Difference between revisions of "Angry black woman"

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{{short description|Stereotype about African American women}}
 
{{more citations needed|date=May 2018}}
 
{{See also|Stereotypes of African Americans}}
 
The '''angry black woman''' [[stereotype]] is a [[Trope (literature)|trope]] in [[American society]] that portrays [[African-American women]] as sassy, ill-mannered, and ill-tempered by nature. Related concepts are the "[[Stereotypes of African Americans#Sapphire|sapphire]]" or "sassy black woman".
 
 
 
Scholars Dionne Bennett and Marcyliena Morgan suggest that the [[Stereotypes of groups within the United States|stereotype]] is less studied than the [[Mammy archetype|mammy]] and [[Stereotypes of African Americans#Jezebel|Jezebel]] archetypes because researchers accept it as true.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kelley|first1=Blair L. M.|title=Here's Some History Behind That 'Angry Black Woman' Riff the NY Times Tossed Around|url=http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_angry_black_woman_stereotype_s_long_history.html|work=The Root|date=September 25, 2014|access-date=January 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121162743/http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_angry_black_woman_stereotype_s_long_history.html|archive-date=January 21, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2017}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAvIWZ2tnsEC&pg=PT68&dq=%22angry+black+woman%22 |title=Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America |date=2011 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16554-8 |location=New Haven, Conn. |last=Harris-Perry |first1=Melissa V. |authorlink=Melissa Harris-Perry |pages=88–89}}</ref>
 
 
 
[[Carolyn M. West|Carolyn West]] defines the Angry Black Woman as one variety of a Sapphire stereotype (another category listed is "Sistas with Attitude").<ref>In ''Mammy, Sapphire, Jezebel, and the Bad Girls of Reality Television Media Representations of Black Women''</ref> West defines the pervasive "Sapphire/ABW image" as "a template for portraying almost all Black women" and as serving several purposes.  West sees it as "passion and righteous indignation... often misread as irrational anger... used to silence and shame Black women who dare to challenge social inequalities, complain about their circumstances, or demand fair treatment (Harris-Perry, 2011).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drcarolynwest.com/publications/2017-Jezbel-and-the-bad.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Harris-Perry, M. V. (2011). Sister citizen: Shame, stereotypes, and Black women in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.}}</ref>
 
 
 
Defined by Pilgrim (2015), "it is a social control mechanism that is employed to punish black women who violate the societal norms that encourage them to be passive, servile, nonthreatening, and unseen" (p.&nbsp;121).<ref>{{Citation|title=Pilgrim, D. (2015). Understanding Jim Crow: Using racist memorabilia to teach tolerance and promote social justice. Oakland, CA: Ferris State University and PM Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drcarolynwest.com/publications/2017-Jezbel-and-the-bad.pdf}}</ref> It has been characterized as leading to a form of [[double bind]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carbado|first=Devon W.|url=https://books.google.ch/books?id=KiFAQLWpubYC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=angry+black+woman+double+bind&source=bl&ots=uOEb2NdGU5&sig=ACfU3U2FZ6ew9_Y35gtN4LSbCyNI5qQH8w&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjxpIOv9onqAhWJyqQKHRLHC5MQ6AEwEHoECGAQAQ#v=onepage&q=angry%20black%20woman%20double%20bind&f=false|title=Acting White?: Rethinking Race in Post-Racial America|last2=Gulati|first2=Mitu|date=2013-03-21|publisher=OUP USA|year=|isbn=978-0-19-538258-7|location=|pages=54|language=en}}</ref>
 
 
 
== Sapphire stereotype as source ==
 
 
 
''Sapphire'' is an insulting term associated with the most dominant portrayals of Black women. According to the [[Stereotypes of African Americans#Sapphire|Sapphire]] stereotype, enslaved black women were aggressive, dominant, and masculine: "In antebellum America, the female slaves' chattel status, sex, and race combined to create a complicated set of myths about Black women."<ref name=":0">Gray White, Deborah. Ar'n't I a Woman: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (1985). New York and London: W.W. Norton and Co., 1999.</ref>  Black women are perceived as malicious, stubborn, overbearing, unnecessarily loud, and violent with African American men as their major targets as they mock these men for their many offenses that range from being broke and unemployed to sexually pursuing White or other women.
 
