Against the Grain

When Whites Try on Blackness

According to Margaret Hunter, growing numbers of white people are “shape shifting into Blackness”: they’re taking on or inhabiting aspects or characteristics of Blackness. Hunter discusses the emergence of three forms of Blackness tried on by whites in the post-civil rights era: cultural Blackness, political Blackness, and intellectual Blackness.

Tamai, Dineen-Wimberly, and Spickard, eds., Shape Shifters: Journeys across Terrains of Race and Identity University of Nebraska Press, 2020

Margaret Hunter, Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone Routledge, 2005

Playlist

Artist Song Album Label
Dhamaal SoundsystemR/evolutionDhamaal SoundsystemDhamaal SF - Surya Vault Records
Jack DeJohnette's Special EditionNew Orleans StruttSpecial EditionUMG - ECM Records
Dhamaal SoundsystemR/evolutionDhamaal SoundsystemDhamaal SF - Surya Vault Records
Party Tyme KaraokeLove Rain (Made Popular By Jill Scott) [Karaoke Version]Party Tyme Karaoke - R&B Female Hits 4UMG - Sybersound Records
Kool & The GangSummer MadnessSampled! (Jazz Club)Decca (UMO)