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Abstract
In this article we discuss the illusions of freedom and the complicated relationship Black women have with institutions of higher education. We suggest Beyoncé's performance of "Freedom" at the 2016 BET Awards metaphorically and symbolically underscores the experiences of Black women in college. Through a rhetorical analysis of Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar's BET Music Awards performance of "Freedom." we explore how the venue, visual style, and lyrics symbolize the feelings of unity, frustration, resistance, resilience, struggle, and disposability embodied in the experiences of Black women enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States. Using Black feminist thought and intersectional frameworks we highlight the contemporary struggle for freedom and the failed promises of higher education, and encourage critical media literacy as a way for scholars and practitioners in higher education to allow Black women to own their freedom.
Keywords: Black, women, freedom, higher education
Introduction
Public response to Beyoncé's "Freedom" performance at the 2016 BET Awards was overwhelming, positive, and inspirational especially given the current racial climate ofthe United States for Blacks (e.g., frequency of racialized police violence, race-centered hate crimes and college student activism, and race-related platforms of presidential candidates). The "Freedom" song from Beyoncé's Lemonade album and BET Awards performance created a space for expression at a time when Black lives, Black activism, and Black culture have been at the forefront of media coverage while simultaneously at the periphery of broader public concern. Beyoncé's opening BET Awards performance set the tone for an incredibly powerful and moving award show. The 2016 BET Awards show was explicit in the need to showcase performances and curate an environment that supported the new Black consciousness of the time and in many ways gave viewers at home permission to be unapologetically Black, even just for three hours. However, Beyoncé's performance did more than serve as a warm-up for her home and live audiences. Her performance, featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar, gave viewers a glimpse into her successful Lemonade Tour. More importantly, Beyoncé's performance represents a set of contradictions about Black1 women in America and offers illustrative symbolism into the promise of freedom that has yet to be granted.
We argue that Beyoncé's "Freedom" performance and lyrics vividly tell a story of Black freedom in the United...