Black Women’s Identity in American Media and Culture

The author, claims and argues that Black American females are geniuses by presenting quantitative education and income data to substantiate this claim. 2 Kaba provides historical data that demonstrates that Black women have made many notable achievements in history, despite the difficulties that have been faced by the black population for almost 400 years. This author described “genius” as a person of extraordinary intellect and talent and extraordinary intellectual and creative power. Utilizing United States census data, the author points out that of the 14,000 Doctorate degree recipients in the USA aged 18-24, 11,000 were females and Black females accounted for 4,000 (28.6%) and 36.4% of the 11,000 females (Kaba, 2009). The author surmises that with all the statistical census data, educational records and achievements they

Samuels (2011) analyzes different television shows in an attempt to draw the conclusion of the portrayal and demeanor of African American women on television. Using current African American dominated shows that attract viewers such as “Love and Hip Hop”, “Real House Wives” and “The Bad Girls Club”, Samuels came to the conclusion that these shows use black women to justify the stereotype of the “angry black woman”. Although Donald Trump’s show “Celebrity Apprentice” is not an African American dominated show, Samuels uses it as an introductory and perfect example that black women are used on television as a whole to exemplify this stereotype when Star Jones and NeNe Leakes are shown arguing. Samuels analyzes simple things such as facial expression, movement and gestures on a variety of television shows that feature African American women using it as proof that it defines them as the angry black woman because Caucasian women do the complete opposite when being analyzed through the shows. When taking a look at VH1’s “Basketball Wives” and “Love and Hip Hop”, Samuels noticed that each show had a pattern and contained a confrontation between the women or the threat to do bodily harm to another person.

To begin discussing stereotypes of African American women, one must understand that the stereotypes white women in America face are much different. While, the stereotypes of women as a whole have been negative and perverse, the majority of these views have been reversed since the beginning of the 20th century. Societal norms of white women have transformed from the days of June Clever to a post-feminist era with equality on the rise. However, this revolution of norms has not occurred at the same rate for African American women. Analyzing the stereotypes of Jezabel, Mammy, and Sapphire the transparent myths of black women persist today.

AAF COO Connie Frazier says that it is important to fight for a balanced and unbiased depiction of black women and other women of color in the media and avoid stereotyping them. Recently, the “angry black woman” stigma wasn’t only described on black women on reality TV.In fact, it has creeped its way into a nickname for career-driven black women as well as black women with powerful voices in the media. The list of people includes former first lady Michelle Obama, ESPN host Jemele Hill, and TV producer/writer Shonda

Stereotypes are defined as an oversimplified image or idea about a specific type of person. It is believed that stereotypes about African Americans began in the United States around the 18th century. Anti-Black stereotypes arguably the most developed racist stereotypes in racial framing and have been used as foundations for the capture, enslavement, and later, the subjugation of African American people. Stating that stereotypes are just a joke is an understatement of the consequential after – math racial images and stereotypes have on the African American population. Even stereotypes that are considered positive are often concealed with negative implications and reasons as to why they exist. Most people may think they only hold stereotypes in the back of their head, but studies show that people are more likely to fall back on them in making judgments when they feel challenged, face uncertainty, or experience sensory overload. Using information from class, comparisons from the films we have watched and Ed Guerrero’s Framing Blackness, this paper will analyze the stereotypes in the television show Empire.

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options

Have you ever noticed the recurring stereotypes of black women that is portrayed on reality television? Everyday you can look on television and tune into any network and see the madness that goes on. Whether it be Love and Hip Hop, Bad Girls Club, or The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you  can see the exaggerated confrontations and animated expressions given off by these women. Media stereotypes of the angry black women have become more persuasive in recent years than ever before. If we as a whole stop these television networks from promoting dangerous stigmas on black women, we can increase the amount of positive representation of women of color drastically in television, advertising, and social media.

