Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar drama series on the Oprah Winfrey Network captures Black family dynamics in the story of the Louisiana Bordelon family fighting to keep their inherited land. Land—the lack of it, the struggle to afford it and hold on to it—is an uphill battle for many Black farmers today.
Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) is the business mind of the family. She is a mother, a manager for her NBA player husband, and an overbearing, controlling sister who believes she has all the answers. Nova (Rutina Wesley) is a journalist and activist. While she pulls no punches, she is the peacemaker of the family. Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), who was formerly incarcerated, is struggling to find himself while raising his young son, Blue (Ethan Hutchison), as a single parent with the help of matriarch Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford). With her wisdom, love, and I’ve-died-and-gone-to-heaven cooking, she represents so many grandmothers who hold Black families together.
These women are not loudmouth, promiscuous, or asexual stereotypes. These are shows in which I am affirmed, in which Black women, Black people—Blackness—are affirmed.