African American women and leadership are two terms that are rarely found juxtaposed in American history. For centuries, the United States has been governed and controlled by white males. From the days of slavery, to current day, white American males have head many offices, presided over entire nations, and even asked whether or not a customer wanted fries with their meals. White males have been running all aspects of society since the day Columbus sailed the ocean blue. The foundation of America is based off of the leadership of white males. Not until the 2009 presidential victory of Barack Obama has any African American held such a prominent position of power. The election of Barack Obama served as a turning point in the leadership roles of black men. Although African American males have begun to emerge from the suppressions of history, current leadership potential of black women go unnoticed due to social constraints. Throughout history, social constraints have dominated the success of African Americans, specifically women. During the slave era, African Americans were treated as personal property; they had no rights, and were treated as animals().Blacks were humiliated by their owners who regarded them as personal possessions. Slave owners beat, mutilated, whipped, and killed their slaves. Due to their sexualities, women were often raped and reduced to hedonistic objects. The respect that individuals have for women can be observed through the derogatory depiction of African Americans women at this time. Leadership is defined as the ability to guide, direct, or influence the people, a quality that comes second to respect in terms of leadership. Before a woman is deemed worthy of leadership roles, she must first be respected. ... ... middle of paper ... ...y Bound: The Impact Of Gender And Race On The Politics Of Black Women." Political Psychology 19.1 (1998): 169-184. Print. Bell, Ella Louise. "Myths, Stereotypes, and Realities of Black Women: A Personal Reflection." The Journal of applied behavioral science 40.2 (2004): 146-59. ProQuest. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Togel, Ginka. "Disappointing Statistics, Positive Outlook." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. . Mayes-Buckley, L. (2011). The effect of racism and sexism experienced by black women in america: Understanding the relationship between self-determination and resiliancy. (Order No. 3487004, Capella University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 179. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/911991748?accountid=15070. (911991748).
Throughout the 19th and 20th century there were many African American civil rights leaders who have pushed our nation to where we are today. These leaders have been pastors, professors, and slaves such as Martin Luther King, W.E.B Dubois, Malcom X and many more. Although there are many important leaders in our nation, we have lacked the roles of strong black women in leadership positions such as presidents, governors and even owners and CEOs. Not only were black women mostly in the background during majority of past events including the Civil Rights movement but, all women are constantly looked down upon as leaders in society today. Among the few black women whose voices were heard throughout history, two of them are Sojourner Truth and Maria
The oppression of women in society has been evident throughout the history of the United States. However, African American women have been second-class citizens to not only black and white males, but white women as well (64). Beginning with slavery, black women were objectified as objects, as Thomas Jefferson subjected enslaved blacks to the same “scientific” observation as animals and plants. Jefferson then stated that this observation led to the conclusion that white women were superior to black women because men of the African American community preferred white women. Although this stereotype may articulate black women as undesirable to all men, there was a common belief across the nation that black servants would lure and seduce white males from their wives (56).
As the United States developed and grew, upward mobility was central to the American dream. It was the unstated promise that no matter where you started, you had the chance to grow and proceed beyond your initial starting point. In the years following the Civil War, the promise began to fade. People of all races strived to gain the representation, acknowledgement and place in this society. To their great devastation, this hope quickly dwindled. Social rules were set out by the white folk, and nobody could rise above their social standing unless they were seen fit to be part of the white race. The social group to be impacted the most by this “social rule” was the African Americans. Black folk and those who were sympathetic to the idea of equal rights to blacks were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. (Burton, 1998) The turning point in North Carolina politics was the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. It was a very bold and outrageous statement from the white supremacists to the black folk. The Democratic white supremacists illegally seized power from the local government and destroyed the neighborhood by driving out the African Americans and turning it from a black-majority to a white-majority city. (Class Discussion 10/3/13) This event developed the idea that even though an African American could climb a ladder to becoming somebody in his or her city, he or she will never become completely autonomous in this nation. Charles W. Chesnutt discusses the issue of social mobility in his novel The Marrow of Tradition. Olivia Carteret, the wife of a white supremacist is also a half-sister to a Creole woman, Janet Miller. As the plot develops, we are able to see how the social standing of each woman impacts her everyday life, and how each woman is ...
During the twentieth century, people of color and women, suffered from various inequalities. W.E.B. Du Bois’ and Charlotte Perkins Gilman (formerly known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson), mention some of the concepts that illustrate the gender and racial divide during this time. In their books, The Soul of Black Folk and The Yellow Wallpaper, Du Bois’ and Gilman illustrate and explain issues of oppression, dismissal, and duality that are relevant to issues of race and gender.
Amadu, K. (2007). African Americans and U.S. Politics: The Gradual Progress of Black Women in Political Representation. New York: Prentice Hall Publishers.
