Riché Richardson

Associate professor of African American literature

Riché Richardson is a professor of African American literature and an expert in black feminism and gender studies at Cornell University. She has taught courses centered on Beyoncé.

Richardson says:

“Beyoncé herself is a national and global icon, and I think there’s deep meaning and significance in their appearing together and for Beyoncé to perform in Houston. Beyoncé’s artistry placed her at the forefront of activism in the 2010s when it came to critiquing injustices such as racial profiling and violence in policing, and so take this as a signpost of their solidarity in this sense as well.

“Beyoncé has recurrently produced projects with the message that the US should live up to its founding ideals as a democratic and inclusive nation with freedom and justice for all. Her status as a national symbol is writ large in her Cowboy Carter project, which underscores the role of Black artists in creating the genre of country music and also speaks to issues of national belonging for other ethnic populations, along with all women, within this nation as a national family.

“It is wonderful to hear the song ‘Freedom’ highlighted by Kamala Harris’s campaign to emphasize the importance and meaning of the concept.  Beyoncé herself has emerged as a premier emblem and icon of national femininity in the U.S. by challenging its conventional national narratives that center whiteness, a phenomenon that I point out has been facilitated by her status as a native Texan. Her iconicity in this sense has only become more and more pronounced over the past decade and a half.”