Defining The Future For African Americans

As stated above, African-American women have been subjected to measure themselves against white women. White women are viewed, in this society and since the beginning of the concept of race, as the epitome of beauty. Logically, African-American women attempt to emulate the white standard. This creates an inferiority complex, because the epitome of beauty is white woman, than any other race can be deemed as inferior; this deteriorates African-American women’s self-worth. To remedy worthlessness, many body modification techniques have been made to fully mimic white women in terms of beauty. This emulation still is being done and it is continuous, because of the psychological ‘white fantasization .

The author of “The Black Beauty Myth” Sirena Riley has encountered multiple experiences concerning body image throughout her life. At a young age, she started to feel the pressure to have a perfect body. The struggle of making herself perfect ultimately lead to eating disorders. In her journey from a young age to her college years she has learned better ways to deal with negative body image through therapy. She states “I was in three body image and eating disorder groups with other young women on my campus. I was always the only black woman” (Riley 2002, 229).This quote supports her belief that black women have body image problems but are not open to seeking help or expressing it. Sirena points out three factors that influence body image in the lives of women.

I might not be a person like Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B Du Bois, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Bell Hooks, and Jesse Jackson, or I might not be a part of organizations like the NAACP, SCLC, Afro American Unity, and Black Panther Party, but if I ever get an opportunity to make a difference these people and organizations made to the lives of African-Americans, I would never hesitate to take it. Although, these people adhered to the different ideologies, they all are unique, as they all had a significant role in fighting against the struggles of African-Americans in one way or the other. It’s true that, these people were able to achieve the equal

Americans live in a media-saturated world, where images constantly flow from the pages of magazines, television, and computer screens. Media creates a brand of beauty by helping the viewer identify the item with the beautiful people that are selling it. They are selling a “brand” of beauty. Hundreds of years ago, a brand was sometimes burned into the skin of some slaves. The damage of the brand was not only horrible physical scars, but also emotional trauma. When society begins accepting the media’s brand as their standard for their own physical identity, or when ethnic groups are defined by these brands, the results can be just as devastating.

African Americans have endured many trials and tribulations over the centuries. Our people have suffered from war, violence, and anguish simply because of the color of our skin. Our history has been so blatantly missing from textbooks and the K-12th grade educational atmosphere. Our educational system continues to neglect the history of our African American ancestors and fail to provide them with the educational resources to inform them of our past and allow them to learn about the true origins of our culture. We have made many significant contributions to the world but those have also been highly ignored as well.

The documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, allows one to experience African American history through key historical sites, and interviews with living eyewitnesses such as those who fought during the well-known civil-rights movement. The documentary sheds light on the experience of African Americans, both in the past and today. The information presented in class further aids in detailing how African American history shaped the African American community in regards to support systems, crises, but most importantly, how these individuals used resiliency to overcome their trials and tribulations towards a fights for rights, freedom, and respect. During the six episodes, one will see that the road and battle to freedom for blacks in America was not linear, but rather complex and difficult- it was much like the course of a river, full of loops and turns, sometimes slow, and sometimes reversing the current of advancement. Although enslavement led to the creation of the African American people, it manifested into the multiplicity of cultural institution, beliefs, and religion and social institutions that the African American people have established- along with their strength and resiliency. From slavery, lynching’s, and the many marches and protests led by phenomenal black leaders, to the gained freedoms and the first black president in the White House, the documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, details an engaging journey through African-American history from a perspective that thoroughly reflects the lives of African-Americans and the community in its

How did the economic situation for blacks change in the late twentieth century compared to the mid twentieth century?

As of 2010, thirteen and a half percent (13 ½%) of all African-Americans comprise the U.S. population. Look back one hundred to two hundred (100-200) years ago, the African-American population has gone through strife. The real question is still pending, is it much easier for African-American during the pre-Civil Rights Movement Era that now? My opinion is that it is better. The reason why I coined my opinion is to show that there have been stops in racial caste, media creating propaganda, and blacks advancing in parts of the world. By producing these parts, I will introduce the idea that the African-American life has evolved for the better.

