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Portrait of a young African American female
Title
Portrait of a young African American female.
Date Created
1861-1865
Identifier
DP0012820
Format
Image (JPEG)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0012820
Portrait of an elderly African American female
Title
Portrait of an elderly African American female.
Identifier
DP0012818
Format
Image (JPEG)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0012818
Romeo and Juliet in Dixieland
Title
Romeo and Juliet in Dixieland.
Date Created
1890s
Identifier
DP0015455
Format
Set of related objects
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0015455
THE SOCIOCULTURAL PERCEPTION OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN'S BODILY AESTHETICS: INVESTIGATED IN THE WORKS VENUS, GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY, AND THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Title
THE SOCIOCULTURAL PERCEPTION OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN'S BODILY AESTHETICS: INVESTIGATED IN THE WORKS VENUS, GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY, AND THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD.
Creator
Loiten, Andrene, Hohenleitner, Kathleen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Despite contemporary movements towards tolerance and appreciation of differing cultural entities within the United States, the normative standard of beauty serves as a pinnacle of division amongst women. The normative standard of beauty-implemented by the dominant race within the States-encourages discrimination in regards to the perception of African American female beauty. Although information exists identifying the original influence pertaining to the negative perception of African...
Show moreDespite contemporary movements towards tolerance and appreciation of differing cultural entities within the United States, the normative standard of beauty serves as a pinnacle of division amongst women. The normative standard of beauty-implemented by the dominant race within the States-encourages discrimination in regards to the perception of African American female beauty. Although information exists identifying the original influence pertaining to the negative perception of African American female beauty, the reason for its continued perpetuation within the African American community remains ill defined. Effects of this standard amongst African Americans are psychological and physiological. The destruction of self-image and appreciation for natural features by African American Women occur as a result. The influence of this standard extends to individuals outside of the African American community also and in turn impact their perception of African American aesthetics. Scholarly and Literary writers have chosen to comment on this topic. Some dissect the features that constitute to the considered level of attractiveness attributed of African American women. As these writers explore the realm aesthetic perception, discriminatory tendencies amongst those from the dominant race as well as the marginalized group-in this case African Americans-are revealed. Theories offering explanations in regards to the perpetuation of negative perceptions of African American female beauty arise.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFH2000213, ucf:45946
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000213
THE OPPRESSION AND SEXISM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN: THEN AND NOWSUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF MUSICAL THEATRE
Title
THE OPPRESSION AND SEXISM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN: THEN AND NOWSUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF MUSICAL THEATRE.
Creator
Owens, Kelli, Weaver, Earl, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
A wise Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Freedom is never given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed (King 1)." For as long as men and women have shared the planet, sexism has been a universal issue in civilization. In a social justice context, American society has found ways to oppress people for centuries. The Oxford Dictionary defines sexism as a "prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex ("sexism")." Voting rights in...
