1797 quotes by critics for you to enjoy

I think, for a while, there was a kind of debate about whether you could bring back Negro and reclaim it, and then it was black versus African American; now I have noticed in conversation that black people will use all three terms depending on context. I don't advocate one term. Margo Jefferson

You Conversation People Debate Will Black Three Think Back Reclaim Kind About Could Term Terms Advocate Context Versus American Depending African African-American Whether While Then Noticed Use Now Bring

There are still Negro elites. Many of them are obviously much richer, and perhaps a little more integrated into what remains a white power structure. But those old rituals from the social clubs, to the broadly segregated white and black schools, to an obsessive interest in ancestry, all of that does still exist. Look: we are a class-bound society. Margo Jefferson

Old Black Power White Society Those Ancestry Structure More Segregated Remains Rituals Power Structure Obsessive Perhaps Look Schools Obviously Does Still Integrated Exist Interest Clubs Little Social Them Much Richer Many Elites

When people start reconfiguring marriage, there's no going back. Margo Jefferson

Marriage People Back Going Start

Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty. Children in Negroland were warned that few Negroes enjoyed privilege or plenty and that most whites would be glad to see them returned to indigence, deference and subservience. Margo Jefferson

Few Negroes Plenty Would Would-Be See Small Glad Name Most Returned Sheltered Were Privilege America Where Children Region Them Warned Certain Whites Residents Amount Enjoyed

Criticism does demand a certain kind of authority, but what about the authority of not really being sure what you think? What about the authority, the authenticity that comes from bringing all your intellectual, emotional and spiritual equipment to a piece of art or entertainment whilst still being uncertain and confused? Margo Jefferson

Art Spiritual You Entertainment Confused Criticism Think Kind About Uncertain Emotional Demand Piece Sure Does Equipment Still Intellectual Authenticity Authority Being Whilst Really Certain Your Bringing

There isn't only one way that black art or entertainment is represented, and that's the most important thing. We're permeating every style. We're claiming and, when necessary, appropriating all kinds of forms. Nothing is forbidden, because it's not what black people do: because it's not what we think of as black art. Margo Jefferson

Art Entertainment People Black Important Style Nothing Every Think Way Claiming Kinds One-Way Only Only One Way Most Forbidden Most Important Thing Because Important Thing The Most Important Forms Thing Necessary

Since pre-Emancipation, black 'females' have had to fight for the whites-only privilege of being deemed 'ladies': cultured, educated, sexually desirable in a socially respected way. Michelle Obama has managed to get all this without yielding her right to be smart and strong-willed. Margo Jefferson

Fight Smart Black Respected Way Obama Sexually Strong-Willed Had Since Without Females Educated Cultured Privilege Yielding Michelle Michelle Obama Get Ladies Being Deemed Her Right Socially Desirable

My parents always told my sister and me that if we wanted to, we could be doctors and lawyers, like my father and his brothers, like some of their women friends. Denise and I had art in our sights, though. Margo Jefferson

Several elementary school teachers had described me as a 'future authoress or poetess.' Mother took me to meet Chicago's leading black librarian, who published a poem of mine in the magazine she edited for Negro children. Margo Jefferson

Future Me School Mother Black Took Meet Mine Several Librarian Magazine Poem Had Leading School Teachers She Edited Chicago Children Teachers Who Elementary Elementary School Published

Like dancers with choreography or actors with scripts, jazz singers could take material that was known, even loved, then risk interpreting and revising it. They could conceal even as they revealed themselves. Inflection, timing and tonality were their language, at least as much as words. Margo Jefferson

Words Language Timing Jazz Dancers Risk Could Take Conceal Like Singers Known Revealed Material Least Were Revising Loved Scripts Themselves Then Much Even Choreography Actor Tonality Interpreting

Michael Jackson was one of popular culture's greatest artists. Nobody danced better. Few sang more compellingly. No one understood more about stage spectacles or music videos. He was an innovator. His reach was global. Margo Jefferson

