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***Flawless Performances: Black Political Cultures in the

Careers of Diana Ross,

Whitney Houston, and Beyoncé

By

Shondrea Nicole Thornton

Submitted for Honors to the

Institute for Research In African American Studies

Columbia University

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Kevin Fellezs

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Inherited Genealogies: Pop Culture is Political

For Black women in America, the political landscapes of

feminism, race, and sexuality have always represented a

sensitive balancing act. Considered “other” within the

hegemonic structures of white-supremacist patriarchy1, Black

women have historically confronted and combated a myriad of

stereotypes, as well as faced specific challenges that placed

them in subordinate position for equity and opportunity; this

is not new information. As laid out in the Black feminist

works of Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought, Audre

Lorde’s Sister Outsider, and Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’

Gardens, to name a few, Black feminists of varying relation to

academia have been critiquing the system through multiple

1 White supremacist patriarchy is used here to signal the systems of domination that support racism, sexism and heterocissexism and that are predicated on oppression of Black bodies. More information on the creation ofwhite supremacy and the structures upon which it is founded can be found within the text The Invention of White Race by Theodore Allen.

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lenses and commenting on the specific politics that arise out

of these contexts.

In addition, because Black women have occupied various

spheres of society, from domestic labor to the entertainment

industry, the work that they produced has often been used as

social artifacts, or as “texts” to draw information about the

time they were created in, to further explore the relation of

Black women's’ lives to the American political system. One

aspect of this work that has been thoroughly studied is the

creation of music identified as Black, which lends itself to

understanding recurring themes, ideas, and multiple frames of

consciousness in both the social and private spheres of

politicized Black life.

Angela Y. Davis, in Blues Legacies and Black Feminism outlines

carefully the ways the racialized blues music of the Black

working class was an open political space. Black women used

this medium to articulate, often for the first time, the very

nature of their oppression and carry their messages throughout

diverse communities due to its popularity and inclusion in the

consumer-based popular culture of the day. Davis’ study of the

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production of the blues, with a focus on various aspects such

as lyricism, performance, and an artist’s aesthetic, opened up

a valuable means for understanding the importance of popular

culture as an integral part of Black political cultures.2

Yet, the female artists who used this medium, as both an

art form and a popular, consumer driven genre, to tell the

stories of poor and working class Black women did so while

occupying subordinate space in a male-dominated, misogynistic,

and often hostile entertainment industry and society. Thus,

these artists’ productions should be considered as

representing the first steps in an expansive genealogy of

politicized Black female performance within popular culture.

By extension, we can also think of them as representing some

2 Political cultures is often defined as attitudes and practices that shape political behavior. Dr. Maria Vazquez- Semadeni also defines it as "the set of discourses and symbolic practices by means of which both individuals and groups articulate their relationship to power, elaborate their political demands and put them at stake." Both are valid in the context of this paper.

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of the first manifestations of Black feminism leveraged

through popular culture, music, and performance.

Since the era of the blues woman, the cultural landscape has

shifted significantly. It is now one in which a Black woman

can be the First Lady of the United States of America, the

highest paid entertainer3, the most popular television

producer4, or the creator of a video on sharing platform

YouTube that enjoys record breaking video views5. Following

emancipation and continuing through American integration,

Black popular culture, and specifically Black women’s popular

culture, became a cornerstone of contemporary American popular

culture. These changes, many theorists believe, are natural.

Popular culture shifts tend to precede larger political

shifts, with counterculture ideologies being pulled into the

3 O'Malley Greenburg, Zack. "The Top-Earning Women In Music 2014." Forbes. November 4, 2014. Accessed November 29, 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/11/04/the-top-earning-women-in- music-2014/.4 Maglio, Tony. "Ratings: Shondaland Premiere Night Powers ABC to Best Thursday in 5 Years - TheWrap." TheWrap. September 26, 2014. Accessed November 29, 2014. http://www.thewrap.com/shondaland-abc-how-to-get- away-with-murder-greys-anatomy-scandal/.5 Waxman, Olivia. "Pound the Alarm! Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" Video Breaks Record." Time. August 22, 2014. Accessed November 29, 2014. http://time.com/3160861/nicki-minaj-anaconda-video-world-record/.

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center replacing old ones.6

Popular culture, in this way, can

act as an indicator of larger American ideals and should be

understood as important, if not integral, to understanding and

navigating political culture.

Today, contemporary American politics are heavily invested

in multiculturalism, “colorblind” policies, or attempts at

“post-racialism” that move articulations out from the margins

and into center. Blackness in contemporary popular culture

tend to support such ‘post-racial’ claims by pointing to the

political gains achieved in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s through

public policies aimed at integration and other civil rights

demands; it fits both the political narrative that racism is

waning, if not completely eradicated in America, due to the

existence of Black faces in high places and the theory that

popular culture precedes shifts. America can claim a narrative

‘post-racialism’ because ‘race’ is simultaneously nowhere and

everywhere.

6 Chang, Jeff, and Brian Komar. "Culture Before Politics." The American Prospect. December 10, 2010. AccessedNovember 29, 2014. http://prospect.org/article/culture-politics.

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Yet discussion of this shift has been shallow in that there

is still the question of what became of Black political

culture during and within these shifts, specifically among

Black women. It is naive to think that the frank discussions

of race and gender inherent in the tradition of Black female

performance became interwoven in mainstream political

structures as easily as in popular culture productions. It is

true that the struggles of contemporary Black female artists—

with contemporary being defined here as the 1960s to the

present in order to be inclusive of post-Civil Rights Movement

politics—have changed, and in a few instances, lightened due

to the changes the Civil Rights Movement engendered. Yet,

little inquiry has been done into the specific ways Black

feminism has changed register during this time, re-emerging as

a distinct counter to hegemonic mainstream political

structures that continue to threaten Black lives. New

questions emerge, such as what does it mean to represent Black

womanhood through popular culture in our multicultural

society? How has the definition of Black womanhood changed

based on popular culture and has popular culture changed the

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view of Black womanhood as a political object? Furthermore,

what is there to be learned from popular culture about the

state of Black women’s politics, particularly as we enter a

“post-race” America?

This project is a first step in building a bridge between

existing scholarship and the contemporary moment by filling a

gap that currently exists in our understanding of the

intersections between popular culture and Black feminism(s).

This project, with an eye focused on the issues present in an

increasingly globalized and corporatized post-Civil Rights

America, is tasked with exploring Black female political

discourse in a purportedly “post-race” society and

understanding what is changed, what is lost, and what is

gained by Black womanhood being a focal point of the pop

culture mainstream.

To distill the politics I have chosen to discuss, the units

of analysis represent in equal parts the innovation of popular

culture as well as new manifestations of the identity politics

and roles that comprise definitions of Black womanhood. For

this, I have chosen to analyze the careers of three prominent

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contemporary Black crossover pop “divas”: Diana Ross, Whitney

Houston, and Beyoncé. In this project, the close reading of

their careers means using a variety of sources and

methodologies, including critical Black feminist texts and

critical cultural studies texts, in order to ground my

exploration. In addition, I pay special attention to the

pieces of art produced by each artist, using them as a first-

hand account of the artists’ worlds. This takes the form of

singles, with performance videos and interviews being used to

inform analysis. Finally, to tie both the texts and art

together, I also draw on music charts, music journalism, and

reviews. These three facets combine to paint the most complete

portrait of the artists in question, provide the framing of

the political and social contexts of the time periods they

were active, as well as provide a reference for the impact of

their career decisions on popular culture overall.

Because this work spans multiple decades and is inclusive

of varying theories, the organization is as follows: Chapter

One outlines some of the key thoughts brought forth in

cultural studies, Black feminist theory, and music studies

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that will be needed to make these artists legible. It is in

Chapter One where I outline this “inherited genealogy” that

leads us to the contemporary moment. Chapter Two is a case

study of Diana Ross and The Supremes and their navigation of

crossover success during the height of the Civil Rights

Movement. Chapter Three serves as a case study on Whitney

Houston, whose work spans over the Reagan and Bush years and

questions integration politics in the context of music.

Chapter Four acts as a case study of Beyoncé, both as an

artist with Destiny’s Child as well as a solo act, and her

work within the “post-race” moment and the role of iconicity.

Finally, Chapter Five serves as an inquiry into the state of

Black women’s political culture alongside current challenges

presented by contemporary politics.

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Setting the Stage: Race, Music, and Gender

Talking about race in the contemporary moment requires an

acknowledgement and understanding of various mythologies and

realities that exist within American racial politics.

Discussions on the significance of gender are frustrated by

the commonplace mistake of lumping raced or racialized women

into a mainstream, whitewashed, monolithic understanding of

gendered oppression and sexism. This oversimplifies at best,

and at worst completely ignores the importance of

intersectional analysis when discussing the specific status

Black women hold in relation to men and other women, however

racialized. Due to these debates, there are two terms that I

use throughout the paper but exclusively within quotation

marks as they represent ideologies that are questionable

within the context of critical race and gender discussions but

common when discussing policy and mainstream beliefs:

“colorblind(ness),” and “post-race/racism/racialism.”

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While the two terms are closely related, they are not the

same, so I do not use them interchangeably.

“Colorblindness,” as I am defining it, is an active neglect

or ignorance of the importance, impact, or value of race as

a historical and political category. “Colorblindness”

functions both interpersonally and systemically as one can

declare themselves “colorblind” as well as write and enact

“colorblind” policy and legislation. Both manifestations

have grave consequences for Black and brown bodies who still

grapple with systemic oppression as “colorblind” rhetoric

ignores the historical impact of systemic racism.