 
 
Negative caricatures of black women historically justified their exploitation. The Sapphire archetype painted enslaved women as impure, strong, masculine, dominant, and aggressive women who drove their children and partners away.<ref name=":0" /> This archetype stereotypes black women as experiencing disappointment, displeasure, bitterness or rage because of her significant other, and the term was also used to refer to or black women in general who show emotion in any situation. The Sapphire stereotype was introduced by the airing of the Amos 'n' Andy radio show which was produced by two White male actors. The content of the show focused heavily on belittling black men and how black women treat their husbands for being lazy and unemployed.
 
 
 
== Perpetuation and reproduction of the stereotype ==
 
 
 
With roots in slavery, the sapphire archetype was further replicated in films, shows, and literature by the early 1930s. Through these media and social platforms the stereotype was cultivated and sustained. Black women were perceived to be too expressive, more opinionated, harsh, have bad attitudes, loud, and generally negative and rude in nature. The 1930s radio show [[Amos 'n' Andy]] was particularly one of the first media outlets that reinforced the stereotype. In this production two white men voiced Black characters. Among those characters were Black women. The narrative of anger, assertiveness, and frequent emasculation was echoed with characters such as [[Esther Anderson (Sanford and Son)|Aunt Esther]] from ''[[Sanford and Son]]'' and Pam from ''[[Martin (TV series)|Martin]]''.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
 
 
 
== Relationships to other stereotypes ==
 
 
 
The sapphire archetype coincides with the [[Mammy archetype|mammy]] and [[Stereotypes of African Americans|Jezebel]]. All three of these archetypes uphold the angry black woman myth, but in different ways. In these archetypes, black women were characterized as caregivers, submissive, dependent on men, promiscuous, aggressive and arrogant.<ref name=":0" /> The reproduction of these archetypes in popular culture legitimized the dehumanization of black women.
 
 
 
Gender studies professor [Deborah Gray White] writes, "slave women understood the value of silence and secrecy... like all who are dependent upon the caprices of a master, they hide their real sentiments and turn toward him changeless smile or enigmatic passivity".<ref name=":0" /> In other words, slavery shaped how enslaved women expressed or suppressed their anger.
 
 
 
== Black feminist response ==
 
The angry black woman myth also shapes how others read and interpret the actions of Black women. There are various sources, platforms, and mediums that Black women use to shed light on the impact of the myth. A number of Black women provide insight on how the myth is reinforced in the media, social spaces, and interpersonal interactions. Furthermore, Black women, whether if it's through activism, academia, art, dance, or writing validate, affirm their rage. Through such activism and discourse, black women have opened many conversations regarding the dismissal and scrutiny of their emotions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walley-Jean|first=J. Celeste|date=Fall 2009|title=Debunking the Myth of the "Angry Black Woman": An Exploration of Anger in Young African American Women|url=|journal=Black Women, Gender + Families|volume= 3|issue=2|pages=68–86|doi=10.1353/bwg.0.0011}}</ref>
 
 
 
Black feminists have discredited the trope of the angry black woman and recognize the validity in a black woman's anger. The response is that there should be a more accurate representation of black women in the media overall. Black women being angry does exist, as it exists with any category of people, but as a response to this trope, black feminists believe that the nuances and other experiences black women face that are not necessarily negative should be depicted in the media as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/27/reality-tv-gives-the-angry-black-woman-a-bad-name-sometimes-anger-is-a-good-thing/|title=Reality TV gives the 'angry black woman' a bad name. Sometimes anger is a good thing.|last=Freeman|first=Macy|date=October 27, 2017|website=Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107062756/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/27/reality-tv-gives-the-angry-black-woman-a-bad-name-sometimes-anger-is-a-good-thing/|archive-date=November 7, 2018|url-status=live|access-date=December 11, 2018}}</ref>
 
 
 
== Portrayals ==
 
{{Cleanup list|section|date=May 2018}}
 
The aftermath of slavery not only resulted in many social, economic and political effects but also led to the delineation of negative racial stereotypes in the portrayal of black women in media. The industry sometimes showed the stereotypical ideas of black women from mammies to sapphires, portraying black women as people who are unnecessarily aggressive and obnoxious.
 