Men, Women, and Children died for the right to be free. From countless wars, such as; The revolutionary war, and the War of 1812, to name a few all fought for the concept of freedom. This unalienable natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was the cause for numerous worldly conflicts. Eons later and a nation known as the United States is met rebuilding their country after the conclusion of a Civil War. This time in history in commonly known as the Reconstruction Era. And in the center of this reconstruction are African Americans. Having fought a war to obtain their “Freedom”, African Americans now faced a time of racism, social injustice, and instituted laws that upheld white supremacy after the Civil War. In the following dissertation, I will explain the impact the reconstruction era and life post-civil war had on African Americans as they tried to rebuild their lives crippled by slavery.

Over the years, the African American race has greatly evolved from having a lack of individual freedom to having their own sense of individuality. There have been many different events in America that has played some part in the evolution of the black race. After the Civil War, most of the races in America were seen to have separate freedom, but as the years progress African Americans were one of the many to stand up and obtain their individuality. In the process of obtaining individual freedom, there were many events that played important roles in this particular process. The African American race was seen to evolve during slavery, Civil Rights, and modern day. Each of these significant times, African Americans’ went from the struggle to becoming successful in the end.

They found that black women overall prefer a more voluptuous and robust body shape; the women seem to correlate this with wealth, stature and fitness across cultures (Ofuso, Lafreniere, Senn, 1998). Another study that looked at how women view their bodies supports these findings. This study shows how perceptions of body image vary between African American and Caucasian women. African American women tended to be happier with themselves and have a higher self esteem. The women were all college women from two small community colleges in Connecticut; this is very important that their surroundings are essentially the same (Molloy, Herzberger, 1998). Although these studies reveal that African American and Black women across the world have different cultural constraints and body image ideals than other ethnic groups, other studies urge researchers not to forget that Black women are not unsusceptible to eating disorders and low self esteem. One literature review cautions that the dominant culture of a society may impose its views on individuals and cause a deterioration or change in values and perceptions (Williamson, 1998). Interestingly, Black women with high self-esteem and more positive body images also possess more masculine traits than other women studied.

The Afrocentric Perspective acknowledges the beginning creation of blacks in America. It is a way of thinking about people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. It is used as a tool to define the strengths and problems faced by African Americans and other groups. Afrocentric Perspective identifies African Americans search for freedom, justice, and equality. This perspective emphasizes to the group of people that are promoting the different laws or labels towards the African American class as a lower class ranking. For example, while researching the two study issues the statics were only focusing on African American culture. The two study issues were how binge drinking may play a role in health issues and academic failure, which are stigmatizing the African American class as lower than others. It places value on the strengths, resilience, and uniqueness of different population groups and offers service responses that respect cultural integrity of these groups. It also points out the different survival patterns of African American so that people from other cultures can get a clearer understanding of the circumstances that are affecting the way they live or work. This perspective looks to educate people, evoke a spiritual awakening in people, and elicit political power and activism in people as a means to enhance all lives (Wiley,1991).

This transcript discusses the Clark Doll Experiment, a study conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie in 1939 to test children’s self-perception related to race. This transcript talks about how the test was done on mainly African-American children, using two dolls, a black and white one. It then briefly talks about the short film A Girl like Me, and its director and creator Kiri David. Along with that, the article explains how this experiment helped persuade the Supreme Court during the Brown V. Board of Education case in 1954 to desegregate schools. By providing proof of the psychological damage that was being done to black children attending segregated schools. Going back to the discussion about Kiri Davis’ film, it talks about how she used the same experiment, and got close to the same results as Clark did when he conducted it. This article continues talking about Kiri Davis, and an interview that was done with her mother explaining

First, African Americans are rarely seen in the modeling industry. This creates a mental picture in the public mind that lighter pigmented women are more beautiful; thus creating social segregation amongst people based on ethnicity. African American models have difficulty getting signed to companies because of their ethnicity. To prove, Chanel Iman, a Victoria’s Secret Angel, admits that it is difficult for her to find modeling opportunities because she gets rejected many times. They often tell her “we already found one black girl. We don’t need you anymore” (2013). This demonstrates how society norms are reinforced through the modeling industry because it tells the public what certain people are able to achieve in life based on their ethnicity.

This is prominent in the African American community; it is often taught at a young age that if you are of darker complexion or have a curlier hair texture you are not as pretty as the lighter complexioned girl that you might know. It is assumed that the media is to blame for this way of thinking. Youth and teens are self conscious enough without these negative “airbrushed” and unrealistic images put forth in the media.