From the beginning of cinema, the media has shown black women as nothing more than objects, dehumanizing them all together. This representation has held a long-lasting impact on both young and old African American women everywhere. The theme of my paper is about the media and how it has a negative impact on black women. The topics that I will be covering includes the following: need to prove the media wrong and working two times as hard as everyone else; social Media, TV and Movies and the roles they play; self-hatred and anger due to the comparisons to other ethnicities and that we are low-class, unattractive, uncivilized, uneducated and have no opportunities to make something of themselves; embracing what Black/ African Studies teaches; influential people and positive acknowledgments; how black women are affected and discouraged due to lack of self-love and knowledge. These impacts can come from another ethnicity and even from the black women themselves because of their lack of knowledge of where they come from, their history and overall grandness. Knowing these facts alone and embracing all that Black Studies teaches can reverse the damage that has been done to black women everywhere from ages one to one hundred. They begin to believe what they see or what they see on about themselves when it is drilled into their heads that all of what is seen in the media is true. Due to lack of knowledge of

In many ways, black women are often stereotyped and misrepresented especially in media. The way black women are often perceived or categorized has been nonetheless consistent. However, their misrepresentation is often the opposite of what black women are or how black women live their life daily. At the same time the media has driven the imagery of black women to the point where everyone assumes that’s their true nature. In the article “Why Can’t Ads Get Black Women Right” by Saaret E. Yoseph she explains how black women are misrepresented in TV commercials (a form of the media).

When I first heard someone say, “All African American people are Ghetto,” I was very offended that someone would make this type of assumption about my culture, and I thought how ignorant this person must be; but then I stopped and wondered why other people would think this about us. I asked her why she would say something like this, and she instantly listed shows like Tosh.O and Chelsea Lately, which highlight my culture in a negative view. It was clear to me that she had made up her mind about black people through watching the media and seeing African Americans fulfill that stereotype in person. This led me to question: Where exactly do these stereotypes come from?

The United States is said to be suffering from an obesity epidemic, and studies show African American women suffer from higher rates of being overweight or obese than Caucasian women. African American women are pressured by their culture to be self-accepting of their bodies that God gave them, and in their culture beauty is not only measured by weight, but by other personal features. Many Black women believe that the ‘thin ideal’ is for White women because they describe being heavier as sexy and having curves. With Black women being self-accepting of their bodies, many perceive themselves weighing less than they do in reality compared to White women who typically visualize themselves heavier than they are. It is also shown that for African

In Patricia Hill Collins’ “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” she illustrates four main stereotypes that Black women face. The first controlling image applied to African American women is “The Mammy.” The mammy is the faithful, obedient servant to the white family and the stereotype attempts to hide the fact that black women who work for white families are being exploited. By loving and caring for her white “children” more than her own, the mammy symbolizes the dominant group’s perceptions of the ideal black female relationship to elite white male power. The smiling mammy signals her agreement with the situation, seemingly accepting her subordination (Collins, 71). Next is the image of the Black matriarch (Collins, 73). According to the stereotype, they spend too much time away from home, are overly aggressive and unfeminine, and allegedly emasculate their lovers and husbands. This stereotype attempts to control conduct by punishing black women for assertiveness and hides the oppression by making it seem that black women are naturally this way (Collins, 74-75).

In article 37, the author Marci points out an issue that women still face today. She discusses a new form of racism using media. She examines the progression of the “Jezebel” image. Popular media suggests that equality has been reached but in my opinion this is far from the truth. The problem remains at a deeper level that even some people might still not find a problem with the way that media portrays women of color. The issue is not just about an abundance of negative images that portray these women but the lack of positive ones as well.

Racism, plays a big part in the media. It is a hierarychial system that is organized to benefit white people because they are “superior” and anything other than that is seen as inferior. “black women are one of the most devalued female groups in american society and thus they have been the recipient of a male abuse and cruelty that has known no bounds or limits” (aint I am women bell hooks 108). Black women experience racism, but also go through other struggles people are not aware of. These struggles include things like: colorism and cultural appropriation.

African American culture has grown tremendously and has become more popular among all of the races. Not only has it become popular but it has also stirred up a lot of controversy. One aspect of African American culture that has become popular and is very controversial is Black women wearing their hair natural. Black women are really starting to embrace their natural hair and love the skin they are in but there are also a lot of people in society tearing them down. A lot of Black women and men have very curly natural hair and when the women do not feel like managing their hair they wear protective styles like braids or faux locks. Because of these styles, African Americans have been denied jobs and opportunities to prosper in society (Williams, 2015). It is offensive to tell Blacks how to wear their hair and that it is not acceptable. It is basically like telling her that she is unacceptable. There has been a great flow in the popularity of natural hair. In the early 1900’s since Black women were teased for their natural hair, straightened hair had become widely favored in the African-American community, but it lost its popularity to the Afro, which was seen as a symbol of black pride during the 1960s. Later on, Black women and even men returned to using chemical straightening treatments known as relaxers that loosened their naturally curly hair. Experts say that this method was often used as a means of meeting the white standard of beauty. The number of women using relaxers