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African-American Women’s Plight within American Media

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“…stereotypical portrayals of African Americans persist. Quite visible are media images of black women, especially, that lack diversity and dimension. Characters and popular culture icons are often crafted on the negative racial stereotypes of Mammy—the asexual, happy, obese, dark-black mother figure; Jezebel—the shameless,  oversexual , schemer; and; Sapphire— the rude, loud, and overbearing emasculator (Balaji 2010, 2009;  Fischoff  et al. 1999). These stereotypical depictions are shown at such a rate that they are fed into contemporary American ideology that encircles  African American women in everyday life.  This stigma that is placed upon African American women then hinders if not them the ability to reach positions of power in our society

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“Ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those subordinate accept it as common sense and natural”( M.Black  lecture, August 30, 2021)

So how does this effect the African American woman? The dominant class uses their control of most media sources in order to normalize this view of black women in our society "Look at the image of angry black women on television. Politically you have Maxine Waters of California, liberal Democrat. She's always angry every time she gets on television. Cynthia McKinney, another angry black woman. And who are the black women you see on the local news at night in cities all over the country. They're usually angry about something. They've had a son who has been shot in a drive-by shooting. They are angry at Bush. So, you don't really have a profile of non-angry black women, of whom there are quite a few."("Transcript: Fox", 2008)

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Representation of African American Women in U.S Media

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Meanings behind the character representations

African American women are loud, aggressive, unpleasant, and are uninteresting unless acting in a brash manner.

African American women are to be feared for how they may react and are too volatile to hold positions of power.

The use of these stereotypical character tropes are being used to paint the African American women as incapable of having the wherewithal to drive a society.

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Efforts in Changing the Stigma Surrounding African American Women

“There is no one-way to embody black womanhood, however when damning language is used for comical purpose, the black woman is viewed as only a spectacle for amusement”.(Terry, 2018) As there are still many media sources portraying these negative images of African American women, recently there has been an increase in efforts to subvert this ideology.

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Positive representations of African American Women in Media

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Hegemony and discriminatory history of the U.S are the prime contributors to the stereotypical misrepresentation of African American women in our media today.  The falsification of identity doesn’t only paint this group in a negative light, but also draws a shadow on the positive contributions they have made In our society.  Media must continue its efforts to reeducate and break down the depictions of the loud, angry and unsavory African American woman so that all can witness their full potential.

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Adams-Bass, et al. “That’s Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth Interpret Media Images of Black Females.”  Women, Gender, and Families of Color , vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 79–80.  Crossref , doi:10.5406/womgenfamcol.2.1.0079. Pilgrim, David. “The Sapphire Caricature - Anti-Black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University.”  Ferris State University , Ferris state university, Aug. 2008,  www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm . Terry, Brittany, “The Power of a Stereotype: American Depictions of The Black Woman In Film Media” (2018). Master’s Theses. 3709.  https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/3709/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ7r2OVu1ss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_xuN1VljQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePNJGL7nDU

African-American Women's Plight within American Media

 Adams-Bass, et al. “That’s Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth Interpret Media Images of Black Females.”  Women, Gender, and Families of Color , vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 79–80.  Crossref , doi:10.5406/womgenfamcol.2.1.0079. Pilgrim, David. “The Sapphire Caricature - Anti-Black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University.”  Ferris State University , Ferris state university, Aug. 2008,  www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm . Terry, Brittany, “The Power of a Stereotype: American Depictions of The Black Woman In Film Media” (2018). Master’s Theses. 3709.  https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/3709/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ7r2OVu1ss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_xuN1VljQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePNJGL7nDU

African-American Women's Plight within American Media

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