Homosexuality had not yet been admitted above a whisper at the time of the story's onset, and black southerners were still oppressed by and large. In Cheryl Clarke’s story of black love between two women, both masculinity and blackness are as important as the characters themselves, and the anonymous back-drop forces analysis of the time. The writer leaves the women to interpretation, and the reader draws personal conclusions about the two individuals.
Clarke provides the foundation for the poem in the first four lines. She sets the opening time, 1943; the occupation, “welder;” the color, “very dark.” “Very butch” serves to tell readers the point of the poem, and the addition of “very proud” sets the tone. Both women convince us of their masculinity through their enjoyments of driving, shooting, fishing, and playing poker. It is understood that Althea is the more dominantly masculine of the two, as she is a welder, she wears suits and ties, and takes Flaxie dancing every weekend. Flaxie assumes the role of the more feminine of the two, as she “…was careful and faithful, mindful of her Southern upbringing, watchful of her tutored grace…” and did not mind the lesbian slurs “…long as they treated her like a lady…”
Both women remain defiant and proud of one another, their love, and their lifestyle. The repetition of not caring about what other people thought provides for the conclusion that neither woman was ashamed. Still, the original descriptions of the women linger.
The curveball of the story comes when Flaxie becomes pregnant, Althea loses her job, and later goes to jail. While on relief, or welfare, Flaxie visits Althea in jail every week. This raises many questions, for two women simply cannot produce a baby. Nonetheless, the women remain one even until the end, when Althea dies in 1970. Flaxie fights the “proper family” of Althea, which is indicative of Flaxie’s lack of representation as Althea’s spouse. The family complies, however, which emits a sense of inclusion and that ultimately Althea’s family respected her as the partner.
Masculinity prevails as a main theme in “Of Althea and Flaxie.” At the open of the poem, the country is in the throws of World War II. Men were absent from society, which is why Althea’s job as a welder is initially not that off the wall. One assumption readers may draw is that the war brought the women together. Flaxie, Southern, graceful, high-cheekboned, dawning a tight dress and high heels fills the role of traditional Southern black women. Perhaps Althea’s proud demeanor, butch manner, and dark skin attracts Flaxie in her search for the comfort of a man. Althea remains proud and erect throughout the piece, gay and strong.
Women filled many positions uncharacteristic of them during this time, however Althea remains a welder long after the soldiers return home and back to work. “In 1950 Althea wore suits and ties,” and bragged about Flaxie to “the boys on her shift.” Although Flaxie shared “over break” that Althea took her dancing, she brags to “the girls.” When Althea loses her job, Flaxie seeks government support, as if her job alone would not be able to provide for both women and the baby with whom she was pregnant.
Being set up and sent to jail sounds like more of a common happenstance for men of business, not for black women. The reader assumes that Althea is involved in some sort of money matter, a sting characteristic of insider dealing between men. Still, the question of the pregnancy is never again addressed or answered, and the baby is never mentioned again.
Reading this piece, I struggled with Flaxie’s pregnancy. The possibility of rape crossed my mind, but so did the fact that the women met at a time when men were few and far between. Despite Flaxie’s pride in her romance with Althea, Clarke describes her as “careful and faithful, mindful of her Southern upbringing, watchful of her tutored grace.” Such cautious characteristics shake the picture of a well-drawn and loudly proud lesbian, especially in the South.
While the reader is unsure of the exact location of the story, Flaxie being Southern and her mother buried in New Orleans points the setting south. The only other evidence of setting is provided by the welding job, more common in urban areas. The fact that Flaxie enjoyed hunting and fishing alludes to country life, but the reader is unable to differentiate whether those hobbies are from “home” or if she continues hunting and fishing as an adult.
Location actually plays a major role in the story, which is why not knowing it is frustrating. In the South, such loud behavior of homosexuality during the time, and even years later, was not so known. As forthcoming as the women are about their lesbianism in the poem, I could not help wondering where in the United States at that time such advertised lifestyles were unhidden, unashamed, and un-punishable by the harsh societies of Southern towns.
