19 pages • 38 minutes read
A Black Man Talks of Reaping
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Themes
Racism and Exploitation
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.
The Black man speaks about his “reaping” due to prejudice; thus, racism is a central theme. White men, too, have faced exploitation, but not for the same reasons as Black people, and the Black man represents the general Black community. Throughout history, Black people have carefully “scattered seed” (Line 5) to better their lives and the lives of their families. Often, Black people don’t get the rewards of their labors, and they’re left with only a scarcity of resources that compel them to live day-to-day. As the speaker puts it, “But for my reaping only what the hand / Can hold at once is all that I can show” (Lines 7-8). The cycle doesn’t end with the speaker. The racism continues with his “children” (Line 11) who “feed on bitter fruit” (Line 12). What the speaker passes on isn’t wealth but cross discontent. The “bitter fruit” imagery suggests that injustice is not only endured but also inherited, reinforcing the idea that racism does not end with one generation but continues to shape future ones.
Bontemps links racism to exploitation. Due to the man’s race, America exploits him to a greater degree. During slavery, the Black man couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his labor because he wasn’t free. Post-slavery, many Black people remained confined by the virulent racist atmosphere. Even when legally emancipated, systemic structures—such as Jim Crow laws, racist housing policies, and economic discrimination—ensured that Black labor was still undervalued and undercompensated. Bontemps’s father, a successful construction worker, experienced the figurative “wind or fowl” that could “take the grain away” (Line 3) when he encountered the belligerent white men while shopping. The environment of “fear” (Line 2) left Black people more susceptible to unjust labor conditions, making them feel like they had no other option.
At the same time, as Bontemps’s life demonstrates, Black people are not a monolithic block, and not every Black person suffers constant dispossession. Unlike the speaker, Bontemps procured meaningful work in academia, allowing him to reap and hold onto what he sowed. He published a trove of literature, leaving the next generation much more than tainted food. However, the poem resists individual narratives of success as a counterpoint to systemic oppression. While some Black individuals may break through racial barriers, the poem focuses on the broader, cyclical nature of exploitation—suggesting that for many, economic security remains out of reach regardless of personal skill or effort.
Specific Pressures on Black Men
The presence of a “Black man” speaker, as the title of the poem indicates, emphasizes the gender of the speaker, so Black masculinity becomes a key theme. The poem complies with typical gender norms; the man is the breadwinner, and he works in agriculture as a means to provide for his loved ones. No matter how carefully he works or how many seeds he’s “scattered” (Line 5), he cannot benefit from his labor, which means that he can’t take care of his family. The implication is that the speaker is degraded twice. As a Black person, he feels the injustices of racism and exploitation. As a Black man, he’s frustrated because he can’t live up to the role that society pressures him to perform. Due to the racist system, the Black man can’t be a prototypical “man” and protect and provide for his family.
The poem also highlights how racist systems suppress traditional markers of masculinity. The speaker is unable to secure wealth, stability, or legacy—elements that often define manhood within patriarchal structures. Instead, he is left in a state of enforced powerlessness, where his labor enriches others but not himself.
The scholar and educator bell hooks addresses the gender dynamics within Black culture in her book Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Routledge, 1981). She argues that Black men replicate the patriarchal systems of white men. White men expect white women to be subservient to them, and Black men have the same goals for Black women. Since Black men place themselves above Black women, hooks claims that a great deal of anti-racism worries about the impact on Black men. By centering his poem on a Black man, Bontemps indirectly furthers hooks’s argument. However, the poem is not necessarily reinforcing patriarchal norms; rather, it highlights the way racism disrupts and distorts traditional gender roles, forcing Black men into cycles of dispossession and frustration. There are no women or girls in the poem. While “children” (Line 11) is gender neutral, the speaker’s worry over his “brother’s sons” (Line 10) keeps the poem about men and boys. The overt presence of the masculine gender suggests that racism has greater consequences for Black men. However, this exclusion also raises questions about the absence of Black women’s labor in the poem—suggesting that the speaker’s struggle, while valid, is not the only form of racial exploitation at play.
The Cycle of Precarity
The Black man’s inability to hold onto what he reaps produces ongoing precarity. His labor doesn’t yield prosperity or a stable framework for a better future. He must continue to work because he only keeps what he holds in his hands; the sowing leads to more sowing. Regardless of “wind or fowl” (Line 3), the speaker won’t profit. The wind and fowl symbolize threats, and the speaker, due to his race and socioeconomic class, is already under threat. There is no such thing as “safe” planting or a “stark, lean year” (Line 4). As the historical context reveals, the cycle of prejudice didn’t stop after slavery, nor is it specific to the South. There were riots in Harlem around the time of the Harlem Renaissance due to the brutalization of a Black shoplifter in March 1935. With racism, there’s uncertainty over well-being and livelihood. The unnerving harm facing the speaker carries over to his children, who eat the “bitter fruit” (12). Now, it’s a part of them; hypothetically, they’ll pass it to their children. The poem suggests that economic insecurity is not an individual failure but a designed consequence of systemic racism, which prevents generational wealth accumulation and ensures that each new generation inherits struggle rather than stability.
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