Analysis Of Pageants, Parlors, And Pretty Women By Blaine Roberts

Since the dawn of humanity, women have been trying to achieve their personal idea of beauty. In the book, “Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women”, author Blaine Roberts, shows the racial division between white women and black women and the role perceptions of beauty also played. Women of different colors, sizes, attitudes, mindsets, and dreams all concurred that beauty was an important aspect for the Civil Rights movement. Roberts’ thesis, black and white perceptions of beauty, both played a crucial role during the Civil Rights Movement while the road that led them there was life changing. White society used beauty pageants as a way to reinforce white supremacy, while blacks viewed beauty contests as an attempt to show others, and themselves, that black was beautiful as well. Her thesis is clearly depicted throughout her book. While issues like the Jim Crow laws tried …show more content…
Throughout this analysis, one will be able to see the standpoints, actions and events that both white and colored women take to achieve their common goal. At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the 1917-1921 North Carolina governor, Thomas Walter Bickett. Bickett stated his famous words in relation to the place that beauty had in the civil rights movement multiple times. He said, “Be beautiful. You must be…” While his words were very traditional, they sparked something inside of society, specifically white southern women. This new idea of beauty was intriguing and many thought it to be an important role of a solid reconstruction. But, the issue was in the economy— It did not support this idea of spending money on cosmetic products when