Political, social, economic, and environmental challenges expose people of color living in white dominated countries to various adversities unknown to other races. Measures are in place to facilitate equality, but social injustices still thrive among Americans. African Americans face racial segregation and discrimination in various sectors of the society such as employment, education, and employment sectors. Currently, negative media coverage, unequal education, segregated neighborhoods, and inadequate economic resource distribution plague the American society (Marshall, 967). The lack of urgency in addressing the systematic vices implies that the people of color continue to bear the weight of cultural violence. The black women are the most affected by the systematic problems due to their vulnerability.
Black women belong to two marginalized groups perceived as inferior (Sil, 145). Their position as women of color further lowers
...their social status below that of the black males or the white females. They are victims of both sexism and racism and constitute the most oppressed group. They often lack resources because of being overlooked by the white community as well as the black males. In comparison to black men, more black women manage to develop a sense of self and gain upward social mobility to attain considerable success despite the obstacles.
The survival and attainment of success by a black woman in an American society depend on their ability to facilitate self-actualization and subsequently attain self-identity. The advancement of empowerment of the black women assists them in resisting the domination promulgated by the dominant society within the African-American organizations. Self-identity is critical to the African American woman as it allows them to define themselves from personal perspectives rather than societal standpoints. The empowermen
of black women enables the reformation of social institutions, environments, and ideologies that recognizes and accepts their definition of self and provides a platform for free expression.
Silencing is a tool employed to suppress sexuality, cultural awareness, and gender diversity (Sil, 196). Various social norms that are acceptable in the society, such as the white middle-class condemn women of color to silence and prevent their attainment of self-identity. Social norms are important in the definition of self and creation of self-identity since it contributed towards their placement in the American society. Social norms determine the historical perspectives and societal perception of black women. They define the premises upon which the society judges the African American women.
Marshall’s writing, Reena depicts a fight for the subversion of a perceived order that intends to liberate the African American woman from the “otherness” perspectives and to acquire the “oneness” perspective. Women have the responsibility to create their own self-identities. They decided to create identities for themselves in the American society. The experience expanded to accommodate black women and allow them to contribute to the process. Both white and African American women joined efforts to deconstruct the societal patriarchal structure (Marshall, 963). Marshall is an instrumental figure regarding the development of self-identity in African American women. Her participatio0n is expressed through her literature in which he used characterization to empower women.
In relation to Marshall’s literature, Reena, women can always act independently adhering to personal criteria rather than obeying the patriarchal social constructs. Her heroines embody the African-American efforts to break the male domination over women. The patriarchal structure of the American society, render women voiceless. Other than the domination of women,
the society transgresses imposed boundaries on Black women by associating with them certain identities. The inferiority of the black women is a concept that is centuries old and redefining such an identity distortion not easily achieved in a patriarchal society where men define attributes such as goodness, beauty, truth, and reality. Marshall (194) argues that the first step towards the liberation of women from oppression and male domination is the disruption of the myths that support the Western norms. Myths interfere with the linear history permitting the creation of a particular identity by influencing different texts. Myths may allow an individual to travel in time and space to search for the beginning of identity distortion and establish a point from which restoration of dignity begins. Myths hold great significance even in the postmodern societies as it entails all the functions and domains of human life in a positive and practical sense in the reestablishment of self-identity.
With regards to gender, Black women experience stereotypes contradictory to the universal ideals of femininity resulting in the perception of such as failed. Even though both black and white women are subjects of male domination; the latter is considered to be the socially acceptable woman. The society has developed images objectifying African American woman regarding several societal negatives. For instance, Black women are perceived as promiscuous and lack sexual restraint. Such objectifying views of the black women provide the white men with the rationale for sexual assault. Black women raising single families are the opposite representation of a mother figure in nuclear families and viewed as aggressively flirtatious, lazy and neglectful (Marshall, 968).
The socially determined submissive perceptions of the African
American women serve the purpose of preventing the women from empowering themselves and breaking free from such status quo. The exaggerated actions and the casting of black women in bad light push them into assimilated behavior. Despite the efforts to liberate the African American women from oppressive cultures and stereotypes, dehumanizing perspectives are still in play decades later and continue to influence the development of self-identity by black women. The women must work to liberate themselves from such stereotypic categorization by the society. The establishment of self-identity involves determination and confidence in one’s self. Overcoming the negative societal perspectives of the black women entails believing in one’s self and gender.
Racial prejudice affects both African American men and women because of their dark skin color. However, belonging to the female gender amplifies the effects for the women. In the event of an absolute liberation from racial prejudice and ethnicity, the African American women are expected to remain under the oppression of the hierarchic society that America has become (Sil, 8). Various feminist movements operate in America to deconstruct the patriarchal structures in the society. However, there is no adequate representation of women of color hence seen as inconsequential in civil right organizations. Civil right movements have seen in the men of color get their civil rights as opposed to women of color. As a result of the patriarchy in American societies, the men have become the masters domineering over the women. This in effect reduces the pace of African American women liberation. The intersected identities of these women in gender and race have led to underrepresentation in both categories reciprocating into slower liberation processes.
The social constructs
that spread stereotypes against African American women sometimes have far-reaching psychological effects on the individuals leading to self-hate (Marshall, 963). The norms put in place by the white society lead the women into believing in the superiority of the dominant communities hence considering themselves inferior. Often, such effects result in the African American women denouncing their traditions and cultures and worshiping the white culture. Such an occurrence renders black women vulnerable to exploitations and abuse by the whites. The white education system plays an important role African American women social ascent.
On the other hand, the same education encourages the assimilation of black women into the American mainstream culture (Marshall, 963). It insists on the superiority of the western cultures of the minority cultures leading to loss of identity and self-definition. Lack of confidence in one’s culture perpetrated by the gospel of superior Western culture may result in reduced esteem and self-confidence. Even though the Western education is responsible for the empowerment of several African American women, one ought to be careful regarding cultural interactions. Traditional roots play a vital role in retaining confidence in one’s self hence developing self-identity.
African American immigrants to the United States are most likely to find themselves facing the realities of segregation and discrimination. The impacts of such social vices are inflated for an African American woman due to gender differences. Unlike a black male, a black female will be subject to racism as well as feminism. There are established social norms within American society intended to hinder liberation efforts by the black women and prevent the realization of empowerment and self-identity. Effort at both personal and group level is, therefore,
necessary in facilitating the realization of self-identity for the African American woman in the patriarchal American society.
Cited Works
- Heather Hathaway. Caribbean Waves: Relocating Claude McKay and Paule Marshall. Indiana University Press, 1999.
- Sil Lai Abrams. Black Lotus: A Woman’s Search for Racial Identity. Karen Hunter Publishing, 2016.
