Black Nationalism is a complex set of beliefs emphasizing the need for the cultural, political, and economic separation of African Americans from white society. Made popular during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, Black Nationalism incited such sub-movements such as Black Power Movement and Black Feminist Movements. Although some may view Black Nationalism as black separatism in its practice it was not always so. The Black Nationalist themes and concerns have transcended and informed the present day form of Black Nationalism – hip-hop. Black Nationalism and Hip-Hop alike have acquired patriarchal and misogynist attitudes (ostensibly from traditional white gender roles) that have left the women involved wanting more. The roots of Black Nationalism and thus Hip Hop reflect extremely misogynist and patriarchal attitudes that inform the relationships between black women and black men and thus the nature of black society.

Marcus Garvey and others first introduced Black Nationalism in the 18^th century. Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, Black Nationalists agreed that Black Nationalism should be characterized by black pride and racial separatism (Gordon 32). Thus, Black Nationalism calls for black pride and seeks a unity that is racially based rather than one grounded in a specific African culture or ethnicity (Gordon 33). This basic outlook of Black Nationalism is based on the principals of Pan-Africanism an ideology that was heavily supported by W.E.B DuBois (who ironically rejected Black Nationalism). Historian Sterling Stuckey argued that this Pan-African perspective emerged as an unintended byproduct of the institution of slavery. Slaveholders deliberately mixed together slaves of diverse linguistic and tribal backgrounds in order to minimize their ability to communicate and establish a common cause. In response, African slaves were forced “to bridge ethnic differences and to form themselves into a single people to meet the challenge of a common foe….” (Glaude 35). This attempt to divide the slaves as illustrated by Stuckey, in the end united them.

Black Nationalism is divided into three main justifications – common agenda, culture, and oppression. The common agenda justification emerges from the acknowledgement of a convergence of political goals, objectives, and purposes. Using this justification as their premise for establishment, there are various nationalistic organizations that advocate for the black community around a particular ideology. There is a wide continuum of these Black Nationalist organizations ranging from the Black Nationalist conservatism of the Capital to the bourgeois Black Nationalism of the NAACP to the revolutionary Black Nationalism of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA). The next justification – the commonality of oppression – emerges due to the deeply rooted white supremacy of America.  This shared experience was a reason for the black community – irrespective of class, gender, and cultural affinity – to unite. In fact, ascribing this commonality as a pretext for Black Nationalism is ironic because it sustains the Eurocentric concept of race – the same concept that necessitates Black Nationalism. The last justification, commonality of culture, is a very important aspect of Black Nationalism especially in a 21^st century context. Unlike the commonality of oppression, culture incorporates gender, class, and other identities within its construction. In addition, while commonality of culture does not rely on Eurocentric concepts of race, it does realize that people of a common African culture in America mostly identity as black. This nationalism “suggests that whereas African Americans constitute a distinguishable culture group – a people then that people should have a developed as groups, and presently, African Americans have been subjugated as a group into a caste in the United States” (Bush 51). Considering these three justifications for Black Nationalism – common culture, agenda, and oppression – it should be obvious that Black Nationalism has political, cultural, and economic components.

            The Black Nationalist ideology disseminated during the beginning of the Black Arts Movement. At this time, many African American writers began interpreting and relaying their own experiences and the experience of blacks in general, in the context of Black Nationalism. In this way, the Black Nationalist movement was also a route to liberation for those involved in the Black Arts Movements. For that exact reason, African American writers such as Alice Walker, Gayl Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, and Louise Meriweather emphasized through their publications and activism that a sustainable black community could not be established without discussing the relationship between black men and black women and addressing the specific realities of black women’s lives. Because of this, these authors were accused of “portraying gender division in a time when Black Nationalism required literary affirmation of a cohesive racial community”(Hill 76). In addition, these women not only brought issues regarding the victimization of women to the forefront but they challenged the movement’s hesitation to formulate viable alternatives for African American women. In this way, their literature served and continues to serve as a critique of violence against women during the nationalist movement and “the challenges violence poses to women’s attempts to achieve and maintain wholeness in a society where liberation itself is often gendered”(Hill 76).

            Until recently, the very essentialist feminist and womanist critiques of Black Nationalism and its ideologies have not been extensively examined. This is largely due to the conception that nationalism is one dimensional – a movement exclusively concerned with race. This conception disregards the complexities of Black Nationalism, its struggles with gender normativity and expectations that were pointed out by African American women writers. There are a number of literary works that emphasized and introduced the complex interplay between gender, class, and sexual exploitation and oppression as a necessary part of comprehending how women’s bodies are implicated in power structure as well as how their attempts at resistance are marginalized in and through violence. Works such as The Black Woman and Daddy Was a Number Runner depicted these constraints and realities.  