 
 
Feminists believe that this is still extremely prevalant today, while non-feminists assert that there is a wide variety of black characters in all forms of media today, including both stereotypes and stereotype-free characters.  Both groups do note that the "angry black woman" is one of the types of characters that is sometimes portrayed.
 
 
 
Examples of modern movies containing one or more "angry black woman" character include the Medea series of movies, the TV show ''Empire'', and others:   
 
*Sapphire, from [[Amos 'n' Andy]]''<ref name=real>{{cite news|title=Find real African American women in a beauty salon, not on reality TV|publisher=Greensboro News & Record|date=November 10, 2013|author=Naeemah Clark}}</ref>
 
* [[Esther Anderson (Sanford and Son)|Aunt Esther]], a character in ''[[Sanford and Son]]''<ref name="real" />
 
* Bernadine, a character in ''[[Waiting to Exhale]]'', performed by actress [[Angela Bassett]]
 
* [[Madea|Madea Simmons]], character in ''[[Diary of a Mad Black Woman]]'' and other [[Tyler Perry]] plays and films
 
* 'Crazy Bitch' from ''[[The Boondocks (TV series)|The Boondocks]]''
 
* [[Wilhelmina Slater]], a character in ''[[Ugly Betty]]''<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kretsedemas |first=Philip |title='But She's Not Black!': Viewer Interpretations of 'Angry Black Women' on Prime Time TV |journal=Journal of African American Studies |date=2010 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=149–170 |jstor=41819243|doi=10.1007/s12111-009-9116-3 }}</ref>
 
* Rasputia, an obese and overbearing woman in the 2007 [[Eddie Murphy]] comedy ''[[Norbit]]''
 
* Lakatriona Brunson from ''[[South Beach Tow]]''
 
* [[Cookie Lyon|Cookie]] from ''[[Empire (2015 TV series)|Empire]]''
 
* [[Rochelle (Everybody Hates Chris)|Rochelle]] from ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]''
 
 
 
== Public health ==
 
In regards to culturally relevant practice during mental health treatment, Ashley W, author of ''The angry black woman: the impact of pejorative stereotypes on psychotherapy with black women.'' describes "the myth of the angry Black woman that characterizes these women as aggressive, ill tempered, illogical, overbearing, hostile, and ignorant without provocation"  as a negative stereotype that victimizes black women.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ashley |first1=Wendy |title=The Angry Black Woman: The Impact of Pejorative Stereotypes on Psychotherapy with Black Women |journal=Social Work in Public Health |date=November 4, 2013 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=27–34 |doi=10.1080/19371918.2011.619449 |pmid=24188294 }}</ref>
 
 
 
== See also ==
 
{{Portal|United States}}
 
* [[Angry white male]]
 
* [[Black Buck]]
 
* ''[[Diary of a Tired Black Man]]''
 
* [[Double bind]]
 
* [[Criminal stereotype of African Americans]]
 
* [[Stereotypes of African Americans]]
 
* [[White Fragility]]
 
* [[Cholo#United States|Cholo]]
 
* [[Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States#The fiery Latina and the hot señorita| The fiery Latina and the hot señorita]]
 
* [[Dragon Lady]]
 
 
 
== References ==
 
=== Citations ===
 
{{Reflist}}
 
 
 
=== General sources ===
 
* {{cite news |last=Deggans |first=Eric |title=Does Fox's 'Empire' Break or Bolster Black Stereotypes? |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/03/18/393785570/does-foxs-empire-break-or-bolster-black-stereotypes |department=Pop Culture Happy Hour |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=March 18, 2015 |access-date=October 15, 2019}}
 
