This week, we are exploring notions of racial and cultural authenticity as explored in the play Bee-Luther-Hatchee by Thomas Gibbons. As the second non-African American playwright we have discussed in the course, Gibbons joins many white American writers who have written extensively on African American life and race relations in the United States in both positive and negative ways. Some of these writer's works have re-inscribed racial stereotypes and denigrated black subjects, while other have attempted to present the self-determination of African Americans.
In what ways do you think the race of the playwright does/does not impact his ability to write African American characters and their experiences in a believable fashion? Do you read the work as more/less "authentic" because of his racial identification? As you blog on authenticity this week, think broadly what it means to "authentically" represent racial and cultural experiences. Is this possible? For discussion, you may consider ways you can issues of authenticity to fictional representations of African American life in American popular culture such as television, film, music, etc.
Racial authenticity is when you are considered a racial group in the correct way. So to be racially authentic you must be ‘black’ in the right way, ‘Irish’ in the right way, ‘Mexican’ in the right way, and so on. (Lecture March 23). This is a major theme in Thomas Gibbons’s Bee-Luther-Hatchee. Through the play the reader discovers this book written about an African American woman Libby was actually written by a white man named Sean. When Shelita an African American woman who published the book discovers the truth she calls the story a fraud and a hoax. Shelita says to Sean, “I guess you’ve managed to pull off quite a hoax on all us dumb niggers. Yassuh, sho’ ‘nuff!” (Gibbons, 45). Shelita continues on with her argument saying it is not authentic because, “you’re white…” and she says that “it means you can’t understand.” (Gibbons, 51). Shelita is arguing that the book is not authentic/real because he was a white man, and there is no way that a white man can understand what African Americans have and do endure on a daily basis. However Sean argues back that “the book moves people. Does who I am change that?” (Gibbons, 47). He continues on to say that “this demand that the storyteller be “authentic”… What is it really but a fashionable form of prejudice?” (Gibbons, 53). I feel that Sean has the stronger argument. What he is pointing out when he talks about Shelita’s need for authenticity is that she is saying that an author should only write about themselves. Plus, Sean is pointing out that his book resonated and moved many African Americans. He is asking Shelita to realize that an author should be invisible and the most important part of the work is that the book moves the audience. In a way this seems a justification for Gibbons on why and who can write about race, and I feel that he defends himself well.
ReplyDelete“This book is false—because of who you are. It has no authenticity” (Gibbons 47). When Shelita says this in the play I feel that Gibbons is poking fun at the idea that there is some unwritten rule of who can understand who, and who can tell a story about someone else. The character Sean has created a book that reaches out and touches other African-Americans, and as the audience finds out in the play the story of Libby Price was true. The only thing lacking authenticity was the author who made Shelita and others believe that he is actually Libby Price instead of someone who had known Libby Price. I feel that the fact that Sean felt he needed to hide the fact he was white reflects a fear that still lingers in America that a person should not branch out to understand or share with anyone who is not of the same race/ethnicity/etc.
ReplyDeleteSean lied about who he was, but the story he told was true. Did the story he portray offend or hurt anyone? Shelita’s argument for authenticity boils down to a thought that what’s Black should be kept away from what is White, which I disagree with seeing as how Libby’s story became Sean’s to tell because he experienced Libby, and not because of race. Gibbons is trying to show through this idea of authenticity race that there is no right way to be one race or another, but it’s more about the stories we share.
“Black Theatre” is not just one aspect of art and culture but it is also, in many instances, an expression of very powerful and significant experiences in African American history. Shelita feels connected to Libby Price because they are bound by their experiences as African-American women. “This voice was, somehow, one that I have always known” (46). She refers to the “collective consciousness” (8) that exists in the works produced by African American authors capturing their “own unique identity” (8), emphasising the ways in which these stories have united African-Americans. In Bee-Luther-Hatchee, Gibbons examines whether a White author can write about African-American experience in the same way. Through Shelita he suggests that a White author cannot understand discrimination and suffering to the same extent and therefore they cannot honestly convey them; “Hearin’ about it aint nothin’ [...] You got to feel all those white people’s eyes burnin holes in you.” (38). However, through Sean he also presents the argument that the author’s identity should not matter if “the book moves people”. The legacy of slavery plays an important part in this argument as it emphasises the way that the events in history still resonate today. Shelita’s main argument against Sean is that he had no right to use Libby’s stories because they could not have meant as much to him as they do to her. Such events are not bound to him in the way that they are to her: “One of the privileges your skin grants you is that you can live outside your past. Dismiss it as irrelevant. But we breathe our past. I won’t have it dismissed by you.” (50) Jean Genet, can be considered an exception to this idea as his work was well received by black audiences and the Black Panthers viewed him as a very influential advocate for their mission. The reason for this maybe that Genet, due to his own experiences as a homosexual, could better relate to feelings of suffering and discrimination. His own suffering meant that in some sense he understood and could relate to the experiences of African-Americans.
