Black Mothers and Boss Ladies on the Screen

Black Mothers and Boss Ladies on the Screen

 
Shatima Jones seated at the head of a dining table, with a young boy to her left; both write in notebooks (black & white).
Photograph by Colin Jerolmack (2021), after Carrie Mae Weems

In society, Black mothers are overwhelmingly portrayed in stereotypical ways (e.g. the welfare queen, single parent). In stark contrast, within Black cultures, we are highly revered and respected. We are considered “Queens.” When Black women and mothers step out of the home into the paid workforce, we are often stereotyped as aggressive, unprofessional, and a bitch.

The student papers this week focus on representations of Black mothers and Black women at work. They lead us to grapple with a host of questions: What does it mean to see Black women on the screen who juggle high-status careers and family as we do with Clair Huxtable of The Cosby Show and Rainbow Johnson of Blackish? What lessons do we take away from seeing Olivia Pope of Scandal and Annalise Keating of How to Get Away with Murder run the courtroom and Washington, D.C., alongside depictions of them as lonely, undeserving of love, and unable to show affection? How do the experiences of Black women entrepreneurs, particularly hair salon owners, compare to that of their white and other non-black counterparts? How are Black women’s navigation of love, sexuality, and self-discovery imagined on film?

 

The Black Women Boss Ladies of Shondaland
by Cheyenne Porcher

The Black Women Boss Ladies of Shondaland by Cheyenne Porcher

The long and enduring legacy of racism, specifically anti-Blackness, in the United States has seeped into virtually every facet of our lives, including entertainment. Racism, misogyny, and white supremacy have also paved the way for colorism and misogynoir. In this paper, I explore the portrayals of two of the leading Black women characters in primetime television, Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating, and how their depictions were influenced by their skin tones, socioeconomic statuses, and the beauty standards they met or did not meet. I found that Olivia Pope’s characterization and reputation was given much more dignity than Annalise Keating’s, and the three aforementioned factors all lend themselves to this disparity. Through this research, my goals are to advocate for the dismissal of Eurocentric standards in how Black women are respected and to shine a light on the inequities that still exist in the media, even media created by fellow Black people. Continue reading “The Black Women Boss Ladies of Shondaland” by Cheyenne Porcher.

 

Black Motherhood on Primetime Television
by Courteney Celestin

Black Motherhood on Primetime Television by Courtney CelestinFor the first half of the twentieth century, the portrayal of Black women in entertainment was confined to harmful stereotypes, such as the mammy and the jezebel. Since then, the characterization of Black female characters on primetime television shows in particular has evolved considerably. This research paper asks: how are Black women and Black motherhood portrayed in Black sitcoms? How have these representations changed, if at all, over time? I analyze the characterizations of Clair Huxtable and Rainbow “Bow” Johnson, from The Cosby Show and Black-ish, respectively, to address my questions. I find that both Clair and Bow, especially given their socioeconomic statuses, have helped change the tide in the portrayals of Black women in primetime television for the better. They do so primarily by shedding light on how Black mothers can be successful in their careers while also juggling taking care of their families at home, all while doing it with a dose of humor. Continue reading “Black Motherhood on Primetime Television” by Courteney Celestin.

 

Laboring Women: Black and White Beauticians in Film
by Ava Marshall

Ava-Marshall_Laboring-Women_IDSEM_ResearchHow does the historical significance of the Black beauty salon create a certain character of its services and its salon operation? How does this nuanced character of Black hair salons create a contrast with white female operated salons? How does their emotional labor differ? The literature on this topic mostly identifies that all hair salons’ labor extends beyond just doing hair, as they rely on emotional labor to keep clients coming back. Yet, Black hair salons operate differently due to the gendered racism that pushes Black women to become entrepreneurs, an economic detour, where they cater to a limited market of other Black women, which marks the character of their services as influenced by their cultural and social being. White women, who don’t face the same racism in their entrepreneurship, operate with fewer stakes. I look at the portrayal of salons in film, analyzing Steel Magnolias, a film of a white female ensemble that centers on a hair salon run by a white woman, and Beauty Shop, a film of a majority-Black ensemble that centers on a Black woman salon owner. My findings reveal that in Beauty Shop, the Black woman salon owner must fight to gain respect and maintain her finances and the aesthetics of the shop, constantly fighting to keep her shop, which is a haven for the Black female clientele and their conversations, whom she advises and negotiates in a way that echoes cultural topics and ideals. Yet, in Steel Magnolias, the white female salon owner is already well respected with regulars, with no need to fight or worry about her shop, which is far from a safe space for her clientele, who speak freely everywhere they go. These findings illustrate that for Black hair salons, their Black female identity informs their labor in ways it does not for white hair salons, who navigate entrepreneurship with privilege. Continue reading “Laboring Women: Black and White Beauticians in Film” by Ava Marshall.

 

The Liberation of Black Women through Cinema
by Kendra Brown

The Liberation of Black Women through Cinema by Kendra BrownHow did films centered on Black women created in the 1990s reimagine the journey of self-discovery and healing? To address these questions, I will focus on the films Waiting to Exhale, Daughters of the Dust, and The Watermelon Woman. I will examine how crossover appeal influences commercial success. Crossover appeal tends to place importance on themes that would reach a wider audience. Independent films are able to maintain a certain degree of authenticity, and work outside of a profit driven film industry. This provides an opportunity for the content of these films to subvert and challenge stereotypes. This subject matter has not focused specifically on films about Black women, instead how Hollywood depicts people of color in general. I am adding independent films to the conversation because it can provide an alternative vision for the possibilities of how Black women are depicted in film. Continue reading The Liberation of Black Women through Cinema” by Kendra Brown.

 
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