Beyoncé’s Ultimate Contribution to Mainstream Art Through the Intersectional Lens of Race and Femini

Lemonade: Beyoncé’s Ultimate Contribution to Mainstream Art Through the Intersectional Lens of Race and Feminism

Matt Connolly April 30th, 2019

Connolly 1 African Americans were first sold into slavery in the year 1619. “Since that year up until 1964, African Americans lived in a country that practiced exploitation, dehumanization, abuse, and segregation of their own people. Black people were owned as property, treated as less than, withheld citizenship, used for entertainment, and disregarded.” 1 Over that course of history, many have tried to explain what it means to be black in America. Most commonly through literature and music, black artists have sought to tell their stories. Time and time again African Americans have aimed to divulge a narrative; one that allows them to speak for themselves.

Long before 1964, African Americans struggled to find themselves in widely distributed art and media. It has taken since 1964 to the present for African Americans to be allowed to claim their own space showcasing their culture within the mainstream society. Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Maya Angelo, Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Oprah Winfrey, August Wilson, and Michael Jackson are just a fraction of black individuals who have advocated for representation in art, media, and news coverage in the pre/post-civil rights era. Whether through music, poetry, news casting, writing, etc. each pioneer created a space for representation within their respective field. With the turn of the twenty-first century, many black artists have begun doing the same. They have shown up to advocate for representation within art and media while honoring their predecessors and ancestors who have come before them. Almost no modern figure, however, has done this as successfully as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles–Carter.

On February 6th, 2016 Beyoncé broke the internet with a surprise release of a new single, from an unknown album, titled “Formation.” Accompanied by a music video, “Formation” instantly rose to popularity. Not only did Beyoncé release the single with an accompanying

Talks, TEDx. YouTube. December 09, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDzj9vRw5yM. 1

Connolly 2 music video, the next day she went on to perform it at the 50th Super Bowl halftime show; arguably the biggest stage in the world. The performance drew criticism and praise for her showcasing of black culture through the song lyrics, dance numbers, and costumes. Much to viewers surprise, Beyoncé bought the commercial slot immediately following the performance to announce a world tour titled “the Formation World Tour.” With a world tour announcement and only one new single, Beyoncé left fans puzzled as to whether or not a new album was scheduled for release. After much anticipation and speculation, Beyoncé took to her Instagram on April 16th, 2016 to post a twenty-second slow-motion clip with subtitles reading: “Lemonade, A World Premiere Event, HBO.” This clip sent fans into a frenzy as Lemonade quickly appeared on headlines, nationwide. One week later, 787,000 viewers tuned in live to witness the hour-long film. Lemonade wove in 12 songs throughout the film, introducing each with its own chapter.

The 12 tracks were released as an album following the event; an album that has gone down in music history as one of the most critically acclaimed to date. 2 Beyoncé immediately made history as the first woman to chart a total of 12 or more songs on the Billboard Hot 100 all at once.3 The album quickly rose to #1 and became the highest selling album, globally, in 2016 with over 2.5 million units sold (counting only physical and digital sales.)4 In a rarity for the current music industry, Beyoncé granted exclusive

2 Brian Josephs, "Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' Premiere Pulls Solid Ratings for HBO." (Spin. April 26,

2016), https://www.spin.com/2016/04/beyonce-lemonade-ratings-hbo/.

3 Amaya,Mendizabal, "All 12 of Beyoncé’s 'Lemonade' Tracks Debut on Hot 100." (Billboard.

May 02, 2016), https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7350443/beyoncelemonade-tracks-debut-hot-100.

4 Dan Rys, "Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Highest-Selling Album Globally in 2016; Drake Lands Top

Song: IFPI." (Billboard. May 19, 2017), https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hiphop/7775037/ifpi-beyonce-lemonade-highest-selling-album-2016-drake-song.

Connolly 3 streaming rights to the platform Tidal (which her husband Jay-Z owns), leaving out global players such as Spotify and Apple Music. On April 23rd, 2019 this all changed when Lemonade was released on all music streaming platforms. Rising once again to the top 10 on the Billboard charts, Lemonade continues to maintain traction and popularity three years after its release.

Despite its glowing reviews and mainstream play, Lemonade is a body of work that has become the subject of many university courses often taught within art studies, race studies, music studies, or gender studies courses. Lemonade is much bigger than an album and a film, as attested to by its academic backing. “Lemonade is a vision of unapologetically black, unapologetically feminist lives situated in the historical, artistic, and political landscape of the US South.”5 Lemonade is a cornerstone for modern African American art, that successfully encourages the conversation of feminism under a larger context of race. Though a work of fiction, Beyoncé uses her own stories and experiences to fuel Lemonade. She pays homage to her own ancestors and the artists who have come before her as well. Beyoncé pulls not only from the tradition of Southern black folk but a Southern black tradition that is rooted in the music form of the blues. Beyoncé pays tribute to the blues women of the South: Shug Avery, Bessie Smith, Rosetta Tharpe, and “uses their voices to sonically and lyrically expound upon their personal strife as a collective call to arms for black woman.” 6 In the South, blues women sang their truth.

They sang of lovers who hurt them, acts of revenge they would take, all which was uncensored.

In Lemonade, Beyoncé channels their spirits, not only sampling their aesthetic but also “actively

5 Omiseeke Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism (Austin, Texas:

University of Texas, 2018), 5.

6 Regina Bradley, "Close to Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'." (NPR. April

26, 2016), https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/04/26/475629479/close-to-home-aconversation-about-beyonc-s-lemonade.

Connolly 4 reckoning with it as it manifested in Southern spaces. Pair the blues woman tradition with the traditional memory of the South as traumatic and backward and you get a space for unpacking the multiple layers of black women's healing and existence.” 7 This is what Beyoncé uses Lemonade to do, essentially redefining what it means to be an author, she creates a narrative that only black women star in. She intended Lemonade to be for black woman, not exclusively, but so that her children and all black women have a body of work they can see themselves in.

