Summary Of Unafraid Of The Dark

From birth, an innocent African American female is automatically granted membership into two, or maybe even three, oppressed groups in the United States of America. The color of her skin puts her face-to-face with the unforgiving monster known as racism. To add to that insult, being a female puts her in direct confrontation with sexism, undermining her value to society. Not to mention there will be a limited amount of resources within her reach depending on her social class. Like the weight of battling racism, sexism, and classism is not enough, black women in America also encounter the many stereotypes that are associated with being a black female, which manifested dating back to slavery. In their autobiographies, Unafraid of the Dark: A
Just the terms ‘women’ and ‘female’ suggests that women cannot stand alone without a man because of their inferior status. When trying to obtain leadership, in the workforce for example, women often experience the glass ceiling, a metaphor meaning they can see themselves working in higher position but the “ceiling” (their gender) is preventing them from doing so. A case-in-point to show that this still holds true in today’s society can be seem in the circumstances surrounding Dr. Melissa V. Harris-Perry. She was passed by for a promotion as a professor as Princeton University. That was a clear indication to Harris-Perry that “she was not valued there and it was time to leave” . The promotion was not even to a dean, but from a tenure associate professor to a full professor. One would think she earned the position after working for Princeton for five years. Harris-Perry must have been a great professor to keep her job at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States for five years, but her greatest flaw was a ‘she’. Similar to the experiences of Bray, Gaines, and Nelson, as women, their strength and capabilities were undermined; a constant reminder of their