Black Women In Patricia Hill Collins 'Uses Of Anger'

Malcom X said, “The most disrespected woman in America is the black woman. The most un-protected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” Throughout history black women have continuously been exploited, objectified, stigmatized, and oppressed by society. Black women are perceived as aggressive, hypersexual, angry, dangerous, and animalistic each of these negative stereotypes stem from the adverse conditions black women suffered during slavery. In “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” by Patricia Hill Collins, she argues that controlling images such as mammies, matriarchs, jezebels, and the welfare queen which are all stereotypes generated by White Americans, produce and reinforce

One controlling image that was reinforced was the qualities associated with being a sapphire. The sapphire is defined by being unhappy, hostile, angry, and aggressive. The characteristics that make up sapphire is where the phrase “angry black woman” coined from and why this stereotype of black woman persists today. In “The Uses of Anger” by Audre Lorde, she addresses how women of color respond to racism with anger. According to Audre Lorde (1981), “Anger is the response to the racist attitudes, to the actions and presumptions that arise out of those attitudes” (pp. 278). In a scene of “Seven Seconds”, the prosecutor and the defense attorney, a white woman, attend dinner to get to know each other better for a case. The defense attorney tries to find commonality with the prosecutor by stating that they’re both accomplished women in a male dominated field. Furthermore, throughout the conversation the defense attorney makes an assumption and says, “You can take the girl out of Jersey City but not the JC out of the girl” implying that the prosecutor was from Jersey City which is portrayed as being “the hood”. With that, the prosecutor corrects her and states that she is from Brookhaven which is a wealthy and predominately white area. The prosecutor then becomes angry, expresses her anger, and storms out of the restaurant because of how the defense attorney made an assumption about her background due to the color of her