Lemonade follows Beyoncé on her own chronological journey, that entices the viewer to follow along. “It dares to make a new canon, finding references in the unphotographed past and future simultaneously, a land of no men.”8 Lemonade acts as a master’s thesis’ “that explores a critique in the praxis of the traditionally gendered politics of audio-viewing the female”9 Lemonade uses a storytelling device that is a mixture of voice-over narration, visual scenes, and music which work together to recount the black female experience. Lemonade is “arguably the most widely distributed black feminist text of the current movement; it offers a spectacular entry point into black feminist artistic, theoretical, and activism, conversations that rarely get air time in dominate imaginations.”10 Beyoncé uses the idea of Lemonade, creating something out of nothing, as a juxtaposition to how black woman have survived these last three hundred years.

Beyoncé takes their stories and fuses them with her own. By titling her most influential album

7 Bradley, "Close to Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé's 'Lemonade.”

8 Miriam Bale, "Beyoncé’s 'Lemonade' Is a Revolutionary Work of Black Feminism: Critic's

Notebook." (Billboard. April 22, 2017), https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341839/beyonce-lemonade-black-feminism.

9 Ciara Barrett, "‘Formation’ of the Female Author in the Hip-Hop Visual Album: Beyoncé and

FKA Twigs." (The Soundtrack9, no. 1 2016), 41-57. doi:10.1386/ts.9.1-2.41_1.

10 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 7.

Connolly 5 Lemonade, she is saying “this sweet nectar and instructions how to turn nothing into something has been the foundation for survival for centuries, ultimately saying Lemonade is even stronger than blood.”11 The Main focus of this essay is to analyze Lemonade track by track/chapter by chapter to bring to the surface the examples of race and feminism intertwined within the film/album to better understand how Lemonade functions as a cornerstone for each.

Intuition Lemonade first opens with the chapter titled Intuition. The first few seconds of the film are long shots of a field with a large fortress-style stone building lying in the foreground. In addition, a slow shot travels down a stone tunnel. This stone building offers viewers the chance to experience the begging of the African diaspora. Beyoncé chooses to open her work with two references to history. The stone building featured within the opening scene is Fort Macomb in Louisiana. Fort Macomb was built during the civil war and amongst its inhibitors was the unions first all-black unit.12 Beyoncé intentionally inhabits this space because the spirit, the energy of those men, is still kept deep within those walls. The symbolism regarding the building itself, however, does not stop there. Beyoncé references back to the start of the slave trade, black individuals first introduction to America. As history tells us, the African people were forced to work as slaves in America. They were sold or traded and brought over on ships to work in

11Bale, "Beyoncé’s 'Lemonade' Is a Revolutionary Work of Black Feminism: Critic's Notebook."

12 Nick Weldon, "The Story behind the Haunting Ruins of Fort Macomb, Featured in 'True

Detective,' Beyoncé's 'Lemonade,' and More." (The Advocate. October 23, 2018), https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/entertainment_life/article_9f5f6048-d688-11e88714-fff1132cf70a.html.

Connolly 6 America. Fort Macomb looks very similar in design to the “dungeons of Elmina in Ghana, which is said to be the last place many African people were brought to, before being brought to the Americas.”13 Beyoncé is recognizing the history of the slave trade, the beginning of Africans in America. Sometimes clothed, sometimes unclothed black bodies were treated and sold as commodities. Beyoncé references this throughout Lemonade, intentionally showing black bodies clothed and unclothed. This is an effort to explain that still today, black bodies are looked at as a commodity. Beyoncé reminds us that African Americans have endured a past that began with unfair treatment, especially in relation to the physical body. We cannot move forward, without looking back on that history.

Following this entrance and in relation to clothing and the body, Beyoncé appears in two outfits that reference culture both historically and currently. First, she appears in a head wrap on a stage. The head wrap is significant to African American culture because, during, slavery, white slave owners forced the slave women to wear headwraps as a sign of their possession over them.14 Since the abolition of slavery, however, black women have regarded the head wrap as “a helmet of courage that evokes an image of a true homeland – be that of ancient Africa or the ‘newer homeland ‘of America. African American woman’s head-wrap has functioned as a ‘uniform of rebellion’ signifying absolute resistance to loss of self-definition.”15 Self-definition,

13 Kamaria Roberts and Kenya Downs. "What Beyoncé Teaches Us about the African Diaspora

in 'Lemonade'." (PBS. April 29, 2016.), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/what-beyonceteaches-us-about-the-african-diaspora-in-lemonade.

14 Elliot Siamonga, "African Women and the Significance of a Head-wrap (Dhuku)." Celebrating

Being Zimbabwean. (The Patriot. March 12, 2015), https://www.thepatriot.co.zw/old_posts/african-women-and-the-significance-of-a-head-wrapdhuku/.

15 Siamonga, "African Women and the Significance of a Head-wrap (Dhuku)." Celebrating

Being Zimbabwean.

Connolly 7 one of Beyoncé’s main goals in inspiring through Lemonade. Beyoncé aims to claim the space that black women deserve. Secondly, Beyoncé appears in nothing but a hoodie, with the hood, pulled up to cover her head. The hoodie made popular in the nineteenth century, has recently become a political symbol – particularly when put in context with African Americans. Hoodies are regarded as the uniform of the street kid; the kid who is viewed as suspicious, scary, or even criminal. Though all Americans wear hoodies, it seems that in our racially divided society, African Americans are pinned for being “suspicious, scary, or even criminal” when walking down the street in a hoodie. The case of Trayvon Martin speaks directly to this notion, Beyoncé well aware as his actual mother makes a cameo appearance within Lemonade. Beyoncé is calling for a stop to the type of profiling Martin fell victim to, ultimately leading to his death. Despite its political connection, Beyoncé pictured in the hoodie also shows a more refined version of herself. She reminds us that she is still a human, not a god like some make her out to be. She forges the costumes, the hair, and the jewels to show strictly herself. This is a radical position for what society tells women they need to look like: sexy and pretty all hours of the day. She presents herself as a woman, a black woman in an un-femme like state.

Continuing on through Intuition, women appear in the tunnel, a direct implication of the underground railroad in which black individuals both partook in and facilitated to find freedom in the North. “The trauma of slavery itself does not propel the images of black women in undeniably Southern spaces forward. Rather, the antebellum South serves as an entry point for Beyoncé to recognize the historical and cultural horrors of black womanhood while reclaiming the survival techniques passed down over time.” 16 Black womanhood is seen manifested not long

16 Regina Bradley, "Close to Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'."

Connolly 8 after, when a shot cuts to a back-yard stage with an assortment of women standing still on it.

