A Research On African American Girls

What does it mean to you to be a black girl? If you aren’t one, what do you see when you visualize a black girl? If your imagination limits you to just an afro-centric featured, loud and slang-loving, uneducated woman, then this piece is addressed to you. The persistence of the stereotypes concerning average black girls have chained us all to the earlier listed attributes. One side effect of this dangerous connection is the wide opening for a new form of discrimination it creates. Whether it is depicted through slave owners allocating the preferable duties to lighter-skinned black woman, or in modern times where a dislike in rap music categorizes you as not really black, segregation within black communities occur. Tracing all the way back to elementary school, my education on the subject of racial segregation has been constricted to just the injustices routed by dissimilarities between racial groups. What failed to be discussed was the intragroup discrimination occurring in the black society from both outside observers and inside members. Unfortunately, our differences in the level of education, in physical appearance, and in our social factors such as our behaviour, personality or what we believe in have been pitted against each other to deny the variety of unique identities that we as black individuals carry.

Chapter#2 discusses the meaning of intersectionality. It also discusses ways to apply intersectional analysis to research on racism. This chapter also informs its readers on how to design a research on perceived racism.

By 1815, slavery within America was already institutionalised affecting the majority of African Americans; by 1860, there were 3.5 to 4.4 million enslaved African Americans as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade in comparison to the 488,000–500,000 free African Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed all enslaved African Americans; nonetheless, African Americans were still considered inferior. Especially African American women who were treated significantly worse- sexually exploited, rejected by various southern suffragette groups as well as the National Woman Suffrage Association which opposed the 15th Amendment, enabling African American men to vote, fearing the setback it could cause women in obtaining the vote. Historian Deborah Gray White highlighted the status of being an African American woman stating that being "Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, female slaves had the least formal power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of antebellum America." From 1815 to 1917, the lives of white women improved economically, socially and politically. Nevertheless, the improvement of African American women could be questioned. Therefore, this essay will focus on how the lives of African American women from 1815 to 1917 were marked by continuity rather than a period of change and improvement.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Digest of Education Statistics (2010) compiles data on educational trends and statistics in the United States. According to the digest, in 2009 African Americans earned about 10 percent of all bachelor degrees awarded. Furthermore, about 20 percent of African Americans currently hold a college degree. When compared to the same rates for the white non-hispanic population, African Americans are largely lagging behind. The challenges that African Americans are facing must be met by post secondary institutions if this group is going to continue on the path of economic and career prosperity. This need is discussed in the report Minorities in Higher Education:

Black Woman Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study, that examines gender as a social and cultural construct, the social status and contributions of women, and the relationships between power and gender. Women are held to this standard of being the one to cook, clean, cater to her spouse and care for the children but it should be more than that. When women go above their expectations, they are accused as being wrong and are sometimes told to not pursue their dreams. Women should be held on the same scale as men in society, this method could prevent gender issues.

Hope, E., Skoog, A., & Jagers, R. (n.d.). It 'll Never Be the White Kids, It 'll Always Be Us: Black High School Students ' Evolving Critical Analysis of Racial Discrimination and Inequity in Schools. Journal of Adolescent Research, 30, 83-112. doi:10.1177/07435584I4550688

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune has paved the way for african-american adolescents, like myself, to live a life of greater quality. Being born of slaves, no one imagined that her values would manifest into a prestigious Historically Black College/University. From toiling in fields with her family, to becoming the president of an accredited college was a huge accomplishment for blacks at the time. Mary Bethune’s prosperity didn’t conclude with the commencement of her own distinguished university, but she became a national leader. The National Association of Colored Women became popularized for advocating the enhancement of colored women in society. In this organization, Bethune served as Florida chapter president from 1917 to 1925. Her duties included:

African American women never receive the true recognition they deserve; and as women we need to know who we are, and why we are important to this nation and to the world. African American women have several contributions to the United States. Their contributions are in fashion, entertainment, art, literature, economics, education, and so much more. Throughout the years these contributions have increased and are continuing to skyrocket as the days go by. Many African American women have made history due to their hard work, and dedication and most of the time it goes unnoticed due to their skin tone and their sexuality. Black women also face several negative stereotypes. They are often seen as angry, ignorant, hostile human beings. It often makes it harder for them to be taken seriously. There are several factors to the stereotypes and are often false, and give black women a bad outlook. Black women are our fighters against slavery, representation of women’s suffrage, the majorettes for the march on civil rights, and the hardworking women in both world wars.

Today, African American students are under-represented in college and universities, and the reason is the ongoing disenfranchisement of African American students. Our education system needs be more responsive and needs to pay more attention to the college preparation for these students. People of color historically have been misrepresented, exploited, silenced, and taken for granted in education research (Dillard, 2000; Stanfield, 1995), (H. Richard Milner IV, 2008).

African-American ladies played significant bolster parts amid the Colonial time frame by giving help to the volunteer army. Their help included parts, for example, moving into the "huge house" to bolster the slave owner’s significant other when he left to serve in the volunteer army, dealing with wounds, and working close by the men in building fortresses for security from both the Indians and the British.

As many women struggled to retain their values and traditions, there were existing male dominated conceptions of race and white dominated conceptions of gender. Kimberle Crenshaw describes the concept of intersectionality where race and gender interact in various ways to shape multiple dimensions experiences for different groups

Many black girls go thru social identity issues on a daily basis. Skin color has created division even within black people because fairer skin tones are highly praised in the Negro community. Discrimination is used everywhere against black girls with a deeper skin pigment per example, makeup brands neglect the commercialization of darker shades of foundation, hair products for women of color

An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate

The application of intersectionality allows for the study of other forms of subordinations such as gender and class (Crenshaw, 1991). Solórzano and Yosso (2002) argue that the intersection of race, gender, and class can provide answers to theoretical, conceptual, methodological and pedagogical educational research

Universities give women and minorities special consideration because, throughout history, women and racial minorities have been given the disadvantage of applying to and getting into colleges. The unequal consideration of women and minorities for spots going to or teaching at colleges have led to the creation of higher learning