Double Burden: Black Women and Everyday Racism

252 Pages·1998·10.706 MB·English

by  Yanick St Jean, Joe R Feagin

double
burden
This page intentionally left blank
YAN ICK ST. JEAN
JOE R. FEAGIN
double
burden
BLACK
WOMEN
AND
EVERYDAY
RACISM
RO Routledge
U
TLED Taylor & Francis Group
G
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1998 by M.E. Sharpe
Published 2015 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright© 1998 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Notices
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to
persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise,
or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas
contained in the material herein.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and
knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or
experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should
be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for
whom they have a professional responsibility.
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
St. Jean, Yanick, 1945
Double burden: Black women and everyday racism\ Yanick St. Jean and Joe R. Feagin
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56324-944-8 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN 1-56324-945-6 (pbk: alk. paper)
1. Afro-American women--Social conditions. 2. Race discrimination-United States.
3. Racism-United States. 4. United States-Race relations. I. Feagin, Joe R. II. Tide.
El85.86.S695 1997
305 .48'89607 3--<lc21
97-16069
CIP
ISBN 13: 9781563249457 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9781563249440 (hbk)
To Zeta Sikes, and all the other unsung African American women
who have striven heroically from 1619 to the present, including our
respondents.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface IX
Acknowlegments Xlll
Chapter 1
The Lives of Black Women:
Introduction and Overview 3
Harsh Representations of Black Women 5
Racial Oppression and Stigmatization of Black Women 11
Practicing Gendered Discrimination 15
Racism at Work 18
The "Beauty" of Racism 23
The Racist Past and Its Contemporary Legacies 26
Fighting Back: An Oppositional Culture 29
Voices of Black Women and Men 36
Conclusion 38
Chapter 2
Black Women at Work 40
Racial Discrimination at Work 41
White Manipulation: Using Black Women 52
Consequences of Racism at Work: Black Families 62
Conclusion 69
Chapter 3
Black Beauty in a Whitewashed World 73
Stigmatizing Black Beauty 74
Contradictions and Consequences of Stigmatization 88
Fighting Back Successfully 91
Beauty Standards and Black Men 93
Conclusion 96
Chapter 4
Common Myths and Media Images
of Black Women 99
Myths About African American Women: Sexuality
and Attractiveness 100
Racial-Sexual Myths and Their Origins 103
Other Media Stigmatization of Black Women 105
Media Stigmatizing of the African American Family 115
Conclusion 121
Chapter 5
Distancing White Women 123
Racial Conflict in Organizations 123
Friction with White Women in Other Settings 132
Major Differences Across the Color Line 136
Supportive White Women 142
Conclusion 148
Chapter 6
Black Families: Goals and Responses 151
The Extended Family in Black America 152
The Many Strengths of Black Families 15 5
Troubles in Families and Communities 170
Black Women's Hopes and Goals for Their Families 173
Conclusion 182
Chapter 7
Motherhood and Families 184
The Significance of Motherhood 185
A Sense of Control 198
Conclusion 200
Chapter 8
Finale 202
Black Women at Work 202
Concepts of Beauty 204
Media Portrayals of Black Women 205
Black and White Women 207
Black Families 207
Motherhood 209
What We've Learned 211
Notes 215
Index 229
Preface
One of the famous books of the twentieth century, John F. Kennedy's
Profiles in Courage, celebrates the heroic actions of five individuals.1
All those celebrated are white men. In our book we celebrate those
who are among the nation's most forgotten heroes: black women.
Why are these women heroes? What is it like to be a black woman
in the United States? "It's tough! It's very tough!" says one of the
African American women with whom we talked. Another woman finds
it "very exciting. I find being a black woman today, in today's environ
ment, just so-invigorating, just so exciting. I mean it is tough, I think
it is tough, but I don't know anybody who doesn't have it tough for
any reasons whatsoever. We all have it tough. But, for me, that tough
is just a part of being a human being. And certainly a part of the black
woman's experience. That's what (we do} ... ; we do tough!"
For an African American woman it takes great strength and courage
to "do tough" in the face of discrimination and of misrepresentations,
misconceptions, and distortions of black women at the hands of white
Americans. These distorted views continue to prevail in U.S. society
because those who write, tell, teach, and institutionalize them run
most institutions. They predominate because they are part of the status
quo, the white tradition. They have roots in the collective memory of
white Americans, and they are embedded in many historical writings
of prominent white Americans.
It takes courage for anyone to defy these whitewashed versions of
history because they are so hoary and so set. It also takes courage for
anyone to challenge the current expressions of that white memory
the discriminatory habits and distorting practices that reflect and help
preserve the sincere fictions held by most whites about racial matters.
These habits and practices are such a central part of the dominant
culture in the United States, so important to its coherence, that their
existence and effects on people go mostly unrecognized, particularly by
those whom they benefit. Serious difficulties face anyone defying the
white memory and the everyday racist habits and practices that help to
perpetuate it.
lX