Music Culture Better Videos Few Stage Danced Innovator Music Videos About More No-One He Nobody Global Reach Greatest Understood His Michael Michael Jackson Jackson Artists Sang Popular Spectacles

I think, probably, socially, in some ways New York may be the least American city. It represents too many things that Americans really don't entirely want in their lives. Margo Jefferson

Think Too Ways City Some Entirely New Least American York May New York Represents Want Really Many Lives Socially Things

New Yorkers know how to borrow wildly. You know, Louis Armstrong was not a New York musician. He went from New Orleans to Chicago to New York, and when he arrived here, he taught those New Yorkers. New York needs that infusion. Margo Jefferson

Needs You Wildly Those Musician Borrow He New Know Armstrong How Arrived New Orleans Chicago Louis Louis Armstrong York Taught New York New Yorkers Infusion Orleans Here

I resist lists. It must be all those 'Most Important' and 'Best of the Year' ones I compiled in my years as a beat critic. I often felt guilty about what I left out. Margo Jefferson

Best Important Year Those Guilty Critic Out Must About Beat Most Felt Years Left Often Lists Resist

As the years pass, I find that writers who were once central to me aren't anymore. I revered Yeats's poetry in college. I respect it now and am still ravished by certain lines, but I don't go back to him again and again. I do go back to Emily Dickinson again and again. Margo Jefferson

Me Respect College Back Once Find Emily Emily Dickinson Poetry Writers Him Pass Am Still Revered Go Were Years Lines Yeats Anymore Central Again Certain Who Now

At the very least, noir offers an alternate reality - moments of real passion, a bleak code of honor, and a need for freedom amid corruption. At its best, noir offers a map of subversion. Margo Jefferson

Best Freedom Corruption Reality Passion Honor Bleak Noir Alternate Least Real Very Real Passion Offers Subversion Moments Map Code Need

Noir was a brainchild of the United States. And most of the creators of classic noir - novelists and screenwriters, directors and cameramen - were men. Women were their mysterious, sometimes villainous, always seductive objects of desire. Margo Jefferson

Women Sometimes Men States Seductive Classic Objects Directors Mysterious Noir Most Always Were Novelists Creators United United States Desire

Who, adult or child, is Michael Jackson truly close to? What and who is he trying to flee? What's the nature of the psychic damage he has so clearly sustained? I suspect his racial identity is more a byproduct of that damage than the primal cause. Margo Jefferson

Nature Cause Psychic More Adult He Primal Clearly Identity His Truly Michael Close Michael Jackson Than Child Trying Jackson Suspect Sustained Flee Racial Who Damage

Sometimes it feels as if the artist hasn't done the real work of engaging with the material. Film noir can't just play off looks and attitudes. A thriller needs a dose of genuine suspense. It does not have to be literal, but it does have to feel genuine. Otherwise the artist is just leeching off the form. Margo Jefferson

Work Needs Sometimes Otherwise Thriller Feel Feels Noir Attitudes Looks Genuine Does Material Real Off Artist Done Suspense Just Literal Form Real Work Dose Engaging Film Play Film Noir

I'm always aware of various audiences, as a part of my training as a journalist and as part of my training as a citizen of Negroland. Margo Jefferson

Training Citizen Journalist Various Part Always Audiences Aware

For me, depression is very much tied to my feeling that so much is being asked of me. I have to 'perform' rather than necessarily be myself. I have to perform a perfect Margo Jefferson, at an impossibly high level. Margo Jefferson

Depression Myself Me Feeling High High Level Rather Perfect Perform Tied Very Than Being Asked Much Jefferson Level Necessarily

I do not regret the years I spent reading the traditional canon of white male writers in school. I do regret reading so little else there: Austen, George Eliot and occasionally Woolf, likewise Wright, Ellison, Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks. Margo Jefferson

Quotes by Critics