Cool Pose: An African American Male Coping Strategy

The purpose of this paper is to describe a tactic that African American men use
as a matter of survival called by Richard Majors and Janet Mancine Billson cool pose.
This strategy is prevalent not only in our communities but on our college campuses.
This strategy is in effect for the most part where ever you find African American men
who are more than just a few men on any college campus. I will first describe what this
cool pose is and how it might manifest itself on the college campus. I will also describe
how counter-productive this strategy is, when employed by African American men on
these campuses, if it is used all of the time. I will also describe the impact of this
strategy if it is used in the work place. I will offer some of my ideas of how this strategy
might be arrested. I do not mean to suggest that there is no time or place where this
strategy might not be used effectively. What I am suggesting however, is that if this
strategy is used most of the time it can be counter-productive.
It is worth noting that African American males have had a huge impact on
American society and American culture in many ways. For example, this past summer I
spent part of my sabbatical in India and I was privileged to witness a performance of
some of the students at Christ University in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. These
students did a performance which combined traditional Indian routines with obvious hiphop moves. This is extra-ordinary. The pervasiveness of hip-hop is evident practically
everywhere you go. Much of hip-hop has been heavily influenced by African American
men, not only as performers and artists but also as promoters. Even the lack of African
American men on a college campus has a noticeable effect on the population of college

students especially. This is but one example of the impact that African American men
have in particular areas.
Some of you deal with black men on college campuses on a regular basis and
some of you deal with black men only occasionally. In some of your interactions you feel
that you might not be reaching the black male. You may even be at a loss as to how to
effectively deal with some of these men because you just cannot figure them out. It
seems that no matter what you try these young men are not getting the message. It
appears that they have little regard for their education; some of them take two steps
forward and three steps back. You set up a conference where a student can meet with
one of his professors in class where the student has had difficulty and the student
decides not to show up. You do everything possible it seems to insure the students
success. You wonder what it will take to bring the student around. It seems that the
student does not care; he is very blas and unresponsive to any of your suggestions.
He seems to believe that he can pass this class even though he has failed practically
every test or has not turned in any work. Or you see some of these students on campus
and they barely acknowledge your presence. It seems that you reach out and they do
not want anything to do with your officebut when one of these students gets in trouble
to where does the student turn? In your interactions with the students outside of the
classroom he seems to be quite confident in his abilities. He seems almost oblivious to
his academic standing and unconcerned, per se, of how others perceive his behavior.
He has and cockiness that belies his academic standing and his social position.
There are some dynamics internally that you should be aware of that will shed
some light on the students actions and attitude. Black male students come to campus

with a history of being in the academy. Some have had bad experiences in school.
Some had been put in special education classes despite the fact that they really were
not special ed. students. As a result they come with some preconceived ideas and some
preformed thinking about what college is and should be. They have developed a coping
mechanism that in their mind works to their advantage. They do come with some
baggage but it was not something that they planned. These students are different from
other students in profound ways. One of the ways that they are different is due to the
fact that for them life is about survival in world that is hostile to them.
According to Majors and Billson many black men come from circumstances
where there are problems of "Poverty, unemployment, educational problems, alcohol
and drug abuse, homicide, suicide, incarceration, poor health, low life expectancy, and
high mortality and all of these are intricately interrelated." These circumstances have
forced the black male into a survival mode of existence in that they are part of the
oppressive system that black men have had to endure.
Black men have an image problem. Very often African American males are
portrayed in the media as problematic, prone to violence, irresponsible and
unmanageable. They make up a large segment of the inmates in the prison population
and are often associated with gangs. Therefore, the question becomes why are African
American males perceived in that way, why are so many of us in jail, why are people so
quick to label us trouble makers and violent. Our swagger and demeanor put a lot of
people on edge; our presence can be unnerving; our speech threatening and our
mannerisms provocative. Why is that? Cool pose can provide part of the answer for the
actions and attitudes of many African American males.

Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson in their book, Cool Pose: The
Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America define Cool Pose as "a ritualized form of
masculinity that entails behaviors, scripts, physical posturing, impression management,
and carefully crafted performances that deliver a single, critical message: pride,
strength, and control." (Majors and Billson, 4) It is a coping mechanism to deal with the
many demeaning circumstances that many African American men face in American
society. It is a way that black men empower themselves to have some control over their
situation. It is only one of several techniques that blacks have used to survive in a white
patriarchal world. These authors describe cool pose as a front that "counters the low
sense of inner control, lack of inner strength, absence of stability, damaged pride,
shattered confidence, and fragile social competence that come from living on the edge
of society." (Majors and Billson, 8) However, I must add that it is not necessarily uniform
for all black men.
Cool pose is part of a growth process that heightens the coolness factor. Major
and Billson use Glasgow to point out the functionality of cool "cool is critical to the black
male's emerging identity as he develops a distinctive style. This style is highly
individualized and is expressed through variations in walk, talk, choice of clothes
(threads), and natural or processed hair (do)." (Majors and Billson, 4) It is about image
and style. One can have control over how one looks and therefore one puts a lot of
effort into what people see and therefore, everything is judged by the black man in
terms of its performative value.
The reason for the cool pose persona is that many African American men have to
combat several negative images portrayed in the dominant culture. Some of these

images such as Sambo, Zip Coon, Uncle Tom and Buck are ever present in the lives of
most African American males. According to Marlon Riggs documentary Ethnic Notions
the Sambo is simple, docile, carefree, laughing African American male who cares only
about food, dance and song; he is irresponsible and quick to avoid work. Zip Coon is a
buffoon whose attempts at imitating white demonstrate his uncouthness, his ignorance
and intellectual feebleness. Uncle Tom, from the popular 19 th century novel Uncle Toms
Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is an African American male who is servile, self
denigrating and eager to please whites. Donald Bogle in his book Toms, Coons,
Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks offers a definition for Buck. He subdivides the black
brutal bucks into two categories with little difference between them: the black brutes and
the black bucks. He argues that DW Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation, portrayed black
males as the black brute who was a "barbaric black out to raise havoc" and "subhuman,
feral" and for audiences in the film they could assume that "his physical violence serves
as an outlet for a man who was sexually repressed." The black bucks are shown
"always big, baadddd niggers, oversexed and savage, violent and frenzied as they lust
for white flesh." (Bogle, 13-14). These images and other stereotypes held by the people
of the dominant culture make it difficult for black men to assert their manhood and so
many of these men use various stratagems to fight these negative images and cool
pose is one of those strategies.
Several factors impact cool pose and the lack of success in these areas are part
of the oppression that black men experience: education, unemployment, and poverty.
There are more but I mention these because on a college campus these are the ones
that will probably play out more and perhaps will be most evident. Most of us are all too

aware of the severe limitations that black boys face in our school system. They "are
suspended, expelled, pushed out, and take themselves out of school . . . Dropout rates
are high, failure is common, performance below grade level is pervasive, and alienation
is epidemic." (Majors and Billson, 13) Those who make it to college are all too aware of
these limitations and have masterfully avoided many of the traps that awaited them in
middle school and high school. I say traps because it appears that most of the black
males have been targeted by teachers and administrators as being problematic and
troublesome and therefore are tracked by the system. College is part of the educational
system that many African American boys are used to and familiar with. It is important for
those of us who work at the collegiate level to realize what our task is in order to reach
these young men. Many African American males have experienced the sting of rejection
in terms of their inability to get a job. The unemployment rate for black men is at least
twice that of white men and even worse is that a white male with a felony conviction
stands a better chance in landing a job than a black male with no felony conviction. The
poverty rate for African Americans is higher and the net worth of the black family is less
than one tenth that of a white family. (Wise, 37)
Majors and Billson note that some men have a more pronounced outward
self control, while others may posture themselves as having more power and
toughness. In cool pose the black male is much more aware of what to say and when to
say it. He learns how to adapt to the environment and he takes cues from this
environment on what to do in order to reduce stress. Majors and Billson write that "Cool
pose furnishes the black male with a sense of control, inner strength, balance, stability,
confidence, and security. It also reflects these qualities. Cool helps him deal with the