“Colorblind” rhetoric is allowed to flourish in contemporary

America due to the promotion of the idea that America is a

“post-race” society. “Post-race” is defined here as a

structured system or ideology that has moved beyond the

acknowledgement of race as a tangible factor in life

outcomes or as having an effect in the day-to-day

interactions. “Post-racialism” posits that discrimination

based on race is no longer prevalent or common and situates

racism within interpersonal interactions exclusively. In the

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American context, “post-race” rhetoric began flourishing

following the political gains of Civil Rights Movements of

the 1950s and 1960s, but became more prominent in 2008

following the presidential election of Barack Obama,

America’s first Black president.

Together, “colorblindness” and “post-racialism” create

racialized gender expressions and realities that erase or

caricature Black women. In Mapping the Margins, Kimberlé Crenshaw

mapped out a form in which racialized womanhood could be

studied by introducing the breakthrough theory of

intersectionality. Intersectionality, at its core, suggests

that gender, race, class, sexual orientations, and other

social categories interact on multiple levels and should be

considered when examining the self as a political entity as

well as ones’ place within a larger structure of domination

and control. It should be understood that this is the primary

framework that Black feminisms tend to rest upon, because to

do otherwise would not allow for a full, nuanced perspective

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on the role of history and race on current gender oppression

and liberation.7

Expanding upon that, Patricia Hill Collins in Black Feminist

Thought, draws out the various ways in which this theory

gives rise to a reinterpretation of feminism in the name of

Black womanhood and its distinctiveness.8

It is from these

two frameworks that I will be primarily discussing the

artists regarding race and gender, and will be contrasting

them against the rhetorics of “colorblindness” and “post-

racialism.”

Blues, as a genre, has a strong legacy of discussing in

plain terms the issues surrounding race and racism. Davis, in

the text Blues Legacies and Black Feminisms, pays attention to song

lyric content of three iconic blues singers to elucidate how

blues also served as a space to discuss gendered and

7 Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women ofColor." Stanford Law Review (1991): 1241-1299.8 Hill-Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 1999.

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sexualized oppression. Establishing Gertrude “Ma” Rainey,

Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as “mothers” of the blues

genre and to Black female performance more broadly, Davis

focuses on each as contributing a distinct but intimately

bound interpretation of womanhood, feminism, and politics

within their music. This analysis demonstrates how race,

gender, and sexuality inform musical performance and interact

on multiple spheres within the music industry, consumer

appeal, and politics. In the chapter entitled “Blame It On the

Blues: Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, and the Politics of

Blues Protest” Davis explains how Black women expressed ideas

and concepts of sexuality and liberation within their lyrics,

aesthetics and performances which began to define the genre of

blues itself. She writes:

The lyrics of women's blues, as interpreted in the

recorded performances of the classic blues singers,

explore frustrations associated with love and

sexuality and emphasize the simultaneously individual

and collective nature of personal relationships.

Sexuality is not privatized in the blues. Rather, it

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is represented as shared experience that is socially

produced. This intermingling of the private and

public, the personal and political, is present in the

many thousands of blues songs about abandonment,

disloyalty, and cruelty, as well as those that give

expression to sexual desire and love's hopefulness.

There is also a significant number of women's blues

songs on work, jail, prostitution, natural disasters,

and other issues that, when taken together, constitute

a patchwork social history of black Americans during

the decades following emancipation. Most often such

themes are intertwined with themes of love and

sexuality.9

Davis situates music not only within the cultural but the

political by acknowledging the intermingling of a “personal”

and the “political” sphere. The “protest” presented by the

blues in this era is not the call to action commonly

associated with political activism, but a public articulation

9 Davis, Angela Yvonne. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude" Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and BillieHoliday. Random House LLC, 1999. 91

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of complaint. Yet these complaints can also be seen as

preparation for protest, articulating a consciousness that

“takes into account social conditions of class exploitation,

racism, and male dominance.” Rainey’s blues are not alone in

this. In the contemporary moment, Diana Ross enters into this

realm with the release of the 1973 double single “Brown

Baby/Save The Children.” A medley of two separate songs in a

jazz- blues style, the lyrics speak both to a larger fear of

the political landscape following the 1960s and entering into

the 1970s articulated as a Black mother’s hopes and fears of

rearing her children within it.

Ross, who was active during the Civil Rights Movement with

The Supremes, had become a solo act rarely as vocal about the

impact of race on her life as she was with regard to gender.

A Motown artist, Ross was seen by the masses, often

inaccurately, as “uppity” and not “one of the people” in her

music, which tended to represent the assimilationist politics

of Berry Gordy, Motown’s CEO, and an intentionally glamorous

aesthetic of femininity that was both political and

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aspirational.10

Yet the cover of the two songs, self-produced

by Ross, is made all the more salient by being released

following the birth of her first two children, thus lending a

personal interpretation to the lyrics and the performance of

the song.

Brown baby/Brown baby/As you grow up

I want you to drink from the plenty cup/I want you to stand up/Tall and proud

I want you to speak up/Speak up clear and cloud

Brown baby/Brown baby

As years roll by/Walk with your head held high/I want you to live by

Live by the justice code

I want you to walk down/Walk down the freedom road.11

What Davis saw in the work of Rainey is also found in the

music of Houston and Beyoncé; meaning, the use of music as a

“patchwork social history” in combination with raced and

gendered identities. Representing history and articulating

10 Nathan, David. "Diana Ross: The Boss ..."Just Call Me Diana!"" In The Soulful Divas, 144-167. New York: Billboard Books, 1999.11 Cleveland, Al, R. Benson, O. Brown, & M. Gaye. Brown Baby/Save The Children. Diana Ross. © 1973 byMotown Records. M 772L. MP3.

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struggle through lyrics, sound and performance aesthetic, is the

feature that makes blues music a model for the Black feminist

music and sets the standard for the role of the artist as a

“performer” as well as a political actor.

Ross, Houston, and Knowles become recognized worldwide for

their songs that focus on love and sex, as well as their

“complainant” songs that connect them to the political legacy

of their earlier blues . However, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and

Billie Holiday begin the tradition in their blues of

challenging stereotypes and notions of Black sexuality and

love that existed in their time, while inserting their own

timely spin on the songs. This, argues Davis, constitutes a

dramatic shift in feminism developing from Black womanhood as

well as signaling the ways in which the impact of

emancipation from slavery enabled a form of personal autonomy

that was previously inaccessible to most Black women.12

Understanding music as an articulation of freedom solidifies

12 Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, 112.

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the work as having a distinct feminist value, even if it was

not ascribed as feminist at the time.

These intersections of race and gender, and in some cases

sexual orientation, in opposition to politicized structures,

while not made as explicit as in Crenshaw’s theory, colored

the productions of Rainey, Smith, and Holiday, and mandated

how classic, male-oriented blues had to adapt in order to

give space for Black women to perform relevant songs. In

short, it is because they were women in blues, singing for

themselves and other Black women, that blues became a Black

feminist starting space and grew to become a “woman’s

genre.”13

From the 1920s into World War II, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey,

and Billie Holiday produced countless songs dealing with

intimate partnerships, violence, sex, and domesticity,

traditionally understood as women’s topics of little

importance. Traditional gender roles that were championed by

white women and centered as the standard for femininity were

challenged in their lyrics as well as in their presentation;

13 Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, 74.

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these women’s solo acts garnered them a form of independence

that was not easily legible outside their communities but

constantly complicated by their social positions. Each of the

blues divas were acutely aware of their blackness and

womanhood, as well as what that meant in terms of societal

place. Yet, while the women themselves were not completely

free, as they were bound to their recording labels and to

navigating a male-dominated world of music, their songs,

their bodies, their very presence opened up doors for others

such as Ross and Knowles to enter into the public sphere.

Indeed, they brought the lives of Black women into the

forefront of American popular culture.

As blues began to be replaced and repurposed by other

forms of music in both the hearts of the Black community as

well as the mainstream popular culture, the continued

importance of Black women’s voices in music was ever

apparent. Numerous artists followed after Smith, Rainey, and

Holiday, bringing with them a continuation of the formulaic

expressions of Black womanhood as set forth by the three.

However, with the advent of Motown, and the political

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shifting out of Jim Crow segregation and into the modern

civil rights struggle, a new form was necessary, both to

sell records and to articulate a new reality of Black

womanhood. For this, a group of girls from Detroit: Florence

Ballard, Mary Wilson, Betty McGlown, and Diana Ernestine

Earle Ross, emerged. Forming a group called The Supremes,

their work would change how Black women could and would

navigate the relationship between identity and music

forever.

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Come See About Me: Diana Ross and The Supremes

You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've

got to get out there and make it happen for yourself. - Diana Ross

Struggle. Change. Integration. As America ended the 1950s

and entered into the 1960s, a mass political movement

involving people of all walks of life had emerged, placing

the welfare and concerns of Black Americans into the

political forefront. Across the country, communities were

engaged in the work of imagining and creating a new American

society; one in which the “unalienable rights” of all

citizens were protected, regardless of race, and one in

which every citizen, could, with hard work and respect, live

their dreams and provide for their family in the pursuit of

life, liberty, and happiness.

