"Born in a Mighty Bad Land": The Violent Man in African American Folklore and Fiction (review)

In "Born in a Mighty Bad Land," Jerry Bryant describes the African American badman archetypes reflected in various genres of fiction and folklore, including toasts, rap, ballads, and literature. Bryant analyzes how significant historic events affect society (particularly African American society) and, in turn, the badman archetype. The basic premise of this book suggests that the badman character is reflective of society's values—evolving and changing as society does.

There are "good badmen" who refuse to abide by white man's law and control, and whose actions are a model for civil disobedience in African American society. Then there is the "bad nigger," described as "the id to the more genteel black superego, a man who lived on the margins, who was familiar with violence and death, and who reacted impulsively to any perceived personal injury, from friend or foe, man or woman" (p. 10). The violent badman archetype did not emerge until after the Civil War, when vice districts began to spread. Later, in toasts, the badman became a sexual superman. In novels during the Harlem Renaissance, the badman was transformed, eventually renouncing his violence in favor of middle-class conformity.

Chapter 1 discusses the badman figure in African American ballads. Here the protagonist is the so-called bad nigger, the most famous of whom is Stagolee. Most of these badmen are destined to be killed or incarcerated. The appendix lists these ballads by categories: police, fugitive, betrayal, and boasting.

Bryant argues that, although black writers in the Harlem Renaissance deliberately sought out the folklore of the common people, they demonstrated their middle-class values by not glorifying the badman characters in their novels. Bryant says that the badmen were allowed to exist because of the lack of real law enforcement in the black community, especially as shown in Arna Bontemps's God Sends Sunday. Chapter 5, "The Ghetto Bildungsroman," argues that Richard Wright's Bigger Thomas is a badman who commits gruesome violence to define himself, his violent actions a response to living with white racism and interpreted by Bryant as a revolt against society. Rather than being glorified, Bigger is presented as an example of how one could end up if one is not careful.

The heroes of "Toasts" (chapter 6) are domineering badmen with no hope of leaving the ghetto life. The ultimate goal of these chauvinistic badmen is to rebel against all of society and to dominate, especially in sex. In toasts, badmen strut and think little of the consequences of their actions. The "Toast Novels" (chapter 8) reemphasized the predetermined fate of the ghetto badman: "death, prison, replacement by a younger and stronger player" (p. 123).

Bryant argues that rap is not "genuine folklore" because it is too commercialized, although it does continue the badman tradition (especially because toasts are one of the roots of rap). For instance, 2 Live Crew's album sales soared because they directly confronted mainstream society through the use of profane lyrics and content. Ironically, gangster rappers are admitted into middle-class prosperity precisely by appearing to resist it through their badman image.

Chapter 7 is devoted to novelist Chester Himes, who himself was a reformed badman. Himes does not excuse violence on the basis of racism. His heroes, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger, are themselves badmen: they try to dispense justice as they see fit, regardless of what the law says they should do. This was an epiphany for me: I am very familiar with Himes's Harlem cycle but did not fully grasp prior to reading this book why Himes made Grave Digger and Ed so brutal. Another chapter is devoted to the work of Walter Mosley, whose character Raymond "Mouse" Alexander is a philosophical badman having a tendency toward violence without guilt because those he kills deserve it. Chapter 11 deals with John Edgar Wideman's autobiographical Homewood Trilogy, which features...