Black Bottom
August Wilson introduces the importance of Christianity in African-American lives, especially in the characters of Toledo, Cutler, and Levee in the play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” This play is not overtly about religion, but it is about the African-American experience and cultural identity. Religion plays a major role in the personal and collective identities of African-Americans. Christianity has an ambiguous and paradoxical position within African-American culture. As the religion of the white oppressor, it has ironically been embraced as a primary means of spiritual solace, social support, and existential salvation. However, Toledo, Cutler, and Levee occupy precarious positions in African-American society. Their relationship with Christianity reflects the conflicts embedded in African-American identity.
Christianity is indelibly part of the African-American experience, because of the ways Churches have become central to black community development and maintenance. As Toledo challenges Cutler and Levee about knowing the Lord’s Prayer, Cutler responds that his dad was a deacon in the church. His statement reflects the fact that many African-Americans found empowerment through the church. Christianity also provides metaphors and meanings for personal life, as this incident suggests. The anecdote and the answer show that none of the three men know the Lord’s Prayer or any specific details of the bible, because Christianity for them is more than memorizing scripture. It is less important to memorize scripture than it is to attend church for its social aspects. The social aspects of Church are eluded to at several other points in the play, as when Toledo talks about the woman he married who left him because “the church was more important than I was,” (p. 71). Basically, Toledo was not identifying with the Christian model of morality and wanted to forge his own path. As he puts it, “it ain’t all the time what your intentions and wishes are,” (p. 71). His wife preferred the more straight-laced men at Church. Christianity has been a means by which to cement but also divide the African-American community.
One of the most important impacts of Christianity on African-American identity has been the way it usurped the indigenous African religions and turned those religions into something that African-Americans can to fear and dislike about themselves. The white oppression of blacks had led to a systematic denigration of African heritage. European philosophy and religion are deemed superior to African models. This is why Slow Drag so vehemently opposes being called African, in one of the most ironic lines of the play: “I ain’t no African!” (p. 21). References to bones through the nose shows that African-Americans have been poisoned by white prejudices of African culture — the traditions of African-American ancestors. Slow Drag has been infected by the white model, referring to “African nonsense,” (p. 21).
Christianity and its ambiguous relationship with the African-American community is a symbol for the overarching themes of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The play shows how the systematic oppression of blacks by whites is a root cause of black-on-black violence. Christianity is only a balm, not a real solution to the social inequities African-Americans face, and which are perpetuated by institutionalized racism. Unable to turn anger and aggression on the oppressor in a meaningful or productive way, African-Americans turn anger and aggression on themselves and each other. Instead of targeting the white producers who are in control of black music, the musicians fight amongst themselves.
When Levee breaks down in anger at the end of the play, themes related to religion and Christianity in particular come to the fore. Levee rants about “Cutler’s God,” in his fury. He speaks directly with “Cutler’s God,” to which Levee directs his fury. He states that “Cutler’s God” should come save him if he is that powerful. The anger wells up within him, as he recalls his mother also crying out to God, who could not save her. Christianity is portrayed as being a set of empty values and principles, and a method of social control more than a truthful set of tenets to live by. As Elkins puts it, “the standards Levee strives to attain are those set by the white man,” (102). Christianity is one of those standards. Levee recognizes that “praying to a white god is like praying to a white man,” (Elkins 102).
Toledo is the one character who is most aware of the way Christianity represents continued colonial mind control of African-Americans. He has mentally extricated himself from the dominant culture’s prejudicial assessment of non-white religions, and embraces an African heritage. The title character, Ma Rainey, has the inner strength to overcome oppression but faces the barrier of institutionalized racism and being unable to control her own professional destiny.
On the other hand, Levee is caught between worlds, in a warped version of what W.E.B. DuBois called the double consciousness. Levee’s name symbolizes the tension or barrier between the dual worlds of the African-American. The African-American consciousness straddles the two worlds. On the one hand, Levee denies wanting to be like whites, but he cannot help but buy into the white standards of success and truth. Christianity has provided hope and psychological sustenance for millions of African-Americans in history. On the other hand, Christianity is the religion of the oppressor. Its tenets prevent African-Americans from taking pride in their own ancestry and heritage. When the character Levee breaks, his breakdown represents the fracture in all African-Americans.
Works Cited
DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Bartleby, 1903.
Elkins, Marilyn Roberson. August Wilson: A Casebook. New York: Garland, 2000.
Wilson, August. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Samuel French, 1985.
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more