This essay is a literature review of the scholarly conversations surrounding Beyonce’s Lemonade. Specifically, I examine conversations discussing the limitations of Lemonade as a purely feminist text. However, I also include scholars who argue that Beyonce reclaims black female power and shows her audience what the black female experience has looked like across time and space. Both sides of the spectrum examine how Beyonce chooses to approach an uncomfortable topic in the historic and modern world: black female oppression. She addresses how racism and the history of slavery has affected her own life, even as a mega-star/hyper-capitalist. Lemonade may fall short in terms of generating change, but it starts an uncomfortable but important conversation about race across a huge audience.