            Published in 1970, Toni Cade Bambara’s anthology The Black Woman skillfully articulated the treatment of women in the Black Nationalist movement. The anthology, which included the works of more than 20 African American women, challenged the role that women were ascribed during the movement. Through these writings it became evident that writing is an essential mechanism in establishing one’s own epistemology of what it mean to be a black woman in America (Bambara 3). The collection was in part a means to incite and contribute a dialect on how liberation for the African American community will affect African American women especially since the movement was to be characterized by a “turning towards each other” (Bambara 6). But with publications such as the Moynihan Report it is difficult to solidify such unity and solidarity. Abbey Lincoln’s essay in The Black Women titled “Who Will Revere the Black Woman” challenges the allegation of the Moynihan Report in which she urges black men to realize the importance of their shared history and the injustices that continue to confront black women. Lincoln’s appeal to black men expresses that the fight for black liberation also means striving for the full emancipation of black women and creating a climate in which their bodies are safe from victimization.

            Daddy was a Number Runner by Louise Meriweather exemplifies the necessity to emancipate black women during the Black Nationalist movement. The novel demonstrates that violence was and continues to be both a threat and a prevalent force introduced to girls at a young age. In addition, such violence informs aspects of female adolescence. More specifically, the novel focuses on the particular challenged violence poses to young girls dealing with their identities, communities and developing bodies when they are placed in violent environments. In these environments, these young girls are exposed to various forms of sexual exploitation and abuse in a cultural context of violence against girls during a pivotal period of Black Nationalism. In the novel, Francie, the 12-year-old protagonist is in the process of growing up and locating a stable sense of self. For Francie, this journey is complimented with increasing awareness that her female body makes her a viable target for victimization. She is incessantly confronted by pimps and prostitutes as she navigates her neighborhood as well as men who want to “cop a feel” in exchange for money or food (Meriweather 24). As a result of these encounters, Francie begins to realize that her freedom is extricable bound to the aforementioned attempts at victimization and therefore her body has no complete safe haven. With this realization the most important concern for one’s self is survival. Initially, Francie behaves in accordance with the behavior of the other female characters in the novel, and of course, the men that prey on her incessantly encourage this behavior. In fact, at times she naively reflects that her body is used in a way to accumulate goods because she believes for example, that Max (the baker) “shoulda given her a bun for the free feel he got last night” despite the deeper significance of this interaction (the historical legacy of the pervasive exploitation of black women’s bodies by white men) (Meriweather 27). Francie’s navigation of the streets of her neighborhood serves as a powerful commentary on the lack of protection for young girls like Francie when violence against women and girls occurs un-addressed. In addition, Meriweather depicts how paralyzing sexuality can be for girls like Francie whose bodies are frequently synchronized by commodification and abuse. In a similar fashion as Meriweather, African American woman writers shifted the usual discourse of the black community. Through their work, they emphasized that silencing an issue because it is difficult or painful to confront renders the issue inaccessible. While this pressure to silence is not unique to the black experience that materialized during the period of Black Nationalism, it came at a pivotal time because the ideals of liberation and revolution were being articulated.

            The experience of black women during the Black Nationalist movement is almost identical to the treatment of women in hip-hop culture. Hip-hop culture has proven itself to be the newest form of Black Nationalism and thus has had and continues to have a profound impact on the African American community. In its creation, hip-hop became a conduit for African American culture even more than its predecessor jazz. Hip Hop music began in the early 1970s. Although the first hip-hop group was the Black Nationalist Last Poets, the face of hip hop in the early days was the DJ. If the DJ was the face of rap then the body of rap was the urban South Bronx. After the Black Power movement, gangs were arguably the lone institution in the Black community providing the cogent message of “join and survive” to black youth. The largest New York Black gang was the Black Spades and its leader transformed the gang into the Zulu Nation and he transformed himself into the hip-hop legend Afrika Bambataa. Under Bambaataa’s influence hip-hop turned to Black Nationalism, positive creativity, vision, and healing. Unfortunately, some of his message did not take hold until the early 80s urban “The Message” was recorded and became the first nationally recognized progressive rap statement on the condition of Black America.

