How African American Women Are Portrayed Within The Media Essay

In today’s society, social media seems to be a large part of everyone’s’ life. It has the capability to impact as well as distort and influence the way in which a person or circumstance is perceived. In this research paper I am going to take a look at how African American women are depicted within the media, specifically in the Canadian context. African American women make up 16% of the population within Canada [1]. The intent of this research paper is to further understand and explore how African American women are portrayed within the media. I will be taking a look at how the population of Canada characterizes African American women in the media. As well as how these assumptions affect the African American community at large.
The media plays a large role in the portrayal of the African American culture/ community. Many people who do not commonly interact with African Americans are heavily influenced by the portrayals they see on TV or over the internet. Everything they understand about African Americans (women in specific) is determined through the media, and this is why the medias depiction is so crucial.
How many movies can you think of that have an African American woman as the lead character? Not many come to my mind. African American women most commonly play three large roles in the media. The “Black Best Friend” being the first. This character typically guides the lead white character out of a predicament. They rarely have a life of their own, but show up…