Analysis of “Prove it on Me” of Gertrude Ma Rainey

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Gertrude Ma Rainey’s“Prove it on Me” claims her sexuality proudly as a black female and demonstrates how black women pursue freedom within a social situation that confine and oppress them during the 1920s in the United States. Ma Rainey has propelled the boundary of gender that created a neutral space for homosexual identity. Namely, “Prove it on Me”, has questioned the American mainstream if they can prove she was doing anything wrong, which has showed her rebelling attitude to the black bourgeoisie and white patriarchy and heteronormativity. Ma Rainey and “Prove it on Me” had significant impact on pushing forward sexual equality and freedom as the pioneer to stand for homosexuality in the 1920s’ United States.

As a Black Feminist, Ma Rainey pushed the boundaries of sexuality, which demonstrates her pursuit for larger freedom. In the 1920s women like Ma Rainey were viewed as wild and overly sexual beings. In contrast the mainstream culture described every “normal and decent” female should routine their life like this – to marry a man, to raise their children, to never divorce with the husband, and to take her family to the Christian church every week. While Ma Rainey has broken this limitation and tried to release the imprisoning morality for sexual black female, with singing “It’s true I wear a collar and a tie/ Makes the wind blow all the while” and “Wear my clothes just like a fan/ Talk to the gals just like any old man”, which blurred the boundary of gender and formed the Black Feminist trend. “Collar”, “tie”, “gals” and “any old man” all represented for male and represented Ma Rainey’s desire to dress and act like a male. Meanwhile “wind” and “fans” represented freedom and pleasure, which indicated her eager for enjoying real freedom of sexuality. The lyrics indicated that females deserve to enjoy the same rights and freedom like any single male. Being the representative of Black Feminist, Ma Rainey firmly and loudly called for the sexuality and real freedom of black females in public no matter how the mainstream culture would criticize her.

In addition, Rainey has demonstrated her rejection to the stereotype of the mainstream American society that believed being a sexualized black woman herself was dangerous and evil. In the 1920s, one of the worst periods of racial segregation, not only the white American society but also the black middle class society has showed hostile to the homosexual black women. The song “Prove it on Me” was just produced after Rainey was accused of holding a homosexual party. The lyrics sing “Folks say I’m crooked/ I didn’t know where she took it/I want the whole world to know” (Ma Rainey). Ma Rainey used the words “crooked” and “folks” to tell the audience how homosexuality is demonized by the mainstream American culture. The song also expressed she was hurt by the homophobia and the loud rejection is thus birthed - “I want the whole world to know”. However, she still shouted for homosexuality with the lyrics that “Went out last night with a crowd of my friends/ they must've been women/ 'cause I don't like no men”, which has strongly showed her rebelling attitude to fight with sexual prejudice. Her voice was quite precious as she was in an era that lesbian affairs could throw one into the jail. The repeating lyrics “Cause they say I do it/ ain’t nobody caught me/ Sure got to prove it on me” expressed what she was pursuing and practicing was not something should be shamed of, as the truth was she has not done anything wrong but pursuing larger freedom, which was ironically the American culture mainstream argued for.

In conclusion, “Prove it on Me” actually raised a question that if the African American females have gained any more power in the American society, politics and economy than they ever had since the abolishment of African slaves and anti-racialism. What Ma Rainey had experienced and what she sang actually proved that the disadvantageous position of African American females who are homosexual. In the 1920s, the African American females still faced moral kidnapping in terms of controlling one’s own fate and sexual identity, and they did not own the freedom as expected in the society. This was ironic as the freedom and equality was exactly what American mainstream always advocated. While with more songs like “Prove it on Me”, the cultural landscape seemed to have been affected and has been shifted subtly, with more voices rising for homosexuality. The American culture had also become to be more tolerant and diversified. In this way, Ma Rainey as the pioneer of black female sexuality, had contributed to pushing forward the freedom and sexual equality culture around the United States to a great extend.  

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