#ntozakeshange

[thefreeblackwomanslibrary]

“a few soft words have sent many a woman to her back with her thighs flung open and eager/ a few more / will find us standin up & speakin in our own toungue to whomever we goddam please” - Ntozake Shange, NAPPY EDGES, 1978 ♥️📕🌹

[blkgirlsinthefuture]

Sassafras, Cypress, & Indigo

Week 2: Art As Magic

By: Tobi Adepoju

Just from the title alone (Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo) I could already tell that this was Shange. She does a wonderful job with expressing the color and beauty of Black women just through her titles alone. I remember reading one of her works: for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow was enuf. That’s another wonderful piece of art that encapsulates the beauty and magic of Black women. In for colored girls, all women are dressed in the distinct colors of the rainbow. In this work, Shange continues to dress and address her characters with a pop of color. Shange’s use of this method is to me almost fantastical and speaks to the ‘magic’ we’ve been speaking about so far.

While researching, I also found that Shange did a lot of her work during the Black arts movement. I think that’s very important because it’s very telling as to why art, magic, and just the act of imagination through a Black lens alone are key elements of her work. In the lecture, it was mentioned that in this piece, she uses a lot of mixed media in order to tell the story of these Geechee women. Personally, I feel that identifying these different techniques were important for me to be able to read the excerpt in a way that made sense. While re-reading the chapter, I was able to point out narration as well as a poem, and a recited recipe. I also really like how in the lecture, Shange’s use of mixed media is identified as a constructed quilt. I thought this was really interesting because in the excerpt, there’s a tiny section that says, “Cypress tying off cloth, carrying the cloth to the stairway where she began the appliqués the family was famous for” (ch. 1). Although a tiny section, I think it was really important because it was one of the only parts of the chapter when the whole family was seen participating in an activity together. I also feel that this goes really well with the first line in the chapter where it says: “WHERE THERE IS A WOMAN THERE IS MAGIC” (ch. 1). I feel that Shange put this section in there to highlight again the magic, fantastical, and artistic elements of Black women. Also the use of Shange ‘constructing a quilt’ through different media forms implies that she herself is participating in this activity alongside her characters. 

I would say the main themes that I witnessed in this excerpt were imagination/magic, and all the hood’s (girlhood, sisterhood, and womanhood). Imagination/magic was the one that stuck out to me first. Throughout this excerpt I saw Indigo as a girl who is constantly in touch with her imagination/magic. For example, in a quote it says, 

“In the grocery, if the white folks were buying up all the fresh collards and okra, she made them disappear and put the produce on the vegetable wagons that went round to the Colored. There wasn't enough for Indigo in the world she'd been born to, so she made up what she needed. What she thought the black people needed” (ch.1).

In this quote, Indigo makes up in her mind that she has control over what she sees and decides to blend her imagination with reality (she also does this when she is constructing what her dolls look like). The magic part also comes in when Indigo describes a recipe or a potion that will make her vision become reality. 

Girlhood, sisterhood, and womanhood are also important themes in this excerpt. In the excerpt while Indigo seems in touch with her imagination and her magic, she is also disconnected from the outside world. In the text it describes Indigo as “ornery” or “too difficult” to have a conversation with (ch. 1). Indigo finds it hard to relate with a lot of other people like her sister’s because they're too “filled up with the white folk’s ways” (ch.1). She describes the only people who she is close with are Aunt Haydee, her dolls and some of the other ladies like Mrs. Yancey and Sister Mary Louise. It seems Indigo is able to form sisterhood with these people she shares similar characteristics with. For example, in a quote it says,

 “Yancey told Miranda that she made the pillows now because all her life she had been living between a rock and a hard place. Even though she didn't really need any more, something called her to keep sewing herself comforts” (ch.1).

Just like Indigo, Mrs. Yancey finds comfort in creating something of her own. 

  It seems to me that in this excerpt, Indigo is trying to navigate her girlhood while also finding companionship in sisterhood from people who are also navigating their womanhood.

A question that occurred to me while reading this was: “Given our various backgrounds, how do we redefine Black girlhood for ourselves so we can continue to heal as the Black women we are today?”

[makeda71]

#NTOZAKESHANGE #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory Poet, performance artist, playwright, and novelist Ntozake Shange was born Paulette Williams on October 18, 1948, in Trenton, New Jersey. She earned a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from UCLA. Her books of poetry include Ridin' the Moon in Texas: Word Paintings (St. Martin's Press, 1987), From Okra to Greens (1984), A Daughter's Geography (1983), Nappy Edges (1978), Natural Disasters and Other Festive Occasions (1977), and Melissa & Smith (1976). Among her plays are Daddy Says (1989); Spell #7 (1985); From Okra to Greens/A Different Kinda Love Story (1983); A Photograph: Lovers-in-Motion (1981), and for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (1977), which received Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award nominations. She is also the author of the prose works If I Can Cook You Know God Can (1998), See No Evil: Prefaces, Essays & Accounts, 1976-1983 (1984), Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo: A Novel (1982), and The Black Book (1986, with Robert Mapplethorpe). Among her numerous honors are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize. Ntozake Shange lives in Philadelphia. https://www.instagram.com/p/B8iVCVwnuZt/?igshid=198ozyfmx9u2n

[oshun67]

Beautiful Black Women

[cicivford]

🍂 “Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic. She can share or not share her powers. This woman is a consort of the spirits.“ Ntozake Shange I’m going to be using Sundays as a day away from social media and my phone in general but I had to post today. Today’s post is dedicated to #ntozakeshange who passed away yesterday. She wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. She is one of the most brilliant and powerful playwrights, authors & poets ever who HAPPENS to be African American. She left a body of work to make colored girls feel strong and empowered in world that tells them not to be. Rest well in power, in poetry and in peace. Thank you!! . The @washingtonpost wrote an in depth peace about her which I loved. The link is in my story. Love you all and hope you’re having a beautiful Sunday. https://www.instagram.com/p/BpfIAhIBwHc/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=bck8d58sqexz

[theabundantyogini]

Rest in power🤜🏾🏠😢. #Repost @oneikasyogalife with @get_repost ・・・ “And this is for Colored girls who have considered suicide, but are moving to the ends of their own rainbows.” Rest in Power Ntozake Shange and for writing the way for so many of us to find the end of our own rainbows. #forcoloredgirlswhohaveconsideredsuicidewhentherainbowisenuf #blackgirlmagic #ntozakeshange #tellingourstories #sassafrasscypressandindigo https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpc29idHp8k/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1c7zvk35s4oo6

[boricuagoddess79]

❤️ #ntozakeshange #forcoloredgirlswhohaveconsideredsuicidewhentherainbowisenuf #restinpeace https://www.instagram.com/p/BpiWQXOl3gz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1f14sxuua7san

[cherylwbrooks]

Rest in paradise, Ntozake Shane. 💖 #ntozakeshange https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpf0xw8nVla/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xl3ngsimuf0x