The Black And Female Community

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.

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia Hill Collins. (New York: Routledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128.28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26.21, 0-415-92484-7.)

Despite the women in this group that struggle and overcome adversity in a word that’s meant to suffocate them, there are a few black women who fail to realize there magic. Some of my sisters fall short due to negative public perceptions with professionalism which causes them to shy away from investing in their future. These few outsiders who didn’t get the unwritten code/norm of what a black woman must represent allows the degradation of our group to continue.

This article discusses political realities that have researched scholarship, and action consequences in the field of Black studies. This includes the academy, a changing political economy, Black studies ideology, and Black studies for a new century, and it interconnectedness to the other issue, centering gender and interrogating the theory and practice of Black women’s studies.

In the monograph, Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism, the author describes the complexity of black womanhood from a black women’s perspectives. This book shows the impact of sexism on the lives of black women, discussing the persistent racism of the women’s movement. Even with the many present issues, “scholars in this field are in a unique position because of their ability to explore the intersection of race, sex, and class as experienced by black women in ways that are impossible for other segments of the population” (Sheftall

I have always thought about myself as just a person. After taking this course, I think of myself as a white person. To me, being colorblind and attempting to look at everyone as just a person, were ways I avoided being racist. This course, taught by Dr. Bianca Williams, has enabled me to change my views on racism and race to a move correct outlook. I now understand that it is my duty to be able to acknowledge my race and other identities and the privileges that come with being a white, middle class, heterosexual person. I used to think that interpersonal racism was the main problem in the United States, but after this course realize that institutional racism is the problem. This course, coupled with readings from Devon W. Carbado on his piece titled “Privilege”, Beverly Daniel Tatum’s article titled “Talking about Race, Learning about Racism”, Brittney Cooper’s article on “The Politics of Black Women’s Hair” and Audre Lorde’s article called “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”, I have shifted my views on race and racism to a more constructive and correct outlook.

Being a black woman, in a “white man’s” world, is a very hard thing to encounter; especially growing up in the south where racism is still clearly evident. Georgiana, Al, the small town I grew up in, a white man owns everything. The only exception is the night club that is open only Thursday thru Saturday, but even that business is on the way of being shut down just because it is a popular business owned by a black man. Growing up I have seen first-hand racism, discrimination, and stereotyping against towards the black community.

Part of the contextual role of community is the enforcement of models of conformity. There are roles for black women and transgressing these roles can result in isolation. These community expectations represent a threat to the empowerment of black women. Sula powerfully identifies the negative impact of conformity on black women in her final conversation with Nel:

I am a member of the African-American community. My mother and my father have taught me to embrace my culture and most importantly to embrace the color of my skin because that is apart of me and that is who I am. I have recently realized that embracing myself as a Black female consists of educating myself about my people in the Black community. In the past, Black people have faced Black anti-voting laws, slavery, and segregation through Jim Crow Laws. Unfortunately, these principles still exist in modern day society disguised as mass incarceration due to the War on Drugs. As an African American, I have witnessed the mass incarceration of African-Americans in my community. This never ending cycle leads to systematic criminalization within the

As has been described, research at on the Levi Jordan Plantation has focused on the African American resident community, and has revealed considerable information about the specialized crafts that were practiced by members of this community. Evidence indicates that the use of these crafts went beyond daily subsistence needs to include ritual use, and demonstrates multi-dimensional patterns of artifact use in their community: functional, social, and religious aspects are evident. It has been proposed that one of these crafts was the manufacture of munitions. As first argued by Brown and Cooper 1990 (4), one of the cabins excavated appeared to contain a high quantity of lead and other related artifacts that indicated the

Who is the African - American women ? What value does she hold in the Black community? Is she a simple submissive puppet that has no voice? Is she simply an object used to do work and make babies? Or is she physically, mentally, and emotionally weaker than her opposite sex, which means she can never be called an equal? In society, we are faced with different forms of designations and descriptions that lead to the establishment of a person 's identity. These identities would entail gender inequality, race, ethnicity, economic background, and religion. Identities are used to oppress individuals making it nearly impossible to overcome the obstacles that are insinuated with these traits. Overcoming any of these identities is an epic feat and

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” In reality, this forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism, most notably during the Suffrage movement. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions: who’s experiences are valued, how do black women take their voice back, and how can they center feminist thinking on their own unique standpoint?

As African-American women address social issues that are important to their life experiences, such as class and race, instead to acknowledge “common oppression” of gender inequality, they are often criticized by “white bourgeois feminists” (hooks, 2000). Their ability to gain any form of equality within society is tarnished by such groups as they develop a “fear of encountering racism” from simply joining this movement (hooks, 2000). As white men, black men, and white women oppress them, their issues are often ignored due to reoccurring stereotypes and myths that claim black women are strong, independent, and “superhuman” (hooks, 2000). It becomes extremely difficult to seek liberation and equity within a “racist, sexist, and classist” society, as their gender and race causes them to be at the “bottom of the occupational ladder” and “social status” (hooks, 2000, pg. 16). As black women are perceived to demonstrate strength and dynamic qualities as white women perpetrate the image of being

Black feminist thought has gained popularity in recent years and remains a noteworthy matter in view of the fact that in the United States black women form an oppressed group. Inequality entails a complex situation, in which oppression cannot be identified as one type, for example, race, gender, class or sexual preference. In this particular situation, we will acknowledge the challenges from the standpoint of black feminists. Patricia Hill Collins educates us through the four tenets of black epistemology, in addition to the contradictions against the scientific methods of social science; positivistic knowledge. Beyond the characteristics of epistemology, there are several key implications for black feminist thought.

Black Feminism argues that sexism, class oppression and racism are linked together. Mainstream feminism that more than often benefits white women, strives to overcome class and gender oppression, however they do not recognise that race can discriminate against women also. Activist, Alice Walker states that black women experience a different kind of oppression when compared to their white counterparts. Professor of Sociology and social activist, Patricia Hill Collins summarises that Black feminism is ‘a process of self-conscious struggle that empowers women and men to actualise a humanist vision of community.’ Her quote welcomes individuals of any gender, whom understands black women’s struggle to fight with them. [Collins, 1991:39]