Black Women: Multidimensional, Potent, and Prospering

1225 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women's roles during the civil rights movement

The black woman does not just assume one role, she is multidimensional, possessing a whole host of aspects related to the wellness of her survival. Not only does she consider herself but also she includes others whether in her community, or her family. Her potential is potent, and vital to her intellect. Her progress is steadily moving upward, all while embracing the things in her past that made her change, and made her stronger. Lastly, her prosperity is flourishing, and her future is bright with success. I believe these three things embody a black woman, taking into consideration her struggle with oppression and the constant strive for freedom. Plenty of black woman fit this description to me, and it is vital to comprehend how their efforts …show more content…

Vocalization is vital in this aspect simply because our voice needs to be heard in a crowd of oppressors. The article “Anna J. Cooper: A Voice for Black Women” illustrates exactly what a content black woman can do. Anna Julia Cooper was an adversary, and colossal in her accomplishments for facilitating change. Cooper’s voice was heard during a time when the women’s rights movement was at an all-time high. She was born in Raleigh, North Carolina just like I was, allowing me to really relate, and comprehend her story a little more. Copper dedicated her time to the importance of improving the status of black women all while improving the black race’s place in society. She believed that the voice of black women was more important than anything and I couldn’t agree more. Narrating the experiences of the black woman isn’t as ponderous as mastering the voice to speak up for yourself. Finding your own voice is a journey that is difficult, but very rewarding in the end. It is no other feeling like being aware, content, and knowledgeable about issues that you feel are important. There is also an abundant need to address that black man and attack the negative views he retains about the black woman. Cooper makes this point very clear in her career, and criticizes the way black men encourage black women in their endeavors whether it be educational, occupational, or personal. It makes me question a lot honestly about how much ignorance can surround the black man. Even though we claim them as our own, and as a part of us, it is still unbelievable to think that they really don’t understand us like we think they do, or how we think they should at least. The black man has fell short of my expectations if I had to compare them what Anna Cooper says we should be expecting. This is heart wrenching, and of course expresses the need to in the future, attempt and succeed at explaining the complexity of the black

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Kimberly Springer's Skin Deep Spirit Strong: The Black Female Body In American Culture

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Kimberly Springer’s anthology, Skin Deep, Spirit Strong: The Black Female Body in American Culture, she has different articles in the book that are written by a variety of women. The articles in the book break down and discuss areas of history and time-periods that shaped the representation and current understanding of the black female body. Many ideals of how society preserves the black female body to be is based on historical context that the authors in Springers book further explain. The two articles that I am going to focus on are Gender, Race and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of “Hottentot” Women in Europe 1815-17 and Mastering the Female Pelvis: Race and the Tools of Reproduction.

    Read More

  • Antebellum Case Study

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    The black women’s interaction with her oppressive environment during Revolutionary period or the antebellum America was the only way of her survival. Playing her role, and being part of her community that is not always pleasant takes a lot of courage, and optimism for better tomorrow. The autonomy of a slave women still existed even if most of her natural rights were taken. As opposed to her counterparts

    Read More

  • Patricia Hill Collins '' Intersectionality Is Not Neutral'

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    As both Tracey Reynolds and Audre Lorde have emphasized, Black women are not perpetually passive victims, but active agents. It is totally possible for Black women to seize a form of empowerment, whether that be alternative education, or the creation of organizations that weren’t situated in either the Civil Rights movement or Women’s

    Read More

  • Analysis Of What Has Happened Here? By Elsa Barkley Brown

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mcguire's At The Dark End Of The Street

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Lifting as We Climb

    3002 Words  | 7 Pages

    ... the strength black women have mentally as well as physically. Their involvement in various Women's Groups has also helped to create a better image for black women. Throughout their lives, they have shown that whatever obstacles a good black woman may face, you can never keep her down!

    Read More

  • Ann Petry’s The Street

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    In our society of today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women. Women, black women in particular, are placed into a society that marginalizes and controls many of the aspects of a black woman’s life. As a result, many black women do not see a source of opportunity, a way to escape the drudgery of their everyday existence. For example, if we were to ask black mother’s if they would change their situation if it became possible for them to do so, many would change, but others would say that it is not possible; This answer would be the result of living in a society that has conditioned black women to accept their lots in lives instead of fighting against the system of white and male dominated supremacy. In Ann Petry’s The Street, we are given a view of a black mother who is struggling to escape what the street symbolizes. In the end though, she becomes captive to the very thing she wishes to escape. Petry presents black motherhood, marriage and the black family as things that are marginalized according to the society in which they take place.

    Read More

  • Leith Mullings' On Our Own Terms: Race, Class, And Gender In The Lives Of African American Women

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Voice From The South

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her book, A Voice from the South, Anna J. Cooper expressly addresses two issues: the participation of women in American society and America’s race problem. These are two issues very close to Cooper as an African American woman herself and she claims to speak for all African American women on these points. She argues that for America to be a truly democratic country that has freedoms for all people, it must have participation by women and blacks.

    Read More

  • Anna Julia Cooper

    2460 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Only the BLACK WOMAN can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Black Women in Media: A Discussion

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Black Public Relations Society hosted a general body meeting titled, “Black Women in the Media” in the Tuttleman Learning Center. The meeting was conducted by two of the black female students one of which was the president. Going into the meeting, I felt eager to get talking about the negative stereotypes on women. Now that I look back, I didn’t even think about the black women of the LGBTQIA+ community and how they are portrayed in the media.

    Read More

  • Malcom X's The Ballot of the Bullet

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Myths of Black Motherhood and Their Consequences

    1732 Words  | 4 Pages

    Keeping with the legacy of American history, the African American family is a topic of controversy and concern. While other aspects of the family are studied, it could be argued that the area of African American motherhood receives the most attention. Unequivocally, African American mothers are depicted as matriarchs, crack-mothers, and welfare queens. In addition, Black mothers are often portrayed as lazy, irresponsible, destructive, and even worthless. These stereotypical images of African American mothers are important because they have powerful implications for African American moms, and for their families at large.

    Read More

  • How the Civil Rights Movement Influenced the Women's Liberation Movement

    1779 Words  | 4 Pages

    Similarly important was the role black women on an individual level played in offering a model for white women to follow. Because black men had a harder time finding employment, black women had a history of working ou...

    Read More

  • Black Women Stereotypes

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    The media portrayed African American as “the angry black women”. “And who are the black women you see on the local news at night in the cities all over the country. They are usually mad about something” (Melissa v. Harris Perry 87). The media has stereotyped black women as loud, argumentative, irrationally angry and verbally abusive. These women are only standing up for their equal rights and in result they are classified as angry, because they make themselves heard or stand up for what is right. We are seen as angry because they think their actions are good and we should be fine with it. African American women weren’t having it and the media would say what they wanted good or bad. Employment for African American women was skewed because they were women and they were said to not be as strong as men. Women weren’t allowed to get an education because “it wasn’t needed or women are supposed to stay at home and cook and clean”. Black women didn’t receive the right health care they needed because of their skin tone and most of them died in result of them becoming too ill. Women fought profusely for equal rights in politics. “Black women are the leaders behind some of the most prominent racial justice movements of our time” (Black Women in

    Read More

More about Black Women: Multidimensional, Potent, and Prospering

Open Document