closed doors and negative images of himself that he must confront on a daily basis."
(Majors and Billson, 9)
There are some positive and negative aspects of cool pose. This persona helps
the African American male to cope with the many problems that he is faced with on a
daily basis in a world where he has very limited control and his actions are deemed
suspect by many. This world very often denies him the status of being a real man not
only by the way society portrays black men even as the black man tries to live up to the
standards of what society says a man is supposed to do, namely to provide for his
family and to contribute to society. On the positive side cool pose helps with "dignity,
respect, self control, self-esteem, and social competence. It helps protect the AfricanAmerican male's self-image and enables him to cope with assaults on his manhood."
On the negative side it strains many personal relationships as the Black man hides his
true feelings from himself and from those around him who would help him.
This paper will now expound on the positive aspects of this persona. Majors and
Billson describe three positive aspects of cool pose: Being cool as a form of social
competence, pride and the search for meaning, cool as protection. Cool pose enables a
Black man to deal with his environment on his terms. The world is seen as cold, harsh
and cruel. Social competence requires that a man negotiate this world. One writer,
Washington, argues that a "black man must accurately read his place in the social
structure. He must be able to clearly see where he stands. And he must also
understand which behaviors are appropriate to his place." (Majors and Billson, 38) They
add that he "must be able to figure out which behaviors are going to place him at risk,
even though he may choose to engage in them in order to break out of his place and

achieve higher levels of social competence." (Majors and Billson, 38) Cool pose also
enables the black man to have pride and give his life meaning. Pride is the driving force
behind cool pose. Black men move toward pride; it is very important and many black
men will risk anything for pride. Cool pose also serves to protect the black man from
white authority (dominant society) and I would add from other blacks. In this instance
the black man does not let on how he really feels. He masks his feelings and his
intentions from those in authority as a way of keeping them off guard. I also submit that
cool pose helps the black man to mask his intentions and true feelings from other black
men. A black man does not let anyone inside to know what he is really thinking. He does
not want to appear to be weak or even easily figured out.
These authors also note the negative side of cool. They describe several of
them: Confounding of therapy and other social services; distorted and damaged
relationships; increase in suicide; the denigration of education; and the desire to be
tough at all costs and the promotion of gang activity. Cool pose inhibits therapy and
other programs aimed at helping the individual because African Americans men are very
reluctant to let anyone know what they are thinking or to share their true feelings. Many
black men refuse to open up to professionals who seek to help them. For those in
higher education this translates to African American men refusing help in their academic
programs and in adjustments that these men have to make on college campuses. Cool
pose also inhibits relationships in that it leads to a distortion of relationships. An
individual masks his true feelings even from those close to him, who want to really help
him. This leads to pent up emotions and frustrations which can explode and have tragic
consequences. The authors describe three relationship that cool pose makes

problematic: black male and white male; black males and black females; black males
and black males. Black men become very used to putting up their guards in the
presence of whites so much so that it becomes second nature. The conditioning
however, prevents healthy relationship building with white men. Black men view white
men with suspicion and will never let their guard down or even let the white man know
how they really feel at any and all costs.
Cool pose also complicates relationships with black women. This tactic may
prevent black men from having "authentic relationships with women. (Majors and
Billson, 43) The behavior in cool pose inhibits or prevents a person from revealing who
they are and their deepest desires. So while black men have "control" of their
environment it shuts them off from others and does not let them know who they really
are and promotes an unemotional attachment to those who are closest to them. This is
complicated by the fact that some women may be attracted to the cool pose persona.
When a relationship occurs the man does not express his true feelings, he will remain
aloof and he is hard to figure out much less to understand.
The relationship with other black men is also complicated because the cool pose
becomes part of an individual personality. A man expresses toughness, coolness,
strength and discipline. Individuals who do not display such are not respected and are
considered weak. He also often fronts for others and he gives off an air of confidence.
He dare not show his vulnerability. When a person does not act cool he is ostracized,
criticized, made fun of, degraded and one is labeled as "corny, lame, or square" (Majors
and Billson, 48)

