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Black Women in Media

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Submitted By alloh1
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Black Women in the Media Media is defined as a form of mass communication through the use of radio, television, the Internet, music, film, and etc. Throughout history, American media has not only been used as a form of communication and entertainment, but it has also been utilized to spread stereotypes and hegemonic ideals reinforcing the racial hierarchy that has continued to survive even after the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. According to Tilicia L. Mayo, Indiana University communications graduate, images in the media contain the ability to teach many different lessons. Mayo states, “Contemporary films and television shows deliver images that communicate ideologies such as class, standing and position in society” (vi). After the abolition of slavery, White America searched for means of social control through the media since they lacked the power of legal control. Black women, being of the lowest racial and gender classes in America, have repeatedly been stereotyped and victimized through the use of degrading images in contemporary media. The origins of these images can be found in the racist ideologies of the African slave woman created by White Euro-American slave owners. The images of black women in American media have directly affected how black women and other people in society define black womanhood. This influence directly shows how people utilize fictitious and stereotypical images from the media in trying to understand the stereotyped group and their behavior. C. Delores Tucker, Black feminist and politician, is an example of a black woman who fought against the images portrayed in the media because she saw the negative effects such images had on the black community and the American society in general. By identifying the images of black women in the media, it is easy to see how the stereotypes manipulate and effect how black women are

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