blackness

plural blacknesses · alternative Blackness · alternative obsolete blacknesse

1. uncountableusuallyThe state or quality of being black in colour.

   The blackness of outer space comes from the lack of anything to reflect light rather than the absence of light.

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   The lights of Luluabourg disappeared, and we were in the blackness of the African night, which was continuously pierced by the showers of red sparks ejected skywards and red hot ashes deposited on the track as the fireman rocked his fire.

   1958 February 28, Arthur F. Beckenham, “A Journey in the Belgian Congo”, in Railway Magazine, page 93

2. uncountableusuallyAny space that such colour pervades.

   Out of the blackness came some flickers of light.

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   The guest room was full of the noise of the rain falling on fragrant branches in the framed blackness of the open window.

   1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 4.8, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 108

3. figurativelyuncountableusuallyDarkness, gloominess; depression.
4. figurativelyuncountableusuallyThe quality of being evil or dismal.

   She had seen so much of the blacker side of human nature that blackness no longer startled her as it should do.

   1860 January – 1861 April, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published April 1861, →OCLC

5. uncountableusuallyThe state of being of African descent.

   “Black Panther” is a stunning visual and cultural achievement that takes superhero cinema where it’s never gone before by not being afraid to embrace its blackness.

   2018 February 12, David Betancourt, “‘Black Panther’ fully embraces its blackness—and that's what makes it unforgettable”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2018

6. uncountableusuallyThe experiences and culture of Black people.

1. A suburb of Dundee, City of Dundee council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO3830).
2. A small coastal village in Falkirk council area, Scotland; a nearby headland is named Black Ness (OS grid ref NT0580).
3. A hamlet in Westham parish, Wealden district, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ6104).
4. A suburb of Crowborough, Wealden district, East Sussex (OS grid ref TQ5230).

1. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of blackness (“state of being of African descent; culture of African-Americans”).

   It is Blackless, hence it shares that very quality, Blacklessness, with Whiteness; and it is Whiteless, hence it shares Whitelessness with Blackness.

   1999, Alfonso de Toro, Fernando de Toro, Jorge Luis Borges: Thought and Knowledge in the XXth Century, page 180

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   Describes a person or thing that is authentic, the height of something, according to the authentic, natural, ‘keepin-it-real’ standards of Blackness that are believed to exist in ghetto communities. Also ghetto fab.

   2000, "Ghetto fabulous" in Geneva Smitherman, Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner, Houghton Mifflin Books, page 145

   It is a question of 'what we invest ourselves in' (Grosz 1995, 184) and how people live Blackness, Whiteness, Azerbaijaniness, Germanness, femaleness or maleness.

   2018, Elisabeth Militz, Affective Nationalism

   The soundingness of Blackness only achieves recognition in a sociopolitical context where the very fact of Blackness holds significant meaning. In other words, the acoustic markers of Blackness are not just about differentiating the vocal utterings and tonal inclinations of particular cultures.

   2019, Nina Eidsheim, Katherine Meizel, The Oxford Handbook of Voice Studies, page 217

   In one sense, the tragic mulatto heroine is baboon—babooness, if you will—since she has to deny, or at least denigrate, her Blackness in order to be tragic.

   2020, Clifford Mason, Macbeth in Harlem: Black Theater in America from the Beginning to Raisin in the Sun, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN

   From Afrofuturism to hopepunk, many continue to draw on Butler's vision of a future where Blackness and Black people not only persist, but help bring worlds into being.

   2020, Jennifer Sieck, "Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum: Octavia E. Butler's Typewriter as Time Machine", The Washington Informer, 17 September 2020 - 23 September 2020, page 38