Slave Ship (Themes)

Themes

Black Nationalism

Slave Ship was first produced during Baraka’s literary and political phase of black nationalist sentiment. The play expresses a black nationalist perspective through the interlocking thematic concerns of African-American history, African-American community, and African-American identity. A strong sense of African-American communal identity is expressed through the play’s representation of the seminal experience of African Americans — the “Middle Passage” to America via “slave ships,” enforced accommodation to the oppressive conditions of slavery, whether through “Uncle Tomism” or attempted revolt, and contemporary struggles for racial equality. The play emphasizes the power of African-American community, as the African and African-American characters maintain their communal solidarity despite the efforts of white oppressors to disperse community and disband families. This strong sense of African-American community is expressed in the play through the persistence of African cultural roots throughout the history of oppression. The survival of African culture throughout African-American history is most strongly expressed in the play through the use of music: from the Yoruba songs of the enslaved Africans during the Middle Passage to the contemporary jazz music that accompanies the final ritual revolt and celebration. Baraka’s stage directions also indicate the expression of contemporary African-American identity through the survival of African culture when he coins a phrase in instructing the actors to lead the audience in a “Boogalooyoruba” dance. Baraka’s advocacy of African-American identity through black nationalism is represented by his dramatic celebration of African-American communal solidarity via the persistence of African historical roots as expressed by contemporary African-American culture.

Racial Oppression

Baraka’s one-act play, subtitled “a history pageant,” presents a series of “historical tableaux” representing the conditions of slavery in the history of African Americans: the transportation of enslaved Africans on “slave ships” across the “Middle Passage” to America, the conditions of slavery on the Southern plantation, and the continuing struggle for racial equality. The white characters in the play include the disembodied voices of white slave traders on the slave ship, who laugh at the horrible conditions of the Africans they have captured and rape an African woman. Harry Elam Jr. comments on the effectiveness of the staging of the White Voices in expressing the conditions of racial oppression: “This offstage White Voice, an invisible but extremely tangible symbol of the powerful psychological and sociological effects of white oppression, hovers above the play, inhibiting black interaction. Implicitly and explicitly, the representation of the White Voice critiques and comments on the power of representation. Although not physically present, the White Voice is powerfully represented.” Elam has also observed that “the oppressive socioeconomic conditions of black American life inform and were informed by the symbolism” of the play. He goes on to explain that the play’s representation of history is designed to emphasize the continuation of racial oppression beyond the official emancipation of slaves: “The play’s action compressed the horrors of the Middle Passage and the degradations of centuries under white racist hegemony into succinct stage moments. Slave Ship’s representational account of black history flowed from slavery to civil rights, omitting any record of emancipation. This deliberate omission emphasized that oppressive conditions for blacks have been continuous.”

Assimilation

Baraka’s play, which embodies the cultural and political values of black nationalism, is vehemently anti-assimilationist. The harshest criticism within the play is reserved for the African Americans who represent “Uncle Tomism” — dancing and singing for the benefit of the white master in an act of self-degradation and denial of their African-American communal identity. Tejumola Olaniyan points out that, in keeping with the values of black nationalism, “the ‘Toms,’ who veered away from the group, lose both ways: they are not only treated with contempt and condescension by the oppressors they ally with, but they are also the first to be consumed by the people’s wrath. The play is unsparing in their condemnation.” In fact, the African-American preacher advocating integration is beheaded in the play’s finale revolt and ritual. Several critics have pointed out that the preacher may have been intended to represent Martin Luther King, Jr., the highly influential civil rights activist whom some African Americans considered to be a pawn of white America in his advocacy of integration.

Topics for Further Study

• Baraka was very influential in the development of the Black Arts Movement, especially in drama, through his founding of the Black Arts Repertory Theater and his many dramatic works. Learn more about recent developments in the area of African-American dramatic production. Who are the important African-American playwrights today, and what are their most important plays? What are the titles of some of the important works by these writers? What theaters throughout the U.S. are devoted to producing works by African-American writers? To what extent are the principles of the Black Arts Movement still practiced today? What developments have occurred in the literary aesthetics and political orientation of African-American dramatists?
• Baraka’s play Slave Ship is unique and innovative in part due to its unusual stage directions and characterization. Perform a scene from the play with a group of students. What kinds of choices do you make in your interpretation of the stage directions? In what ways does performing a scene illuminate the meaning and impact of the play?
• During the 1950s, Baraka was associated with the writers of the Beat Movement, a primarily white, bohemian, literary orientation most commonly associated with the poet Allen Ginsberg (especially for his poem Howl) and the novelist Jack Kerouac (especially for his novel On the Road). Learn more about the Beat Movement, the writers associated with it, and the works they produced. What aesthetic principles did they put forth? What were the social or political implications of the literary aesthetics of the Beat Movement?
• During an important phase of his literary and political career, Baraka was dedicated to the political philosophy of black nationalism and the religion of Islam. Learn more about black nationalism, and its association with Islam. What is the history of black nationalism? What are some of the fundamental political values held by black nationalists? Who are some of the important figures in the black nationalist movement? What is your own opinion of black nationalism as a political philosophy and movement?
• The third phase of Baraka’s literary and political career was characterized by his orientation to a Marxist-Socialist political philosophy. Learn more about Karl Marx and Marxist political theory. What are the fundamental social and political values put forth by Marxism? What is your own opinion of Marxism as a political philosophy?