ReplyDeleteThere are many schools of thought on the issue of who is allowed to discuss and write about the African American experience. There are those that support Genet and Gibbons for their controversial views that those who have witnessed the African American or in Genet's case the identification of many of the base struggles of the Black experience and in Gibbon's case the immersion in the culture throughout his entire life. There is also the viewpoint of August Wilson and Amiri Baraka that the experience is solely that of the African American and therefore cannot and shall not be created by an outside community because of the loss of the authentic message. Are the experiences in Gibbon's work any less authentic than the message in August Wilson's "Fences"?
ReplyDeleteIn Thomas Gibbons’, Bee-Luther-Hatchee, Sean states: “Writers create illusions out of the best part of themselves” (27). Gibbons is no exception to this rule as he has been “writing about race” for the past ten years through his plays (interview p. 2). It can be argued that Gibbons himself is a kind of real-life Sean as a middle-aged white man who writes on the African-American experience. Professor Hodges Persley asked: “Does authenticity come from living the experience or from being a witness to it?” (lecture 3/23) This question of authenticity becomes the central conflict that drives Bee-Luther-Hatchee. Throughout the play the audience is forced to confront whether or not a white man has the right to write the words and stories of a black woman he knew long ago. Sean knew Libby intimately, however, he is not Libby nor is he her approved translator enabling her stories to make the great leap from the mists of memory to the seemingly permanent page as “black marks on white paper” (72). What he truly is, is left to the audience to decide as they see the larger question of, “who can write African-American experiences?” (lecture 3/23), embodied through Sean and Shelita’s confrontation. This question has no simple answer, however, if we were to ask the late August Wilson his thoughts on Sean’s dilemma or even on Thomas Gibbons’ work as a playwright he might answer as he stated in his famous speech, “The Ground on Which I Stand:” “Our manners, our style, our approach to language, our gestures, and our bodies are not for rent.” Wilson’s words remind us once more that authenticity is never an easy question to answer.
ReplyDeleteDeciding if something is authentic is very difficult to say yes or no too, because who are we to beat our gravel and say this story is authentic, case dismissed. Just because a writer is white or from another nationality but writes about someone of another nationality and different background should not matter. In saying that I mean this, Shelita loved the story and it moved many people obviously because it was given an award, but the only issue came when she found out that Sean was a white male. That’s the real problem, because if he would’ve been black I think it wouldn’t have mattered as much. He knew the woman and has some history with her. No, he’s not the most prominent source that could’ve been used for the memoirs but that’s not the real issue in deciding if the book is authentic or not, it’s his race. Shelita states herself “It’s because you’re white….that it takes away from the authenticity (51)” meaning there’s no way he can truly understand. I think people get so uptight and take things too personal when its about “their race”. I mean its not a terrible thing if someone of another race knows things or has experienced something with someone of your particular race. For instance, if I was the child of a slave owner and I experienced the hardship my parents put slaves through and really feel that oppression being bestowed upon them. I am more authentic if I was to write a story then any person that has researched and learned about it; race should not be the issue.
ReplyDeleteDuring this week’s play, Bee-luther Hatchee, the character Shelita struggles with the authenticity of the book she has published also called Bee-Luther Hatchee. At first Shelita is proud of the best-selling book by the African-American woman she knows as Libby Price. She even goes as far as saying she feels like Libby’s daughter (Gibbons, 11) because of the strong connection they have made over the publishing of the book. Eventually Shelita is surprised to find that Libby Price is actually Sean Leonard, a white man. Shelita becomes extremely angry at Sean for lying about being an elderly African-American woman saying that his Libby is a “white man’s fantasy” (Gibbons, 60). Sean tries to explain that Libby actually does exist; he just does not know where she is. When Sean was a boy, his father and Libby lived together, but because a bi-racial relationship was scandalous at the time, neither could handle the secrecy and Libby eventually left Sean’s father. Sean wrote Bee-luther Hatchee to tell Libby’s side of the story. Unfortunately, Shelita still believes that his book is not “authentic” because he was claiming to be an African American. This whole play and its plot brings up the question of who can write African American literature? The character Sean shows that it does not have to be an African American to write successfully about the African American experience. He lived with Libby and knew her well, and although parts of Libby are made up, I believe Sean had the right “credentials” to write about the African American experience. I believe Sean/Libby’s story was still authentic.