Show moreA wise Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Freedom is never given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed (King 1)." For as long as men and women have shared the planet, sexism has been a universal issue in civilization. In a social justice context, American society has found ways to oppress people for centuries. The Oxford Dictionary defines sexism as a "prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex ("sexism")." Voting rights in America were established in 1790, but it took years of petitioning at various women's rights conventions before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution stating "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex" was passed in 1920 ("Nineteenth Amendment"). Traditionally, men were supposed to be the strong, decisive, driven, courageous, money-making breed, while women were expected to be the nurturing, affectionate, weak subordinates. Today, we find men and women working in careers previously linked with sexism; men as nurses and teachers, women as CEOs and factory workers. Statistics show that today there are an increasing number of women providing the financial support in their families. As with sexism, people also have been oppressed by racism for centuries. According to The Oxford Dictionary, racism is defined as a "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior ("racism")." It has been argued that African Americans have been one of the most oppressed groups in America. Even after they were emancipated in 1865, it was nearly one hundred years later that their rights were protected with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Before the act's passing, African Americans were denied equal education, employment, housing property, and a political voice. My interest in this topic was peaked right around the same time I became interested in performing on the musical theatre stage. I got my start in local community theatres, and up until college, was the only African American cast in the productions. I started playing multiple ensemble roles per show, and throughout the years advanced myself to "supporting character" but never the lead. Admittedly, there were times when I wasn't as talented as the women who snagged the leading roles, but many a time when I was just as talented or more qualified for the role, it went to another woman —most times of Caucasian descent. What did they have that I didn't have? When I got accepted into The University of Central Florida as a BFA Musical Theatre student, I auditioned for the plays and musicals every semester, and each season I began to see the same patterns of who was cast for each show. Roles I thought I would get often went to White actors. I felt victimized in this modern-day example of racism. But racism goes beyond black and White. Internal racism between the light-skinned and dark-skinned African American women I was competing with became a factor as well. There were many times when an audition notice called for an African American woman; however, an unsettling trend became very apparent to me; if the casting description was for a maid, or something of that nature, larger, dark-skinned women would get the majority of the callbacks, which would lead to them getting cast. On the flip side, if an audition notice called for an African American ingenue type, more of the slimmer, lighter-skinned women were called back and later cast. Has American society cast a racial stigma for African American beauty?
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFH0004545, ucf:45211
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004545
When Oppressed Women Attack: Female-Enacted Violence Through Minority American Female Playwrights' Works
Title
When Oppressed Women Attack: Female-Enacted Violence Through Minority American Female Playwrights' Works.
Creator
Busselle, Kate, Boyd, Belinda, Shafer, John, StClaire, Sybil, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
As an Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, theatrical violence is something that has always captivated me. When a female combat instructor once told me that even though I throw a great punch I will never be able to use it because women are always on the receiving end of violence in theatre, I wondered if this was truly the case. After a thorough exploration of several works with theatrical violence, I am glad to say that it is not the case. When most scholars examine...
Show moreAs an Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, theatrical violence is something that has always captivated me. When a female combat instructor once told me that even though I throw a great punch I will never be able to use it because women are always on the receiving end of violence in theatre, I wondered if this was truly the case. After a thorough exploration of several works with theatrical violence, I am glad to say that it is not the case. When most scholars examine violence in theatre, the focus is either male-centric or specifically on domestic violence situations involving a male abusing a female. I will examine theatrical violence through a new lens that has yet to be thoroughly critically explored: violence where the female is the aggressor. Through selected works of three American minority female playwrights: Suzan-Lori Parks' In the Blood, Maria Irene Fornes' Conduct of Life, and Young Jean Lee's Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, I will analyze the female-enacted violence that occurs within these plays using feminist theories and psychology to examine how it happens, why it happens, who the victims are, and what these acts of violence say about minority American women in society today. I will explore the stage directions and dialogue surrounding the violence and analyzing the use or absence of weaponry, the breakdown or build-up of language prior to and after the violent action, and whether or not the violent action occurs before or after a violent action is committed against the female. For comparison, I will also analyze work by an American male playwright with violence in the same way: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0006028, ucf:51018
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006028
White and Black Womanhoods and Their Representations in 1920s American Advertising
Title
White and Black Womanhoods and Their Representations in 1920s American Advertising.
Creator
Turnbull, Lindsey, Lester, Connie, Sacher, John, Dandrow, Edward, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The 1920s represented a time of tension in America. Throughout the decade, marginalized groups created competing versions of a proper citizen. African-Americans sought to be included in the national fabric. Racism encouraged solidarity, but black Americans did not agree upon one method for coping with, and hopefully ending, antiblack racism. White women enjoyed new privileges and took on more roles in the public sphere. Reactionary groups like the Ku Klux Klan found these new voices...
