Essay: Audre Lorde – a significant figure to the Civil Rights movement and Era

Audre Geraldine Lorde was one of the first black women writers to take the world on a roller coaster ride of emotion. As a bold and audacious woman, Lorde used poetry to illustrate daily life as an African American battling oppression and racial discrimination.  Lorde wanted the differences amongst people to not be used as a tool for isolation but as a means for ‘celebration and growth'(Thomas 2018). Audre Lorde is a poet who took charge of her craft becoming an extremely influential author of the Civil Rights movement. Throughout her literary career, Lorde brought to the forefront the raw and uncut realities experienced not only by herself but by the African American community as a whole through vivid imagery and sometimes vulgar language. Her exploration of multiple themes including pride, love, anger, racism, sexism, and homophobia and their relation to herself  and the African American community disturbed the normalities of society. Identifying as a ‘black feminist lesbian mother poet’ concerned with addressing the issue of the marginalization of blacks and lesbians and encouraging her audiences to address the preconceptions they had in their lives. Through the exploration of Lorde’s life and
BACKGROUND AND CAREER
Born to West Indian parents who had migrated to Harlem, New York, Audrey Geraldine Lorde grew up as a child who was unable to speak until the age of four. Audrey dropped the ‘y’ from her name early in life while being taught to speak and read by her mother. Lorde wasn’t fond of how the letter y spilled over the lines on the paper when she wrote therefore she changed her name to ‘Audre Lorde’ because she ‘loved the evenness'(Kulii 1997). As a child Lorde was drawn to words and literature, ultimately influenced by her mother and by personal preference. Poetry made its way into Lorde’s life and through it’s expression she stomached her realities of life. She explained, “I loved poetry, and I loved words. But what was beautiful had to serve the purpose of changing my life, or I would have died. If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That’s the beginning of social protest” (Claudia Tate, Black Women Writers at Work, 1983). Attending two Catholic school for grammar Lorde expressed experiencing ‘patronizing’ and ‘hostile’ racism, luckily while attending Hunter High school, Lorde discovered a ‘life line and a sisterhood of rebels who were also poets (Reumann 1997)’. After high school Lorde attended Hunter College where she graduated in 1959 with a degree in library science. In 1954 Lorde spent a year at the National University of Mexico where she credits for finding her’identity on personal and artistic levels as a lesbian and poet ()’.  Lorde furthered her education at Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in 1961. During the 1960’s Lorde was involved in the civil rights, feminist, and anti-war movements which influenced her writing style. Throughout the 1960’s her work was published constantly and was even featured in Langston Hughes’ New Negro Poets, USA in 1962.  In 1968 Audre Lorde’s first volume of poems was published entitled The First Cities and in the same year she became the writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. In 1970 she released another volume of poems entitled Cables to Rage which focuses on ideas including childbirth, deception, love, and the struggles of raising children. Three years later, in 1973 she authored From a Land Where Other People Live one of the first volumes of poetry produced by Lorde that speaks to the themes of  ‘worldwide injustice and oppression ()’ . Through works such as New York Head Shop and Museum published in 1974 Lorde, shined light on the social and political injustices of the time. One of Lorde’s most noted pieces for its style is Coal published in 1967, which in my opinion, details the matureness of Lorde as a writer as she metaphorically maneuvers through the unfair and harsh treatment faced by women. On the other hand, The Black Unicorn (1978) is ‘widely considered the most complex yet brilliant masterpiece written during her prolific literary career. Lorde spans three centuries of the black diaspora to reclaim African mythology as the basis for her themes about women, racial pride, motherhood, and spirituality ()’. The Black Unicorn is significant because Lorde felt that she ‘owed much to her ancestors, to the love and support of women, and to African and African American artists ()’. Therefore The Black Unicorn can be seen as work of literature that celebrates black and African culture and history. The Cancer Journals, a three-part piece that explores Lorde’s life as she dealt with breast cancer was published in 1980. Through this piece we journey with Lorde as she defines herself as a warrior. Audre Lorde’s collections of works touch base on subjects that many others turned the cold shoulder to, making her an extremely influential poet of the Civil Rights Movement and Era.
ANALYSIS OF SELECTED WORKS
To begin my favorite prose piece by Audre  Lorde Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power (1984)  explains the ways in which men have created a society in which the erotic of women are suppressed. Audre Lorde stated, ‘The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling (Lorde 536).’ Eroticism is a quality that causes sexual feelings, and to be erotic is the ability to cause sexual excitement. Both men and women possess the quality, it is just wrong for a woman to express it and embrace it. The reasoning behind this is actually, the power of seduction that comes along with expressing and embracing one’s sexual appeal and interest.  Men fear a woman being able to put him a vulnerable situation where he is not dominant. Sex is an area where men are supposed to be experts because they created the rules and regulations behind it. They created this idea that the woman is to be submissive to the man and please his wants and desires, while the woman has no interest in sexual satisfaction. The policing of sexual expression and the ‘erotic’ are performed by labeling the woman and objectifying her to specific standards but Lorde broke those grounds and embraced her sexuality identifying herself as a lesbian. During this time period, I’m sure Lorde’s sexual preference was a problem to those with extremely religious views but overall, I think was more concerned with liberating women and their sexuality.