Woman of all shades, ages, and sizes are present, standing in unison with one another; their clothing and setting reflecting the time period of the antebellum South. The physical space these women inhabit is not of the real word. It serves as a vision, a fantasy of sorts, where “black women are their own wealth, where their sexuality can glitter as openly, and where the corset designed to rein in woman-ness transforms into a display of powerful self -creation.”17 Having multiple generations of women on stage together is a powerful statement in women taking over their own environments. Beyoncé explains that it has taken several generations of women to arrive at the present. “She pulls the viewer through multiple lenses, historical periods and vantage points to complicate Southern black women.”18 It shows that healing and existing is messy, nonlinear, and generational. Having to remember is an activity to be done as a collective, not alone. The positioning of multiple generations, shades, and sizes of women also points out that each woman deserves to be represented on that stage, no matter her age, shade, or weight.

Pushing the metaphor of women in relation to being on a stage further, Intuition aims to say that every woman’s life is a stage of sorts. Their every action, every word, act as a performance for others to critique. Beyoncé knows this and desires for women to act as feminists, to claim their stages as their own rather than for the intent of pleasing anybody else, specifically men.

Portions of Lemonade revolve around the narrative of men in relation to infidelity. In Intuition, portraits of young black women are shown in an effort to bring what happens behind closed doors out into the open. The strong, unemotive faces of these women signify that women

17 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism , 4.

18 Regina Bradley, "Close to Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'."

Connolly 9 who are cheated on by unfaithful men, do indeed have faces. Betrayal has a face. Beyoncé uses her own lyrics to bring to life this feeling of betrayal. “I pray to catch you whispering. I pray you catch me listening.”19 She then asks at the end of the song, “what are you doing my love?” She is moving through the realization that her lover has been unfaithful to her, “Pray You Catch Me” encapsulating that moment. It is in her intuition that she senses something is off within her relationship. In the film, Intuition ends with Beyoncé in a metal bathtub. She washes herself of all her “imperfections;” imperfections she attests are the reason her lover left her. She takes the blame for her lovers’ infidelity, as black women have done for centuries. She struggles to come to terms with this realization, as she stands on the edge of a building looking down. Beyoncé illustrates the emotions every woman who has been cheated on feels. She jumps, then falls immediately into a bed of water. Initiating the sequence titled, Denial.

Denial Denial begins with the spoken word of Somali born poet Warsan Shire. Beyoncé recites the words, drawing the viewer in with every single movement of her mouth and overall body.

She closes with a question posed to her lover, “are you cheating on me?”20 Denial showcases the process of moving through the realization that a spouse or lover is cheating on their partner.

“Whether it's our cheating husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, patriarchy, racism, classism, sexism, it's a visual manifestation of the black woman's power.” 21 Emerging from the underwater

19 Beyoncé

(2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD]: Parkwood & Columbia. http://www.beyonce.com/ album/lemonade-visual-album/.

20 Beyoncé

(2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

21 Melissa Harris-Perry, "Melissa Harris-Perry's 'Lemonade' Round Table." (ELLE. October 11,

2017), https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a35903/lemonade-call-and-response/.

Connolly 10 bedroom (the main setting for infidelity) where she is tormented by her own thoughts, large golden doors are suddenly thrust open. Water rushes down the staircase, revealing a glistening Beyoncé in an all yellow dress. As Beyoncé descends the stairs, she embodies the figure of Oshun, the African water goddess of love, fertility, and sensuality. 22 Traditionally, Oshun is dressed in all yellow while riding on water. Beyoncé juxtapositions herself as Oshun, to convey that women, especially black women, can embrace love, fertility, and sensuality as their own.

This in itself is a radical statement that points to feminism. Not only does she reflect on the power woman have physically, but spiritually as well.

Beyoncé takes to the streets to move through her grief, playing into the stereotype that black women are angry, loud, and crazy. She takes the stereotype and amplifies it to a degree that mocks the very stereotype she embodies. Smashing cars and storefronts with her baseball bat, Beyoncé smashes what men seem to care about the most; their cars and their businesses. She shows that if the trust in a relationship is broken, by having his possessions broken, in a radical act of feminism, he will pay for what he has done. She launches into song, as “Hold Up” is sung throughout Denial. “it’s such a shame, you let this good love go to waste.” Beyoncé sings as she mockers her ex-lover. Children watch as she goes about her denial, smashing things in. The positioning of children watching her is a depictment of their futures. Beyoncé is offering a critique of sorts, saying if nothing changes and men are not held to the same standard women are, history will repeat itself among their generation. They will watch their fathers and mothers go through these situations, which in turn influences how they act once they reach that age.

22 Neha Prakash, "Read Beyoncé’s Powerful Grammys Acceptance Speech About Beauty and

Race." (Glamour. February 14, 2017), https://www.glamour.com/story/beyonce-grammys-2017acceptance-speech-transcript.

Connolly 11 Beyoncé closes the chapter of Denial by looking directly into the camera, into the eyes of her lover, smashing it with a baseball bat, showing just how angry she truly is.

Anger Anger opens with aesthetic shots of New Orleans, a historically black city, where the majority of Lemonade was shot. In keeping with the theme of displaying black culture center stage, a short clip of an all-black group of majorettes marching down the street is shown.

Majorettes are the equivalent to cheerleaders for historically black colleges. The majorettes, as a cultural institution, have helped black women all over shape their standards of representation and beauty. Their history and influence, however, is vastly overlooked by society. Beyoncé uses the Majorettes as a lead into a greater critique of black women being ignored and overlooked.

Beyoncé uses the chapter of Anger to narrate how “black men have failed black women.” 23 Black women have historically had to “negotiate their relationship with black men, either forced to choose between being black and being a woman and having to suppress one-half of their whole identity.”24 Beyoncé goes on to introduce the song “Don’t Hurt Yourself” which is about having to distance herself from her one true love, narrating how black males disappoint black females.

“Don’t Hurt Yourself” is the biggest leap Beyoncé takes sonically, exploring the genres of rock and blues fusing together an experience that makes the listener feel trials and tribulations. She is showing the rest of the world that black women are never to be underestimated.