This movement, formally recognized as the Civil Rights

Movement (CRM) and bounded in this paper from 1954 to 196814

14 The Civil Rights Movement can also be understood over longer terms and as encompassing “waves” similar to the feminist movements. Bounding this case between 1954-1968 sets the time around the struggle for voting rights, anti-discrimination laws, and the tactical practices of organizations such as the

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provides the stage for some of the largest political actions

and legislative changes to occur in America post-

Reconstruction. This movement, marked by the work of larger

organizations such as the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), represented the

first actualized steps toward an opportunity of new hope:

full and legal integration of Black people into mainstream

society.

Segregation, a specter of slavery and early Black Codes as

well as a de jure reality for Black people living in America15

held as policy and protected status until the United States

Supreme Court ruling on Brown v Board of Education, a case that

challenged segregation in schools and struck down the

precedent set in Plessy v Ferguson of “separate but equal.” This

development, though challenged, began to take root in other

NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC. 15 It is important to remember that while segregation is often thought of as a Southern American creation and phenomenon that the whole of Black people inAmerica, including in regions outside of the American South, were subject to discriminatory practices that were protected by law and policy until its overturn in Brown v Board of Education in 1954 and the passing of the Civil RightsAct in 1964.

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means of desegregation and integration1617 such as

desegregation of eating establishments, public

transportation, and other businesses; these shifts, the

first of their kind, offered a glimpse of white American

life to Black people who were traditionally ostracized and

barred from having access. With these new opportunities and

dropping of barriers, Blackness, and by extension Black

womanhood, became a new question rather than a problem: in a

newly, though slowly, integrating America, how does one

present Blackness in a manner that seizes the opportunities

present, and what does it mean to be Black in an

“integrating” society?

Ripe with the political changes of the era, musical

industries began to take shape and take notice of the new

opportunities in consumers, markets, and practices. In 1959,

Barry Gordy created and built Motown Records, an independent

record company situated in Detroit, Michigan. Motown came

16 Separated as desegregation does not imply integration. Desegregation is the legal removal of barriers based on race. Integration utilizes the social sphere and should be used in reference to social interactions and placement in a collective culture.17 Organ, Henry. "The True Definition of Integration." Palo Alto Weekly, August 13, 1997.

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out swinging as a Black-owned and operated music business,

gaining 110 top-ten hits in a ten-year span running from

1961-1971. As a musical enterprise, Motown garnered huge

success with various departments running from artist

personal development to international talent management;

nothing, however, was more lucrative than the talent Gordy

and his staff were able to procure. Gordy, throughout his

management of Motown, curated a number of successful acts

and artists, such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and

Marvin Gaye. Few acts, however, had the elegance and pizzaz

of Diana Ross and the Supremes, Motown’s top-selling all-

female act.

Diana Ross and the Supremes, heretofore referenced as “The

Supremes”18 began their journey with rough starts. Detroit

teenagers, the group was initiated by Florence Ballard and

Betty McGlown, two young girls with ties to the Detroit

based, male singing group The Primes. Together, they

recruited Mary Wilson and Diana Ross and developed

18 The Supremes went through several name changes over the span of their run.Diana Ross and the Supremes and The Supremes are used interchangeably as theyrefer to the same group of vocalists, pre-Ross’ solo career.

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themselves under the name The Primettes. Discovered by

Smokey Robinson, the group was interested in working with

Gordy, who held their formal audition only after they

completed high school. During this time, McGlown dropped out

of the group to pursue marriage, becoming replaced with

Barbara Martin. Following this, the group signed onto Motown

with the condition of a name change. The women decided on

The Supremes and, though initiated as a group of four,

became a trio after Martin left the group.

As part of artist development, ran by Maxine Powell, an

etiquette and deportment teacher, The Supremes became known

for a feminine mystique that came to be their calling card

separate from conceptions of “Motown Sound.” Taught to be

prepared to perform in front of kings and queens, The

Supremes’ poise was deeply curated, from the outfits they

performed in to their hand motions and smiles. This

perfectly executed elegance marked a particular form of

femininity that until this point was not represented in the

popular culture as within the realm of possibility for Black

women; this intentional femininity, via voice, clothing,

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makeup, and behavior, created an aesthetic of purpose,

declaring that these women, full of the promise of

integration, could be mainstream.19

Nilgin Yusuf writes for The Telegraph regarding the

political importance of The Supremes’ image in the American

and international imagination: “…while the outfits on

display reflect the transformation of three Detroit girls

from the projects into diva goddesses, they also reveal an

emerging black American identity and power at a time when,

in parts of the country, segregation was still in force…” He

goes on to quote researcher Caroll Tulloch at the Victoria

and Albert Museum who with regards to the political effects

of The Supremes’ style says the following: “White audiences

were placated by the image of the Supremes. This was an

image of black people that was non-threatening.”20

This concept of the threatening nature of blackness pre-

dated the Civil Rights Movement and was a throwback to the

politics that dominated the discourse of racialization and

19 Yusuf, Nilgin. "The Supremes on Show." The Telegraph. April 26, 2008. Accessed March 9, 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3672929/The-Supremes-on-show.html.20 Yusuf, Nilgin

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justified the systems of slavery and white supremacy. This

belief of the black body as inherently threatening and

violent became a linchpin for the proliferation of Black

Codes and Jim Crow segregation that mandated separation with

the intention of protection of whiteness and its values.

With desegregation taking place and potentially introducing

that threat into white social and political spheres, white

Americans’ fears of the black body and the products of

blackness had not been placated, but rather exacerbated,

leading to large-scale resistance to the shift. In response,

and in similar fashion to the political tactics of

temperance leveraged in the Black community in the 1920s,

Black communities clung to, again, and utilized the

presentation of respectability in hopes that it would endear

their struggles to white Americans and garner them

legibility.2122

21 Respectability politics was coined by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham in reference to the politics espoused by the churches in pursuit of “uplift” politics, or the belief that Black Americans’ status in America was due to fault of their own. 22 Harris, Paisley Jane. "Gatekeeping And Remaking: The Politics Of Respectability In African American Women's History And Black Feminism." Journal of Women's History 15, no. 1 (2003): 212-20. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jowh/summary/v015/15.1harris.html.

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Respectability as a concept remained necessary during

desegregation precisely for the protection it could garner

under white gaze via access and, thus, remained a

particularly salient tactic of feminist resistance for Black

women. Though understood now as a limiting and policing

politic, Black women in the early 1960s who were entering

into the newly opened public sphere relied on respectful

presentation as an “entrance fee” for advanced citizenship

and as a response to racialized and sexualized stereotypes

that situated them as lascivious and unclean. Within a

feminist framework that addresses pragmatism and the double-

and triple-jeopardies Black women face as limiting to their

livelihoods and life outcomes, respectability offers a

platform and position of relative agency while still

protecting themselves and gaining access to a semi-shuttered

society and can be read in this way.23

While Motown was not explicitly interested in a feminist

framework, its inclusion of The Supremes in its roster made

Black womanhood, and by extension, Black female agency, a

23 Harris, Paisley Jane.

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foundational component of feminism, more visible and

legible. The respectability inherent in the group’s soft

presentation, coupled by Ross’ even softer vocalization on

lead, garnered them in 1964 their first number one single in

the United States and a number three in the United Kingdom.

The song “Where Did Our Love Go,” was promptly followed up

in the charts with “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” and

“Stop! In the Name of Love” with “Baby Love” receiving

Grammy acknowledgement. All four of the songs lyrically

depict a woman waiting in the wings for a man, her lover, to

return or a woman begging for the maintenance of their

romantic relationship. At first glance, these songs may

appear anti-feminist in presenting a codependent

relationship that hinges on female subjection. However, when

integrating Black sexual politics, the interplay of feminism

and traditionalism makes the songs more defiant than

originally thought.

As referenced previously in the paper, Black women in the

public sphere often contend with three controlling images

that subjugate them and justify their oppression. The three

32

most utilized are the image of “Jezebel,” the sexually

lascivious and primitive woman, “Mammy,” the desexualized,

subservient woman, or “Sapphire,” the loud-talking,

aggressive woman.24 These images, coming from an oppressive

culture wrought by slavery, marked Black women,25 making the

fullness of their humanity difficult to read and understand

to white people and sometimes, even, to Black men.

Juxtaposed against the representations of black femininity

that were supported by minstrelsy and racist caricature, The

Supremes’ presentation becomes radicalized due to its

defiance; the belief in and representation of Black women as

both agent and gentle does the remarkable by directly

combatting the belief of Blackness as inherently savage, and

does so to a varied and large audience, including white

audience who, otherwise, would agree. This reading of

gentility into radical feminism, however, is not backed up

24 Hill-Collins, Patricia. "The Past Is Ever Present: Recognizing the New Racism." In Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and The New Racism, 53-86. New York: Routledge, 2005.25 There are controlling images that dictate Black masculinity in the public sphere as well, yet those tend to be slightly more malleable due to male privilege extending across racialization.

33

solely with words but with the aspect of performance as

well.

Performance of their songs tended to be the space in which

The Supremes, with an emphasis on Ross, utilized and

performed agency and allowed for a wholeness of Black

femininity to be on display. Via clothing, dancing, and the

air of comfort, The Supremes as show-women made bold claims

of character and charm all while maintaining their

professionalism and edge; craft-like awareness of their

position as Black women on the stage helped edge them toward

a reimagining of Blackness and femininity in an integrating

society.