ReplyDelete“When you read Libby’s book, you responded to it. Because it had some measure of emotion al truth. “ (Gibbons 49). Is this not the reason that most of us read to being with? To connect and be informed with another’s time and situations and experiences whether they be of the author themselves, or a fictional character, this is an important reason for many to read. However, regardless of reasons, being lead to believe one thing and then finding out another can be very disconcerting as in Shelita’s case “I guess you’ve managed to pull off quite a hoax on all us dumb niggers. Yassuh, sho’ ‘nuff!” (Gibbons 45). Her reaction to the truth is very personal. I believe that this would be reaction as well, it would hurt and feel like I had been lied to then find something like this out. But I like how Sean tries to point out her possible ‘reverse racism’, “Suppose a different man came into this room. Another man, middle-aged-like me- but black. Would you feel the same?” (Gibbons 50). The struggle for Shelita is to realize whether or not she is feeling like this because she has been lied to, or because he is white telling a black woman’s stories. I don’t believe that Sean should have lied about who he was, but who he is does not make him any less able to tell Libby’s stories. He is in all actuality not claiming to have experienced these things, but to have listened to them from the woman who has.
ReplyDeleteAuthenticity means to be authentic, real, a hard copy, original, one and only truth. Many synonyms later there is still a problem. Why some of us are still left to speculate what that means? Could it be that our minds have setup a system that establish a reality that is approved by what we know and understand. In reality we are all limited in our own understanding. How do we really establish truth in our lives? One avenue to the truth is finding out the answers to our questions. However in the story Bee-Luther-Hatchee a middle aged woman by the name of Shelita finds out the truth. This authenticity of the truth that Shelita encounters causes her to become rather disquiet. This truth that structured her system of an “authentic Libby Price” is broken. The woman she so dreadfully desires is extinguished by the truth in a very different form. A different truth came in the form of an old white man who was embodied in her consciousness. If anyone was to believe in something so deeply and then realize it is not what they believed in it can cause emotional stress. To believe is for one to encompass thoughts and reason that perpetuate our actions. It is what drives to be the person you are. Shelita is infuriated that someone would lie to her and of all things pretend to be a black woman. Now she cannot believe that Sean the writer on Libby Prices behalf gave such a false truth. I believe it is truth but it was manipulated for someone to establish the written life of someone he lost who was dear to him. Shelita believed in authenticity of Libby Price but it was not the truth she wanted to hear coming from Sean. Libby indeed was real but Shelita could believe that truth of Libby was embedded in someone else writing. Is Sean right and does Shelita have the right to be mad? Well in this case it depends on you interpret your own truth.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this book the audience is able to take away and learn from other people’s experience. “It’s because you’re white….that it takes away from the authenticity (51)” why does race have to play a role in whether something is being authentic or not? Not only is this an issue with this book, but it’s also an issue in today’s society. For instance, some blacks get offended when someone of a different race knows more about black history than they do. But why is that? Why can’t the ones that are offended accept the fact that somebody of a different race knows more about a subject than they do, it is not a knock on them. Many feel this book lacks racial authenticity because it is written by a white man about an African American woman. But who are we to say if something is authentic; the reader needs to acknowledge that the writer may not be the best source of how it is to walk in black persons shoes but to take his opinions into account.
ReplyDeleteThe debate of who is credible to write on certain topics regarding race and be considered authentic can turn into an argument. However, I do believe that the argument would not be as heated today as it would have been in my parent’s generation. Today less people would see this as a problem, because we live under the mentality today that whatever will generate the most money is the option to go with. From the class discussion on March 25 we mentioned that Sandra Bullock was a producer of the Latino television seris “The George Lopez Show.” The question that was raised was, as a Caucasian American, is Bullock able to authentically write of Latino everyday experiences? People will have different opinions, but the fact is that the show was quite popular and was on air for 5 years. In Thomas Gibbons “Bee-Luther-Hatchee”, Shelita expresses her opinion on the authenticity of authors to Sean. “First we have to own our past. By telling our story. Ever since you brought us here, white people have been telling our story for us,” (pg 52). Shelita later mentions the negative ways White people represented Blacks in books such as Huckleberry Finn. Despite the recognition the book received, Shelita believes that Sean does not have the right to represent the way Blacks lived because he has never lived as a Black person in America. The only way to determine to authencity of a work, is through one’s own interpretation and how it reflects to their life.