The chapter of Anger takes place mainly inside a dimly lit parking garage at night. From the viewpoint of feminism, Beyoncé is claiming this space as her own, a space women are often

23 Corey Miles, "Beyoncé ́’s Lemonade: When Life Gave Us Lemons, We Saved the

World." (Humanity & Society41, no. 1 2016), 136-38. doi:10.1177/0160597616667593.

24 Miles, "Beyoncé ́’s Lemonade: When Life Gave Us Lemons, We Saved the World."

Connolly 12 told to avoid being alone in. She is willing to put herself at risk in the parking garage, while also putting at risk the relationship she is evaluating. She warns the man who has wronged her to be careful with his actions, otherwise, he will only end up hurting himself. When he plays her, he only plays himself; “a black man who does not value black women, ultimately hurts himself because he does not value himself.”25 Beyoncé uses language in a powerful way to assert her dominance and control in Anger.

“Beyoncé uses dirty words within her songs, by treating such words as part of the male domain, women are divested of a significant amount of power, but men’s power to abuse women with these words is mitigated and diffused by women’s use of the same words.”26 “Watch my fat ass twist boy, as I bounce to the next dick boy,”27 is just a sampling of the language Beyoncé uses to show women are just as superior to men when it comes to sex. Sex is power, and she claims this power for her own, despite being taken for granted, not only by her man but by society.

In one of the most powerful breaks within all of Lemonade, a total shift happens within the visual sequence and Malcolm X’s Voice booms over portraits of the everyday black woman in New Orleans. He preaches: “the most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.”28 The very statement of including not only Malcolm X but his powerful words, as well, is revolutionary for exposing a new generation to the political leader and his

25 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 36.

26 Evelyn Ngugi,. (YouTube. July 20, 2015),

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpVeUVcFMAU. 27 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

28 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

Connolly 13 ideas. Beyoncé aims to educate all people, especially young people, that though America has come a long way, there still is a long way to go before misogyny and racism are nonexistent.

Beyoncé has taken an old clip from the past and has applied it to the present, in hope for a better future. She reminds the world that the black female is still one of the most underserved within our communities, however in her opinion not for long. The only way for the black women to fight this suppression is to act and be heard within society; this encouragement is why Lemonade is so powerful in terms of its representation of African American women in society.

Apathy Following Anger comes Apathy which opens with Beyoncé and her all-female crew aboard a bus. In her narrative, Beyoncé’s spirit has been killed.

So, what are you gonna say at my funeral, now that you've killed me? Here lies the body of the love of my life, whose heart I broke without a gun to my head. Here lies the mother of my children, both living and dead. Rest in peace, my true love, who I took for granted. Most bomb pussy who, because of me, sleep evaded. Her God listening. Her heaven will be a love without betrayal. Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks. 29 She blames her lover for killing her and asks him rhetorically what he will do without her.

Beyoncé imagines her figurative death amongst a group of women her age, all black. An afterlife where these girls serve, as her own, for love and support. They move in unison with one another, showing they are in it together. Beyoncé singing “Sorry” with these women, calls them together to say they “ain’t sorry” for their actions and for who they are. These women ride the bus, each with braided hair proudly displaying their blackness. This very act of wearing braids proudly is in opposition to what history has attributed to African American women and buses. Thousands of women of color rode buses to and from their jobs within the

29 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

Connolly 14 civil rights era. One of the most famous segregation laws during that time was the law barring African Americans from occupying the front seats of buses. One woman named Rosa Parks was instrumental in abolishing that law. Rosa Parks became one of the most famous women in all of black history for refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Beyoncé inhibiting a bus with only black females pays homage to Rosa Parks and her bravery, as well as claiming that piece of history as their own. A freedom Beyoncé and her crew exercise because of the hard work another African American woman put in for them too.

The women proceed to have a of dance party within the bus, raising their middle fingers and waving their hands about in an effort to dismiss men. 30 They sit and bounce with their legs wide open, Beyoncé opening her legs on the hood of the bus. These women take a feminist stance by flipping the script of men and the typical spreading of their legs when seated. Men spread their legs as an act of dominance, asserting they have a penis. Women for centuries have been taught to cross their legs in avoidance of men looking up their skirt. Beyoncé and her girls spreading their legs make a statement that says a vagina has just as much power as a penis does.

They advocate for equality in sexual power. This power becomes manifested when the film cuts to the Made Wood Plantation in Louisiana.

The Made Wood Plantation is a Plantation in Louisiana that was in full operation with enslaved blacks working the fields before the civil war.31 The director of Lemonade, Khalil Joseph, transforms the plantation “into a fantasy space, an opulent estate dedicated to black

30 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 105.

31 About Madewood Plantation.

https://www.madewood.com/About_page/about_frameset.html.

Connolly 15 women’s pleasure and power rather than forced labor.”32 Beyoncé is seated on a throne, again with her legs spread wide open. In 2006, Beyoncé shot a music video for the song Déjà Vu in which her husband, Jay-Z, sat in a chair very similar to this one, legs spread open.33 Beyoncé danced in front of him, with the intention to show off and please him. Serena Williams, one of the most famous tennis players in the history of tennis, descends the stairs to dance in front of Beyoncé, just as Beyoncé once did for Jay -Z. Beyoncé says that women no longer need to dance to pleasure men, but that they can dance for themselves to please one another. The women are not overpowering one another but feeding off each other’s energy. Beyoncé is saying women need to support each other on the tennis court, in the kitchen, in families, etc. This type of support originates from traditional “childhood games such as little sally walker, brown girl in the ring, or lemonade. Beyoncé is rescripting these songs that black women sang in their childhood and turning them into songs they as adults now sing.”34 Beyoncé closes Apathy with a visual sequence that mimics popular African Art. She is depicted without her arms, drawing significant attention to the Nefertiti – inspired hairstyle she is shown in. She is speaking to black women everywhere that they shouldn’t feel the need to westernize their hair. 35 She is saying that black women are beautiful both culturally and

32 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 105.

