"The Image"

“Music videos, television talk shows, news shows, newspapers, and tabloids show [Black women] one-sided and oft times disfigured representations of African American females: pulsating genitals, hood rats, “professional sisters alienated in corporate America or the academy, low- income single mothers, falling stars.” (Richardson 677) This image that Black women hold is the basis of Elaine Richardson’s article, “To Protect and Serve”: African American Female Literacies. I find it sad that I know the Black Woman to be strong, dignified, and a hardworking but society looks at the Black woman as being illiterate, immortal, and dependent. Though I have witnessed Black women who fit the stigma that society holds them bound to, to label every Black woman in this category would be incorrect. Because this is such a heavy stigma against Black Women, it makes life and success very hard. Specifically, Elaine Richardson speaks about plugging in the terms “black girls” and “young black girls” into a Yahoo search engine. The links that came up were pornography sites and various pop-ups of graphic sexual activity. When reading this in her article, I was not too surprised at the results. I am very aware of how Black women are viewed in society; thus, this is one of the reasons why I chose to attend Spelman College. Spelman focuses on developing the entire woman. The support that I receive from my Spelman sisters motivates me to strive for success. Spelman really centers on building a foundation because they understand that, as black women, society is not in our favor. For this and other reasons, Spelman College prepares black women for the “real world”. I believe that it is imperative to have institutions and organizations like Spelman that focus on developing the Black woman. It is time for Black women to change the stigma! -Daria Clegg