Identity has been an issue among African American people, especially among the women, arguably since the beginning of the slavery period. Oppression came in many forms during that time. African Americans were forced to change their names and languages in attempts to erase any traces of their pasts. Oppression was also communicated through physical violence. As a result of this oppression, African Americans have struggled for self-definition. This is especially true for African American women, who have suffered hardships of oppression from European Americans, and often times neglect from African American men, leaving them nothing but negative experiences for which to base their existence. But while suffering these hardships, African American women have always thrived, determined to define themselves for themselves through music, literary works, and other forms of activism, including the black feminist movement. In this essay, I will explore how African American women have managed to maintain some form of identity through self-definition, at the same time, building a “voice” for themselves in society despite facing the difficulties of oppression.
Oppression, according to Frye (1983), comes from the root press, which means to be “caught between or among forces and barriers which are so related to each other that jointly they restrain, restrict or prevent the thing’s motion or mobility” (p. 2). She equated this idea to women have suffered trying to function in a society that was created by and for white males. Of course, the same can be said for African American women. The pain that oppression brought African American women was extensive because they faced the double-edged sword of being black and women, receiving no respect or opportunities.
Oppression in America for African American came initially during slavery, where they were held captive and forced to work for European Americans. During slavery they had to succumb to verbal, physical and for women, sexual abuse. In addition, because they were taken from their native land and families, they were forced to adhere to the rules of the new land, which included learning English in order to communicate. This was especially difficult because they came from separate tribes, which had their own separate languages, so they not only had to learn to understand English, but each other’s native languages. But out of this emerged Black English Vernacular, the traditional language of African Americans.
After slavery was abolished, African Americans continued to suffer oppression because society was not willing to consider them as citizens. Black women suffered especially, being treated, according to Hill-Collins (2000), as “mules uh de world.” She believed that “Black women generally performed the same work as men,” which was “physically demanding, economically exploitative,” and “intellectually deadening” (p. 48). And unfortunately this work shaped gender roles for black women (Hill-Collins, 2000, p. 50). Stuck in these roles, African American women’s identities were vulnerable to negative stereotypical images. European Americans communicated messages of inferiority to African American women in only allowing them to work domestically. They had no emotional (or economical) support from society and often lacked support from African American men who were not always available. According to Davis (1998), after slavery, men often left their wives in search of work, sometimes never returning. This was because their new life brought them a “feeling of exhilaration and freedom,” something their ancestors were unable to experience (Davis, 1998, p. 68).
Other forms of oppression emerged in later years through mediated forms. The most well known mediated images of African American women could be seen on television. Some of those images included the Mammie (an overweight, obedient, domestic servant who knew to “say in her place”) and the Jezebel (a sexually aggressive whore) (Hill-Collins, 2000). One example of the Mammie is shown in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” where the maid, an overweight, obedient, marginal character, was only involved in the movie while serving food. An example of the Jezebel was portrayed by Lena Horne in the movie “Cabin in the Sky.” She was a slender temptress whose professed beauty took the form of European-like features. In her role, she was responsible for stealing the husband of the character played by Ethel Waters (a Mammie-like figure). Because of these images, according to Hill-Collins (2000), women’s self-definitions were difficult to manage. African American women were forced to fight to not adhere to the messages that were being sent to them.
And fought they did. Many black women have fought persistently over the years to resist the negative gender roles presented in media and real life, in addition to the sexual abuse and economic domination they have been forced to accept for centuries (Hill-Collins, 2000). One way that negative images were resisted was in their working to maintain or recreate identity through language. There were two ways that I saw this happening. The first was with maintaining a connection to the culture through maintaining the Black English Vernacular that was adopted during slavery. Blues music was one forum to do so. Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, and Billie Holliday were three of several African American women who maintained a connection to their culture through music, at the same time helping to foster an identity for African American women. The blues singers sang with an intensity that could be shared by other African Americans, letting them know that it was okay to be an African American, especially an African American woman, at such a difficult time in the 1930s and 1940s. Probably one of the most influential, yet least distributed songs of that period was “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holliday. The song addressed lynchings, which were prevalent at the time (Davis, 1998). Her song struck a nerve in the African American community and inspired more people to speak out against the oppression of African Americans.
As time evolved, more African American women made their voices heard not just in music, but on podiums and in scholarly works. Black Feminism was officially becoming a movement and African American women began to very openly oppose oppression and restructure their identities into their own self-defined terms. Within this movement, they began to recognize that the African American women activists were not just making the most noise. They were also the women in the neighborhoods getting together to discuss how to educate other women, teaching their children both solidarity and independence, refusing to be called “girl” by white women who were younger than them (Hill-Collins, 2000). Every African American woman was important and it was crucial to understand that. Their identities were building into ones of strength and courage.
In a class, my professor asked a group of students, black and white, what they knew or had heard to be true about African American women. Common themes were that African American women are strong, determined, and independent, all themes that defied the oppressive images of the media. These images had to be built, not from false, stereotypical images, but through actually living a certain way and forcing those images to the forefront. I praise African American women, because I too am an African American woman, and I believe that my sisters have overcome a great deal more than any other culture to stand where we now stand. And while negative stereotypical images do still surface in the media, we now have the power to resist those images and maintain the identities that were defined for us by us.
References
Davis, A. Y. (1998). Blues legacies and black feminism. New York: Vintage Books.
Frye, M. (1983). Oppression. The Politics of Reality. Trumansburg, New York: The Crossing Press.
Hill-Collins, P. (200). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.