33 Tinsley, 106.

34 Janell Hobson, "The Batty Politic: Toward an Aesthetics of the Black Female Body." (Hypatia

18, no. 4 2003), 102-03. doi:10.1353/hyp.2003.0079.

35 Neha Prakash, "Read Beyoncé’s Powerful Grammys Acceptance Speech About Beauty and

Race."

Connolly 16 physically. Black women should be treated like royalty, African Kings and Queens. This unapologetic celebration of women’s bodies continues in the next chapter Emptiness.

Emptiness Emptiness opens with the song “Six Inch,” the visual drenched in all red. This red filter is in direct reference to the red-light district of New Orleans. In the 19th century, the red-light district was home to octoroon parlors. These parlors were worked and owned by light-skinned women of color.36 Essentially brothels, black women worked to service white Southern men.

These black women made a significant profit off of these white men, who paid to be serviced.

Beyoncé brings us back to that time in history and merges it with the idea of the present sex worker in the setting of the strip club. Beyoncé creates a space where all types of women can see themselves in the media and be inspired to own their power and their bodies, a true feminist act.

Often looked down upon by society, Beyoncé explores this theory of “ratchet feminism.” Ratchet feminism includes those who “self-identify as ratchet, thots, baby mammas, gold diggers, money – makers, bawse bitches, and haters,” negotiating sex that works for them. Ratchet circulates in dirty South hip hop as hypersexual, gold digging, confrontational, and tacky.” 37 Beyoncé isn’t necessarily encouraging their behavior, rather, honoring that it is a reality and that a large number of unforgotten and overlooked women belong to that community. Lemonade turns the

36 Contributors, StuffMedia. "The Red-Light District of New Orleans." Stuff You Missed in

History Class. (August 24, 2016), https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/the-red-light-district-of-new-orleans-transcript.htm.

37 Brittney Cooper, Sussanna Morris, and Robin Boylorn. "Pop Culture: The Rise of the

Ratchet." (The Crunk Feminist Collection, 2017, Kindle Edition. 3980).

Connolly 17 women that are its stated concern, into allies. 38 Beyoncé entices us to look deeper into those woman’s lives, to support them even if we do not agree with their lifestyle. Beyoncé closes Emptiness standing in front of a brothel, one she has just set completely on fire. She stands in front of the burning house, as the camera pans out clad in her pantsuit and short cut hair, communicating she means nothing but business. She is arguing for black women to claim their sexuality as their own, and only their own. Emptiness becomes a turning point for Lemonade where one can see a shift away from the dark and the past, journeying towards the future.

Accountability

In Accountability, Beyoncé voices a narration about husbands and fathers. She asks the haunting question, “are you a slave to the back of his hand.” 39 Visually a sequence of interior shots of bedrooms, nurseries, dining rooms, adorned with furniture, flowers, and lace move the viewer to see a vision of overall domestic happiness. 40 In Accountability, Beyoncé explores the fantasies of black women vs black women’s realities.41 She describes what it’s like as a young child learning what it means to be female, and exploring one’s femininity through the idea of their own mother. “You desperately want to look like her. You look nothing like your mother.

You look everything like your mother. Film star beauty. How to wear your mother's lipstick.

38 Emily Lordi, "Beyoncé's Other Women: Considering The Soul Muses Of Lemonade."(The

FADER. November 08, 2017), https://www.thefader.com/2016/05/06/beyonce-lemonadewomen-soul-muses.

39 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

40 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 52.

41 Tinsley, 53.

Connolly 18 You go to the bathroom to apply your mother's lipstick. Somewhere no one can find you.”42 She channels the mother-daughter relationship, which is crucial to how women learn to first see themselves. Girls learn mostly from their mothers how to act, dress, and speak. In contrast, Beyoncé sings “Daddy Lessons” about her father and what he taught her. She sings of his reversing of traditional roles, telling his oldest daughter to protect his family when he is gone. Beyoncé says that just because she is a woman, doesn’t mean she can’t protect her family.

Beyoncé is thinking about the father figure, not only because she has her own father, but because her husband is the father to of her children. Beyoncé as a mother is concerned with the image, she’ll pass down to her children of what a family is; how a father and mother should act. In her 2018 Essay for Vouge, Beyoncé said: I come from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust.

Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship.

Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful. I researched my ancestry recently and learned that I come from a slave owner who fell in love with and married a slave. I had to process that revelation over time. I questioned what it meant and tried to put it into perspective. I now believe it’s why God blessed me with my twins. Male and female energy was able to coexist and grow in my blood for the first time. I pray that I am able to break the generational curses in my family and that my children will have less complicated lives.43 Lemonade is Beyoncé’s visual journey of trying to break the curse, which is explored in the next chapter, Reformation.

Reformation

42 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

43 Beyoncé. "Beyoncé in Her Own Words: Her Life, Her Body, Her Heritage." (Vogue. August

14, 2018), https://www.vogue.com/article/beyonce-september-issue-2018.

Connolly 19 Reformation starts with Beyoncé lying down in the center of the New Orleans Football stadium, the song “Love Drought” played in the background. This space can be considered historically black, just by looking at the NFL and the number of African Americans who have and currently play for the organization. Beyoncé points out the fact that the organization, however, treats players of color unfairly. Colin Kaepernick is a former player who decided to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racism both in the NFL but also in America as a whole. This caused a media frenzy with varied amounts of criticism and praise. By positioning herself in the middle of the field, Beyoncé states she stands with Colin and anyone who speaks up against racial injustice. When Colin Kaepernick was awarded the Muhamad Ali Humanitarian Award for speaking up against racism, Beyoncé presented him with his award. “Thank you for your personal sacrifice. Colin took action with no fear of consequence or repercussion, only hope to change the world for the better; to change perception, to change the way we treat each other, especially people of color who are still waiting for the world to catch up,” she said, “It’s been said that racism is so American that when we protest racism, some assume we’re protesting America.”44 Beyoncé intentionally inhabits these black spaces to bring to light the accomplishments of the African Americans that came before her and those who also coexist with her, athletes included.

The position Beyoncé lays in, and what she is wearing is by no means a coincidence.

