Humor humanized a black poet more than his poetry did

Evidence

In these words, it is easy to sense the responsibility in belonging to Egypt, a duty that the poet takes very seriously. His poetry, then, was an important instrument in his participation in a vibrant literary movement, as a master of Arabic in its written and spoken forms. It is striking, though, that his memory, described by Hafiz Ibrahïm and al-Bishrï to the historian Amr al- Aqad, evokes the same doubling of exclusion and inclusion that he himself lived.While none ignore the sensitivity of his racial identity, his greatest gift to Egyptian society, they stated, was his humor and the jokes he was famous for playing on others and on himself. It was this humor that ultimately humanized him in the eyes of many of his contemporaries, even more than his gift for poetry. But for the historian Umad Ahmad Hiläl, who was look- ing for the actual voices of slaves and their immediate descendants in the late nineteenth century, Imäm al-Abd signified a great sadness and social loneliness, a man whose eloquence was, for others, belied by the color of his skin. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 817

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 817
• XREF: connects to: Appropriating black suffering as metaphor signals privilege rather than oppression — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 419

Broader Connections

• Appropriating black suffering as metaphor signals privilege rather than oppression #complicates (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 419