Racism is a central theme in Song of Solomon. The novel takes place in Michigan in the 1930s and understanding the historical context surrounding the novel is critical for understanding the meaning of the story. Michigan has been the center of much turmoil from racism in our nation’s history. Michigan was home to many important figures in black civil rights history such as Ralph Bunche, Fannie Richards, and William Ferguson, and was also the location of the Detroit Riots (Absolute Michigan). According to The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality if Postwar Detroit, by Thomas Sugrue, “The problems of limited housing, racial animosity, and reduced economic opportunity for a segment of the black population in Detroit had led to embitterment,” (260-261). During the early twentieth century, times were difficult for black Americans. The unemployment rate was high, housing opportunities were scarce, and discrimination was high (Sugrue 260-264). Housing conditions were so bad, in fact, that according to Andrew Wiese in Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century, “Racist application of [land use] regulations closed the door on development for blacks, and the enforcement of sanitary regulations led to the demolition of existing housing,” (97). The Detroit riots also shaped the civil rights landscape of Michigan. The violent riots demonstrated that the discrimination against black population was still great and that these people were growing increasingly discontent (Sugrue 260).
During the 1920’s, Michigan saw a substantial increase in African American population due to the industrial labor movement as a result of Henry Ford’s factories. Along with this migration came an increase in racial violence against African Americans. In 1910, Detroit’s black population was 5,700(1.2%) and reached 81,000(5.9%) by 1925 (Widick 25). Through these years, blacks gained power and black professionals began to leave the ‘Black Bottom’ slums. However, out of fear that a black population would bring down property values, there was frequent violence against these new residents (Boyle 109). The extent of this violence discouraged many blacks from ever leaving the slums, out of fear for their family’s safety. Along with the African American migrants came poor southern whites looking to work in the factories. This created an uneasy environment comparable to that of the south, which attracted Ku Klux Klan activity in the north (Widick 27). During the Great Depression, great numbers of blue-collar workers in Michigan lost jobs. This loss increased job discrimination against blacks as white employers laid off blacks first and hired them back last. The unemployment among Detroit blacks reached 80%(Widick 44). During subsequent black marches demanding employment, police brutality against blacks was common. In some cases, the police fired hundred’s of shots at demonstrators at point-blank range (Widick 49). By the 1930’s, racial violence was commonplace in Michigan due to racism, desire for segregation, and class inequalities.
One of the major themes in the novel Song of Solomon is music. In the book, Toni Morrison used music as an expression of trauma. This can be compared to something known as the “talking cure”, a term first noted by Anna O, a hysteric suffering from trauma. According to the notes recorded by Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer, Anna started off experiencing delusions and hallucinations and by the end of the day, was able to understand what was going on and give a vivid description of her trauma (Vivis 256). The music in the Song of Solomon and other works by Morrison often describe some trauma. For example, the first time a song is used in the book is when Mr. Smith was preparing to jump off of Mercy Hospital. The song could be said to represent the pain and trauma that Mr. Smith was experiencing.
“It was a genuinely clarifying public notice because it gave Southside residents a way to keep their memories alive and please the city legislators as well. They called it Not Doctor Street, and they were inclined to call the charity hospital at the northern end No Mercy Hospital since it was 1931…before the first colored expectant mother was allowed to give birth inside its wards and not on its steps. The reason for this hospital’s generosity to that particular woman was not the fact that she was the only child of the Negro doctor, for during his entire professional life he had never been granted hospital privileges and only two of his patients were ever admitted to Mercy, both white. It must have been Mr. Smith’s leap from the roof over their heads that made them admit her.”
Now knowing what we do about the historical context of the story regarding violence and racism, and also understanding the historical context of the theme of music, we appreciate better the meaning of this passage in relation to the text. We can now see that a reason for the pregnant woman not being admitted to the hospital was because of the racism and violence that was the relationship between races in Michigan at the time. Mr. Smith’s leap and the music that was sung at the time of this could be an expression of the trauma he has experienced from living in a time surrounded by this discrimination.
Boyle, Kevin. Arc of justice: a saga of race, civil rights, and murder in the Jazz Age. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2004.
“Michigan’s Rich African American Past.” Absolute Michigan. Leelanau Communications Inc., 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Sugrue, Thomas J. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. N.p.: Princeton University Press, 1996. ACLS Humanities E-Book. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Visvis, V. "Alternatives to the 'Talking Cure': Black Music as Traumatic Testimony in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon." African American Review, 42.2 (2008): 255-268.
Widick, B. J. Detroit: city of race and class violence. Great Lakes Books, 1972.
Wiese, Andrew. Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century. N.p.: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Print.
This makes me wonder what it is about Mr. Smith's flight especially that convinces the hospital to admit a black woman. Perhaps if the song does represent the trauma Mr. Smith is experiencing, then the hospital nurse is moving to alleviate that pain as she's trained to do, without first noticing that the patient is black. Perhaps this represents a tenative first step towards racial equality. Or perhaps the author is suggesting that Mr. Smith, who has long labored to change black/white relations via the Seven Days, has actually fostered change through the power of his flight. Either way it is an intriguing moment.
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