Published in 1978 from The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde, Lorde’s piece ‘Power’ expressed her feelings of anger and disgust in regards to the injustices experienced by the African American community at the hands of a corrupt and racist justice system. As a police officer stands over a young 10 year old black boy in his ‘childish blood’ prompting him to ‘die you little mother fucker’, the police officer ‘didn’t notice the size nor nothing else only the color’ of the victim and all his wrongdoings and statements have been recorded and played during that police officer’s trial. After that police officer is acquitted from all charges by 11 white men who had been ‘satisfied justice had been done’ and 1 black woman who had been ‘convinced’ Lorde then states that what that black woman meant was that they had ‘dragged her 4’10” black Woman’s frame/over the hot coals/ of four centuries of white male approval/ until she let go/ the first real power she ever had/and lined her own womb with cement/ to make a graveyard for our children’. In regards to Lorde as a whole, ‘Power’ is an excellent display of who she was as a poet during the Civil Rights movement time period. Many African Americans wanted to fit in and out of fear subsequently allowed the continuation and oppression of minorities even when they were given the power to do so, as the woman in the poem was. Lorde was a radical voice, fearless, and unconcerned with consequences. Lorde felt that ‘silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness(Trapasso 1995)” therefore she was not afraid to address her concerns with society, and uses what some would call violent imagery throughout ‘Power’ to vividly display the brutalities experienced by African American peoples implicated by euroamerican parties.
‘Suffer the Children’ another one of Lorde’s poems written in 1964 was featured in Words of Protest, Words of Freedom published by Duke University Press in 2012. The anthology focuses on poetry written during the Civil Rights movement and highlights different significant events that occurred during the era including The Little Rock crisis, The Assassination of JFK and the Assassination of Malcolm X for example. The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing sent a shock wave through the black community as four innocent black girls were murdered due to ‘an attempt to terrorize, intimidate, and prevent the black community from fully cooperating in school segregation, (Coleman 56)’. Lorde’s closing stanza states, ‘We who love them remember their child’s laughter/ But he whose hate robs him of their gold/ has yet to weep at night about their graves (Lorde 1964)’. Lorde is encouraging people not to forget about the young girls deaths and points to the apathy of racists in regards to the value of children life. Lorde states prior to this in the piece, ‘But who shall disinter these girls/ to love the woman they were to become/ or read the legends written beneath their skin? (Lorde 1964)’. This line points to the fact that following the bombing ‘the innocence of the murdered girls was much responsible for the disgust’ that swallowed the African American community (Coleman 59). The young ladies that lost their lives did as a result of racial injustice but ultimately, their deaths rekindled the need for change and reminded African Americans of the disentivity towards the black community.
Lorde’s ‘Rites of Passage’ is also featured in Words of Protest, Words of Freedom. The anthology also features several poems regarding King’s death. Vengeance, denial, grief, anger, and retribution all sprang out through poetry and other literary works following King’s death. Lorde’s piece is actually dedicated to King specifically which is important because she commemorates King due to the fact that his death was a pivotal turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. One significant element of the poem states, ‘Knowledge survives if/ Unknowing/They follow the game/ without winning (Lorde 1964)’. In regards to Martin Luther King he was extremely knowledgeable on numerous aspects of life which made him an extremely powerful man. He used his power and influence to take leadership of the Civil Rights movement in hopes to bring out change. However, because of the knowledge King possessed he was targeted and killed to abruptly shake up the movement and leave people powerless. There were many individuals who did not want King to win the game, and bring about change in the lives of African American people and consequently once the game ‘became foolish’, there was ‘a dangerous pleading/for time out of power’ (Lorde 1964). With that in mind, Audre Lorde’s piece ‘Rites of Passage’ is significant to the Civil Rights movement because she pays her respect to King in a way that shows her acceptance of his dream, the realization for a call to action, but also the fact that with dreaming comes consequences.
INFLUENCE OVER TIME PERIOD
During the Civil Rights era of American history, many great literary masters took to pen and paper to tell the stories of those struggling with oppression. Audre Lorde has manifested herself not only as a poet, but as a woman, mother, lesbian, and warrior who fearlessly combated the important crises of society. During the Civil Rights movement, African Americans began to have a voice and openly discuss their harsh realities. Ultimately, drawn to poetry and it’s rebellious sphere, Lorde used her work to tell the truths of not only her life, but all African Americans. She is important to this time period because she tears down the barriers between race, sex, age, and class in attempts to get people to realize that through all indifferences are a common ground. Lorde exemplifies what it means to say what you mean and mean what you say. As a woman, and specifically an African American woman, writing during the Civil Rights movement, Lorde was a figure in which women could reference in regards to their worth (Gomez). Lorde was a woman who was not afraid to voice her opinion and share her experiences. She had to be strong minded in her ways and stand firm in her beliefs to not be manipulated, and even though she became a target of those opposed to her radical agenda, she continued to express her individuality. Overall, Audre Lorde is an influential poet of the Civil Rights movement because she refused to be silenced and refused to filter her writings for the likings of those opposed to her. She represented rebellion and gave a strong voice to African American people and women.
CONCLUSION
In summation, Audre Lorde is a significant figure to the Civil Rights movement and Era because she groundbreakingly defied the norms set by society. She embraced her cultural, spiritual, and sexual identity through numerous literary works that displayed her intellect but also her rebellious nature. As a black woman, Lorde has influenced myself personally as a writer because she possess such a strong and dominating voice in her pieces, something I hope to manifest. Audre Lorde left no stone unturned and fearlessly wrote what needed to be written in regards to her experiences as an African American in the United States. Ultimately, Audre Lorde has proven herself to be a significant piece to this time period because she sought out coalition between different races, sexual orientation, class and age through her literary works.