The black male also wants to be cool in order to be accepted by his peers and so
black adolescents are pressured to conform to particular behavior patterns. When he
does not conform he risks being socially isolated which may lead to a sense of loss of
self-esteem which may lead to suicide.
For someone who is gainfully employed such a tactic might make one untenable
for promotion or at least not well understood and therefore a black male might be
perceived as one who would be least likely to succeed in various positions on the work
force. Furthermore, black men who engage in cool pose as a strategy to mask their real
feelings and intentions rarely give people the opportunity to understand who they really
are. People are left to their own imaginations and ideas with regard to the actions and
intentions of black men. Given some of the stereotypes previously mentioned this can
be very dangerous. In short people categorize black men into various stereotypes that
people have been exposed to because these people feel that they have little choice. So
the black male may feel comfortable about the persona that he lives because it makes
his world more manageable. However, such a world limits his prospects for a more
fulfilling life and does nothing to help him to move beyond this persona.
In higher education, the cool pose persona can enable the black male some
measure of control over his environment. Black men like many students face a huge
transition as they move from home to campus life. Cool pose can enable the black male
a proven way to handle this transition which does not differ from the way that the black
male has handled changes in the past. However, cool pose can inhibit the black male
from making adjustments or changes in how he has handled problems in the past. Cool
pose can also mask some real anxiety experienced by the black male. This persona

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may seem to others as uncaring. Sometimes, when offered assistance the black male
may say that he is okay. He feels that he can handle his business and therefore he
does not need help. Those who would seek to help need to understand what is going on
in the lives of black men who adopt cool pose persona and continue to offer assistance.
Those who would help should offer assistance, however, in ways that do not impinge on
the perception of manhood of the black men.
A critique I would like to offer on the definition given by Majors and Billson is that
it seems the authors make statements about black men that I would like to challenge.
They write that black men use cool pose because they are fragile, have little inner
strength and no real personal power. I would argue that although some black men may
be limited in the way that these authors describe, many black men have quite a few
inner resources upon which they can draw. The real problem is that many black men
are afraid and therefore rely on the cool pose persona in their many interactions. Fear is
the real problem. Many, unfortunately, have bought into the stereotypes about
themselves and this is what many would call internalization or Amos Wilson calls in his
work Black-on-Black Violence, introjection. (Wilson, 65) The constant assault on black
men's image renders our understanding of African American men incomplete and
distorted. For example, authors say that cool pose is a front that counters the low
sense of inner . . . However, I believe that many black men as a matter of survival
exhibit quite a bit of self control, have a lot of inner strength, are quite stable, have much
pride, have a bolstered confidence and show quite a bit of social poise in the face of
some very harsh realities. The problem with the cool pose persona is that it obfuscates
these strengths for something that works in the short run but cool pose cannot be a way

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that a person manages his life in the long run. One must also consider that perhaps a
person uses the cool pose persona in a very conscious way in situations that is really
fraught with all kinds of danger.
I would like to suggest steps you can take or a program you can develop that will
help you to be more effective in interacting with African American males. I realize that
this is a rather large endeavor and fraught with problems mainly because of our own
preconceived ideas about African American males. Before I proceed, let me tell you a
personal story with regard to my own ideas about African American men. Granted as
you can tell, if you have not noticed already I am a black man (I hope that does not
surprise you). I grew up in Boston, Mass and more particularly I was born in Roxbury
my family also lived in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan (for those of you who
are familiar with Boston know that parts of these areas are heavily populated with black
and brown people and poor people). Although my father was a college professor he and
my mother divorced and so I was essentially raised by my mother who had a host of
family members and friends that assisted her. Both of my parents were from Durham,
NC and my mother would "ship" me and my brother to visit my grandmother and
grandfather every summer to Durham. (Note: the part of town they lived in . . . ) I am so
glad she did. I have a lot of southern ways, mannerisms, expectations and values
instilled in me by my mother, grandmother, grandfather, uncles, aunts, cousins and
others. Where I grew up in Boston I saw the good and the bad. We played basketball,
listened to music, played in the park, played street hockey, stick ball, ba, hide and seek,
built go carts, repaired bicycles from old bicycles, biked everywhere, shot pool at the
local pool hall, bowled, skated; we did a lot of things and had some fun. There was the