In mainstream America, black women are often stereotypically portrayed as sex workers, welfare queens, blue-collar service workers, video vixens, and entertainers (Collins 2004). Within these stereotypical depictions, black women are viewed as loud, angry, ghetto, hypersexual, and sometimes violent (Chavous et al. 2004; Childs 2005; Collins 2004; Nguyen & Anthony 2014; Wilkins 2012). In contrast, positive stereotypes of black women showcase them as strong, independent, resilient, loyal to their families and romantic partners, and responsible for sustaining the African American family. These images promote constructive illustrations of black women, even though popularized images negatively portray black women (Chavous et al. 2004;
In the field of black studies we are exposed to a plethora of important figures that have made a significant impact in black history. These leaders fit, and can often be placed, into two categories: charismatic leaders and bridge leaders. Belinda Robnett, the woman who came up with the concept of bridge and charismatic leaders, defined charismatic leaders as “actors who occupy organizational offices which entail power and who also have personal power over subordinates”. Bridge leaders, on the other hand, are described as “actors within the organization who have personal but not official power over lower participants.” (Robnett, American Journal of Sociology pg. 64). In other words, a charismatic leader is someone who is a figurehead or spokesperson of a movement, while a bridge leader is the person with no official power but is instead the link between the people and the charismatic leader, often making the most impact in a movement but most commonly unrecognized. (Robnett, American Journal of Sociology pg. 64) This notion of charismatic and bridge leaders is clearly visible in many of the assigned readings, and plays a significant role in an authors’ concepts of radicalism. Radicalism simply cannot ascribe to one definition, it varies with each radical figure.
Smith, J, & Phelps, S (1992). Notable Black American Women, (1st Ed). Detroit, MI: Gale
Throughout history and in present day, there has been a large neglect of Black Women in both studies of gender and studies of race. Combating both sexism and racism simultaneously is what separates Black Women and our history and battles from both white women and black males-combined with what is discussed as a triple jeopardy- race, sex and socioeconomic status provides black women with a completely different and unique life experience when compared to, really, the rest of the world. Beverly Guy-Sheftall discusses the lack of black feminist in our history texts stating,“like most students who attended public schools and colleges during the 1950s and 1960s, I learned very little about the involvement of African American women in struggles for emancipation of blacks and women.” (Words of Fire, 23) I, too, can agree that throughout my education and without a Black Women’s Studies course at the University of Maryland I would have never been exposed to the many founding foremothers of black feminism. In this essay, I will discuss the activism, accomplishments and contributions of three of those founding foremothers-Maria Stewart, Anna Cooper, and Ida B. Wells.
Ghettos, low-riders, hip-hop, rap, drugs and crime, it has got to be a Black man right? Saggy pants, unintelligible language, lazy, and the lists continue to both stereotype and describe Blacks. Do Black Americans perpetuate their own discrimination? Are Black Americans creating their own low status in society? Black people around the world have been hypnotized into believing all their failures in life are due to discrimination, but are they correct? Blacks are often their own worst enemies, often the cause of their own disasters, and many don’t see that until it’s too late, if ever. Discrimination and prejudice are imposed upon Blacks, often because the culture they live in is not “acceptable” to the dominant society. On the other hand, an understandable reason for Blacks actions is often due to unattainable opportunities towards the American Dream.
Freedom was knowledge, education and family, but “The root of oppression decided as a “tangle of pathology” created by the absence of male authority among Black people” (Davis, 15). Therefore, they enjoyed “as much autonomy as they could seize, slave men and women manifested irrepressible talent in humanizing an environment designed to convert them into a herd of subhuman labor units” (Davis). Instead of being the head of the “household”, he and the women treated each other as an equal. This thought would soon become a historical turning point that initiated the fight for gender
Rooks, Noliwe. The Women Who Said, I AM. Vol. Sage: A Scholarly Journal On Black Women 1988.
Dickerson, Bette J. 1995. African American Single Mothers: Understanding their lives and Families. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks.
Brown stresses the importance of recognizing that being a woman is not extractable from the context in which one is a woman. She examines how both black and white women’s lives are shaped by race and gender, and how these affect life choices. Historically, women of color have filled roles previously attributed to white women
According to Crenshaw, even though the White House, through their signature gender-and-race targeted initiatives address racism, they still tend to undermine and ignore black girls. Okazawa-Rey and Kirk define racism as racial prejudice and discrimination that are supported by institutional power and authority, where there is an existence of the ideology of white superiority and is used to the advantages of white people and the disadvantages of people of color (Okazawa-Rey and Kirk G-5). This leads Crenshaw, to use the next theory, sexism, as a base to elaborate her article, thus naming it, ‘Black Girls Matter.’ Sexism can be defined as the “attitudes, actions, and institutional practices that subordinate individuals because of their gender” (Okazawa-Rey and Kirk