Show moreThe 1920s represented a time of tension in America. Throughout the decade, marginalized groups created competing versions of a proper citizen. African-Americans sought to be included in the national fabric. Racism encouraged solidarity, but black Americans did not agree upon one method for coping with, and hopefully ending, antiblack racism. White women enjoyed new privileges and took on more roles in the public sphere. Reactionary groups like the Ku Klux Klan found these new voices unsettling and worrisome and celebrated a white, native-born, Protestant and male vision of the American citizen. Simultaneously, technological innovations allowed for advertising to flourish and spread homogenizing information regarding race, gender, values and consumption across the nation. These advertisements selectively represented these changes by channeling them into pre-existing prescriptive ideology. Mainstream ads, which were created by whites for white audiences, reinforced traditional ideas regarding black men and women and white women's roles. Even if white women were featured using technology or wearing cosmetics, they were still featured in prescribed roles as housekeepers, wives and mothers who deferred to and relied on their husbands. Black women were featured in secondary roles, as servants or mammies, if at all. Concurrently, the black press created its own representations of women. Although these representations were complex and sometimes contradictory and had to reach multiple audiences, black-created ads featured women in a variety of roles, such as entertainers, mothers and business women, but never as mammies. Then, in a decade of increased tensions, white-created ads relied on traditional portrayals of women and African-Americans while black-designed ads offered more positive, although complicated, visions of womanhood.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004612, ucf:49939
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004612
"ANIMAL-LIKE AND DEPRAVED": RACIST STEREOTYPES, COMMERCIAL SEX, AND BLACK WOMEN'S IDENTITY IN NEW ORLEANS, 1825-1917
Title
"ANIMAL-LIKE AND DEPRAVED": RACIST STEREOTYPES, COMMERCIAL SEX, AND BLACK WOMEN'S IDENTITY IN NEW ORLEANS, 1825-1917.
Creator
Dossie, Porsha, Lester, Connie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
My objective with this thesis is to understand how racist stereotypes and myths compounded the sale of fair-skinned black women during and after the slave trade in New Orleans, Louisiana. This commodification of black women's bodies continued well into the twentieth century, notably in New Orleans' vice district of Storyville. Called "quadroons" (a person with 1/4 African ancestry) and "octoroons" (1/8 African ancestry), these women were known for their "sexual prowess" and drew in a large...
Show moreMy objective with this thesis is to understand how racist stereotypes and myths compounded the sale of fair-skinned black women during and after the slave trade in New Orleans, Louisiana. This commodification of black women's bodies continued well into the twentieth century, notably in New Orleans' vice district of Storyville. Called "quadroons" (a person with 1/4 African ancestry) and "octoroons" (1/8 African ancestry), these women were known for their "sexual prowess" and drew in a large number of patrons. The existence of "white passing" black women complicated ideas about race and racial purity in the South. Race as a myth and social construct, or as Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham explains in her essay, African-American Women's History and the Metalanguage of Race, a "metalanguage" exposes race not as a genetic fact, but rather a physical appearance through which power relations and status were to be conferred. My methodology uses race and gender theory to analyze primary and secondary sources to understand and contextualize how population demographics, myths, and liberal 18th century colonial laws contributed to the sale of black women's bodies. The works of Emily Clark, Walter Johnson, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall and other historians who utilize Atlantic history have been paramount in my research. Emily Clark has transformed the "white-black" women from a tragic, sexualized trope into a fully actualized human being, while Hall has tackled the racist underpinnings inherent in the neglect of black women's history. The writings of bell hooks, particularly her essay Eating the Other, establishes the modern day commodification of black women vis-a-vis their representation in media, as well as through the fetishism of their bodies by a white patriarchal system. During slavery plantation owners could do virtually anything they wanted with their property, including engaging in sexual intercourse. By depicting black women as hypersexual jezebels, they could justify their rape, while establishing their dominance and place in the white male hegemony of that time period. For the right price a white male of a lesser class could achieve the same thing at a brothel down in Storyville at the turn of the twentieth century, for as Emily Clark argues in her book, The Strange History of the American Quadroon, these brothels were a great equalizer, allowing all white men to experience "sexual mastery enjoyed only by elite planters before the Civil War." By democratizing white supremacy, the quadroon and others like her forged solidarity that bridge across all classes, while upholding whiteness and oppressing people of color at the same time.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFH0004652, ucf:45310
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004652

Pages