Brief Summary: The Black Madonnas Of Europe

The Black Madonnas of Europe

The Mother Mary is an image of purity and beauty. She is an aspiration for women all around the world. As the Mother of Christ, she sacrificed in order to do the will of God, but today’s ideals have influenced people into thinking that the angelic nature of the Mother Mary must mean that she was white, and therefore, Christ was white. Just recently have the Black Madonnas of Europe became a large controversy. Racism has caused a stir in all aspects of society. In years previous, there was of mix of colors just like today, but they weren’t classified as people of color are today. They were viewed as a normalcy of society. As a result, writers of the time felt no need to specifically state whether a person was white or of color. Any character in any story, for instance the Bible, from the past could be of color just as easily as they could be white. In fact, in the case of Mary, it is more likely that she was a woman of color. As a Jewess, Mary would normally be considered dark skinned. St. Luke also may have clued in to this when he painted three paintings of a darkly colored Virgin Mother. Thirdly, in art, when Mary is depicted with Jesus as a young boy, it is usually the case that both are depicted as people of color. The artists would be correct in …show more content…
It is essential though, that children, especially young girls, also see movies that show the strength of women. Movies like Mulan and Brave exhibit women fighting for what they believe in. Mulan pretends to be a man, risking her life, in order to save her father. She displays fighting skills and intelligence that greatly outweigh any of the men in the army. Merida in Brave goes against her father by declaring that she will not marry just because he says she must. She declares that if she must choose to marry someone, she would like to marry herself. I think both of these female characters can be an inspiration for young