Aunt Hagar

noun

Etymology

Possibly a reference to Hagar in the Bible, who, with her son Ishmael, was cast out by Sarah and Abraham (Ishmael's father), and became, among some Black communities, the symbolic mother of all Black people, and of Black womanhood.

Meaning & use

  1. people
    2003–Used to mean a Black woman or to represent all Black people. See also Aunt Hagar's children.
    Show quotationsHide quotations
    2003
    Aunt Hagar: a mythical apical figure of the core Black American nation".
    V. Bogdanov All Music Guide to Hip-Hop 31/1
    2009
    Aunt Hagar becomes intertwined with notions of biblical Hagar, which results in a mixed heritage for notions of Hagar as a Black woman.
    Whitby Ontario this Week Nexis 2 December 1
    2016
    Langston Hughes's "Aunt Hagar" and E. Franklin Frazier's essay on "Hagar and Her Children" reflect secular appropriations of the Afro-Christian tradition's use of the experience of Hagar.
    Spectator Nexis 11 June
    2017
    Aunt Hagar: the African American people.
    ‘Wiley’ Eskiboy xxvii. 75 in ‘Flow Dan’
    2023
    It matters not, however, how straight we get our hair and bleach our skin, we cannot get rid of "Aunt Hagar" just around the corner.
    Guardian 24 November (G2 section) 9/2 headline