The Supremes as performers toured various places and held

numerous dates ranging from middle America performances to

the ritzy Copacabana club in New York City. These showings,

with the intention of attracting and maintaining white

audiences, relied heavily on Gordy and Powell’s model for

artist training, but also presented the first opportunities

of its kind to effectively display Black womanhood via The

Supremes. Few performances of The Supremes may have had the

34

impact on white America as much as their appearances on The

Ed Sullivan Show, a popular television show, of which they

were the performing artist seventeen times.

A sort of test-kitchen for Blackness and cross-over media,

Diana Ross in particular appears in footage of The Ed

Sullivan Show as taking great pleasure in performing on

stage and integrating her personality and charms into the

music. In vein with Davis’ assertions of music as a space

for Black women’s expression, Ross in particular

participates in this tradition in interesting ways in an

almost counter to the narrative of the 1960s and definition

of womanhood therein via her confidence and ease in herself;

as a Black woman for whom integrated audiences posed new

opportunity and potential threat, the choice of confidence,

however feminized, is evaluated as an active and important

choice.

Ross in particular, opens up the opportunity to theorize

feminism out of performance for the precise reasons of ease,

ability, and deportment. It is not lost that Gordy, a male

entrepreneur, holds the reigns of Motown within this

35

framework tightly. The Supremes were greatly trained to be

performers for all races and their style and mannerisms were

policed. Yet in Ross, we find a particular zeal of ethic,

both in music and in performance, that places her above.

Ross chooses, within the realms she controlled, to express

herself within the music. In a video performance of “Where

Did Our Love Go,” Ross produces pep, showmanship, style,

grace, and a tongue-in-cheek wit alongside her vocals, shows

of independence in artistry that might otherwise be rendered

as insolence on the Black female body if not for the lens of

celebrity and entertainment.26 While numerous things about

Motown and its treatment of The Supremes can be considered

as supporting the gaze of white America and its ideas of

Blackness rather than challenging it, it is in the

inflections of performance that The Supremes and Ross chip

at the wall; they are there to entertain, true, but they are

also there to be themselves and to simply be good.

In Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and

Race Relations, Ward writes of Gordy and The Supremes and their

26 “The Supremes. “Where Did Our Love Go” Youtube video, 2:34. February 26, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izzKUoxL11E

36

cross-over aspirations saying “[Mary] Wilson made no secret

of Gordy’s and The Supremes’ crossover ambitions, and their

willingness to adjust to white expectations to achieve

them…” with Gordy thinking that girl groups were key to this

success.27 The inclusion of white expectations in the

crafting of images seems to challenge the notion set forth

by Davis of the blues and makes a question of what becomes

of Blackness and Black womanhood amidst the backdrop of

integrating America.

While The Supremes and Ross represent a long-spanning

career of varying relation to masculinity, politics, and

racial relations, what should not be lost is the importance

of Black women breaking the barrier of cross-over culture

and creating the foundation of Black women's’ representation

in contemporary music. The Supremes would go on to sell

millions of records before Diana Ross would go solo and

launch her career, selling millions more. Yet the value of

their work as a unit and as an extension of Motown lies

27 Ward, Brian. "All For One, And One For All." In Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998.

37

within the lessons and the precedent set by them as three

young Black women in an increasingly new society. While it

would take years for another artist to crack the charts as

they did, The Supremes stood their own as women of intention

and design, making the illegible for the first time legible:

Black womanhood.

38

My Love Is Your Love: Whitney Houston

“God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is

there?” - Whitney Houston

All eyes were on Whitney. The star, then 28 years-old,

stood on a platform adorned in a simple red, white, and blue

tracksuit. Her loose, brown curls were pulled together by a

coordinating headband; the only other accessories she wore

were dainty earrings in the shape of crosses. The starlet

had been invited to sing the national anthem for Super Bowl

XXV, a proud moment for any singer. The Super Bowl, as

spectacle, traditionally serves as a public display of core

American values; the game of football invokes images of

American grit, while musical performances and the bonding of

diverse facets of the country invoke faithfulness and

patriotism. Super Bowl XXV, however, held a special role in

39

the displaying of American values as it was held only days

after a declaration of war.

Houston, born in Newark, New Jersey in 1963, seemed

destined to vocal greatness. Her mother was the legendary

soul singer, Cissy Houston whose career spanned multiple

decades. Her musical family was also rounded out by cousins

and soul singers Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, as well as a

godmother in the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Having been

exposed to musical talent so early, as well as heavily

involved in the church choir her mother directed, Houston’s

voice, which would come to be known as “THE Voice,” was

trained and exercised consistently for excellence. A rare

vocal talent, Houston’s star as an artist once she entered

the industry in 1985 was ever and always rising.

Super Bowl XXV aired just ten days after the launch of

Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Gulf War

launched in the summer of the previous year. In the stadium,

attendees, the majority of them white, wielded American

flags and messages to the troops instead of team gear. This

was understood as no time for factions. All eyes were

40

trained on Houston as she prepared to sing The Star-Spangled

Bannner, America’s national anthem and most patriotic song.

A child born in the early sixties, Houston was part of the

first generation of Black Americans to grow up entirely

under law-mandated integration. Upon the passing of the

Civil Rights Act, Houston was but three years-old, likely

unaware of all that was going on around her with relation to

racialization. Similarly, Houston’s age prohibited her from

actively participating in what is considered the second-wave

of feminism,28 a period that ebbed away before she came of

age and to political consciousness. As such, Houston, and

others like her, upon maturity, became some of the first

beneficiaries of American privileges in the context of race

and gender; she could, within the eyes of the law, go to

school where she pleased, sit with whomever, sleep with

whomever, live wherever. In short, she, and others like her,

were Black American citizens, full stop.

28 Mainstream (and predominantly white) feminism is often cataloged in “waves” that bound the movement both temporally and in the context of what was being fought for. The second wave is temporally bound in the 1960s and 1970s and was concerned with questions of sexuality, reproductive rights, workplace rights, and the family, among other things.

41

As the ceremonial fighter jets flew overhead signaling the

end of the anthem, Houston’s stock as a singer, unbeknownst

to her, had risen tremendously. Her rendition, which stirred

intense emotions of hope and patriotism from the world-wide

viewership and moved Super Bowl attendees to tears and

raucous cheering, quickly became lauded by music critics as

the best performance of the national anthem in United States

history. The emotional responses and positive criticism

triggered a watershed, with the demand for her performance,

for her voice, rising to such numbers that it prompted the

performance to be released by Arista Records as both a

single and a music video the following month. The single

went on to sell 750,000 copies in its first eight days,

debuting at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the

video went double platinum, a feat unheard of for the

national anthem.29

However, on that January day, just three decades apart

from a segregated America, the hope, pride and faith of an

American people resided in her, a Black American woman. No

29 "RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - February 07, 2015." Http://www.riaa.com. Accessed February 7, 2015.

42

longer just a “diva” or R&B star, Houston’s performance

asserted herself as profoundly American, a citizen deeply

concerned with her nation and with all who resided in it.

She, too, sung America, and she affirmed herself as

included, despite the racial and sexual history that would

otherwise keep her subjugated.

Houston’s position in the 1980s and 1990s as an R&B and

pop superstar represents a tremendous leap for the musical

industry. “The Voice” would outsell, outperform, and outdo

many in her bracket, and even some above. As an artist,

Houston was one of the best, performing around the world, to

much critical acclaim. However, Houston’s holding this

position as a Black woman, once again opened up questions

about the roles of race, gender, and, in her case,

sexuality, in the construction of Black womanhood as an

identity. As stated before, Houston’s rise to fame and into

the American consciousness came relatively shortly behind

the changes made in the 1960s and 1970s. Racial and gendered

consciousness was on the rise, but it was not without it

nuances and contradictions. Alongside greater opportunities

43

afforded to Black people and women through newly minted

anti-discrimination law there were also greater

complications, leveraged by these same law- and policy-

makers. The War on Drugs,30 launched in its contemporary form

by Nixon, caused some of the largest arrest and sentencing

disparities among Blacks and whites and fueled a mass-

incarceration boom that left Black communities vulnerable

and devastated. Similarly, changes in welfare policy,31

fueled in part by Reagan and his “welfare queen” commentary

during the campaign trail, ushered alongside it attacks on

impoverished Black women, reintroduced a Moynihan-esque32

interpretation of Black Americans, and redirected

conversations about economic justice, in regards to the

30 Though prohibition of drugs has had a long history in the United States, dating back to the early 1900s, the formalized “War on Drugs” as launched by Ronald Reagan utilized a mixture of military offense abroad as well as tailored laws domestically hat directly affect the experiences of people of color. These are defined as discriminatory mandatory minimums, targeting for arrests, and sentence disparities.31 Hancock, Ange. The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen. New York: New York University Press, 2004.32 Moynihan’s Report is now critiqued as unfairly blaming Black American families for their socioeconomic status and redirects critiques of patriarchy, capitalism and white supremacy. Moynihan, Daniel P. "U.S. Department of Labor -- History -- The Negro Family - The Case for National Action." U.S. Department of Labor -- History -- The Negro Family - The Case for National Action. March 1, 1965. Accessed March 19, 2015. http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/webid-meynihan.htm.

44

Black community, away from structural injustice and back

into Black immorality. In sum, the 1980s and 1990s presented

Blackness womanhood, once again, as a question: Are, they

too, America?, and what does it look like to be Black,

female, and American in an integrated and growingly more

public society?

