beauty industry, even if it means a lifetime of devotion to beauty regimen. Beauty seems to…
Society’s perspective of beauty customarily causes men and women to attempt to conform to a standard sought suitable through the eyes of their peers. Jennifer Morgan, the author of “Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder: Male Travelers, Female Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology”, was biracial, however, identified as being African American. Morgan never felt beautiful in comparison to society’s standards and wrote this article in order to determine why the images of African American women were hypersexualized as well as when society began viewing these women this way. She also wanted to know how the male gaze contributed to slavery and why black women can’t be the standard of beauty even in today’s world.…
What will it take to see the image of the black woman as a human being? What is the moral responsibility of an artist? I find it difficult to answers these questions. As a black woman I aware that regardless of my artistic talent and education, the myths and stereotypes are seen first. As an artist, I feel the need to represent black women in a positive light, but is this only for my private portfolio? What does an artist do when they are commissioned to paint an image that could be racist and sexist? The strategies for how an artist positions him/herself narrating a historical event relies heavily on the dominant society’s viewpoint. The important aspect in contemporary black feminist literature is looking at the historical painting as another form of storytelling that contributes to the…
One of the major differences between the New Negro and the African American is the viewpoint on the culture. The aspects of the culture that is being focused on is the literary, and the fine arts. “In Harlem Renaissance literature,…
Despite the advancement of America in ways that were extraordinary, Negros were still being treated harshly and considered the inferior race. However, during this period of constant discrimination through stereotypical accusations, undermining, and prejudice, the New Negro arose and revolutionized society as a whole. Through reading the works of prominent social activists Langston Hughes and Alain Locke; it can be understood that the concept of the New Negro was a promising aspect during the Harlem Renaissance. The “New Negro”, coined by Alain Locke, is described as being a modernist – an independent and self-guided individual who would go against longstanding white supremacy and prove his equality and noncompliance to unreasonable white assumptions and demands. Langston Hughes and Alain Locke both pushed for the acknowledgement of the American Negro’s part in society as the emanating New Negro sought social compensation for the misjudgment and inequality they faced. The impression Langston Hughes and Alain Locke made, and the message they brought through their works, can be appreciated through Aaron Douglas’s “Building More Stately…
In the beginning of the movie, this beautiful African- American woman Mona is modeling in the water with a stern seductive face. Wearing a blonde wig, a zebra print swim suite, and long fingernails, she roles around in the sand in all different poses for her white photographer. He instructs her to be sexy and flirty while he snaps photos of every move she makes. Mona is fulfilling the role of an ideal European model, and has lost her own self-identity in the process. The Eurocentric worldviews of what is accepted and what is pretty has led Mona to loose her own identity of who she really is and where she came from. Therefore, Mona’s curiosity leads her to a dramatic change in herself, and a whole new perspective.…
African society by incorporating the African imagery of a “still-life.” He describes a dining room in a home, but not any ordinary dining room; he incorporates the African details into the painting to distinguish it from other European/ American looks. He wanted to describe an ordinary daily routine of African-Americans. Although many people criticized his paintings including this one, as satirical stereotypes, I believe he wanted to achieve African culture and tradition into a more modern, stylistic expression.…
This, according to Malcolm’s criticism, was how white imprisoned the Blacks mentally, and that this was even worse than the physical nature of slavery itself (47-48). In order to combat this, Blacks have to learn to love their own appearance. For the African-Americans today, they still struggle with the same concept of beauty, body image, and hair of the past. Although some of them straighten their hair, it does not necessarily mean they are mimicking features of European hair styles. As Jones and Shorter-Gooden argued, “Not every woman who decides to straighten her hair or change the color of her eyes by wearing contacts believes that beauty is synonymous with whiteness” (178). Basically, black women are experimenting, even with hairs that are associated with European styles, to spark an expression of creativity or for employment reasons (Tracey, Owens Patton,…
1. According to Frye, these stories stop being ways to explain the world and become part of literature as soon as they cease to be beliefs, or even sooner. Frye states that they are all products of an impulse to identify human and natural worlds and they are really metaphors, part of the language of poetry.…
Within any group of people there is always going to be some form of judgment and African American people of the early twentieth century Harlem are no different. Throughout this course students have been immersed into the culture of 1920s Harlem and through this immersion many significant issues have surfaced from the artist of the time period. A major issue that has been repetitive throughout all forms of art during this period is colorism. Colorism which can also be called color conscientiousness, intra-racism, being color-struck, or having a color complex is a long standing epidemic focusing on physical appearance with a large concentration on the color of one’s skin (Carpenter 1). It is an ideology that is largely used in African American art dating as far back as slave folk literature and still being a dominant force in present day African American literature, but was a defining form of expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Although colorism is not gender specific I have found that it plays a more dominantly negative role in the lives of women and through literary and secondary source supports this paper will further express what colorism is and the affect it has on the women who face it at such a high racially tense time.…
Thomas, The Shadow World, (1978) examined the effects the Black Arts Movement had on Black artists and the intensified awareness of Black culture and politics on the community. The Black Arts Movement compelled its artists to produce art within the context of the community’s needs (Thomas, 1978). The artists of the time became the spokesmen for the people and convinced them to go back to their roots which strengthened their racial pride. In addition, this influenced people to become politically aware of their nation, which gravitated them towards accepting Black Nationalism. While the short lived Black Arts Movement prompted the Black community to become one, The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School was instrumental in the success of the movement, because it roused people’s to acknowledge their self-worth as Black individuals in a white-dominated…
I am thankful for all people who go to a cosmetology school to get their hair done. Without them, cosmetology students wouldn’t be able to get the practice they desperately need before going out into a real salon. However, when you come into a school you must sign a waiver that says the student is not responsible for any mistakes made. We’re well trained, but we’re not professionals. Not everyone realizes this. Some of these clients are brutal. Take it from me. I went to cosmetology school, and there, I met all sorts of awful clients. Whether it’s the Elderly Perfectionists, the Know It Alls, or the Cinderella Wannabees, these clients don’t care who you are, they’ll eat you up and spit you out alive.…
References: Banks, I. (2000). Hair matters: Beauty, power, and Black women’s consciousness. New York, NY: New York University Press.…
I could make this essay as cliché as they come and talk about how being a single mother is so challenging, about how boot camp was so hard, or how a bad divorce changed my views on everything in my life… but instead, I’ll appreciate all of those things, and grasp my goals from a different challenge. That challenge is: loss. Some of my biggest goals were awknowledged through the death of my best friend, which in turn led me to this road at Paul Mitchell St. Louis. All of the above mentioned have shaped me, and for that I am grateful, however, the person who helped me realize my dreams of pursing art through cosmetology is no longer here, and with her is where my goals began, and my promise is fullfilled.…
References: Born, P. (2005). New day dawning. Beauty Biz. May 1, 2005 p 26. Retrieved December 1, 2005 from: http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/790/921/76606092w5/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A132422602&dyn=8!xrn_3_0_A132422602?sw_aep=uphoenix…