Michelle Obama as a Political Symbol: Race, Gender, and Public Opinion toward the First Lady

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 431-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Badas ◽  
Katelyn E. Stauffer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
First Lady ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Michelle Obama ◽  
Political Symbol ◽  
And Gender

AbstractPopular commentary surrounding Michelle Obama focuses on the symbolic importance of her tenure as the nation's first African American first lady. Despite these assertions, relatively few studies have examined public opinion toward Michelle Obama and the extent to which race and gender influenced public evaluations of her. Even fewer studies have examined how the intersection of race and gender influenced political attitudes toward Michelle Obama and her ability to serve as a meaningful political symbol. Using public opinion polls from 2008 to 2017 and data from the Black Women in America survey, we examine public opinion toward Michelle Obama as a function of respondents’ race, gender, and the intersection between the two. We find that African Americans were generally more favorable toward Michelle Obama than white Americans, with minimal differences between men and women. Although white women were no more likely than white men to view Michelle Obama favorably, we find that they were more likely to have information on Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative. Most importantly, we find that Michelle Obama served as a unique political symbol for African American women and that her presence in politics significantly increased black women's evaluation of their race-gender group.

THOSE SEGREGATED AND SACRED HOURS: New Perspectives on Religion, Race, and Gender in America

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-331
Author(s):  
Cheryl Townsend Gilkes
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
University Of California ◽  
American Women ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender

Mark Chaves, Congregations in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004, 291 pages, ISBN 0-674-01284-4, Cloth, $29.95.Marla F. Frederick, Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003, 263 pages, ISBN 0-520-23394-8, Cloth, $50.00, Paper, $19.95.Carolyn Moxley Rouse, Engaged Surrender: African American Women and Islam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004, 271 pages, ISBN 0-520-23795-1, Cloth, $50.00, Paper, $19.95.

Writing and “Righting”

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-97
Author(s):  
Robin Mazyck Sundaramoorthy ◽  
Jinx Coleman Broussard
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
Black Press ◽  
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
The Public ◽  
Suffrage Movement ◽  
Public Lives ◽  
And Gender

While the suffrage movement has largely been viewed through the lens of white women fighting for the vote, African American women were very much a part of the movement. Some of these women were suffrage advocates and journalists; others were activists in other arenas. Many black suffragists viewed the vote as a way of elevating their race, and the black press helped these women spread their message. Although it provided lackluster support for the suffrage movement, the black press gave considerable attention to the topic. It gave voice to those who supported the cause and those who were adamantly against it. This chapter focuses on the contributions and writings of prosuffrage journalists such as Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Bettiola Fortson, and others covered by the black press. It assesses the public lives and work of these women who had to consider both race and gender as they spoke up and out for those who could not speak for themselves.

The Negro Question, the Woman Question, and the “Vital Link”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Higashida
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Black Feminism ◽  
Black Belt ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Old Left ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender

This chapter provides a history of Black internationalist feminism. It begins with the intertwinings of Black nationalist and Old Left movements in the interwar years, with special attention to the Black Belt Nation Thesis, which produced political solidarities beyond the limited affiliations engendered and policed by U.S. liberal democracy. While putting the Black Belt Nation Thesis into practice entrenched Left masculinism more fully, several leading Black Communists transformed the meaning of self-determination to allow for intersectional analysis of race and gender and to address the “special oppressed status” of Black women. In doing so, African American Left women in particular paved the way for postwar Black feminism, which Claudia Jones definitively theorized. The chapter then demonstrates how the activism and analysis of African American women on the Old Left such as Maude White Katz and Louise Thompson Patterson laid grounds for postwar Black feminism.

Race, Gender, and Perceived Employment Discrimination

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-527
Author(s):  
Philip Q. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Employment Discrimination ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Independent Effect ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Job Discrimination ◽  
And Gender

This study investigates the effects of race and gender on perceived employment discrimination using the 2016 General Social Survey that provides new data on perceived employment discrimination that aligns more closely with the legal definition of employment discrimination. It is found that 19% of the American adults self-reported the experience of employment discrimination in job application, pay increase, or promotion in the past 5 years. The results of logistic regression analysis show that either controlling or not controlling for other factors, Blacks were much more likely to perceive being discriminated in employment than Whites, but other races were not significantly different from Whites in perceived employment discrimination after holding other variables constant. While gender did not have a significant independent effect on perceived job discrimination, it did interact with race to influence perceived job discrimination. Regardless of race, women were somewhat less likely than men to perceive job discrimination, but Black women were significantly even less likely than White women to self-report job discrimination, and Black men were much more likely to self-report employment discrimination than White men. These findings have implications for combating employment discrimination and addressing social inequalities.

scholarly journals African American Women and Domestic Violence: Addressing their Voice of Silence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernice Kennedy ◽  
Chalice Rhodes (Former Jenkins)
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Slave Owner ◽  
American Women ◽  
Strong Black Women

Abstract Historically, during slavery, the international slave trade promoted normalization of violence against African American women. During slavery, African American women endured inhuman conditions because of the majority race views of them as being over-sexualized, physically strong, and immoral. This perception of the African American women as being highly sexual and more sexual than white women results in slave owner justifying their sexual violation and degrading of the African American women. The stereotypical representations of African American women as strong, controlling, dangerous, fearless, and invulnerable may interfere with the African American women receiving the needed services for domestic violence in the community. The Strong Black Women Archetype has been dated back to slavery describing their coping mechanism in dealing with oppression by developing a strong, less traditionally female role. The authors developed a model: The Multidimensional Perspectives of Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence of African American Women in the United States. This model depicts historically, the factors contributing to domestic violence of African American women in the United States. Also, this model addressed the African American women subscribing to the Strong Black Women Archetype to cope with domestic violence. Despite the increase in domestic violence in African American women, they focused more on the issue of racism instead of sexism in America. African American women have experienced the two obstacles of racism and sexism in America. However, African American women and men believe racism is more critical than sexism. Therefore, domestic violence in the African American population may remain silent because of cultural loyalty. However, the voice of silence of African American females is gradually changing with the upcoming generations.

