Summary Of Patricia Hill Collins Sucking The Chicken Bone Dry

The controlling images and stereotypes that surround African Americans on a daily basis are meant to oppress and define the culture in which they live in, ultimately objectifying them in the process. The indefinite struggle that African American women must face due to these controlling images are highlighted throughout Patricia Hill Collins’ novel, Black Feminist Thought. She also embraces a sense of self-empowerment in an attempt to negate these images which were created by the dominant other, reinforcing that these images are typically maintained to justify the ideology of race, gender, and class oppression. Likewise, within Psyche A. Williams’ article, “Sucking the Chicken Bone Dry”, she explains the historical aspect in which stereotypes were created, mainly through the idea of a “chicken loving darky.” Through these exceptional readings, I can understand the plethora
of stereotypes African American continue to go through and their valiant efforts in trying to negate these stereotypes. It seems as though African American women have a very “trapped” way of living, as the dominant other continually places more and more controlling images in order to limit and oppress them.
Patricia Hill Collins asserts that the constant bombardment of these images through media have rendered Black women defenseless, as they are forced to internalize such pervasive images. Hill Collins discusses the constant spreading of these images through rap music and states, “Popular culture has become increasingly important in promoting these images, especially with new global technologies [...] images of Black women sexually available hoochies persist in Black music videos” (Collins 85). Not only does the endless assault come from White families, African American rappers do it also. Through this, one can recognize the very conflicting life of an African American, as they too perpetuate these images— ultimately making it harder for these Black women to escape them. The Black women must then find a place of solace where they can constantly negate these images and create their own sense of culture and
control.
The church is a “home space” where Black women can recognize these images and thus can cause a strong rebellion against the social hierarchies that have been normalized by the dominant other. Forson establishes that churches and the affinity of fried chicken can be a way to resist these images and a way to challenge these negative stereotypes by replacing them with positive ones. She exclaims, “[...] (fried chicken) remains a visible part of the expressive culture of African Americans and a useful tool in social action [...] when Black women congregate in church kitchens, cooking, networking, and strifing, they are building upon an integral part of the Black communities’ cultural identity” (Williams 179). Thus, one can understand that by recognizing the harmful images put out by the media and inverting them into new ones that reflect on the culture, and utilize them for their own self-expression and self-definition. The readings have provided me with a rich understanding on how White males attempted to reinforce these social hierarchies by limiting African Americans’ culture. Through the prevalence of controlling images, it made it fairly easy for the dominant other to oppress and objectify these women. In order to refute the images, I realized that the Black women must establish their own sense of culture with what has already been given: the controlling images. The controlling images were perpetrated yet utilized in these home spaces to give themselves their own self-empowerment and self-valuation. This valuable technique, in my opinion, has allowed Black women to create their own beautiful culture and they continue to evolve and recognize their self-worth even after all the conditions they have been through. Therefore, the ubiquity of the controlling images still could not stop the powerful Black women from turning it into their own self-definition and empowerment.