Though the late 1980s and early 1990s encompass such large

shifts in identity discourse, Houston enters the industry

still having to contend with the historical implications of

Black women being imagined within a framework of citizenship

and popular culture. Though her predecessors in this, The

Supremes, broke down many of these ideas and introduced

Black womanhood into the cross-over popular culture, these

issues, put onto Houston as it is to all Black women

performers, is owed to the continued manifestation and

adherence to controlling images that dictated Black women’s

place in society, as well as to pervasive notions of

femininity and “otherness” that continued to exclude Black

women and uplift whiteness.

45

Instead of being included in Americana imagery, as was the

hope of Gordy and Ross, and even amidst renewed senses of

patriotism and growing diversity following the completion of

the Civil Rights Movement, Black women continued to contend

with the historical controlling images of Sapphire, Mammy,

or Jezebel that remained present under white supremacist and

misgynoiristic logics33. However, vis-a-vis Black political

ideologies left over from the 1970s, Black women and artists

were also now subject to criticism by means of a secondary

set of imaginings and controlling images that dictated

appropriate manifestations of Blackness and womanhood.

Authenticity, or a “true” portrayal of Blackness, was

heavily valued and sought after as a step away from the

respectability upheld by Motown and other popular culture

spaces. Within these two frameworks, then, Black female

artists had to make a choice of which community and consumer

base they wanted to contend with and explore within their

33 Misogynoir, a term coined by scholar Moya Bailey, is defined as the intersection of racism, anti-Blackness, and misogyny that Black women experience "On Moya Bailey, Misogynoir, and Why Both Are Important." The Visibility Project. May 27, 2014. Accessed March 19, 2015. http://www.thevisibilityproject.com/2014/05/27/on-moya-bailey-misogynoir-and-why-both-are-important/.

46

music and aesthetic, a choice that had political

implications for their art and livelihoods as the rest of

America grappled with the full weight of integration.

When Houston first entered the recording scene, the

direction that was chosen for her music intentionally chose

to deal with the latter. Though Houston from the beginning

was poised to garner “a world-wide audience,” Houston

responded first to the conceptions of Blackness that would

garner her a place within Black popular culture, helping her

to bridge the gap between a pressing legacy of “race

records” and Motown as well as a newly opening crossover

market34. Her first album, Whitney Houston, produced by a who’s-

who of R&B and gospel aficionados, mixed her soulful vocals

and gospel training with a particular aesthetic that

explicitly nodded to ideas of Black authenticity. Marla

Shelton in her assessment of Houston references cultural

studies scholar Stuart Hall’s “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black

Popular Culture” in her discussion of Whitney Houston’s 34 Shelton, M. "Whitney Is Every Woman?: Cultural Politics and the Pop Star."Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies 12, no. 3 36, 134-53. Accessed February 18, 2015. http://cameraobscura.dukejournals.org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/content/12/3_36/134.full.pdf html.

47

aesthetic and early endeavors with authenticity with the

quote:

...within Black popular culture, cover art can

represent style closely aligned with music to add up to

Black cultural capital: [Stuart] ‘Style-which

mainstream cultural critics often believe to be the

mere husk, the wrapping, the sugar coating on the pill-

has become itself the subject of what is going on.’35

Taking the debut album to task, Shelton has this to add:

The cover of the 1985 Whitney Houston album, we see a young

Houston, with her hair slicked back off her fresh young

face, her lips closed, yet pursed. She poses in a white

dress that reveals her bare shoulders and kneels in a pond

of water as if she is Nerfertiti. Images of Afro-centricity

in Houston’s cover art are an effort to maintain her core

audience. Water reinforces the image of a simple, natural,

and youthful ‘girl’ who sings about good love. She is a

gem, a black pearl of talent, in her paradise of music36

35 Shelton, M. "Whitney Is Every Woman?: Cultural Politics and the Pop Star."36 Shelton, M. "Whitney Is Every Woman?: Cultural Politics and the Pop Star."

48

In this assessment, Shelton hits on some of the key themes

around race and sexuality that the Whitney Houston album explores

in the name of “authenticity.” The theming of “black pearl” and

“afro-centricity” are complemented lyrically by R&B

vocalizations of love and sex, calling upon blues legacy for

entering that space as a woman. These claims of authenticity,

calling on the blues, afrocentricity, and femininity, are then

compounded by the use of sexuality in an attempt to be made

legible. An example is best displayed in the early single “You

Give Good Love” wherein Houston makes her debut. Made with the

intention of cornering the Black or “urban” market early on, the

sultry song and music video relies heavily on images, created

both sonically as well as visually, of the erotic, particularly

as performed in racialized ways. The music video in particular

portrays Houston as a lounge songstress and vision, similar to

the aesthetic held by Ross and The Supremes before her, as well

as to Billie Holiday and other female jazz singers. Within the

video, however, she steps away from the idea of respectability

and coyness and instead serenades an anxious and intrigued Black

cameraman in a semiprivate performance; her quivering lips

49

juxtaposed to the phallic microphone as well as the cameraman’s

delicacy with the camera lens and facial expressions toward her

brazen “vocals,” gives the viewer and listener a suggested

sexualized interpretation of the lyrics37:

Never stopping, I was always searching/For that perfect love

The kind that girls like me dream of/

Now you're here like you've been before/And you know just what I need

It took some time for me to see/

That you give good love to me baby/

So good, take this heart mine into your hands/You give good love to me/

Never too much/Baby you give good love38

The single, which landed number 1 on the Billboard “Hot Black

Singles” weekly list and number 2 on the year-end list, had

expected success in displaying and solidifying a Black consumer

base, mixing common themes of Blackness in music alongside

familiar sound and approaches. Unexpectedly, though, the single

also landed number 3 on the weekly chart for Top Pop, signaling

a desire by white consumers for not only Houston herself, but

37 Whitney Houston. “You Give Good Love.” Youtube video, 4:05. November 7, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY7PmX6Oz5838 Kashif. You Give Good Love. Whitney Houston. © 1985 by Arista. LP.

50

the idea of Blackness that she was presenting.39 This initial

crossover, was followed almost immediately with a designed

crossover single, “Saving All My Love For You,” an R&B stylized

pop cover that would garner Houston her first number one on the

Top Pop charts, once again signaling a white audience. The

genre-bending of “Saving All My Love For You” was little,

however, compared to the bursting-open of single “How Will I

Know,” released in 1985.

Similar to the structure for composing her R&B vocals, the

debut album also came equipped with a bevy of pop music

producers and lyricists. Pop, still maintaining a white standard

in both artistry and appeal despite integration, was the field

to beat for Houston and her team, as dominating its charts and

overturning its musical definitions that made it a “white” genre

was a necessity for Houston’s career aspirations. “How Will I

Know,” was understood as “peppy,” with it’s upbeat tempo and

danceability a hallmark for 1980s pop-musical tastes. The video

plays up the theme of the era, with bright colors, dancing, and

Houston playing a colorful, yet youthful, interpretation of the

39 "Whitney Houston." Billboard. Accessed February 20, 2015. http://www.billboard.com/artist/431329/Whitney Houston/chart?f=379.

51

girl-next-door. Whereas “You Give Good Love” presented a Black

woman of knowledge, particularly sexual, and of desire, “How

Will I Know” tells a bubbly tale of a “universal” girl, full of

insecurity, budding sexuality, and timidity:

How will I know if he really loves me/I say a prayer with every heart beat/

I fall in love whenever we meet/

I'm asking you what you know about these things/

How will I know if he's thinking of me/ I try to phone but I'm too shy (can't speak)/

Falling in love is so bitter sweet/

This love is strong why do I feel weak/40

Although the song similarly falls into a category of dewy

love songs traditionally found in R&B and race records in days

past, Houston’s representation in “How Will I Know” of an

“every-girl” did more than just confirm her capacity to “cross

over” on charts, it also questioned ideas of authenticity and a

monolithic view of Blackness and Black female artists. Houston

on “How Will I Know” is not the Houston on “You Give Good Love”

or even “Saving All My Love For You.” She switches, almost

effortlessly, in and out of both worlds, both personas, and

40 Merrill, George, S. Rubicam, N.M. Walden. How Will I Know. Whitney Houston. ©1985 by Arista. LP.

52

challenges early on long-held ideas of what Black female artists

crossing over were capable of.

As easily as she draws upon the idea of Black authenticity,

Houston draws upon ideas of universality and relatability

through her embodiment of the all-American girl. A gendered

response to imaginations of the “All-American” boy, the image of

the “All-American” girl comprises an ideal based on historical

and political ideations created during the Second World War as

well as stereotypes and tropes of femininity that are gendered,

racialized, and sexualized.41 This “All-American” girl, sometimes

known as the “girl-next-door” acts as a version of a controlling

image for white women and one that is understood to only be just

for them. This woman, typically young and traditionally middle-

class, is attractive, kind, loyal, innocent and patient; she is

the girl men want to marry and is aspirational, rather than

negative, as we see in Black controlling images. In “How Will I

Know,” Houston consciously channels this, with her single cover

favoring of the zeitgeist of the 1980s and stepping away from

the themes of her overall album cover. This switching into

41 Winchell, Meghan K. Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses during World War II. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

53

Americana imagery served her career tremendously as it garners

her a host of new fans; “How Will I Know” maintained significant

airplay on newly minted Music Television (MTV) which brought

teen viewership along, and thus, more income.42 Politically,

however, the effect of switching her personas and adopting the

role of a Black all-American girl displayed a complicated

political shift that was underway in Black women's’ lives and

within ideas of race and gender; was being “American” in the

sense of white approval and company authentic to Blackness and

could the two truly co-exist?

