Race

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Tuskegee, Alabama

Tuskegee, Alabama, is a symbol for Southern Black identity. Historically, Tuskegee is the location of Tuskegee University, the college founded by Black leader Booker T. Washington to educate Black Americans in fields that would enable them to be workers in the South after Reconstruction, the historical period when the United States sought to reincorporate the South into the country after the Civil War. Reconstruction ended before Black Americans could gain the freedom promised with the end of the Civil War. Washington’s vision of what Black people could be was in some ways limited; in exchange for technical education, Black Americans would be willing to accept slower or no progress on political equality. Alabama in general and Tuskegee specifically conjure Black identity that accepts limitations for the sake of survival. Leaving Tuskegee is thus Paul and his siblings’ declaration that they will no longer be bound by racist notions of Black identity.

Harlem, New York

Harlem, New York, is a symbol for Black pride and liberation. Historically, Harlem was a favored destination for Black migrants as a part of the Great Migration, a mass, decades-long movement of Black Americans from the rural South to cities during the 20th century. Moving to Harlem affirms Paul’s siblings’ pride in claiming a Black identity when to all appearances they are as white as Paul. “The siblings each morning ensured / no one confused them for anything other than what they were, black” (Lines 9-10), by choosing to live in a vibrant Black community. Paul, on the other hand, “just didn’t say that he was black” (Line 7), and in the context of a location where Black people are prohibited, he becomes white.

Oregon

Oregon is a symbol for Paul’s choice to pass as white. Historically, Oregon is a place that enforced its whiteness with racially exclusive laws that forbid Black people from settling there. In Oregon, Great-Uncle Paul’s Blackness becomes illegible because it is impossible to imagine “an Oregon forester in 1930” (Line 8) as Black. Oregon also has associations with pioneering, American expansion into territory that belongs to Indigenous people. Great-Uncle Paul is a pioneer. He masters Oregonian forests through “classifications” (Line 17) and because he introduces a Black presence into this geographic context. The speaker fails in their effort to use poetry to imagine Paul as heroic in Oregon because of those “silent spaces” (Line 19) around his identity. Simply having Paul in Oregon is not enough to make Oregon a Black space.

“Many others have told, and not told, this tale”

This line is a motif that appears twice in the poem, and it helps Alexander develop the theme of The Uses of Poetry. Storytelling is a key means for transmission of Black history and culture. Stories passed down orally preserved parts of Black history that had been excluded or ignored by the dominant white culture. “Many others have told, and not told this tale” on Line 12 does several things. It connects the story of Paul to the stories of “Many,” that is, a Black racial community that welcomes Black family members who disappear as they pass. Passing is a secret—telling it might expose the passing family member to harm, so people would understandably not tell this story. Paul’s story is thus a secret shared by many Black families, paradoxically making it an important part of the history of Black families. Telling in Line 12 also connects this poem to many others that meditate on the meaning of Black history and Black identity. The line is thus one that asks the reader to step back and think about the implication of relying on a secret family story as the source material for a poem that will expose such a secret.

“Many others have told, and not told, this tale” appears again on Line 21, at the start of the final stanza. Here, the tale to which the speaker refers is the story about Paul’s betrayal of his family when he makes the outrageous demand that they hide their Black spouses to protect his secret. In contrast to the story of the loyalty of the siblings in the first stanza and potential heroism of Paul in the second stanza, this is a tale that shows the reality of Paul and his siblings’ choices—the possible loss of family. The contrasting meanings of Line 12 and Line 21 underscore the reality that race is not a settled category. Instead, it is the stories we tell about it.