Black Women and Popular Culture: The Conversation Continues. Adria Y.Goldman, VaNatta S.Ford, Alexa A.Harris, and Natasha R.Howard, eds. Lexington Books, 2014. 326 pp. $100.00 cloth. $49.99 paperback.

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-655
Author(s):  
Jacinta Yanders
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women

scholarly journals Memeification of Black Women’s Trauma

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Stravens
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The People ◽  
Online Spaces ◽  
History Of

This piece discusses the online and offline discourses on the lives and bodies of Black femme and nonbinary individuals and the harm that is so casually inflicted upon us. Through popular stories of harm performed around famous Black women, such as with rapper Megan Thee Stallion, I connect the history of Black women in popular culture to current online spaces that continue to minimize and trivialize our trauma. I seek to highlight that these stories are not an anomaly, but rather sentiments rooted in the misogynoir that is so entrenched in western culture and have been expanded and weaponized within the online sphere. In addition, the piece challenges the universality of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in its implementation, criticizing its propensity to forget its feminine victims. It is important to emphasize where it has failed and where it needs to be intentional about the people it has overlooked, as this is a movement that began online, where this harm is currently taking place, and at the hands and energies of Black femmes, the very people getting hurt. This piece has manifested from many conversations already occurring in online Black feminist spaces about our treatment and our needs. It invites others into the fold and seeks to encourage individuals to critically reflect on how Black femme and non-binary individuals are presented on their timeline in-between the numerous BLM posts that claim to protect them.

From Blaxploitation to Black Macho

2019 ◽  
pp. 183-201
Author(s):  
Terrion L. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Ntozake Shange ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Women Writers

For commentators concerned with black cultural production in the contemporary era, there are few images more controversial than the angry black woman, particularly as it is reproduced within the confines of reality television. This chapter traces the lineage of the angry black woman back to key black feminist texts of the 1970s, arguing that the trope emerges out of a distinct sociopolitical history that was codified within both public policy and popular culture throughout the decade. Blaxploitation films became the site where black women’s anger was most visibly commodified, even as black women involved in an emergent black feminist movement worked to combat withering social commentaries that included Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s matriarchy thesis and sexist takedowns of black women writers like Ntozake Shange and Michele Wallace.

scholarly journals Female, Black, and Able: Representations of Sojourner Truth and Theories of Embodiment

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Minister
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African Americans ◽  
White Men ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Sojourner Truth ◽  
American Popular Culture ◽  
Racial Hierarchies

<p>Sojourner Truth exists in American popular culture as a strong contributor to the movements for abolition and women&rsquo;s rights. In order to maintain this image of strength and make the case that black women are just as capable as white men, Truth intentionally elided her disabled right hand. This article explores representations of Sojourner Truth in relation to her nineteenth century context and, in particular, social stigmas regarding race, gender and disability. The interpretations of pictures, a painting, and two events contained in Truth's Narrative suggest that Truth argued against gender and racial oppression by operating with an ideology of ability that suggested that both women and African-Americans are strong, powerful, and able. As Truth maintained an ideology of ability in order to subvert gender and racial hierarchies, she offers a case study into the benefits of intersectional approaches to historical studies.</p><p>Key Words</p><p>Sojourner Truth, disability, race, gender, feminism, nineteenth century</p>

One Tough Cookie: Exploring Black Women’s Responses to Empire’s Cookie Lyon

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-304
Author(s):  
Melissa A Click ◽  
Sarah Smith-Frigerio
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Black Female ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
The Family ◽  
Women Viewers ◽  
Group Interviews

Abstract The premier of Empire in January 2015 drew 9.8 million viewers and became FOX's highest-rated series debut in three years. In this episode, we are introduced to the terminally-ill CEO of Empire Entertainment, Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who must decide which of his three sons will inherit the family business. To further complicate the decision, his ex-wife, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), is released from prison after 17 years. The strength of the performances from the main cast, and those of celebrity guest stars, bolster the drama that unfolds, explaining why Empire was incredibly popular with audiences, and black audiences in particular. We examine the series's representations of blackness through focus group interviews with 31 black women viewers, exploring how they made sense of Cookie and compared her to black female leads on other series. Our interviews reveal that Cookie's complexities inspire identification and anxiety, engage broader debates about popular culture representations, and clarify black women's desires to see multifaceted images of themselves and their communities on television.

“Will the Real Men Stand Up?”

2019 ◽  
pp. 108-123
Author(s):  
Marlon M. Bailey ◽  
Matt Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Gendered Racism ◽  
The Real ◽  
Black Sexuality ◽  
Black Popular Culture ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Many

Given the ways that the exercise of racism and the ideology of black inferiority have depended upon entrenched images of black hypersexuality, it may be unsurprising that representations of intracommunal sexual fetishization and performance obscure the presence of racism. Nonetheless, such representations can also lead us to misinterpret how racial subordination is inculcated, negotiated, and challenged within the black community. The many responses to Karrine Steffans, her book Confessions of a Video Vixen, and the new cultural figure she represents (the video vixen, model, ‘jump off’, ‘groupie’, or ‘ho’) reveal the multiple investments in the representation of black women, and by extension, black men and their sexualities. Blake argues that although dominant discourses would lay blame for the circulation of misogynist images at the doorstep of the black community, understanding the formation of such a figure requires a far more complex reading. In addition to addressing the contemporary exercise of gendered racism, intracommunal discussions and debates about black sexuality (inspired by the video vixen) show that black popular culture can create new discursive spaces. Sometimes it also exposes intracommunal negotiations over the effects of racial subordination, the contemporary meanings of racial community, and the politics of black hypersexuality.

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