At the height of Houston’s career, media culture and

paparazzi held sway at all hours of the day. Changes in how

people, both Black and white, consumed popular culture meant

that the landscape was now more treacherous, as consumers

grew more eager for more than music but access to lifestyle.

Alongside pushes to the boundaries of race, gender, and

sexuality, brought on by the still moving policy shifts of

the 1980s, these media shifts, for Houston, would make her a

new image and icon early on. Similar to Ross and The

42 Corliss, Richard. "The Prom Queen of Soul." Time, July 13, 1987.

54

Supremes in this way, Houston’s rise to fame and capturing

of the American imagination, meant that her identity as a

Black woman within a larger social demographic was presented

under the popular culture microscope as having a both

separate implication from the rest via exceptionalism and a

coinciding one via media defined ideas of identity,

misogynoir, and cultural significance. Houston, in a way

that was before not used, acted as a sounding board to a new

understanding of Black female artists, media, imagery, and

an ever expanding popular culture market.

Houston doubled-down on these openings with her second

album Whitney, which continued to portray her in the role of

Black all-American girl. Released in 1987, the album was

decidedly pop-oriented, with it’s first four singles all

achieving number one status on Billboard Top Pop. The leading

single “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” was

similar in style to pop royalty, Madonna, full of the pep,

synth, danceability, and color that had come to define the

decade’s pop tastes. While Whitney was a commercial success,

allowing for Houston to continue her chosen role,

55

politically it was not without it challenges as a misstep in

racial justice and ideas of radical and intentional Black

popular culture.

Trey Ellis nods at Whitney as well as Houston’s Americana

aesthetic in his treatise, the “New Black Aesthetic” which

takes to task the implications of Black popular music losing

the “Black” and seeking universalism in the wake of

integration:

‘You won't find the universal by deciding to go after the

universal.’… we all talk about how She's Gotta Have It crossed

over so well precisely because it was so true to the black.

And how Lionel Ritchie's "Dancing on the Ceiling" and

Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" are so

lifeless precisely because they have applied Porcelana fade

cream to their once extremely soulful throats. The two now

pop singers have transformed themselves into cultural-

mulatto, assimilationist nightmares; neutered mutations

instead of thriving hybrids. Trying to please both worlds

instead of themselves, they end up truly pleasing neither.43

43 Ellis, Trey. "The New Black Aesthetic." Callaloo, no. 38 (1989): 233-43. Accessed February 21, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2931157.

56

Ellis’ critiques echo a similar thought expressed by Collins

in Black Sexual Politics regarding the dangers of assimilation in the

lens of popular culture and toward a more white-centric viewing

of Blackness. Claiming that mass media played a role in

generating images that shape new racism and depoliticize the

impact of Blackness in media, she writes:

Because presenting African American culture as bring

indistinguishable from other cultures is not necessarily

entertaining, newsworthy, or marketable, depictions of

Black culture needed to be different from White norms, yet

still supportive of them…media constructed Blackness took

class-specific forms that mirrored changes in social class

formation…the arrival of middle-class “Black”

respectability…helped shape a discourse about racial

integration and African American women’s place in it.44

Going forward from the challenges faced from The Supremes in

asserting femininity at all, Houston and her career in the

spotlight shines a light on the limits of acceptance and renews

44 Hill-Collins, Patricia. “Get Your Freak On: Sex, Babies, and Images of Black Femininity.” In Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and The New Racism, 147. New York: Routledge, 2005.

57

the issue of double-consciousness and authenticity. Testing the

limits of Black womanhood as a universally viable identity for

mass-market as well the idea of depoliticizing it for maximum

legibility to a large consumer market, Houston lost legibility

of Blackness in favor of legibility in the white media world.45

Still, Houston’s playing at the limit, signaled a new form of

exhibiting agency outside of performance itself, bridging

musical style with personal definitions of self and blurring the

line between performer and performance. In interviews where she

was confronted with questions of authenticity and personal

beliefs, she remained adamant that the decisions being put on

the table were hers and hers alone:

“I don't like it when they see me as this little person who

doesn't know what to do with herself--like I have no idea what I

want, like I'm just a puppet and Clive's46 got the strings.

That's bullshit. That's demeaning to me, because that ain't how

it is, and it never was. And never will be.”47

45 Whitney Houston was famously boo-ed at the 1989 Soul Train Awards, markinga moment of illegibility and utter distaste for what Houston had become as both a musical talent and as a representative for Blackness46 Clive Davis was Houston’s producer and is credited with managing Houston’s career. Davis is white Jewish.47 DeCurtis, Anthony. "Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty." Rolling Stone, June 10,1993.

58

Whereas The Supremes had the benefit of exploring Blackness

in media in relation to whiteness through Black-owned Motown,

Houston worked under Arista records and the guidance of Clive

Davis, a white entrepreneur. Furthering the critiques against

her were insinuations of her being lesbian, then a still deviant

sexuality and as counter to conceptions of proper blackness,

and was accused of turning her back on her Newark roots, pushing

her even further away from ideas of Black authenticity and

toward an assimilationist identity.

Working before a formalized theory of Black feminism that

embraced the impact and nuances of integration and the role of

media, Houston’s responses lay primarily in the music she

produced as well as in how she formatted her persona for the

cameras. Agency, still remaining a primary frame for deriving

feminist resistance and exploration, is then compounded by

opportunity and the challenges of occupying the liminal space

afforded by the political landscape. Whereas The Supremes took

one route, pursuing glamor and respectability, Houston

continuously switched, further complicating identity.

59

In the 1990s, assumingly in response to her negative press

from Black media, Houston made two significant grabs for Black

authenticity and placement again as a decidedly Black female

icon. First was the production of I’m Your Baby Tonight, an album

full of deep R&B tracks, syncopations, and drum-lines, harkening

back to the type of “Black” sounds that “urban” consumers looked

for. Secondly, in 1992, she married R&B singer Bobby Brown in a

public and much talked about ceremony.

The courtship to Brown as well as the album brought mixed

reviews for Houston. On the one hand, Brown and the album

were distinctively and decidedly Black and eschewing of any

form of assimilationism. Brown, who flaunted Black

masculinity and sexuality via his music and personal

relationships was not a cross-over artist nor a person that

greatly appealed to white audiences. Giving her “edge,”

Brown’s relationship with Houston was marked with public

drama that at times threatened Houston’s career prospects.

Houston was no longer singing for America at the Super Bowl;

she was a Black wife, soon to be mother, and had chosen to

form her identity in that way.

60

The choice to explore identity in the media around

Blackness, womanhood, and American citizenship was not made

by only Houston, but rather exemplified by her. Throughout

the 1980s and 1990s Houston’s presence in the industry

challenged the very idea of Blackness as different from

Americanness and womanhood as needing to be controlled or

singularly defined. Though far from perfect, Houston’s brand

of performance again toed the line of Black feminist

discourse and identity formation through living actively in

the limits; and it showed.

Daphne Brooks in memoriam to Houston wrote about the

impact of Houston’s “every-woman” technique amidst the

backdrop of the Reagan-Bush years with the following:

In those early, candy-colored “How Will I Know” years,

riding the edge of her teens with sparkly bows and

mile-high crimp locks, she channeled Etta’s youthful

chutzpah, yoked it with the Queen of Soul’s vocal

confidence and power and Tina’s discipline and gently

folded in a bit of Khan’s sensuality so as to create a

pop heroine the world had never before seen or heard at

61

that point in time—a black female Top 40–meets-MTV

protagonist whose sound welcomed us to a bright new

crossover world of what might be, where Huxtable

brownstones and an emerging black middle class made

cultural integration seemingly more palpable and more

palatable to the masses for a brief moment in time.48

48 Brooks, Daphne. "I'm Every Woman: Whitney Houston, the Voice of the Post–Civil Rights Era." I'm Every Woman: Whitney Houston, the Voice of the Post–Civil Rights Era. February 12, 2012. Accessed March 20, 2015. http://www.thenation.com/article/166233/im-every-woman-whitney-houston-voice-post-civil-rights-era.

62

Run The World (?): Beyoncé

“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, I only have to follow my heart

and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world.” -

Beyoncé Knowles

In Paris, France, one of the most talked about concert

series of the year had finally reached its end. After a

whirlwind period of art and entertainment, ranging from

Super Bowl performances to surprise albums to two sold-out

worldwide concert series, Beyoncé joined her husband, rapper

JAY Z, in a joint concert series, titled “On The Run Tour”,

in homage of their joint single on his Magna Carta, Holy Grail

album. The pop-industry’s most talked about and most iconic

couple had had a series of bumps in the road leading to this

point; rumors of low ticket sales, of divorce and

infidelity, and conversations about inappropriate lyrics

pushed and pulled them out of the “hot topics” realm each

week. But in Paris, the place where the couple got engaged

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and conceived their first child49, the resolution was clear:

They are Black, they are in love, and they are American

royalty.