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other side -- I witnessed drug use/abuse, heard domestic violence, observed people
getting pockets picked, purses snatched; I witnessed police officers taking bribes and a
host of other things that I am not going to name. But I had been exposed to the best of
black folk. Not only because I had the opportunity to visit my dad in his office when he
taught at Northeastern University and other colleges but many of his friends were also
professionals, they were doctors lawyers, bankers, etc. My mother was a supervising
nurse so I was around professional people. I attended Morehouse College and was
exposed to everything from the Black Muslims to Dick Gregory to Eartha Kitt. In the mid
'80's I had gotten a job in San Diego and I was an engineer for General Dynamics.
During this time I was also a member of the NSBE and they had a conference in this
very city. One of speakers at one of the programs was encouraging blacks to help one
another more. He believed that if we networked more we could get further ahead. He
also mentioned that we needed to trust each other and admitted that he himself like
many others were suspicious of other black men especially when we are in groups.
WOW!! That resonated with me. I felt the same way. I had been exposed to the best
(and the worst) of black folk and yet I still harbored negative and deep rooted suspicions
of those who looked like me. Those of you who work with African American males must
begin to purge your thought process in regard to black men. You will have to see them
as real people who have the potential to grow and who can be responsible.
The following steps have more to do with attitude and readjustment in thinking
than in anything else. What I am recommending is that you rethink and challenge some
of your basic premises. Some of these aspects only surface when you are actually
confronted with a body, or otherwise or when you have to make a decision about them.

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In other words your real attitude/thinking about African American males may only come
to the surface under pressure either when you have to make a decision or when an
African American male is in front of you. Often times under these conditions it is almost
impossible for us to realize how "negative" or "unproductive" the attitude/thought
because it is not something that we reflect on regularly. All of us like to think of
ourselves as positive and helpful. We believe that we want the best for our students and
therefore assume that on a cognitive level our actions are guided by those desires.
However, most of us have received subliminal messages about African American men
that are negative and often go unchallenged in a constructive way. Therefore, it is
incumbent upon us to rethink at the deepest level possible what we really think about
black men.
The first step I would like to suggest is that you understand that these students
are here to stay for the most part. They are not going anywhere even when they
graduate it is very likely that there will be others (although the numbers in some areas
may seem to be dwindling) and you need to develop a way to handle them. These men
are not going to instantly dematerialize into some unknown galaxy. Chances are at
some point you are going to encounter them either physically or even on paper. In other
words you cannot wish them away. Therefore it is incumbent that you develop a strategy
in dealing with African American men and this strategy should work toward their
betterment.
The next step is to believe that they can succeed. You must realize that they
have potential to be of service to the community. With this belief you have to realize that
what they succeed at is largely up to them but we all play a role. Their success may be

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out of the realm of what we think that black men can. In other words their success may
be out of our purview. Few of us in this room ten years ago could have predicted that a
black man would be president of the US. Few of us knew what was really going on in
this nation that would move it to vote for a black man to be the head of one of the most
powerful democracies in the world. We were riding high on an economic boom; our
corporations were intact; our place in the world was assured. . . but things changed.
Due to the unpredictability in life many of us do not really know what is in store for the
person in front of us. We can say with some certainty what might be in store for a
person given his or her background but we cannot be certain. That is the key to a life
that can have a profound impact. We need to stand committed to the success of our
students--that means we have to believe that every student whether black, brown or
white can make a valuable contribution to the community within which that person
resides.
Your programming at the deepest level must be committed to the success of all
of your students regardless of their background. You must put your best forward and
you must empower them to work toward their own betterment/liberation.

Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of
Blacks in American Films. 4th ed. New York: Continuum, 2001.
Majors, Richard and Janet Mancini Billson. Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black
Manhood in America. New York: Touchstone, 1992.
Wilson, Amos. Black-on-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation
in Service of White Dominion. New York: Afrikan World Infosystems, 1990.

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