In 2013, Beyoncé performed her first super bowl halftime show in that same stadium. Her performance drew praise widespread, some calling it the best super bowl performance of all

44 Devon Ivie, "Beyoncé Surprised Colin Kaepernick with a Moving Speech." (W Magazine.

December 06, 2017), https://www.wmagazine.com/story/beyonce-colin-kaepernick-muhammadali-legacy-award-speech.

Connolly 20 time. This praise was also matched by some criticism. Many complained that Beyoncé didn’t look feminine enough. Her legs and arms were toned which many equivocated to her body as being built like a man’s. They harassed her performance for being too intense, too powerful.

Beyoncé revisits this space in a couture gown, showing the haters that she does not care what they say about her. She’s taking all their criticisms’ and turns them out so that they have no choice but to honor her. She is saying take me as I appear, all black woman as they appear, and do not try to turn “us” into something else. Don’t make “us” submit to your ideas, I am going to do what I choose to do, on my own time.

Cutting away from the field, Beyoncé leads a group of women into the water, where they wade. Beyoncé circles back to the metaphor and symbolism water holds within Lemonade. The women wading in the water represent this idea that they are the water. “They don’t have to wrestle with the contradictory possibilities of black woman-ness as an outside force because they are black womanhood, a legion of sisters in formation.”45 Beyoncé stresses the importance of black women banning together to support one another. This banning together is the only way they will be able to get through. The final image with the women raising their arms up becomes a distinct indication that these women intend to do just that, and they won’t let any man get in their way of surviving.

Forgiveness The chapter Forgiveness is centered around healing and obviously channeling forgiveness. “Forgiveness is rooted in a historical tradition of black women offering compassion and understanding as a strategic tool of liberation.” 46 Beyoncé says that black women have

45 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 157.

46 Corey Miles, "Beyoncé ́’s Lemonade: When Life Gave Us Lemons, We Saved the World."

Connolly 21 always been the ones who have forgiven over and over again. In particular, this can be traced back to black women having to provide love and forgiveness to white people, when they suppressed them for centuries. Beyoncé portrays forgiveness through her own experience, showcasing how forgiveness in her life meant negotiating her relationship with her husband JayZ. She sings of betrayal and trust issues; however, she also sings about loving and how nothing real can ever actually be threatened. “True love reaped salvation back into me” she echoes on “Sandcastles,” overlaid with shots of Jay holding Beyoncé in his arms. The most vulnerable we have ever seen Beyoncé; she shows the world how her relationship fell under the “curse”.

Though her relationship was struck with infidelity and lies, that does not mean she can’t forgive.

This message rings worldwide as many examine the relationships they do or do not have. She is embodying what it means to be vulnerable, but still strong through this chapter. She shows women that they can forgive, but only on their terms and their terms only.

Resurrection Resurrection is where Beyoncé visualizes the popular phrase/concept of “black girl magic.” Often said as an affirmation amongst black women, we see it personified on screen. All ages and shades stand together in couture clothing, an image encouraging women off all ages, especially young women of color. This degree of representation is unlike anything America has seen before; “an image of feminism that’s overwhelmingly popular and undeniably black.” 47 While Resurrection spreads black girl magic, it also touches on a much more serious subject.

The song “Forward” plays quietly in the background as Gwen Carr, Lezley McSpadden, Sybrina Fulton, and Wanda Johnson appear on screen holding photos of their dead children. Pictured in

47 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 8.

Connolly 22 these photos are Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin; all young men who were victims of racially charged murders or police brutality. These young men served as the faces for the BlackLivesMatter movement, which began in 2013. Featuring these mothers in Lemonade is a huge political statement, one Beyoncé is not afraid to defend. She chooses to honor these mothers who have had to survive the pain of losing their children. Beyoncé etches each young man’s face in history, ensuring the world remembers who they were. She insinuates though America moves forward, we must not forget who was lost along the way.

Beyoncé uses race as a catalyst for a future where no men are murdered because of the color of their skin and where all girls no matter what shade, can truly be upheld and supported by society. In Resurrection, the question is poised how to do this.

So how we supposed to lead our children to the future? What do we do? How do we lead them? Love. L-O-V-E, love. Mm-mmm-mmm. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. I just love the Lord, I'm sorry, brother. I love the Lord. That's all I got. When your back gets against the wall and your wall against your back, who you call? Hey! Who you call? Who you call? You gotta call Him. You gotta call Jesus. You gotta call Him. You gotta call Him 'cause you ain't got another hope.48 Beyoncé introduces religion saying God is the ultimate enabler. At the end of the day, it is only He who allows a movement forward. Once society moves forward, the hope for black individuals to be free will be realized.

Hope In Hope, Beyoncé tells all girls they are free to do what they do, demanding they receive honor and celebration in return. The song “Freedom” overlays hope; a song calling for all black women to be free. Black women deserve to love and move their bodies the way they choose.

They deserve to be empowered and to talk about the things they choose to talk about. Beyoncé

48 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD]

Connolly 23 uses the introduction of Hope to talk about a subject that women do not talk about openly; a subject that carries a dark stigma and fear. Beyoncé uses spoken word to detail a miscarriage.

“The nail technician pushed my cuticles back ... turns my hand over, stretches the skin on my palm and says, "I see your daughters and their daughters." That night in a dream, the first girl emerges from a slit in my stomach. The scar heals into a smile. The man I love pulls the stitches out with his fingernails. We leave black sutures curling on the side of the bath.”49 Beyoncé uses her feminist outlook to feel free speaking through a miscarriage. She opens the door for other women to have conversations about their own miscarriages. Miscarriages occur more often than spoken about; Beyoncé talking about her own makes other women feel comfortable talking about their experiences surrounding miscarriages.

Hope continues and Paulette Lephard is introduced into the narrative. Paulette is pictured in Lemonade wearing nothing but armor, exposing scars from an apparent mastectomy. Cancer of any kind is terrible, but breast cancer in women not only hurts their bodies, however, their female identity too. When women undergo mastectomies, they lose a piece of their womanhood, their breasts. Paulette bare-chested in armor is a testament to women who have undergone this treatment to not feel ashamed of their bodies. Beyoncé truly celebrates bodies in all forms, saying women who have scars should display them proudly in witness to their strength and courage. Paulette said about her cameo “I had no idea it would be this powerful. It was beautiful. What Beyoncé made is important. It’s strong. I’m strong. She’s strong. Every woman in the video is strong. We are warriors.”50 Hope ends with Beyoncé

49 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD] 50 Jenn Hoffman, "Meet the Inspiring Breast Cancer Survivor from Beyoncé's Lemonade: 'Every

Woman in the Video Is Strong – We Are Warriors'." (PEOPLE.com. April 29, 2016),

Connolly 24 emerging out of the dark. She rises victoriously, marking an end to the darkness and a move towards the light. Her light is the utopia situated before her, where women live in coexistence as black mothers, daughters, and sisters.

