The People Leisure And Cultures Of Blacks — страница 6

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to the right momment to leave these misguided situations (Hemenway 98-100). It is common knowledges that the image of the Colored woman is that she is supposed to do exactly what her White ?superiors? and what her husband tells her to do. Even though that was what the Black woman was supposed to do she wore the masks that talked about in her poem so that they did not really know what she was thinking and feeling inside. Just because the Black woman was treated badly and were supposed to think negatively of themselves many did not. They only let others see what they wanted to see. As the years have progressed from slavery to post slavery to predepression times, society was under the notion that the African- American woman can be classified in these other catergories. They feel

that she will either be a faithful obeidient domestic servant, the matriarch, the wellfare mother , or the jezebel (James, Stanlie and Busia, Abena 183). The faithful and obedient domestic sevant was created to jsutify the economic exploitation of the Black woman during slavery. One of the more dangerous consequences may be the tendency for her to agree to do anything that her superior asks of her. She will say yes amd do anything without thinking of the consequences that go along with it the task at hand (James, Stanlie and Busia, Abena 184). The matriarchs are considered to be overly aggressive, emasculatin, strong, independent, and unfeminine women. The matriarch image, allows the dominant group to blame African-American women for the success or failure, (usually the latter)

of their children. The society blames these type of Black women for being to strong and not demure and caring. THEy are in a way scared of these women because these women stand their ground on ceratin issues (James, Staanlie and Busia, Abena 184). The Black woman has also been depicted as a welfare mother. The welfare mother image is essentially a updated version of the breeder image that was created during slavery. Welfare mothers are viewed as being lazy and content to sit around and collect checks. Whites feel that these women are dangerous because they are fertile and that they produce too many economically non-productive children (James, Stanlie and Busia, Abena 185). The last stereotype is the jezebel. THe Black woman who is known as a jezebel is basically being called a

whore or a sexually aggressive woman. The Euro-American elite male tries to control the jezebels sexuality. They use this image of the jezebel to contrast the white womans virgin appeal. It made it seem that the Black woman waaanted the White man to sexually assualt her. This depiction was to undermine the African-American woman?s self-esteem(James, Stanlie and Busia, Abena 185). Not only does White men and women put down The Black woman, Black men also put down the Black Woman. In Richard Wright?s Native Son, his main character is Bigger Thomas, and his mother, Mrs. Thomas reprsents the deterioration of the foundation of the Black community. Wright made Mrs. Thomas and the other Colored women in his book weak. There is not one single Black woman that is positive in his book(

Kinnamon 35). Mrs. Thomas was never strong; she worked a menial degrading job that was accepted by white people. She was ?always never a militant,? Harris states. As many Black women came to cultivate and shape the Black culture, Mrs Thomas never did that (Harris 63). What is inconceivable is why would Wright want to depict such a negative image of the Balck woman. Richard Wright grew up with very strong spritual women in his life, but his book Native Son does not show any of the strong Black woman like his grandmotehr. He reflections of nagging, bitter, self-concisous, haggard women (Felgar, Robert 20). The picture of the African ?American woman during the depression had not changed very much in the eyes of many. She was still the mule of the world. Noone wanted to give her the

recognition that she deserved, she worked twice as hard as her Black male, White male and female counterparts. During the Depression the Negro woman primarily did domestic work, because they were in doemstic work and that was the largest group of workers at that time, they played a dominat rile in the emergence and formation of the community and were central to its survival. The Depression drastically altered the employment situation for Black doemstics, Unlike natives and foreign born white domestics, the Black woman in response to the situation, had to resort to standing on street corners to find work(Gray, Brenda 4-5). The greatest influx of Blacks to New York City came during and immediealely after WWI. The foremost reason for the move North was economical surivival, The