ReplyDeleteFor the play Bee-Luther-Hatchee, this whole story is about the identity of African Americans and if those who have actually lived it can be the only ones who can tell the story or can someone from a different culture can tell the same story and for it to have the same meaning. In this play Shelita's is having a real problem dealing with the fact the author of a book that is about an elderly African American woman growing up in the South is a white man. The publishing of this book effected Shelita’s personal life and also career and she felt as if she had a connection with Libby Pierce, so when she finds out the truth of the author she feels as if she has been lied to, betrayed and deceived. In the play, when Sean asks the question, “Suppose a different man came into this room; another man, middle-aged-like me- but black. Would you feel the same?” (Gibbons pg. 50), and also he had a good point when he said, “the book moves people. Does who I am change that?” (Gibbons pg.47) It summarizes the meaning of the play. if this were the case, that only an African American could have wrote this novel, and if someone else of another race wrote it than it would not be authentic, than much of what i have learned in school could be "null and void."
ReplyDeleteThe idea of race relations and interactions has been at the fore front of every work we have seen thus far in African American Theater, very much including this weeks Bee-Luther-Hatchee by Thomas Gibbons. As race is so prominent, I guess the race of the author should be noteworthy, but not make or break the piece. The work should be based on an unbiased review. If the race of the author can effectively alter the “authenticity” of the work, would not being white discredit my ability to say a theatrical was or was not authentically black? Does being of a specific race automatically guarantee expertise on all aspects of said race? I would argue overwhelming no. The issues of authenticity discussed in class took me directly to a book I read in high school called The Things They Carried. It is a book about experiences of the Vietnam war, and was read in history class. The book itself however is a work of fiction, an issue that wasn’t raised in class until the end. The discussion revolved around the idea that fictional stories could depict authentic emotional states. It didn’t matter if the man next to you actually stepped on a landmine and blew his leg off as long as such a tale allows the reading to grasp the terror of the situation you were in authentically, as a description of the events themselves may not reproduce the same amount of terror as the actual experiences. The same can be said of the race of the author, or the stories they tell for that matter. The authenticity is in the emotional reaction drawn from the audience. Also implying authenticity almost assumes a universal racial experience, yet most certainly white and black men of Chicago would have much different racial experiences than someone growing up in Mone, Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this book the audience is able to take away and learn from other people’s experience. “It’s because you’re white….that it takes away from the authenticity (51)” why does race have to play a role in whether something is being authentic or not? Not only is this an issue with this book, but it’s also an issue in today’s society. For instance, some blacks get offended when someone of a different race knows more about black history than they do. But why is that? Why can’t the ones that are offended accept the fact that somebody of a different race knows more about a subject than they do, it is not a knock on them. Many feel this book lacks racial authenticity because it is written by a white man about an African American woman. But who are we to say if something is authentic; the reader needs to acknowledge that the writer may not be the best source of how it is to walk in black persons shoes but to take his opinions into account.
ReplyDeleteIn Bee-Luther-Hatchee we as students are able to read a play that has ignited much controversy because of race. The race of the writer is white, the subject of the play is black and this alone has caused many people to question whether this play is truly authentic. Sean, a white author, finds himself being accused of presenting information he knows nothing about because of his race according to Shelita, a black woman who was also is the publisher. Shelita feels that because Sean is white he has no right or competence of African-American life, “Yes. It’s because you’re white. Of course…It means you can’t understand” (Gibbons 51). Sean argues that before she knew he was white she was ok with the content of the material but once she found out he was white he had no credibility. I seem to find myself on the side of Sean though I do understand where Shelita is coming from. Throughout history African-Americans have been in a fight for equality and knowledge of the hard times they have faced in White America so for a white man to speak about the black struggle, it evokes controversy. I think knowledge on a subject can be looked at in many ways but if the content of certain works cause the same reaction if written by a white person or a black person, what does it matter? If the content runs true then I feel people from all races should embrace rather than disregard. Jean Genet was able to write about the struggle in The Blacks as a homosexual white French man because his content ran true with black people. Race and identity seem to be two adjectives that may seem similar but can be very different. Sean is white yet he can identify with blacks, therefore his content is not to be discounted because he writes the subject matter with the feelings of those he writes about. Race is topic that will be discussed for the length of human existence no matter what. Though first hand accounts by black people on black struggle in The United States are looked as more authentic because of the race of the writer, works by all races should be acknowledged if they present a subject matter that which causes controversy and positive change toward racial equality in The United States
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