Throughout this semester, we have learned a lot about the black experience, black Christ, and the struggles African Americans have faced throughout history and in today’s society. During the semester I wonder why black women were not talked about very much. I questioned why these authors did not think they were very important to be discussed. Like black men, black women also struggled, perhaps had more of a struggle than black men did. So why was there a failure to acknowledge black women? Women in general have never been treated the same as men. I especially feel that black women have a disadvantage in the world today. As Douglas would say, being black and also being a woman, you are in “double jeopardy.” But then “black women began to recognize that it was not just within secular organization and within the Black community in general that they were discriminated against. It was also in the Black church.” So now black women are facing “triple jeopardy.” An example of the Black church not recognizing women is that they do not allow Black women to be ordained. To me, I feel that the church should be the most understand of the struggle women have faced over the years. The church should be the place where everyone comes together for the good of everyone. Unfortunately since racism still exists in our communities today, churches should accept anyone and everyone. No one should be left out just because of their gender. Along with the exception of women’s full ordination, the issue that has caused the most drama in the Black church is that of sexuality. Douglas most talks about the rising epidemic of AIDS in the Black community. But to me, there is more to sexuality than AIDS. Heterosexual Black women are still deemed sexually devia... ... middle of paper ... ...t. The more celebrities, not just in the United States, but all around the world that deny their racial heritage in the way they alter their appearance, the more desperate young women will keep using the often untested and damaging skin-lightening creams sold in beauty shops. In conclusion, the truth is that though things are slowly changing for the better, skin still matters and, on the whole, the world believes it is better not to be dark. We have come so far in American history to get where we are today, but it is still not enough. Until the day where blacks and whites, men and women, have equal rights in every aspect of society, we will be a nation divided. Something has to give. Someone needs to stand up and let young girls know that they are beautiful no matter what their skin color is. I pray that there is day when equal rights is what society strives for.
Malcolm X stated that the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected person in America is the black woman. Black women have long suffered from racism in American history and also from sexism in the broader aspect of American society and even within the black community; black women are victims of intersection between anti-blackness and misogyny sometimes denoted to as "misogynoir". Often when the civil rights movement is being retold, the black woman is forgotten or reduced to a lesser role within the movement and represented as absent in the struggle, McGuire 's At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power does not make this same mistake.
Throughout history, women’s roles have increased slowly. Not until the second Great Awakening did black women begin to gain roles in Christianity and in society. Between the 19th and 20th century black women used multiple methods to gain authority. Some women preached and gave speeches while other women used nonverbal approaches like writing articles. During this time period everyone wasn’t welcoming to the idea of a woman being consider a leader of any major movement. Black women didn’t always have authority in religious settings, but as time progress women became influenced by Christianity which ultimately pushed them to become leaders even though they knew everyone wouldn’t accept them.
Montgomery, William. Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1993. Print.
The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.
Maffly-Kipp, L. (2001). The Church in the Southern Black Community: Introduction. The Church in the Southern Black Community: Introduction. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/intro.html
It’s not as apparent as it was in the twentieth century, but it’s still surfaced. For example, in the journal The Persistent Problem of Colorism: Skin Tone, Status, and Inequality by Margaret Hunter, she really analyzed what colorism means in difference ethnicities. With Africans Americans Hunter says “lighter-skinned people of color enjoy substantial privileges that are still unattainable to their darker-skinned brothers and sisters. In fact, light-skinned people earn more money, complete more years of schooling, live in better neighborhoods, and marry higher-status people than darker-skinned people of the same race or ethnicity (Hunter 237). Hunter goes on to explain more in depth about how colorism works and what it is as well as the stereotypes that go with it. For example many people think that colorism is only a ‘black or Latino problem’ when it all started with whites and people with similar color (Hunter 238). As an African American myself and being a part of the “darker skinned” category I have always had struggles since I was a young age. I have always noticed other girls were like me, but of a lighter tone, but it’s never changed the way I think about them or was never really apparent when I was young. Things started to change when was in middle and high school. I noticed a difference in the way males looked at African American women of darker tone. There was already an issue with
Women have always been viewed based on what is on the outside instead of what is on the inside. They were never handed anything but had to fight for what they believed to have. Sadly, though it’s been a struggle for women and for black women especially who want equality and a chance to do as they please. Criticized based on body parts and the color of their skin. Just as a resource stated, “ What did it mean for a black woman to be an artist in our grandmother’s time? It is a question with an answer cruel enough to stop the blood...the agony of the women who might have been poets, novelists, essayists and short story writers, who died with their real gifts stifled within them” ( Walker 2). Why is that? There is need to question society. The unfairness is out of control and the unexpected should be the expected. With the book Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston it breaks the chain of black women not credited for their extraordinary work. The Black Feminist Art shouldn’t be stopped in order to inspire young black girls to become more than what their hearts desire. Zora Neale Hurston did it, through the character Janie Mae Crawford and of reality intertwined. By writing a book not expected to be written by a black woman with a dialogue and concept so well crafted, it proves that women should be happy in any shape or
Being an African American male I have no clue of what women had to go through in order to be treated fairly, like how women had to fight harder than the men did because when black people were given the right to vote it did not include women. Today as a young black man and being raised by a single black mother I see the struggle that she goes through each everyday for the color of her skin and the fact that she is a women.
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.
Have you ever been discriminated against simply because your skin is darker than the next person? Have you ever been told by someone that “your pretty for a dark skin girl or boy?” Have you ever been racist toward your own race? Since long before we or our parents were born, the black community has faced this problem with racism within the same race. In the black community, it is said that if a person have a lighter skin complexion, than they are superior to those with a darker skin complexion. Racism within the black community is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
Throughout history, the black woman has always had a multitude of responsibilities thrust upon her shoulders. This was never truer than for southern black women in the period between 1865 and 1885. In this span of twenty years, these women were responsible for their children, their husbands, supporting their families, their fight for freedom as black citizens and as women, their sexual freedom, and various other issues that impacted their lives. All of these aspects of the black woman’s life defined who she was. Each of her experiences and battles shaped the life that she lived, and the way she was perceived by the outside world.
Black people view race as divided particularly hold a negative view of the nation’s racial climate. Many feel that we are unfairly treated as opposed to those of other cultures. Some feel inferior to white people as we were taught that during slavery. Sadly, racial disparity is particularly
The things we do in these generations are nothing compared to what women did for beauty back in the day. For example, to remove unwanted hair from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries, women used quicklime...aka that stuff that gangs use to dissolve bodies! It's hard to believe, but being pale has been all the rage throughout history - until this century. And women did everything they could to make their skin a lovely white shade, the things they did too make...
Women have been marginalized since the very beginning of Christianity. They were viewed as a “second Eve” (92) who did not deserve the same attention as men. Women were treated as second class citizens. They were willfully ignored by members of the Christianity and
“Today I appeal to the whole Church community to be willing to foster feminine participation in every way in its internal life. This is certainly not a new commitment, since it is inspired by the example of Christ himself….nevertheless, he also involved women in the cause of his kingdom; indeed he wanted them to be the first witnesses and heralds of his resurrection. In fact, there are many women who have distinguished themselves in the Church’s history by their holiness and hardworking ingenuity.”