On The Run’s fictional theming and narrative of “Bonnie

and Clyde-esque” fantasies of criminality, escape, and

freedom were rounded out by the finale of the concert, a

snap back to reality with the phrase “THIS IS REAL LIFE”

flashing across the stadium screens, presented as counter to

all of the notes of the fictitious. Shedding their ski-masks

and dropping their fake guns, the couple joined each other

center stage for a joint performance of “Young Forever” and

“Halo,” setting one of the most stunning scenes in the

concert: JAY Z, a former gangsta rapper, adorned in pristine

all white, Beyoncé, America’s sweetheart, adorned in a

blacked-out American flag, with intimate videos of their

courtship, marriage, and the birth of their child playing in

the background.50

Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while

49 Noted by the couple themselves during their performance of Part II (On theRun)50 Beyoncé Knowles. “Young Forever/Halo.” Youtube video, 6:54. September 21, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmfmdKOLzVI

64

Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don't have the power but we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip

The music's for the sad man

Forever young, I wanna be forever young

Do you really want to live forever, forever, and ever?51

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, known globally by consumers and in

the performance world as simply Beyoncé, represents a key

moment in the lineage of Black female pop-performers and a

revolutionary point in the reach of the Black female artist.

Performing from an early age and reaching global iconicity

at the young age of twenty-one, Beyoncé adds to the popular

culture spectrum not just a propensity for barrier-breaking,

a standard of performance set before her by the artists

showcased in these preceding chapters, but the complete

obliteration of limitations. For Beyoncé there is no arena

51 M. Gold, F. Mertens, B. Lloyd, S. Carter, K. West. Young Forever. JAY Z ft Mr Hudson. © 2010 by Roc Nation. LP.

65

too big, no performance too grand; no vocal run too hard, no

budget too large. Coming of performance age with her solo

album Dangerously in Love in 2003, the beginning of the “post-

race” era, Beyoncé as a brand and entertainer is predicated

on three ideas: the first is that womanhood is no longer a

restriction to career height; the second is that a

globalized economy has created an expanse of opportunity in

a large and diverse consumer base that had, until this

point, never been seen before; the last is that the full

integration of Black people in society alongside large,

continuous legislative and socio-political advances toward

progress means that Blackness would no longer provide a

hurdle but perhaps even a boost to legibility and appeal.

In ways inaccessible to Ross or Houston, Beyoncé has the

ability within her career to reap the full benefits of

progress, drawing her access from the Civil Rights Movement,

the feminist movements, the pop culture wars, and the sexual

revolution. Because of these political boosts, she has come

to represent some of the highest ideals of progress herself,

seemingly unfettered by the identity of Black woman that

66

once caused Ross and Houston to second-guess and compensate.

Expanding her reach amidst what is coming to be known as the

“post-racial” age, Beyoncé takes the “American Dream” appeal

once held by Houston as well as the glamour and

respectability once held by Ross and maximizes it, drawing

in maximum profit and mass appeal. She is able to situate

herself as “Queen” of the industry and is, for the most

part, uncontested in this. This success can appear to be the

perfect culmination of a Black artist finally receiving

their due from the popular culture realm their culture

birthed. Yet, Beyoncé, her success, her music, and the

culture she has birthed, reintroduces the importance of

theorizing from the popular and forces one to reimagine

Black feminism in music in light of a “post-racial” era and

power politics. Does Black feminist music exist in a “post-

racial” society? Can it be “iconic”? If so, what is it

seeking to represent and say?

For Beyoncé, the new landscape of access starting from the

2000s has granted her power, primarily financial and within

the industry, that was not accessible to many artists before

67

her. As a woman, Beyoncé is the highest paid Black female

entertainer52 making her a representative of the shifts in

the ways Black female artists can relate to and profit from

their performances, field, and craft. However, these points

do not grant full immunity from political discourse and the

shadow of white supremacist hegemony and, thus, are not

signifiers of ease; her Blackness may no longer be policed

but is instead erased at convenience. Her sexuality may no

longer be exaggerated or categorized into controlling image

tropes but is instead commodified. Her womanhood may no

longer be invisible and illegible but is instead hyper-

visible. Yet, in the quest for iconicity, insertion into

capitalism, and navigation of the entertainment industry as

a Black performer in a growing “post-racial” America and

global market, Beyoncé represents the cross-roads and a

contradiction within the current political landscape:

Beyoncé is simultaneously represented, as powerful,

independent, and aspirational; yet, in the biggest

contradiction of all, she is also represented as universal

52 O’Malley Greenburg, Zack

68

and belonging to the white consumer, with her Blackness

being both the loudest and most silent role of her

performance.

Beyoncé was born in Houston, Texas in 1981 to Matthew and

Tina Knowles. The Knowleses were an upper-middle class Black

family living in a prosperous suburb of Houston, with

Beyoncé attending private school from an early age, a marker

of class distinction. Also at an early age, Beyoncé’s

musical talent was made evident, with Beyoncé expressing an

interest in singing as young as seven years-old, prompting

the Knowleses chose to create a group for the advancement of

Beyoncé’s career at age eight called Girl’s Tyme. This group

went through many changes in roster until it eventually,

under the management of Matthew Knowles himself, evolved

into Destiny’s Child, and crystalized as a group of three

with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams playing a

significant role in the development of the group and its

commercial success. The album The Writing’s On the Wall, released

in 1999, was the second album from the group collective, but

essentially put the group on the map, producing the group’s

69

first three successful singles. From there, Destiny’s Child

continued to top charts, serving as a vehicle not only for

Beyoncé’s career but the careers of Rowland and Williams

until the hiatus of the group in 2001 for the launch of solo

careers.

At this point, Beyoncé had already amassed a substantial

portfolio within the entertainment industry, thanks to the

management of her father. Already a fledging actor in

addition to her possession of a large R&B discography, with

numerous features with prominent hip-hop artists including

Missy Elliot and future husband, JAY Z, the cross-over

appeal was growing.

In 2003, during the hiatus from Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé

released her first solo album, Dangerously in Love. Filled with

a mix of ballads and club-pop, the album, helped by media

buzz around the artist, opened to stellar critical reviews

and sales, selling eleven million copies worldwide and going

4x Platinum.53 Immediately following this display, coupled by

53 "RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - April 01, 2015." Http://www.riaa.com. Accessed April 2, 2015. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database.

70

the receipt of five Grammy awards, tying her for a record

for most won by a woman in one night,54 was the conclusion of

the group Destiny’s Child with the release of album Destiny

Fulfilled, prompting even more buzz for Beyoncé in preparation

for the release of sophomore album B’Day in 2004.

B’Day in comparison with Dangerously in Love, relied heavily

on pop as the key genre yet still took steps to including

traditions of Black music and Beyoncé’s roots in subtle

ways. The stand-out single from the album, “Irreplaceable,”

tells the tale of a jilted female lover essentially “kicking

her man to the curb” and is one of the most curious cases of

Beyoncé’s ubiquity being partnered with signifiers of

Blackness that wound up ignored within media discourse in

favor of gendered discussions.

The video for the single portrays Beyoncé opposite of a

Black male partner going through a breakup and surrounded by

her all-women-of-color band, The Suga Mamas, in a healing,

artistic space. Instrumented with acoustic guitar and 808

drum beats, the song presents plenty of space for Beyoncé to

54 Silverman, Stephen M. "Much Grammy 'Love' for Beyoncé, OutKast." People, February 8, 2004.

71

shine vocally and drive home the lyrics, filled with African

American Vernacular (AAV) structure and turns of phrase:

To the left, to the left

Everything you own in the box to the left/In the closet that's my stuff

Yes, if I bought it, please don't touch

And keep talking that mess that's fine/But could you walk and talk at the same

time

And, it's my name that's on that jag/So come move your bags, let me call you a

cab

Standing in the front yard

Tellin' me, how I'm such a fool

Talkin' 'bout, I'll never ever find a man like you

You got me twisted

You must not know about me, you must not know about me

I could have another you in a minute/Matter of fact, he'll be here in a minute,

baby

You must not know about me, you must not know about me

I can have another you by tomorrow

So don't you ever for a second get to thinking

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You're irreplaceable55

“Irreplaceable” as a single had a meteoric rise, becoming

Beyoncé’s best selling single and giving her a performance

that would follow her throughout her career. Yet what’s

particular about “Irreplaceable” and introduced into

Beyoncé’s performing repertoire for her future albums is the

distancing of the song away from a singular, racial

perspective, despite lyrics and delivery that would

insinuate otherwise, and toward a universal, gendered

perspective. “Irreplaceable” was the first song of Beyoncé’s

to explicitly be marketed as a “women’s empowerment song”

and to be picked up as a universal and de-racialized pop

femme anthem.

Whereas Ross and Houston still mixed and mingled with the

R&B charts, the “race” records of their time, despite their

cross-over success, Beyoncé’s challenges the mold by

creating songs and imagery that situate her squarely at the

top of the pop and top 40 charts, eschewing the R&B and

Urban Contemporary categories almost entirely. The ease in

55 BeyonceVEVO. “Irreplaceable.” Youtube video, 4:12. October 2, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwViQxSJJQ

73

which she crossed over is due in part to the lyricism and

vocal talent she naturally possesses, but it is also due to

her branding, particularly of a Black womanhood that is not

only palatable to the white consumer, but thoroughly

enjoyed. For the theme of women’s empowerment, with women in

this case being white women, to sell as a platform from a

Black female artist, a new way for Blackness to be read is

required and that is being paved by “post-race” discourse in

popular culture.