The space she enters into is a “black Southern woman’s version of Zion, yes, where their daughters multiply plenty.”51 This “Zion” is a space where women take control and provide for themselves. A scene is shown where all the women share a meal at one large table. This scene instills that all black women deserve a seat at the table. Black women have fought for generations to secure their spots at tables throughout America. Though they have secured many, women of color still deal with oppression, a modern form of slavery. Lemonade presents these women center stage, allowing them to sing for their freedom.

In a revival like setting, Beyoncé embodies a preacher, on stage, while a congregation of black women watches below. This revival setting reflects revivals of the old South; mainly driven by African American preachers. Moving through this scene, a black ballerina offers choreography on stage. Ballet as an institution has historically been discriminatory towards African American ballerinas; yet another barrier Beyoncé aims to break. Michaela DePrince, the ballerina featured, dances to a version of choreography from swan lake: a story about a mother’s pain of being separated from her children.52 DePrince performs in front of the mothers featured previously, in Resurrection, who have lost their sons. Beyoncé illustrates a message of healing, not only through conversation and song, but dance too.

https://people.com/celebrity/meet-the-inspiring-breast-cancer-survivor-from-beyonceslemonade/.

51 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 125.

52 Tinsley, 133.

Connolly 25 Freedom is shown generationally within Hope, Beyoncé envisioning a world where Blue Ivy, her daughter, is free to be who she is. Blue makes an appearance in Lemonade, who stands shoulder to shoulder with Quvenzhané Wallis. These two: come to break chains all by themselves: to model what reproductive justice activists’ call for “sexual autonomy and gender freedom for every human being” looks like for black girls, coming into reproductive maturity in the shadows of misogynoir. 53 Quvenzhané Wallis was openly called a cunt in the media for attending the Oscar award show where SHE was nominated for best actress. Holding hands with blue in “freedom,” she is where she belongs: a child with other children, protected and protective, getting free. 54 Just by having Wallis hold hands with Blue, Beyoncé creates a future where the little girls of today hold hands and tackle the world of tomorrow, together.

Redemption Redemption yields power in the idea of tomorrow, the coming together to forge a path for the future making do with what one has. In Redemption, we see Beyoncé’s inspiration for titling the album Lemonade. A home clip of Hattie White, Jay-Z’s Grandmother, is shown from her ninetieth birthday party. She speaks slowly into a microphone: “I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.”55 The concept of turning what little is provided, into something substantial is what this album encompasses. Beyoncé shows throughout the project that despite receiving little, black women turn what they have into Lemonade. The life of a black woman is juxta-

53 Tinsley, 137.

54 Sika Dagbovie-Mullins, "Pigtails, Ponytails, and Getting Tail: The Infantilization and Hyper-

Sexualization of African American Females in Popular Culture." (The Journal of Popular Culture 46, no. 4. 2013), 745-71. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12047.

55 Shannon Carlin, "Whose Voice Is That On Beyoncé's "Freedom"?" (Bustle. December 17,

2018), https://www.bustle.com/articles/157022-who-is-speaking-about-lemonade-on-beyoncsfreedom-hattie-white-has-a-strong-connection-to-the.

Connolly 26 positioned to the making of Lemonade. With every challenge, every barrier, black women rise and make something for themselves; as they have done for centuries. Black women lean on those they love to help make their dreams and aspirations a reality.

Beyoncé closes out Redemption by singing on “All Night,” “Boy, nothing real can be threatened. True love breathes salvation back into me. With every tear came redemption and my torturer became my remedy.”56 She says that above all, love is how to heal and grow. In order to move to the future, in order to honor our past, we must love. Beyoncé illustrates this love by rolling small clips of all different types of couples: black, mixed racial, Spanish, and gay, to exemplify that love has no boundaries. Lemonade is about embracing who you are. Using your history, your curves, your skin color, your kinky hair, your clothes, your beliefs, and your wrinkles to say I am good enough to both give and receive love. In the end, love is the only way we can proceed into the future; Lemonade acting as the ultimate call to get in formation and love one another.

“Formation” “Formation is Lemonade’s beginning, the only song, and video released prior to the film’s debut; and also Lemonade’s endpoint, the final track and last stop on the main character’s path to healing.”57 Released on February 6th, 2016, the day after Trayvon Martins birthday, the lyrics and video celebrate not only what it means to be black, but a black woman from the South.

“Formation” recognizes these women by highlighting a range of styles, voices, and bodies to

56 Beyoncé (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

57 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 143.

Connolly 27 show an authentic declaration of black Southern pride.58 “Formation” takes place in Louisiana, New Orleans positioned as “an actual and imagined site of black Southern ecstasy, tragedy, remembrance, and revolutionary possibility, a pendulum on which Beyoncé rides a Southern genealogy that traverses the Deep South.” 59 “Formation” not only honors the women of the South but the gender queer folks too. “Formation” opens with a simple question read aloud, “What happened at the New Wil’ins?” 60 This phrase is credited and recited by the late Messy Mya; a famous personality known all over New Orleans. Messy Mya, a voice for gender queer individuals, published YouTube videos that featured dialogues between fellow African Americans showcasing their neighborhood, culture and the violence that occurred within the area. Murdered in 2010, his voice rings through “Formation” as a recognition and a reminder of all queer folks whose lives have been lost. Here we see the final time Beyoncé plays with the life and death, past and present concept. She is asking the viewer to interpret what happened in New Orleans historically and how that effects the present looking to the future.

