The Role Of African American Women In Today's Society

Through the years we have realized that the African American community has grown and developed. Our communities have come to live in harmony with one another. Although it took a long time for African Americans to get their say in society, they have come to show the world that they deserve their chance. We have learned that we need each other because it brings more color, music, and new ideas into our lives.

African-American women have often been an overlooked group with the larger context of American Society. Historically, oppression has been meted out to the African-American woman in two ways. Historically, everything afforded to African-American, from educational and employment opportunities to health care have been sub-par. As women they have been relegated even further in a patriarchal society that has always, invariably, held men in higher regard.

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.

What value will you add to the NCBW’s that will help promote the local and national organization’s mission? I am a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ with that being said I believe when a person is spiritually filled the rest will followed. I would like to empower our women and girls through the gospel teachings and basically living by example. I love to participate and encourage through community

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

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

lthough the enslaved women were married, their husbands could not protect them because of the control that the masters had over both spouses. Many times, due to rape and sexual intercourses between the slave and masters, both white and African American women had to keep their pregnancies hidden and they were not allowed to speak on who the father of the babies were. Often times black women would rebel against their masters because they felt it was morally wrong and often like "their ancestors and counterparts of Africa, most slave women took their motherhood seriously. They put this responsibilities before their own safety and freedom, provided for children not their own, and gave love even to those babies born from violence." (Hallam, 2004) . If a enslaved women, who had children, were to tell who the child's

Angelia Emily Grimké, a sister, a wife, a women’s right advocate, and a women who fought tirelessly against slavery. Grimké held her composure in hostile crowds, even as stones were casted out, and harsh words cut into the dust filled air. This strong independent woman fought for those who could not fight for themselves. She lived in a time when women were encouraged to keep their heads low and their opinions kept to themselves. Grimké worked along with her sister to fight for rights that at the time did not come easily. In today’s world, the thought of women and the African American race having little input in the government or day to day living is disturbing. Americans take great pride in having a voice and the ability they have to use that voice at any time of any day. Unfortunately these times were not always easy to come by. People like Angelia Grimké paved the way for those rights and the overall rights of equality. She accomplished this by expressing her opinion and beliefs to those who were not always willing to agree. Grimké and many like her fought the hard fight and did not give in when they were outnumbered. Grimké came from a slave owning family in the south; therefore, she saw firsthand the effects of slavery. Into Grimké’s adult life, she moved north and further developed her beliefs through her relationship with God and devotion to her Bible, as well as, historical documents like the Constitution. These developed beliefs seen in her published

United States’ southeast region can be described as unique when it comes to its economic system and its social structure due to the multiple political and constitutional problems these structures have created. The most important factor of these problems raised could be said that was the social structure, regarding the interaction between the different social groups of this southeastern community. From the conflicts that aroused between the different White European settlers, to the adjustment of the African Americans to labor, the southerner society, or community, was created. The commodification of the domestic work of African American women affected in great ways their performance in white households, as well as their portrayal in advertisements, where they were shown to be a need to white southerners during the 1920’s. Although these advertisements approached the public with the idea that domestic work was a necessity, the advances in society made of their work one that day-by-day became less needed.

The number of brutal attacks toward African Americans accelerated most during the first and second quarter of the twentieth century. Once organizations started tracking such crimes, the statistics were laid out in an ad titled, “The Shame Of America.” An astounding 3436 people were lynched from the year 1889 to 1922. Despite the ad being released to the public and organizations making vigorous efforts to stop lynching, the US congress never outlawed the act. How did America end up with 3,445 dead black people and 1,297 white people? These people were all of different races, religion, sex, etc. However, each of the victims shared one thing in common: they all contributed to the 4,742 deaths due to lynching in America.

I’ve always been involved in the black community to an extent. I’d voice my opinion on different topics that involve African Americans at a young age and participate in events and activities in my community. I’d like to continue participating and supporting these types of events throughout my life and also expose other young people as well.

With society changing who African American woman are on the outside has created internalized oppression on the inside. Nevertheless, causing African American woman to hate their selves and believing they are ugly, because they don’t possess the image in which society has set as norm. An American America women wants “ to be completely dedicated to their culture without considering other cultures values or beliefs;” “to be who they are and to be proud of it”; “to wear garments, living life, and having dread locks; to wear dreads and froes and be natural.” (Cokely, 2002) She has to wake up every day and be who society tells her is acceptable. Society therefore is sending out messages of false hope to the African American women in corporate America. Research has shown that African America that have endorse these stereotyped roles have lower self-esteem them women who resist the stigma.(cite) With society marginalization African American women it as a result keeps the white man in charge of who gets to work in what part of the company. Therefore, as I would say robbing them of their energy and creativity in corporate America.

African American women have been purposefully written out of visual history with the exception of scripted roles that have been predetermined by stereotypical scripts that are imbedded in the collective psyche of American audiences beginning in the 1890s. Dorothy Dandridge was a sensational performer that commanded attention and left her audiences awestruck on screen and in life. At the age of eleven, I recall sitting in front of the television for a special televised movie, called “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.” The film opens with a somber score and voiceover of Dorothy (Halle Berry) asking the audience, “Have you ever caught sight of yourself by accident… And, you see yourself from the outside… That’s who you really are… That question captured my wondering eleven-year-old mind and immediately pulled me into the world of a woman who was familiar to me. She was familiar in her storytelling and questioning even before an image broke the continuity of credits on flashing on the screen. My mother has always loved mirrors. In one room there would be at least two mirrors suspended on the walls. I have caught many glimpses of myself over the years, so I knew exactly what she meant in asking the question. It’s a question that continues to be answered by Hollywood of black women, but without their input or consent. The question is why?

African American women that deal with various stressors are more likely to have negative birth outcomes. The onset of depressive symptoms most likely to occur around 20 and 40 years of age in pregnant women (Molina and Kiely, 2011). Furthermore, intimate partner violence was associated with depressive symptoms. Additionally, substance use such as smoking and alcohol use was associated with depressive symptoms in pregnant women. Additionally, the loss of a child from stillbirth or miscarriage associated with loss contributed to depressive symptoms. Similarly, Kim et al. (2013) demonstrates patients with antenatal depression is common in African American women who are single which increases risk for birth outcomes (p. 480). The adverse effect

Social injustices against African American women in the workplace is a very important topic that needs to be expressed and taken seriously because even though society says women are equal today they are not. Black women were paid 63% of what non- Hispanic men were paid in 2016. Along with pay gap, African American women also face prejudicial discrimination. African American women encounter prejudicial racial attitudes and other noxious stimuli during everyday workplace interactions with Caucasians. In a study done in Arkansas, “77% of the nurses’ aides reported a high level of discriminatory language and behavior on the part of both management and patients” Compared to employed men, employed women are more likely to work in support positions