Portrayal Of Black Women In Media

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The Portrayal of African American Women in Media The media has always played a big role in how people perceive different cultures through such media outlets such as radio, television, and internet. We felt that the portrayal of African-American women would be a good topic for this paper, because all race of women but especially black women have had negative stereotypes in media and we feel that they have had the most tainted image in people’s eyes. We also feel that this paper is important because a lot of people can learn about the struggles that these women have had to overcome through these years. This is a part of American culture no matter if we are male, female, black or white. Topics like this need to be brought up more often so people can learn from mistakes and learn how to forgive people for past judgments’. Addressing these issues can also help social behavior. Throughout this paper we will discuss the history of our topic such as how black women were treated during slavery and how that may affect the way they are still being portrayed in media. We will talk about some of the prominent women that opened the door, such as Hattie McDaniel, Nina Mae McKinney, Oprah Winfrey, Patti Labelle and Cicely Tyson. Elaborate on some of negative and positive stereotypes that the media has put out, and our own personal opinions. Also using view points from certain critics and prominent figures in the media world. According to journalist Tionna Smalls, she exclaimed in her article entitled “Dark Skinned Vs. Light Skinned: The Black Man's Dilemma”, the slave owners would divide the slaves up by dark nigger and light nigger. The dark skinned slave would work on the plantation doing chores, picking cotton and nurturing the land. The light skinned slave would live in the plantation, cooking and taking care of the field masters children. Also the light skin

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