Abstract MP050: Race and Gender Group Specific Trends in Length of Stay for Acute Myocardial Infarction: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, 1987–2008

Circulation ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 125 (suppl_10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R Loehr ◽  
Xiaoxi Liu ◽  
C. Baggett ◽  
Cameron Guild ◽  
Erin D Michos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Black Men ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Men ◽  
Quadratic Term ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Insurance Type ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Aric Study

Introduction: Since the 1980’s, length of stay (LOS) for acute MI (AMI) has declined in the US. However, little is known about trends in LOS for non-white racial groups and whether change in LOS is related to insurance type or hospital complications. Methods: We determined 22 year trends in LOS for nonfatal (definite or probable) AMI among black and white residents age 35–74 in 4 US communities (N=396,514 in 2008 population) under surveillance in the ARIC Study. Events were randomly sampled and independently validated using a standardized algorithm. All analyses accounted for sampling scheme. We excluded MI events which started after admission (n=1,677), events within 28 days for the same person (n=3,817), hospital transfers (n=571), and those with LOS=0 or LOS >66 (top 0.5% of distribution, N= 144) leaving 22,258 weighted events for analysis. The average annual change in log LOS was modeled using weighted linear regression with year as a quadratic term. All models adjusted for age and secondary models adjusted for insurance type (Medicare, Medicaid, private, or other), and complications during admission (cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, or heart failure). Results: The average age-adjusted LOS from 1987 to 2008 was reduced by 5 days in black men (9.5 to 4.5 days); 4.6 days in white women (9.4 to 4.8 days); 4 days in white men (8.3 to 4.3 days) and 3.6 days in black women (9.0 to 5.4 days). Between 1987 and 2008, the age-adjusted average annual percent change (with 95% CI) in LOS was largest for white men at −4.40 percent per year (−4.91, −3.89) followed by −3.89 percent (−4.52, −3.26) for white women, −3.72 percent (−4.46, −2.89) for black men, and −2.94 percent (−3.92, −1.96) for black women (see Figure). Adjustment for insurance type, and complications did not change the pattern by race and gender. Conclusions: Between 1987 and 2008, LOS for AMI declined significantly and similarly in men and women, blacks and whites. These changes appear independent of differences in insurance type and hospital complications among race-gender groups.

Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eden Wales Freedman
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American Literature ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Testimonial Literature ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Sojourner Truth ◽  
Elizabeth Keckley ◽  
Critical Conversation ◽  
Literary Histories ◽  
And Gender

Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma: Confronting Race, Gender, and Violence in American Literature treats reader response to traumatic and testimonial literature written by and about African American women. Theorists emphasize the necessity of writing about—or “witnessing”—trauma to overcome it. To this critical conversation, Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma adds insight into the engagement of testimonial literature, articulating a theory of reading (or “dual-witnessing”) that explores how narrators and readers can witness trauma together. The book then places its original theories of traumatic reception in conversation with the African American literary tradition to speak to the histories, cultures, and traumas of African Americans, particularly the repercussions of slavery, as witnessed in American literature. This book also considers intersections of race and gender and how narrators and readers can cross such constructs to witness collectively. Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma’s innovative examinations of raced-gendered intersections open and speak with those works that promote dual-witnessing through the fraught (literary) histories of race and gender relations in America. To explicate how dual-witnessing converses with American literature, race theory, and gender criticism, the book analyzes emancipatory narratives by Sojourner Truth, Harriet Jacobs, and Elizabeth Keckley and novels by William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Walker, Toni Morrison, and Jesmyn Ward.

The character of womanhood: How African American women’s perceptions of womanhood influence marriage and motherhood

Ethnicities ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Chaney
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
American Women ◽  
Written Responses ◽  
The Family ◽  
Women’S Perceptions

This qualitative paper will focus on how black women understand and perceive womanhood, and will explore how black women’s perceptions regarding womanhood shape their attitudes and behaviours toward marriage and motherhood. Using a black feminist approach, I assert that black women’s perceptions of womanhood are not based on European notions as the family structure and experiences of African American women is characteristically different from that of white women. Further, I assert that African American women create a modified version of womanhood based on their education, social class and economic position in relation to black men, and which may, in turn, inform their decisions regarding marriage and motherhood. Specifically, I examine the written responses of fifteen African American women between the ages of 18 and 55 (mean age of 32.6 years) regarding what is expected of them as women. Qualitative analyses of the data revealed that womanhood was defined in terms of feminine attitudes (strength, sensitivity and sensuality) and feminine behaviours (familial care, their own physical appearance and self-respect). In addition, womanhood was demonstrated through a woman’s ability to care for her home and to take the lead in the absence of male leadership. Supporting qualitative data are presented in connection with each theme. Recommendations for future research are also provided.

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