Sassafrass Cypress And Indigo Chapter Summary

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Ntozake Shange’s Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo illuminates a narrative often forgotten in popular culture and history: the lives of Black women. Shange includes various Black women, all of them with differing perspectives on and experiences with racism and feminism. Set in the mid to late twentieth century, a time in which Black liberation and feminism were seeing a lot of unprecedented progress, the women in Shange’s novel are written to tackle these concepts in their own individual ways rather than in a way that is considered ‘correct.’ Shange’s writing is a mirror, reflecting the time in which the book is set rather than exhibiting an emboldened critique. Through the novel’s unabashed look at how different women of color have widely varying views on their intersectionality and on their roles in certain social movements, Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo reveals that support was a priority among doubly marginalized Black women. This support is most evident between the titular characters and their mother, Hilda Effania. Hilda, who is not seen for a majority of the novel, frequently writes to her children while they are living far from home. These letters, which are interpolated throughout …show more content…

They recognized the importance for both of the movements, and like the characters of Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo, simultaneously supported the groups while critiquing them, asking for the movements to become better. “African American churchwomen fed, housed, clothed, and prayed for… [but] they also helped organize and lead [their own] movement” (Freedman 84). Shange reminds us that, as supporters who are not given much of a chance to be leaders, Black women deserve just as much praise and recognition as the figureheads of the movements. The voices of those who have passed will not be forgotten, and the voices of those who are fighting now will be

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