* {{cite magazine |last=Kerwin |first=Ann Marie |date=September 27, 2017 |title=The 'Angry Black Woman' Makes Real Women Angry |url=https://adage.com/article/media/angry-black-woman-makes-real-women-angry/310633/ |magazine=[[Ad Age]] |access-date=October 15, 2019}}
 
* {{cite journal |last1=Morgan |first1=Marcyliena |last2=Bennett |first2=Dionne |title=Getting Off of Black Women's Backs: Love Her or Leave Her Alone |journal=Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race |date=May 10, 2007 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=485–502 |doi=10.1017/s1742058x06060334 }}
 
* {{Cite web |last=Pilgrim |first=David |orig-year=August 2008 |date=2012 |title=The Sapphire Caricature |url=http://ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm |publisher=[[Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia]], Ferris State University |access-date=October 15, 2019}}
 
* {{cite news |last=Prasad |first=Ritu |date=September 11, 2018 |title=Serena Williams and the Trope of the 'Angry Black Woman' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45476500 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=October 15, 2019}}
 
 
 
== Further reading ==
 
* {{cite news |last=Batengas |first=Edna |title=Let's stop the angry black woman narrative |url=https://the-peak.ca/2016/11/lets-stop-the-angry-black-woman-narrative/ |work=The Peak|publisher=Simon Fraser University |date=November 1, 2016 |location=Burnaby, BC}}
 
*{{cite journal |last=Childs |first=Erica Chito |title=Looking behind the Stereotypes of the 'Angry Black Woman': An Exploration of Black Women's Responses to Interracial Relationships |pages=544–561 |journal=Gender and Society |volume=19 |issue=4 |date=August 2005 |jstor=30044616 |doi=10.1177/0891243205276755}}
 
* {{cite news |last=Horton |first=Kennedy |title=The 'angry black woman' is a false stereotype |url=https://www.themaneater.com/stories/opinion/angry-black-woman-false-stereotype |work=The Maneater |publisher=University of Missouri |date=April 26, 2017}}
 
*{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Trina |last2=Norwood |first2=Kimberly Jade |url=https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-102-issue-5/aggressive-encounters-and-white-fragility-deconstructing-the-trope-of-the-angry-black-woman/ |title=Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black Woman |journal=Iowa Law Review |volume=102 |issue=5 |date=2017}}
 
* {{cite web |author=Lorde, Audre |title=The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism |url=http://www.blackpast.org/1981-audre-lorde-uses-anger-women-responding-racism |website=www.blackpast.org |date=1981}}
 
* {{cite web |author=Pilgrim, David |title=Anti-Black Imagery: The Sapphire Caricature |url=https://ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/sapphire.htm |publisher=Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University |location=Big Rapids, Mich. |date=2012}}
 
* {{cite news |author=Vanzant, Iyanla |title=The Myth Of The Angry Black Woman |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iyanla-vanzant/the-myth-of-the-angry-black-woman_b_11897252.html |work=Huffington Post |date=September 8, 2016}}
 
* {{cite journal |author=Williams, Charmaine C. |title=The Angry Black Woman Scholar |journal=NWSA Journal |date=2001 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=87–97 |jstor=4316815|doi=10.2979/NWS.2001.13.2.87 }}
 
 
 
==External links==
 
* [https://www.kaidavispoetry.com/performance-videos/aint-i-a-woman "Ain't I a Woman" (video)], Kai Davis Poetry
 
 
 
{{African American caricatures and stereotypes}}
 
 
 
[[Category:African-American gender relations]]
 
[[Category:Misogyny]]
 
[[Category:Slang terms for women]]
 
[[Category:Stereotypes of African Americans]]
 
[[Category:Stereotypes of black women]]
 
[[Category:Female stock characters]]
 

Latest revision as of 05:27, 8 October 2020