It is understood that blacks have been oppressed for centuries. Audre Lorde argues that within the black community women are also discriminated against despite the homogenous frontage that the black community wishes to portray. For these women and for many others, there is a lifelong struggle against those who judge them as inferior. Audre Lorde also argues in “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”, that it is crucial not only to recognize difference ... ... middle of paper ... ... instead of accepting the difference. Black lesbian women destroy themselves by keeping their sexuality hidden so they won’t be seen as different.
The adversities that black women encounter in this country are caused by the societal ideals of femininity. In American culture, though a woman can be as independent and successful as she desires, she must still conform to certain womanly ideals such as submissiveness, sexual secrecy, repressed passion, and maternity. Any deviation from these ideals leads to conflict and scrutiny. In the film, "And Still I Rise," the commentators discuss the difference between black woman and woman of other races. It is their inversion of such qualities that make them unique and interesting but also causes struggle.
The poem Still I Rise by African American poet, Maya Angelou. She is a 20th century poet, who uses her voice to broadcast the oppression and hardship that African American women face. Maya Angelou spoke for those who don’t have the ability to or courage as well as using life struggles and accomplishments to uplift and give power back to the African American population especially towards women. The poem consist of many different tones of voice, varying from playful, defiant, and bitter, this help Maya Angelou beautify showing the strength and the endurance of the black women. Despite, the ever presence barriers that are set in place by the oppressors ( colonial powers, rich-poor gap etc.)
By situating part of her novel in Africa, Walker creates an all black space where she can decouple racial and patriarchal oppression. In doing so, she brings to light how a history of oppression toward women within black communities has limited the freedom and agency that black women are able to attain. More than this, Walker’s novel serves to recast black women’s role not only within black communities in America, but also within black communities in the diaspora. Through The Color Purple, Walker is responding to movements aimed at improving the lives of black people that ignore the patriarchal systems of oppression that put down black women. By developing a complementary story line set in African, Walker is able to show that solving racial oppression alone in American will not ameliorate conditions for black woman.
This topic is significant because one will be informed of the progress of African American women and how they have overcome those barriers set not only by the world, but by the Black community itself. Barriers, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2014, can be defined as a law, rule, or problem that makes something difficult. Using this term in this sense means that there were rules and laws set into effect to make it difficult for African American women to achieve anything other than those roles assigned to them. It is also important because it shows how African American women who had children still worked within the labor force, although people had negatives sayings about what it would lead to. This means that people had negative notions that if black women began working within the labor force this will ruin the black community.
In order to contextualize the issue of intra-group violence against Black women, it is important to understand the role that intersectionality plays on these women. There are many factors that can make a person who they are. These factors can include race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc. Nevertheless, a person cannot di... ... middle of paper ... ...cott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed.
She expresses her concern for the oppression of Black women in the media due to the constant overlap between prostitution and Black women. In order to make a more appealing case, Clark was forced to distinguish herself from the ‘common’ black prostitute, which ironically placed her in a position to intentionally or unintentionally further perpetuate the common stereotypical assumptions mainstream society has on Black women. Austin expands on this point by calling on black women to form a ‘sisterhood’ that seeks to unify both deviant and non-deviant African American women. She asserts that Black women need to better understand the difference between deviance and difference within their lives in order to create a more united class of African American females. Interestingly, she ends on the notion that she expects change from within by stating, “only we can deliver ourselves into freedom”, in order to articulate the urgency of a collective transformation.
Black women undergo behavioral changes and emotional ups and downs in the face of bias. They feel stress trying to compromise their true selves. “Shifting” gives an insight of what it is like to jeopardize one’s true self in order to survive in society. 2. Black women have to live coping with the myth that Black women are somehow inferior to other
The use of such techniques demonstrates that the standards of white America affect the instances in which black women are identified by society as well as the instances in which they identify themselves. This further showcases black women’s struggle of identity that is perpetuated by the paradigms of modern America. Therefore, “by studying the lives of black women” Harris-Perry showcases the difficulty of a black woman to shake off stereotypes and find her
Alice Walker experiences this and understands the need to express the struggle of the black woman to the world. She, along with other black female writers, coins the term womanism to explain the idea of prevailing over this struggle. By having Celie overcome the oppression she faces, Alice Walker illustrates the theme of womanism in her novel The Color Purple. Womanism is the black woman’s version of feminism.