Slave Artists as Powerful Reality Creators: Taking Responsibility and Rejecting Race Consciousness

Abstract

This article critiques the race conscious thinking inherent in Critical Race Theory ("CRT") and offers an alternative to structuralism and determinism. It reviews the colonial origins of race consciousness, and argues that advocating race conscious remedies perpetuates the very racism CRT decries. The article focuses on powerful reality creators of the past to create a more empowering framework of individual responsibility and personal reality construction. The article makes a case study of David Drake, a slave potter from 1800s South Carolina. Slave artists like David Drake show us that, no matter how strong the forces of oppression, a marginalized individual has the authority and power to decide who he or she becomes.

Keywords: critical race theory, critical legal studies