            Hip Hop was initially created as a vehicle for political culture in regards to the black community. Hip Hop had the potential to fill a transitional void of cross-generational cultural transmission within black culture providing new lyrics to an old tune (Hill 55). For example, Public Enemy “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” was not only an anthem for incarcerated youth but also a regurgitation of Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedael-amistic a 1970 Isaac Hayes tune. In this way, the song tied together generations in an aesthetic sense. This is extremely significant because the nexus was established between a relatively apolitical generation of the 70s and 80s with the staunch Black Nationalist African American subculture of the 60s.

            The Zulu Nation was the primary catalyst for the transition of traditional Black Nationalism to hip hop culture. Nationalism in hip-hop does not emanate exclusively from the lyrics of early rap music. In the early days of hip hop in the 1970s, Black Nationalism developed from the ethos of the black community that spawned this new genre – hip-hop. The transformation of crews and gangs in a manner reflected a collective ethos that hip-hop promoted which suggested a linkage around commonality instead of difference. The most obvious commonality was that it was exclusively black. Therefore, the basic concepts of black cultural nationalism were reaffirmed in a framework of a young, gifted, and black core of hip-hop talent (Hill 58). This defined the Zulu Nation.

            Run DMC was one of the primary groups that sustained hip-hop’s nationalist trend while appealing to the general American population. The nationalist themes that were central to the music of Bambataa did not dominate hip-hop in the 70s. It was not until the mid 80s that Run DMC recorded an overtly black nationalist statement in the release of their rap song “I’m Proud to Be Black”. Before the induction of Run DMC to hip hop music there was no national white audience or hard rock samplings in hip hop. Under the management of Russell Simmons, Run DMC milked the B-Boy image of hip-hop into million dollar record sales. “It’s Like That” became an anthem of black youth and epitomizes their nihilistic reflections on the hardships of urban life.

            Unfortunately, hip-hop culture inherited the patriarchal and very misogynist approach to black woman hood of the Black Nationalist movement of the 60s. A part of the learned mainstream American culture is sexism and misogyny that emanates from patriarchy. These attitudes were adopted by the Black Nationalist Movement (particularly men) maybe unconsciously as a way to merge with mainstream society. More than any music of the past, hip-hop also expresses mainstream American ideas that have now been internalized and embedded into the psyches of American people of color over time. In addition, as a society that has entered the popular era of music videos and other visual representations these negative images are more easily disseminated, encouraged, and enforced. Majority of the music and videos specifically transmit, promote, and perpetuate negative images of black women. Although female DJs and MCs have been present from the early days of hip-hop, its main actors were male. By the time of the Sugarhill gang, MCs like Angie B began to emerge on the hip hop scene. Still the primary roles of women in hip-hop were ancillary and they were constrained as MCs to novelty raps (Real Roxanne) or to response raps (Shante). Therefore, women were limited to not only these auxiliary roles if they desired to be artists but also to objectification.

All women, but particularly black women are seen in popular hip-hop culture as sex objects. Almost every hip-hop video that is shown on mainstream TV programs depict dancing women (usually surrounding one or two men) wearing not much more than bikinis, with the cameras focusing on their body parts. These images are shown to reflect the explicit lyrics that commonly contain obscenities to suggest that women are not worth anything more than money, if that. Women are described by rappers who describe themselves as pimps as being strictly worthy of sexual relations. In many popular rap songs, men glorify the life of pimps, refer to women as a pimp would a prostitute, and promote violence against women for ‘disobeying’.

Of course, not all rap songs are misogynistic and all black men do not speak and think this way, but large percentages within hip-hop culture do. These obscenities disrespect, dehumanize, and dishonor women, particularly black women. If a man refers to a woman with these names, he may feel justified in committing physical or psychological violence against her. The obscenities may also be representative of the way these men think and the anger, disdain, and ill feeling they harbor toward women. Joan Morgan, who refers to herself as a hip-hop feminist, reveals, “Yeah, sistas are hurt…But the real crime isn’t the name-calling, it’s their failure to love us—to be our brothers in the way that we commit ourselves to being their sistas” (Morgan 39). This commentary is very similar to the commentary made by black women such as Louise Meriweather in their literature intended to transform Black Nationalism and black culture as a whole.

