258 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Presentpatriarch of the PAOCC, is Jaramogi Menelik Kimathi
(Demosthene Nelson).
See also: Black Churches; Black Nationalism; Pan-Africanism;
Republic of New AfrikaPatrick Q. MasonBibliography
Cleage, Albert B. Jr. Th e Black Messiah. 1968. Reprint, Trenton, NJ:
Africa World Press, 1989.Signifying
Th e act of signifying is a verbal art form in which a person
puts down or talks negatively about (signifi es on) some-
one, to make a point or sometimes just for fun. Th e no-
tion of signifying was also made famous and analyzed by
Henry Louis Gates Jr. in Th e Signifying Monkey. It refers to
an instrument for eloquent swerving that exploits stylistic
devices such as double entendre and irony. Indeed, the con-
cept itself designates the ambivalent art of concealing, hid-
ing, and veiling, in order to highlight and underline one’s
discourse and intended message.
Th e signifying principle is pregnant with cultural and
historical values. Th e recurrent trickster fi gure of the Mon-
key in the Signifying Monkey series of tales embodies the
concept and the act of signifying. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
traces the Signifying Monkey’s origins back to the mytho-
logical fi gure of Esu. Belonging to the Fon mythology and
standing as the equivalent to the Greek mythological fi g-
ure of Hermes, Esu-Elegbara stands as the fi gure of inter-
pretation and therefore the fi gure of representation. Esu,
the ubiquitous messenger gift ed with the ability to speak
any language, thus stands as the best mediator. Esu is also
known as a trickster and as such is likely to play tricks, to
blur, and to trap, for instance, through words. Th erefore,
one better understands the mythopoetic status of the Sig-
nifying Monkey.
Moreover, a character such as the Signifying Monkey
reminds us of a “playful” semantic dimension that one also
fi nds in verbal games such as the call-and-response or con-
frontations, as in playing the dozens (a kind of game meant
to test one’s ability to resist insult). Th e blurring and mis-
leading aspect of the instance of signifying also reminds us
of the fi rst gospels and blues songs whose content soundedBookstore, established in 1970, has served as an outlet for
black writers, historians, and artists to share their work
and as a place where members of the black community
can learn their history and culture. All of these institu-
tions are designed to enhance the goal of black economic
development.
In the midst of the social and cultural upheavals of
the 1960s, many black activists began to question whether
Christianity was a source of liberation or oppression for
African Americans. Cleage was quite critical of the role
played by white Christians in fostering racism, colonialism,
and imperialism, but he forcefully countered the claims of
those such as Elijah Muhammad and Stokely Carmichael
that Christianity was a white man’s religion with a white
man’s God, inherently bankrupt and serviceable only in the
propagation of white supremacy. Asserting that Christian-
ity was rightfully a black religion, Cleage redefi ned Jesus
and Christianity in new terms that sought to assure their
continuing relevance in the modern black community. Th e
Shrine of the Black Madonna served as the institutional
base for Cleage’s ideas.
Born in 1911 in Indianapolis and then raised in De-
troit, Cleage was ordained a minister in the Congregational
Church in 1943. His early eff orts at building interracial
fellowships among Congregationalists and Presbyterians
were failures, and he grew increasingly frustrated with
the integrationist approach of the mainstream Civil
Rights movement. By the late 1960s, he had become the
most vocal Christian clergyman calling for a more radi-
cal approach to the question of racial equality. Aft er un-
successful attempts to win elected offi ce, he launched the
Black Christian National Movement (the name was later
changed to the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church)
in 1967 and transformed his Congregational church to the
Shrine of the Black Madonna, with the Easter Sunday un-
veiling of the Black Madonna as the dramatic signifi er of
the change.
In 1968, Cleage expressed his theological views in a
collection of sermons and other writings titled Th e Black
Messiah. He further articulated his views in Black Christian
Nationalism: New Directions for the Black Church (1972).
He also changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman,
Swahili for “liberator, holy man, savior of the nation.”
Th e Shrine of the Black Madonna has continued its ac-
tive ministry and community work, even aft er the death of
its founder in 2000. Th e current leader of the Shrine, and