Thick: And Other Essays

“Your hair thick, your nose thick, your lips thick, all of you just thick.” 

In “Thick,” McMillan Cottom begins with a personal anecdote that takes place at a bar after a period of personal loss. She quotes a man approaching her at the bar to comment on her appearance and uses it as an entry point into a larger discussion about thick description as a method in academic research. This quote exemplifies her method of beginning with a personal experience described in rich detail which is used to explore a larger socio-cultural issue.

“We weren’t killing the personal essay so much as were killing those who used the personal essay to become a problem.” 

McMillan Cottom identifies herself as someone who is willing to “become a problem,” or, to challenge Whiteness and how it decides whose voices are valuable and worthy of listening to. McMillan Cottom suggests that criticisms of the personal essay as a genre are a way of minimizing Black women’s authority, as its one of the few genres where women and people of color are considered authorities. When used in a nuanced way, the personal essay is actually a vehicle for larger structural criticisms.

“In a modern society, who is allowed to speak with authority is a political act.” 

The perception of authority and how it is denied to Black women is a core concern that runs through McMillan Cottom’s essays. Authority is controlled by Whiteness, which defines who is considered an expert.