She felt the first two groups were more honorable in comparison to the last two. The concept of socioeconomic status is very evident in her approach. McDougald points out that the “superficial critics who have had contact only with the lower grades of Negro women, claim that they are more immoral than the other groups of women.” Just because a woman doesn’t go to college and maintain a career does not mean she is corrupted or shameful. This shallow view of women is the same view that some White Americans had of Black Americans. McDougald was participating in the torment of her own race and she did it with selfish reasons.
I think it is because of two basic reasons; firstly, as Tatum points out, one can relate better with peers of their own race because they too understand the difficulties of being a minority. I think she really made a great point, how can we expect a white person to understand the racism towards African Americans. Ms. Tatum gave an example regarding a 9th grade substitute teacher suggesting four-year colleges to all her white students and suggesting that a black adolescent male in her class go to a community college. It would be almost silly for that African American boy to sympathize with one of the white peers, not only would it be hard to relate to each other, it would be downright embarrassing. I actually think that the white teenager wouldn’t be able to see why the colored boy was hurt, they would just brush it off and give an explanation like “oh the teacher didn’t mean it like that”.
Dating back to slave days, when the lighter skinned slaves (women) were used as house slaves and darker skinned slaves were sent to work outdoors. This mindset of dark skin being inferior made way for the brown paper bag test in the early 1900s. The brown paper bag test was a way of determining an individual’s acceptance based on the proximity of her or his complexion to that of a brown paper bag. An article by Madison Park, a writer from CNN states, “Bleaching or lightening one's skin for cosmetic reasons is much rarer in the United States than in Asian, African and Caribbean nations, dermatologists said. In some countries, people use over-the-counter and bootleg products -- some of which contain potentially toxic chemicals -- to lighten their skin.
Her skin was a pale olive, not like her father who was brown, and her eyes were green not like her sibling whose was black. Ali considered herself to be a fake Arab because her ethnicity was half European and Arab and she grew up in suburban America not a Moslem country, but no matter what Ali thought, people still judged her by the color of her skin. Following these negative feeling, Lorraine Ali felt because of the effects of being stereotyped, being ridiculed by the media, and developing negative feelings about her own culture made her question she was as a person. One of the negative effects that Ali experienced was being stereotyped. For example, when Ali and her sister Lela went to school the kids would taunt and called them names, and say things like “Where’s your oilcan?”, and “Are you a terrorist?”Which was very hurtful to them because they didn’t do anything wrong because of their last name they were guilty by association.
Black women are more visible in media and popular culture, the range of their visibility remains narrow. And although they are no longer being bought and sold as slaves, they are still commodities,” (Potier). African-American women are the “sluts” in the music videos and the “B-words” in the song lyrics. In example, the song “Hoochie Mama” by 2 Live Crew has lyrics that say, “Hoe I love your big brown eyes and the way you shake your thighs.” This is distasteful and humiliating. They are being thrown around like rag dolls and being glamorized for their figure rather than their mind or opinions.
"Explain how freedoms for African Americans were socially, politically, and economically limited from 1865 to 1900?” Socially, blacks were subjected to segregation and discrimination. Segregation wasn’t really a large problem to them, however, as they were more interested in forming a black community rather than integrating with the whites. However, I mean, it is still pretty awful to be treated like you’re not a being worthy enough to drink out of the same water fountain or attend the same school based on skin color. Blacks were subjected to many dehumanizing things socially speaking. Oh, and lets not forget the KKK (if that falls into this category; I think it does) who harassed, intimidated, and killed black people.
Chisholm stated, “Prejudice as a black person is becoming unacceptable...” (1) While she then states “Prejudice against women is acceptable” (1). Although race prejudice is unacceptable even though eliminating it would take years, prejudice against women is being accepted and allowed in where she believes both should not be allowed. She then comes to the House of Representatives with a more logical appeal stating, “As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener to discrimination against because I am a woman than because I am black.” (1). Chisholm wanted to prove from personal experience how society is more prejudice over gender than race itself.
In Caucasia Birdi’s surroundings have a tremendous effect on her psychologically. The type, or race, of people that surround Birdi have a profound effect on how she views herself and how others view her. When she is surrounded by blacks she view herself as the black Birdi, but when she is around whites she becomes the white Jesse. Moreover because of her light skin she can pass for either black or white, so others view her to be who they expect her to be, not who she is. When Birdi first arrives at Nkrumah, the black power school, she is treated as an outsider.
She also talks about how categories such as gender, race and class are not “free standing distinct systems” but instead “mutually constructing” intersecting systems, which doesn’t play much to her favor since she is a black female. Being that our society is a patriarchy (male dominated) and has been for so long, (women started to get the right to vote in the US in the year of 1920) it may seem odd or even hard when people have to answer up to a woman in charge; because we are just simply not use to it. In Patricia Hill Collins’s article she makes it seem that poverty and low economic opportunities seem inevitable towards black women: “Black men’s lower income meant that the majority of Black women could not marry wealth nor could their mixed-race children inherit it”. It truly seem like an ongoing process since, even their children have to start from
Tisherneria Vasser Corettas Elder group 1. What is the difference between Mona The model and shola the slave? Mona was struggling within herself to actually accept who she was as a beautiful African American woman. She wanted to be what society accepted her as. She was unaware about all the trials and tribulations African American had overcome so that she could be proud of who she really was.