Personal Narrative: Being A Black Woman

Currently, I am in the process of not only becoming comfortable in my identity, a black queer woman, but, also attempting to find solace in my identity as well. Something that all women, especially black queer women, should achieve in their lifetime. It is that dream that inspires me to travel to experience other cultures and to unite with women from various cultures across the black diaspora. Throughout many cultures, women’s identities are defined by their male counterparts and the labor they provide to them. Therefore, a major goal of mine is to create a space where women are able to exist outside the scope of their relationships with men and live uninhibitedly to become their best selves. That is why I find it pertinent to travel not only

As a young girl, I was very susceptible to the opinions of others. African American females oftentimes possess a negative stigma not only in the media, but worldwide. All of which made me grow up feeling inferior to others. Because of my race, I was automatically viewed as being uneducated and lazy. At the same time, being a female caused others to expect me to be passive.

Growing up as a young African American girl in Philadelphia was not always easy, however, having a strong family structure, old fashion southern culture, and beliefs have molded me into the strong women that I am today. Now that I am a mother, following my family’s culture and beliefs are not always the easiest thing to do. Times has changed and I feel like I am forced to conform to the everyday social norms of America, which makes me feel impuissance. Yes, growing up was not easy, but my family and youth kept me in the dark when it came to how society treats individuals of darker complexion, what to expect once I left the confines of my family and neighborhood, and how to befriend or interact with individuals of other racial groups. All of the things that I listed were things that I had to learn through trial and error, which makes life a little harder than it already is.

As stated in Webster's II Dictionary, a woman is defined to be an adult female human. In today's society being an African American woman is a rigid task to live up to. It means to reside to what their ancestors have left behind, which means to be stronger than ever. Rosa Parks was strong, Harriet Tubman was also strong, and Jezebel was even stronger. So what exactly does it mean to be a woman? It means to stand up for what is right, even if that means sacrifice, it means to be strong whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. African American women are perceived to be the backbone of the family, meaning that even though the male may support the family financially, that the women have the emotional and mental part in the bag.

All throughout time people have been “the other.” Pratt refers to the other as being “Someone who is perceived by the dominant culture as not belonging, as they have been

81% of Black adults reported that they have experienced at least one incident of day-to-day discrimination. And Adolescence is a stage in which to examine the impact of racial discrimination on the psychological part of African Americans (Racial Identity Matters). Which can cause a person to be scared expectably if someone has already confined in themselves of their race. "My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me. I would have preferred that Mommy were black. Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds" (McBride 103). It was easier to accept the black

Trying not to be a product of your environment is so detrimental in making it in life. There are so many people blame their upbringing for the trouble they get in. Just because your mom or dad was not the richest people, or honest, or even if they were in and out of jail, drunks, drug addicts or whatever. That does not mean you should follow in their footsteps. No matter what, us as children should always strive to be better than our parents. No matter the pigmentation of your skin there will always be stereotypes. When some people see an African American male with a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of Jordan’s on they might instantly think he is some type of thug or drug dealer. When some people see a single mother no matter African American or Caucasian with more than four kids some may think that they the kids might not have the same fathers. The crazy part is that the young African American male you see might be a doctor, a lawyer, or maybe the CEO of the company you want to work for, the single mother you see might be widowed, or anything. One goal in life should to be never to fall into the stereotype of your race, gender, or

Once a person begins to realize that they are portrayed differently than others, their entire mind set changes. Black citizens decades ago had to deal with day in and day out feeling like

Too black for the White kids, yet somehow too white for the Black kids, oh the perils of a cappuccino mixed race kid. But it’s true. My life since I was young, at least younger than my eighteen year old self, has been about which group do I most fit in with. Between the four school changes over the course of twelve years, all in white suburban towns I’ve molded myself into an array of characters.

Not only was I seen as lesser because I was black, but my darker than most skin left me vulnerable to the torment of others. Throughout high school, everywhere I would look; social media, television, magazines, and film, I would see dark-skin women being represented as lesser beings. In entertainment we were always the characters that were aggressive, high-tempered, “ghetto”, sassy, uneducated, ugly, and the list goes on whereas light-skin women were put on a pedestal. It made it seem that if you weren’t mixed, you were automatically not worth anyones time or effort. The representation of dark-skin women presents us in a permanently negative light and destroys the self esteem of thousands of young girls. When I was young, I always told by my classmates “you would be pretty if you weren’t so dark.” This was extremely detrimental to my self confidence as a young girl and led to the festering of insecurities I still haven’t completely recovered from today. As a society, we need to work towards presenting dark-skin and light-skin women in a more equal

Living in Chicago in the 21st century is not a necessarily easy thing. Everyday, I live with the fear that a loved one of mines could be taken away from me at any moment. Or the fact that my life could be taken away just from walking out of my front door. I dream of going to college and making something of myself. Often, other students tell me I can not achieve my dreams because I am an African American student. I pushed and struggle so hard to prove these students wrong. Because I am African American, many people view me as just a number. And that number is 33.1%; which is the college graduation rate for Black males. I would like to be one of the many people that will increase this percent. Recently, I was given the opportunity to take part

I would began to mask my insecurities as best as I could and forced myself to understand that I couldn’t change myself no matter what I did. “You’re pretty for a dark-skinned girl.” was a phrase I heard often growing up,but do to my low self-esteem and the eagerness for acceptance I took this offensive statement as a compliment.Recently I started to learn more and accept my African Heritage,traditions and ancestry which empowered me to take pride in my African and Caribbean Culture.I realized I shouldn’t abide by western ideologies of beauty and just love the richness of my melanated complexion and

Watching the documentary Out of Our Right Minds, Trauma, Depression and the Black Women which is about the struggles of being a black women in modern times. I found much of their struggles were not limited to black women but in some ways are struggles that all women experience. Numi Deodee explains “they don’t say you’re a strong Asian women or a strong white women…” but as a black woman there is added “pressure to hold it all together.” While I do not know what it is like to be a black women, I do know what it is like to be a woman and I think many of the ideas presented in this video are more representative of women in general rather than only one race.

I come from a middle class background. My mother is a criminal defense attorney and my father is a neurosurgeon. I was fortunate enough to have parents who always provided everything that my siblings and I ever wanted or needed. However, my parents definitely put limitations on what all they would buy my siblings and I. For example, when I turned 16 I wanted a new car that cost around 30k. But, my parent’s thought that the car was too nice and too expensive for a 16-year-old girl to have. As a result, my parent’s ended up buying me a much cheaper car that only cost around 20k. Although I was annoyed that I couldn’t get the car that I wanted, I realized that I was lucky to have a car at all. I also feel fortunate that with the help of scholarships and my parent’s I’m able to pay for my college education. So, although I don’t come from a rich background I’m fortunate and thankful to not come from a poor background either.

When I was eleven years old, I decided that I didn’t want to be black anymore. Not just in the physical sense, but in the psychological sense as well. I wanted my skin to be lighter. I hated being as brown as I was. My Google search history would’ve completely mortified my mother (i.e. Easy Ways to Lighten Dark Skin). I was completely immersed in a type of self-hatred so dangerous that I didn’t even realize it could be classified as such a thing. I didn’t want to be seen as the “typical” black girl with box braids and Kanye West on her Spotify playlist. I didn’t want to be deemed “ghetto” or unapproachable. I wanted to fit in amongst my predominately white peers as best as I could.