“Formation” opens with establishing shots of New Orleans, characterizing the effect Hurricane Katrina has had on the city. “Images of water literally flood “Formation” which begins and ends with Beyoncé singing on the hood of a police car sinking into the waters that recalls Hurricane Katrina.”61 The scene quickly cuts to bodies moving to bounce music, traditional to

Kevin Ball, "Beyoncé’s “Formation”." (Film Criticism Journal40, no. 3 2016), 1-4. doi:10.3998.

58

59 Zandria. "We Slay, Part I." (New South Negress. February 07, 2016),

http://newsouthnegress.com/southernslayings/#more-733.

60 Beyoncé ́ (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

61 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 143.

Connolly 28 the black community in New Orleans. Beyoncé sings about her own heritage, “My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana, you mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bamma.” 62 She encourages other African Americans to do the same. Just because an individual is African American, does not mean they come from the same culture nor geographic location. This common misconception is one many non-African Americans overlook. Beyoncé embraces her distinct cultural heritage, using it as a juxtaposition to perform within the walls of a plantation.

She inhabits this space as an act of power, to demonstrate that history will not repeat itself.

Dressed in period clothing, a group of women sits together with Beyoncé defying the racist ideas that came from the South.

Moving through the video, a scene cuts from the plantation to a hair shop. Hair shops are a cultural cornerstone for black Southern women. “The black hair shop is “a place where extraordinary cultural, political, and economical business (gets) taken care of.” And it’s also a place where black cis and trans women work together to co-produce womanhood.”63 This coproduction of womanhood is channeled through the depiction of women dancing in formation with one another. An example of this formation shows when Beyoncé and her girls dance in the drained pool. The drained pool is a reference point to history when the civil rights act of 1964 was passed and the integration of public swimming pools was required by law. In city after city, many pools decided to close rather than integrate their public pools, New Orleans included.

62 Beyoncé ́ (2016) Lemonade [CD/DVD].

63Alix Chapman, "The Punk Show: Queering Heritage in the Black Diaspora." (Cultural

Dynamics 26, no. 3 2014), 327-345. doi:10.1177/0921374014542178.

Connolly 29 Beyoncé compares woman-ness to the water that would be there. She says that the femininity on display is enough to fill this pool once again, that they as black women are forces of nature.64 “Formation” cuts in the middle to a little boy dancing in front of a line of police officers, with his hands held up. This references the “hands up don’t shoot” motto the BlackLivesMatter movement adopted to combat police brutality. A video pan of a spray-painted wall reads, “stop shooting us,” an obvious exemplification of Beyoncé’s attitude towards racial injustice in America. “Formation” ends with a combination of these two opposing ideas, forces of nature and police brutality against the African American population.

In “Formation,” Beyoncé demonstrates that in order to lead a successful movement, coordination is essential. This type of coordination has been practiced by organizers and leaders in cities for decades. This coordination is facilitated by black women, often on the margins, whose aim has been to combat white supremacy and advocate for racial and gender equality amongst all parties. “The celebration of the margins–black bodies in motion, women’s voices centered, black queer voices centered–is what ultimately vanquishes the state, represented by a NOPD car. Beyoncé as the conjured every-Southern-black-woman, slays atop the car and uses the weight of her body to finish it off, sacrificing herself in the process.”65 This sequence pays tribute to all those who have lost their lives to fight for equality within our country. “Formation” serves as the ultimate anthem for the embracement of identity, race, and feminism which is why Beyoncé choose to both start and end her project Lemonade with a worldwide call to get in formation.

64 Tinsley, Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism, 161.

65 Zandria. "We Slay, Part I."

Connolly 30 Though Lemonade was met with global acclaim, many still believe the project does not hinge itself on the pillars of race and feminism. Critics argue that although Beyoncé aims to showcase black women in a multidimensional way, the project only continues to frame the black woman as a victim.66 In the end, the woman still depends on the man to lift her back up, an idea that is counter-argumentative to the feminist movement. Not only is the black woman the victim, but she takes her pain and acts out in specific ways; amplify the stereotype’s black women face.

In “Don’t Hurt Yourself” and “Hold Up” the feelings of anger and rage render acts of violence.

These feelings and actions send negative messages to the community that because she is a woman hurt, violence can be permitted. “Female violence is no more liberatory than male violence. And when violence is made to look sexy and eroticized, it does not serve to undercut the prevailing cultural sentiment that it is acceptable to use violence to reinforce domination, especially in relations between men and women. Violence does not create positive change.” 67The trauma and pain that violence evokes in the lives of black women cannot be wiped away or fixed with sentimental family images either, as portrayed in Lemonade.

In the end, Lemonade does not resolve. It does not showcase black women using their voice in order to defend the rights they undeniably have as black women. Lemonade is full of false implications that women need men in order to survive. Nowhere in the project is the disestablishment of the patriarchy discussed, a notion that has to be incorporated in order to be considered a feminist text. Instead, Lemonade epitomizes the time old tale of men hurting and being forgiven; the “curse” never actually broken. Lemonade romanticizes the “curse”

66 Bell Hooks, "Moving Beyond Pain." (Bell Hooks Institute. May 09, 2016),

http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/blog/2016/5/9/moving-beyond-pain.

67 Bell Hooks, "Moving Beyond Pain."

Connolly 31 convincing women they are strong, but not strong enough to survive without a man. This is why some consider Lemonade another failed attempt to showcase feminism and race through mainstream art.

Overall Lemonade Changed the music industry forever. As Beyoncé said in her 2017 Grammy speech, My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness, and our history, to confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It's important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House, and the Grammys, and see themselves. And have no doubt that they're beautiful, intelligent, and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race, and I feel it's vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes.68 Beyoncé published a body of work that allows the conversation of race and feminism to converge and flow like a stream, unlike any modern work has done before. Creatively giving representation to the female African American story, Beyoncé reinvents what it means to be an artist. Lemonade weaves the past and the present together, creating a haven for multigeneration and cultural conversation. Lemonade is a masterpiece of black feminist art; a project millions of girls see themselves in. Inspiring all generations to support one another in the advancement of life, Beyoncé uses Lemonade as the manual to teach women to find the inner strength they need to pull themselves up; instilling in them they have no choice when life serves them lemons, but to make Lemonade.

68 Neha Prakash, "Read Beyoncé’s Powerful Grammys Acceptance Speech About Beauty and

Race."

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