Within the “post-race” era there is a large contradiction

that Beyoncé arguably exploits in pursuit of this new

legibility. As discussed in chapter one, “post-race” theory

posits that America no longer focuses on race as a

determining factor of outcome but rather focuses on skill,

merit, or other things. Partnered with “colorblindness,” a

song like “Irreplaceable” and its success makes sense with

regards to success. Yet, the contradiction of this idea is

that racialization and outcomes derived from it have not

ceased but are instead coded, with class, gender, and

sexuality all playing a part. In the case of Beyoncé, her

74

lifestyle, upbringing, and early stance within the industry

allows her to fit comfortably in the realm of “black-ish,”

or being Black enough for exoticism in the white gaze and to

maintain a Black audience, but respectable and socially

mobile enough to fit into white mainstream society and

consciousness.56 As an artist whose focus is commercial

success, this blend works perfectly for the current times;

as a Black woman, however, who holds the legacy of Black

female popular artists so tightly in form Beyoncé still

finds herself tasked with striking a balance between

authenticity, creativity, and representation in a way that

not only pushes the questions of agency as a female artist,

but the question of whether Black women can truly earn and

maintain power and privilege within larger hegemonic

systems.

Beyoncé, in three singles of note, “Single Ladies,” from I

Am…Sasha Fierce, “Run the World,” from 4, and perhaps most

notably, “***Flawless” from Beyoncé, continues to pursue this

56 Griffin, Farah Jasmine. "At Last . . . ? : Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Race &History." Daedalus 140, no. 1 (Winter, 2011): 131-141,8. http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/848998668?accountid=10226.

75

identification with women’s empowerment within the context

of a “Lean In” sort of feminist action57 that brings

Blackness to the industry table. Lyrically, these songs

resemble “Irreplaceable” in some ways, continuing the AAV

structure and southern delivery Beyoncé is known for while

appealing to white audiences lyrically and content wise. In

addition, visually, the art for the songs simultaneously

upholds Black women while displaying a mix of lavish and

uncharacteristic glamor: For “Single Ladies” it is her

Lorraine Schwartz diamonds alongside J-setting58 and for “Run

the World” it is Alexander McQueen alongside a dance group

from Mozambique and various African themes59. These codings,

made subtle, are not new within the scope of the musical

artists presented in this paper. However, what is new, is

the implications of Beyoncé performing in such a way, at her

level, to “post-race” audiences and consumers. As was the

57 Lean In is a book written by Sheryl Sandberg that suggests that women will rise to the top of their careers by “leaning in” to opportunities and shakingoff obstacles.58 J-setting is a style of dance derived from Jackson State University majorettes, an Historically Black College, that is based on call-and-responseformation. 59 BeyonceVEVO. “Run the World (Girls).” Youtube video, 4:51. May 18, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U

76

case with “Irreplaceable,” these racial subtleties within

her other large hits are often glossed over, with the three

singles and their videos being praised for their gendered

contributions, only, with their racial and cultural themes

ignored. This symbolizes the challenge Beyoncé faces within

the industry in trying to strike a balance between

authenticity and power: reductionism. For Beyoncé to be

legible enough for audiences to flock to, she must either be

Black or a woman; despite what one may assume about the

impact of changes in the political spectrum, she can never

fully be seen as both. In response and in protest, however,

Beyoncé continues to produce music by working within this

system and channeling Blackness in these subtle ways.

Beyoncé, who is very aware of the role of race in her

upbringing and her status, makes an active choice to embrace

mainstream, power-feminist interpretations of her for the

sake of her role and access, a new step in the legacy of

Black feminist music and one that challenges what “Black”

means in Black feminism.

77

Feminist scholar bell hooks was very critical of this type

of reinterpretation of Black feminist politics in a talk

given at the New School in 2014. Within the talk she calls

Beyoncé and her brand of “women’s empowerment” terrorism,

taking the underpinnings of Beyoncé as a brand to task, from

aesthetic to the role she plays within the industry:

Would we be at all interested in Beyoncé if she wasn't so

rich? Because I don't think you can separate her class,

power and the wealth from people's fascination with her

that here's a young black woman who is so incredibly

wealthy…one could argue even more than her body, it's what

that body stands for, the body of desire fulfilled that is

wealth, fame, celebrity—all the things that so many people

in our culture are lusting for, wanting. Let's say if

Beyoncé was a homeless woman who looked the same way, or a

poor, down and out woman who looked the same way, would

people be enchanted by her? Or is it the combination of

all of those things that are at the heart of imperialist,

white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy?60

60 bell hooks. “Are You Still a Slave? Liberating the Black Female Body” (conversation, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, New York,

78

This criticism, while similar to those leveraged against

Ross and Houston, has deeper significance because of the

role of iconicity, which is at the heart of hooks’ critique.

Access and resources have made Beyoncé a larger than life

actor within the popular culture industry, allowing her

impact to reach greater levels than either of the two before

her. Yet, because Blackness, and specifically Black

womanhood, are still not protected, what Beyoncé shows and

hides has a large impact on how Blackness is read and

interpreted. In short, at the other end of the power

spectrum, she becomes a token, a barometer for Black women

and Black female artists that reduces her.

The most contemporary of the three, as Beyoncé is a

current chart-topper, this case study, produces more

questions than it does answers as the career span of Beyoncé

is as of yet unseen. Still at the top of the industry and

branching out with her own production company, musical

streaming service, and series of short films, what Beyoncé

will mean in terms of Black feminist music and tradition can

NY, May 6, 2014).

79

take numerous directions and have numerous implications.

What is important, however, and why she is noteworthy within

this project, is her impact on changing the image of Black

womanhood away from a problem, as was faced by Ross, or a

question, as was faced by Houston, and into an aspiration.

“***Flawless,” the iconic song from her fifth album, echoes

a chorus of “I woke up like this…Flawless” and champions a

community-based self-love. Despite criticisms and the

pressures of the industry, a Black woman declaring across

global stages that she is flawless and being believed and

affirmed smashes open barriers of what Black female artists

can do with their music and how they can interpret their

impact. How audiences, both Black and white, will respond to

this, will only be known in time. What is for certain,

however, is that Beyoncé as an artist and as a Black woman

represents the crossroads and the contradiction: She runs

her world, full of life and luxury and creativity…even if

its fullness is only truly visible to but a few.

80

Conclusion

The research presented above is exploratory in nature

and attempts to build a bridge between the legacy of Black

feminism in the music produced by Black female artists of

the past to the contemporary notion of cross-over, pop

culture Black female artists and their music and art. As

shown, each artist represented within this paper has used

aspects of their musical career to challenge, engage, and

otherwise interpret their current social state and status as

held within their particular time frame. Drawing back to the

exploration of feminism in blues laid out in the text Blues

Legacies and Black Feminism, these actions in the contemporary

moment show a continued practice of politics within popular

culture, a sphere often dismissed as inconsequential, as

well as interventions into the evolving definitions of the

roles of womanhood and Blackness within it. For Diana Ross

and The Supremes, Whitney Houston, and Beyoncé to be as

successful as they were and are, this continuing discussion

had to take root, allowing for each artist to build upon the

81

works of the others before them and forge spaces for

themselves to reimagine the role of their art.

This research also encourages further exploration and

research to be done on the ways in which Black politics and

feminism will continue to be redefined and evolve within the

context of consumer shifts, political shifts, and changes in

popular culture. An obvious limitation of the work presented

above is that it focuses on three artists rather than a

larger scope that includes less popular or non-mainstream

artists. The artists above were most certainly in

conversation with these people, responding to changes in the

industry with them, but those views are not present in this

paper.

Further constraints of the paper include the absence of

non-heterosexual performances and the impact of sexuality

within the realm. The conversation is also absent of class

consciousness and the artists inasmuch as I don’t talk about

the politics of class in performance as a way in which Black

political culture manifests. These constraints are primarily

due to time and space but also due to the focus on artists

82

who have achieved large commercial success and, thus,

represent a privileged few. On the whole, the paper focuses

on a snapshot method of examining music and the culture in

which it was birthed, meaning that there are many details

and histories that are not tapped into or are not

acknowledged within the paper.

However, this thesis completes its goal in exploring Black

female political discourse in the music and art of Beyoncé,

Diana Ross and The Supremes, and Whitney Houston, and opens

up space for research to be further completed in how music

and popular culture, both from the artists featured and for

artists unmentioned, expands and is used as a means to

reinterpret and reinvent politics stemming from identity,

power, and privilege. Similar to the way Davis’ text gave

agency to an often forgotten segment of entertainment and

cultural history, this project does the same and brings into

the forefront the importance of popular culture in how one

considers the impact of race and gender discussion and

legibility. As popular culture continues to gain influence

in the social and political spheres, the art created within

83

it will continue to influence and have strong implications

for how we view and engage with our own identities and

political formations. Representation and visibility matter;

the production of the work of Black female artists matter.

What they perform, how they perform, how they are received

and under what conditions, tell us about the social views of

the industry and consumers as well as the artists

themselves. Their work is significant in that it is a

barometer, and one that is valid and necessary.

In the future, this work could be expanded to include more

artists and more genres that are representative of

Blackness, gender, class and sexuality and create a more

holistic view. However, the decision to focus on the three

“divas” sets the stage by questioning the power of privilege

and iconicity and introducing base questions for theorizing

from the contemporary moment. This work opens new doors to

continue the legacy of Black feminist studies by using

popular culture as a touchstone and by validating the work

of Black women outside of commercial charting by recognizing

their important contributions to culture and to politics.

84

This work is far from complete, however, it is one that is

exciting and is appropriate for further, impactful research.

These are songs that deserve to be sung, waiting for a

captive audience.

85

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