Author and historian David Cohn wrote of the Mississippi Delta circa 1935, “Change shatters itself on the breast of this society as Pacific breakers upon a South Sea reef.” Cohn described the South as “…a land of almost complete detachment.” This leads the reader to really analyze the setting of this story, because such Southern towns were practically running on the foundations of belief and social decency which dated back to the Antebellum period. While “…social and political changes seemed to be sweeping across the nation in the wake of World War II…,” David Cohn noted that “…disturbing ideas crawl like flies around the screen of the Delta but they rarely penetrate.” The presence of disturbance refers to the non-traditional, which is purely the story of Althea and Flaxie. Still, a Southern town would be impenetrable to the acceptance of an openly gay relationship going dancing every weekend, as Flaxie boasts to the girls on break. Even more, a Southern town would be impenetrable to such proud black women.
In James C. Cobb’s chapter “A Man’s Life Isn’t Worth a Penny with a Hole in It” of his book The Most Southern Place On Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity, he discusses the ruthless brutality of whites against blacks following WWII. During battle, whites and blacks fought as equals, side by side. This, according to Cobb, is the contributing factor of “…the quickened racial consciousness of blacks and white concerns over the potential aggressiveness of returning black servicemen [which] led to escalating racial violence in the wake of the war.” Such turbulence in Southern societies is pinpointed by behavior far surpassing the mistreatment of blacks, and “…for a period of several months after the war black men were being killed at the rate of one per week.” This uprising, Cobb states, is the primitive stage of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. This discussion reiterates that Flaxie’s pregnancy is the product of rape. The possibility that a white man raped Flaxie is very high, especially with James C. Cobb’s accounts overshadowing.
The dispute of this poem is whether lesbianism or blackness plays the bigger role. In essence, lesbianism, the taboo, jumps out as the louder stage-setter. However, given the time, blackness envelopes the poem with an entirely different mood than if the women were white. According to Richard Dyer, “white is the point from which judgements are made, about normality and abnormality, beauty and ugliness, civilization and barbarity.” That the story is focused around black women is crucial, as blackness is categorized by abnormal, ugly, and barbaric. Dyer goes on to say that “whiteness has come to be represented as humanness…” Parallel to this theory are the role assumptions by white Southern men after WWII as they treated black people as animals, dehumanizing their black neighbors as if they were unruly and the aforementioned barbaric. The rape of black women by white men was not unheard of during this time.
Cheryl Clarke paints the picture of Althea by first telling readers that she is very dark. Assuming the poem was read standing alone and without the rest of Cheryl Clarke’s collection, would the reader make a color assumption? Richard Dyer’s study of whiteness yields that “if white is human, then all else requires qualification: everything else is deviant.” Dyer explains that whiteness is “unmarked.” Perhaps the blackness of the poem sets the precedent, and is the key factor for the poem at all. In such harsh times of social persecution for being black, such pride would have been gutsy. Clarke’s repetitive lines about the defiance and exuberance of the women on their unhidden relationship may provide the reader with an understanding of motive from them. Though “neither cared a fig who thought them ‘queer’ or ‘funny,’” it can be deduced that being a black lesbian, a double stab in society’s back, thrilled Althea. And outright behavior such as wearing suits and ties drew her attention, which is also her motive for taking Flaxie dancing every weekend.
This is where Flaxie’s lines are blurred. Did her carefulness, faithfulness, and mindfulness of her Southern upbringing cause her to seek the tradition of a man? When I read this, my first thought was that she had in fact slept with a man out of choice, and that she quickly realized her true love was Althea, as she turns her carefulness, faithfulness, and mindfulness to Althea for the rest of the story.
The answers to Cheryl Clarke’s poem “Of Althea and Flaxie” may not be written into the story, but through a careful reading between each of her purposefully crafted lines, readers may draw conclusions based on time period, setting, masculinity, and the blackness that uniforms the entire tale. The point of this short biography of a romance is that pride is crucial in conquering oppression. Althea and Flaxie were proud in their race, in their romance, in times of severe distress, and in death.
