Black Women Shattering Stereotypes

This book intertwines analysis of film and television programs made by, for, and about Black women and interviews with over one hundred Black women to discuss how they are fighting back against the racist and sexist stereotypes of Black women purported by mainstream media.

GOLD MEDALIST OF FOREWORD REVIEWS' 2015 INDIEFAB AWARDS IN WOMEN'S STUDIES What's wrong with black women? Not a damned thing! The Sisters Are Alright exposes anti–black-woman propaganda and shows how real black women are pushing back against distorted cartoon versions of themselves. When African women arrived on American shores, the three-headed hydra—servile Mammy, angry Sapphire, and lascivious Jezebel—followed close behind. In the '60s, the Matriarch, the willfully unmarried baby machine leeching off the state, joined them. These stereotypes persist to this day through newspaper headlines, Sunday sermons, social media memes, cable punditry, government policies, and hit song lyrics. Emancipation may have happened more than 150 years ago, but America still won't let a sister be free from this coven of caricatures. Tamara Winfrey Harris delves into marriage, motherhood, health, sexuality, beauty, and more, taking sharp aim at pervasive stereotypes about black women. She counters warped prejudices with the straight-up truth about being a black woman in America. “We have facets like diamonds,” she writes. “The trouble is the people who refuse to see us sparkling.”

A powerful and positive dialog written to educate motivate and inspire men of color to live extraordinary lives

'Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood' investigates the stereotyping of Black womanhood and the larger sociological impact on Black women's self-perceptions. It details the historical and contemporary use of stereotypes against Black women and how Black women work to challenge and dispel false perceptions, and highlights the role of racist ideas in the reproduction and promotion of stereotypes of Black femaleness in media, literature, artificial intelligence and the perceptions of the general public. Contributors in this collection identify the racists and sexist ideologies behind the misperceptions of Black womanhood and illuminate twenty-first-century stereotypical treatment of Black women such as Michelle Obama and Serena Williams, and explore topics such as comedic expressions of Black motherhood, representations of Black women in television dramas and literature, and identity reclamation and self-determination. The five sections of the book provide a brief historical overall of the long-standing use of stereotypes used against Black women; explore the systematic attack on Black motherhood and how Black mothers use self-determination to thrive; investigate treatments of Black womanhood in media, television and literature; examine the political impact of stereotyped frameworks used for deconstructing Black female public figures; and discuss self-affirmation and identity reclamation among Africana women. 'Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood' establishes the criteria with which to examine the role of stereotypes in the lives of Black females and, more specifically, its impact on their social and psychological well-being.

In 1920 W.E.B. Du Bois cited the damnation of women as linked to the devaluation of motherhood. This dilemma, he argues, had a crushing blow on Black women as they were forced into slavery. Black womanhood, portrayed as hypersexual by nature, became an enduring stereotype which did not coincide with the dignity of mother and wife. This portrayal continues to reinforce negative stereotypes of Black women in the media today. This book highlights how Black women have been negatively portrayed in the media, focusing on the export nature of media and its ability to convey notions of Blackness to the public. It argues that media such as rap music videos, television dramas, reality television shows, and newscasts create and affect expectations of Black women. Exploring the role that racism, misogyny and media play in the representation of Black womanhood, it provides a foundation for challenging contemporary media's portrayal of Black women.

Excerpt from Myths, Stereotypes and Realities of African-American Women: A Personal Reflection In 1851, exactly 140 years ago at a woman's rights conference during the Women's Suffrage movement, a freed african-american slave woman named Sojourner Truth, at a woman's rights conference asked the disturbing question, Ain't I a woman? She was the lone african-american woman, the only voice for women like herself at the meeting. She was not one of the invited speakers; she came forth on her own volition. Her assertion called for the recognition of dignity, respect and equal justice for all women. But Sojourner's assertion also revealed the contradictory, unequal status and treatment among White women, African American women, and african-american men. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.