What Makes a Black Man?

Jonathan Majors is one of Hollywood’s swiftest rising stars. And he presented a version of masculinity that pushed back against the heavily policed boundaries set by society and Black men themselves.

Majors’ version of masculinity welcomed softness and vulnerability – it also drew the ire of those who found his gender performance emasculating and pointed towards the “feminization” of Black men.

Boyce Watkins, PhD / @drboycewatkins1 (Twitter)

When he was arrested at the end of March on charges of domestic violence, Majors was arraigned and released, and Majors denies and disputes the charges. Curiously, following his arrest he was defended by many of the same people who decried his turn to a soft version of masculinity.

We discuss the boundaries placed on Black men with regards to their masculinity, and why an act of alleged violence can rewrite a man’s place in performing society’s masculine ideals. Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke distinguished professor of African and African American studies at Duke University joined to discuss.