy disagrees with Cory pursuing professional sports because he believes that “the white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football.” This quote refers to Troy’s own experience with racism in the baseball leagues, as he recounts how “the colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team.” Even though time has passed, Troy still believes that race relations have not changed since his time in sports. He would prefer that Cory pursue a more stable, dependent job so that he will “have something can’t nobody take away from you.” At first glance, one may deem Troy as an unfair parent attempting to block Cory from pursuing his chance at playing football in order to protect him from the blatant discrimination he faced as he tried to play baseball. However, one must also see how this tension between Cory and Troy is due to generations of African Americans dealing with poor race relations and lacking a way to acquire financial stability. Even though race relations in the sports industry have changed over time, Troy refuses to believe that Cory will be given a fair shot at playing without discrimination. In doing this, he not only limits his son’s own potential salary in football but also forces Cory to be involved with the cycle of pursuing economic freedom as he will be doing the same low paying job that Troy does.
Another place where the disconnect between Cory and Troy is prevalent is when Cory asks Troy why he never loved him. When asked, Troy responds that “Like you? Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Wanna stand up in my face and ask a damn fool-ass question like that.” This quote shows how Troy views fatherhood as an obligation rather than a relationship, parallelling to Troy’s appreciation of his father taking on the responsibility of children. With Troy undertaken his father’s view of fatherhood, Troy is not emotionally able to connect with his son Cory therefore explaining why Troy was not able to empathize with Cory’s pursuit for college football.
In Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” the protagonist Milkman embarks on a journey that changes his perception on the definition of freedom from m
oney to him finding his roots which therefore allows him to fly.
Before the telling of the story of gold, one may see how Macon Dead II, who was known for his acquired wealth and being the landlord, tells his son, Milkman, about how money is the “the only real freedom there is” and how he must try and “own it all. All of it,” referring to Macon Dead II’s own personal agenda of investing in businesses. Only then will Milkman be truly free. As he begins the story, Macon Dead II recounts how him and Pilate were homeless after the death of their father, finding themselves following an apparition of their father into a cave. After falling asleep in the cave, Macon found himself staring an old man, who woke up with the rustling of Macon’s movements. Macon then killed the old man as he ran towards his location, “again and again until he stopped moving his mouth, stopped trying to talk, and stopped jumping and twitching on the ground.” Soon, after calling for Pilate, Macon then discovered the gold, immediately feeling “life, safety, and luxury fanned out before him like the tail-spread of a peacock.” As he admires the newly founded gold, Macon barely acknowledges the apparition of“the dusty boots of his father standing just on the other side of the shallow pit” that lead him to the cave. He goes on about how Pilate finds him and tells him to leave the money so it does not look like Macon killed the man for his gold, despite him pleading that with the gold “we can get us another farm.” After their altercation, with Pilate winning and “held [Macon’s knife] ready for his heart,” Macon then waited for Pilate to come out the cave. However, Macon could hear the hunters and their dogs from the distance, forcing himself to run away from the cave. As he returned, he discovered that “after all that, she took the gold,” claiming that he has seen the same color tarpaulin in Pilate’s home when he visited. This event became the beginning of the division Pilate and Macon, a division that was caused by money. One may take this with two different interpretations. One interpretation was the Macon’s vision of freedom as wealth conflicted with Pilate’s more realistic view of the world, causing her to protect her brother from the police by hiding the gold away from her brother. Another interpretation is that Macon and Pilate both had the desire for the gold, causing her to force Macon out of cave and escaping with the gold. With both interpretations, one may see how the gold has caused a divide in this family and how it also negatively affects Milkman as Macon asks him if he can “get it and you can have half of it; go wherever you want. Get it. For both of us. Please get it, son. Get the gold.” As Troy’s father’s economic burden had affected Troy’s view of a family structure, Macon’s ideology on freedom is passed down to Milkman during his story, showcasing how the historical economic inequality of African Americans can taint the family structure.
Toni Morrison also talks refers to the economic burden on African Americans with the peacock at the car dealership. Guitar Bains, a member of the organization “The Seven Days”, joins Milkman in his quest for the gold as he needs money to buy dynamite to relatilate for the Brimington church bombing. As they plan to get Reba, Pilate, and Hagar out of the house, a white peacock appeared from the roof of the Buick building. As they both adrmired and chased the peacock around, Milkman asks why the peacock is not able to fly.“Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down,” Guitar responds as they begin to walk away from the car lot. Breaking down this quote, one may see how the theme of flight and economic freedom are intertwined here. The reason the peacock cannot fly due to all of the “jewelry” on his tail weighing it down. In order for it to fly, it must give up material possessions in order to achieve a new type a flight: one not based on wealth, but rather one based on spiritual growth. While Guitar talks about using the gold to get his family gifts, Milkman originally desires the gold to buy “boats, cars, airplanes, and the command of a large crew.” However, Milkman then realizes that he desires the gold in order to move away from the “the acridness in his mother’s and father’s relationship, the conviction of righteousness they each held onto with both hands.” In other words, Milkman, initially having thoughts on buying material items with the gold, was going to be grounded, such as the peacock is with the jewelry on it’s tail. With his later thoughts on escaping, Milkman starts to show that he is becoming independent from his father’s definition of freedom as he sees that his parent’s past became “their present and which was threatening to become his present as well” In other words, Milkman has seen how money has negatively affected those around him, especially in the relationship between his parents Macon and Ruth, and wants to use the money to start a new life. At the end of the book, Milkman ultimately does change his perception of freedom from wealth and material to a more spiritual one as he finds out more about his family’s origin.
As one may see, the historical effect of the failure for the African Americans to be economically independent has been a major underlying plotline in many of the poems and novels from African American writers. The fincial burden
Works Cited