Black Power

Our culture dictates many parts of our lives, whether it be through conscious understanding or through subconscious ritual and belief. For some, their culture defines who they are fundamentally. Alice Walker, in her short story “Everyday Use”, uses the differing mindsets of two sisters to explore African-American culture in rural America. Also explored is how heritage, reflected in where and when one grows up, interacts and affects culture. Although Mama raised both sisters the same way, they…

presence and power of the black woman. (Applause) Beyonce Knowles: While many have criticized me for my expression. I have chosen to use art as a medium to discuss the black experience. Undoubtedly, the black woman has always faced a litany of challenges such as– sexual and economic exploitation, demonization for exuding strength in business environments -criminalization within the school system among other atrocities that have prompted new movements such as Black Girls Rock, and Black Girls…

“Black Is Beautiful”: Social Politics Surrounding the Afro Research Question: To what extent did the ‘Black-Is-Beautiful’ Movement of the 1960’s promote black expression and further debates regarding ‘natural hair’? Background In order to facilitate an understanding of the perspective of George S. Schuyler, the “skeptical Negro” who “debunks natural hair” and criticizes “Black is Beautiful” in the project’s main Special Collections source, it is first important to establish key information…

The Politics of Black Hair: A Feminist Analysis of the Construction the Black Female Identity The general consensus amongst most feminist scholars is that beauty standards have not changed much since the 1800s—the construction of female beauty still features a young white woman with large breasts, a small waist, light eyes, and long flowing hair. The act of policing the alteration of Black hair has become one of the most significant ways in which Black people engage in respectability politics.…

American women hair is associated with terms like thick, kinky and nappy. These aren’t just terms anymore that are used freely instead, they’ve become very stereotypical and judgmental to the black race. This puts pressure on African American women to feel doubtful of their natural hair, so much that black women use chemicals to make their hair silky straight, which ultimately result in damaged hair. This has become such a controversial issue that the “Natural Hair Movement” has started all over…

In Larry Neal’s essay entitled, The Black Arts Movement, he writes that “the motive behind the Black aesthetic is the destruction of the white thing. The destruction of white ideas, and white ways of looking at the world” (Neal, The Black Arts Movement). Larry Neal defines the Black Aesthetic as such, to emphasize that the motive of the movement is to destroy things all white and is also introducing the politics of the movement. Neal echoes the views of Malcolm X, who urged for a cultural…

8. I believe the theory that Bethune’s essay patterns the value added theory because it helps to under the history, applications, and periods of social change. Bethune felt that the White race had so much power, and that the Black race was still fighting for equal rights although there were suppose to be equality. The many principles were structural conduciveness, structural strain which means there is a social problem, and there were many social problems such as educationg, health care, etc.…

appropriation. This case and many others like Rogers’ put a damper on the fire in the black community’s heart and have been recognized as one of the many factors why the original “Naturalista” movement ended. Today the naturalista movement has influenced all streams of media. In film there is more diversity in roles of black women and the different shades and styles of black women are being displayed. The leading black woman in a film does not always have a perm or is not always a…

Introduction A. As a young Black Woman in America who recently transitioned to embracing my natural hair the positive comments on my hair has been overshadowed by the multitude of confused stares I receive from strangers in public, and the unfiltered conversations on the reason pertaining to my decision to be “Natural”. Those experiences launched my curiosity on the politics and history of Black Women and their natural hair in America. Instead of conceptualizing that Black Women are…

influencing lawmakers. Composting did not end slavery, but Harriet Tubman, an individual, saved more than 70 black people while making a big impact in the abolition of slavery. Jensen argues how all the solutions for climate change have to do with personal consumption, like shorter showers, and not with shifting the power away from corporations. However, as individuals and consumers, we have the power to make an impact in corporations…