Acting Out Black “Mask-ulinity”: Male Struggles for Identity in Three Plays by August Wilson

Abstract

In the framework of the relevant theories or concepts related to the performativity of black masculinity, this thesis analyzes the performance crisis observed among black males in Wilson s canon. As a collection of roles and performances, bell hooks plantation patriarchy, Richard Majors and Janet Billson s cool pose and Robert Staples masculine mystique concepts provide a theoretical framework to understand the ongoing crisis in black masculinity in Wilson s Joe Turner Come and Gone, Ma Rainey s Black Bottom and Fences. As a solution to this crisis, August Wilson, through his black male characters, highlights resistance to European American representations of African American manhood, promoting instead, a spiritual and cultural connection with the African American community and a recognition and appraisal of their ancestry.