Misogynistic hip-hop does not only expose black men’s pain, but it also shows the issues that black women need to deal with. Much of the sexual exploitation in hip-hop culture is done with the consent and collaboration of women. A significant amount of misogynistic hip-hop consumers are women, and hundreds of bikini-donned women show up for the music video shoots as unpaid participants (Hutchinson 127). Dance clubs and backstages of concerts are flooded with women who express willingness to do anything sexually with a man to get drinks, money, jewelry, or just to feel privileged and wanted. Women, especially black women, have less access to power, material wealth, and protection and therefore have historically used sex (in prostitution and various other domains) as a bartering tool to gain access. For example, during slavery the black woman was often forced to have sexual relations with any male (slavemasters, overseers, and slaves) that desired her. Black women were sometimes used as breeding instruments to produce more human property, and at other times forced to have sex to pay for food, the safety of her children, or to be treated less harshly on a day to day basis. They were “paying” with their bodies as a survival strategy.

The bartering of body for survival supplemented the stereotype of black women as promiscuous and oversexed, which shaped the perceptions of black women’s sexual morality. Unfortunately, some black women were deeply affected by this entrenched gendered racism and started to look at themselves as society viewed them, accepting that they had no control over their own bodies. In trying to fit into white society after slavery, some black women took on ascribed white gender roles. Some black men wanted black women to have a subordinate role in the home and in accordance some women wanted men to be the sole economic providers. Historically and even contemporarily, black men and black women have largely been unable to meet each other’s expectations, but these same obsessions are demonstrated in hip-hop culture as they were in Black Nationalism. Some women want men to be the economic providers, and in turn use their sexual “power” to receive economic gain from men. Conversely, some men want women to be passive and have learned to manipulate women by offering money and a false sense of power to them. In a study done about black male/female relationships of the hip-hop generation, many black men in the hip-hop culture that were interviewed valued economic resources and used these resources as a way to manipulate and control women (Hutchinson 128). In addition, some women negotiated with their bodies for things that they wanted. In order to gain access to these things and to get the love and attention from men that they sought, some women felt they must cater to the exploitative images that dictate what men want and think women should be.

Fortunately, similar to the women in the Black Nationalist movement, many black women of the hip hop culture defined their own worth on what they can do for and get from a man. Some women were willing to take risks with their bodies, minds and hearts hoping to raise their socio-economic status and gain security for their children’s future, and they have learned to use their sexuality to do this. Vibe Magazine talked to four women in the September 2001 issue who all regularly had one-night stands or on-going sexual relationships with rappers (Morgan 62). One of the women Vibe talked to is Nikki, a 30-year-old woman who had a number of sexual relationships with men in the hop0hop industry. Vibe said, “…her lovers read like a Who’s Who of rap” (Morgan 62). Her reason for partaking in multiple insignificant relationships with rappers was, “I’ve got nothing to offer…No education, no good job, no nothing. So why would a man want me, other than sex? I felt I had to give, so I used myself” (Morgan 63). Many women like Nikki hold themselves solely culpable for being used by men. They assumed and accepted that men would oppress and disrespect them. As another one of the women described, “If you had the right kind of man that wasn’t controlling, and you were like a team, it’d be cool…But there’s no man out there like that” (Morgan 64). The four women described a new low in relationships between men and women within the hip-hop community (Morgan 66). Men thought that women were only worth giving them sexual favors, and women thought men are only worth giving them money.

Education is the first step in changing gender relations in the hip-hop community. As with Black Nationalism, women need to communicate these injustices through various activist means such as literature, art, policy etc. The community first needs to be made aware that women’s rights are being violated. These right are violated verbally in the misogynist lyrics, in physical interactions at hip-hop events, and in the general way that hip-hop youth interact with one another everyday. Knowing the history of this internalized and legitimized sexist and misogynist ideology, the black community can keep history from repeated itself but without knowledge of this history it will be very difficult to act and speak out against the exploitation of women. A change in the hip-hop culture’s collective consciousness can spread to the larger population. Most importantly, it needs to be reinforced in the pillars of the black community that many of these attitudes were simply transferred from the white conceptions of womanhood to Black Nationalism to hip hop. Being aware of this historical internalization is important to breaking the cycle of misogyny, dehumanization, and sexism that is evident in the political and social (which at times are not mutually exclusive) sectors of black society.

In conclusion, the misogynist Black Nationalist attitudes which excluded then negatively included, neglected, and dehumanized black woman is reflected in the attitudes of men in hip hop culture. Hip-hop culture is frequently condemned for its misogynistic exploitation of women, but this misogyny has its roots in the culture in which we currently live and in Black Nationalism. The rifts that these attitudes have caused in both movements are evident and largely at the expense of black women. Hopefully with this insight our current hip-hop culture can change and be just as productive and helpful to black women as it largely is for black men.