Introduction

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Fanning
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Black Identity ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
African American Leaders

This introductory chapter argues that both Haitian and African American leaders actively promoted Haiti as a quintessentially black nation. Haitian leaders did so by codifying the concept in the nation's constitution and also by other words and deeds. At independence, Haiti identified itself by color, declaring in Article 14 of its constitution, “Haitians henceforth will be known by the generic name of blacks.” All inhabitants, regardless of skin color, would be considered “black,” suggesting an open and inclusive black identity. The constitution also outlawed all white landownership, indicating a color consciousness and a desire to keep whites from the island. Around the same time, members of the African American community began looking to the Caribbean island and embracing color as an identifier. This choice, just as in Haiti, was a strategy to unify against white oppression and racism.

The Lives of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington: Self-Actualization Among African American Males

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-329
Author(s):  
William James Jones
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Males ◽  
Learned Helplessness ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Key Sectors ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
African American Leaders

Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington are pioneering examples of African American leaders who realized the fullness of their potentialities despite profound obstacles toward growth. It was through their abilities to respond to the shared needs of the African American community that they culturally epitomized the spirit of what Abraham Maslow defined as self-actualization. The researcher utilized text-based data to examine the process of development among the three historic figures as they relate to Maslow’s theory of self-actualization. The researcher analyzed published autobiographical books, essays, and speeches authored by each of the three men while integrating the cultural and historical context of their lived experiences through the humanistic and positive psychological lens of Maslow’s theory of self-actualization. Through a qualitative autobiographical analysis of the three men, the researcher discovered 15 common attributes in their process of self-actualization. Low self-esteem, depression, and learned helplessness are negatively affecting many aspects of the African American community; therefore, community leaders, mental health practitioners, and other advocates for underserved communities of color have an opportunity to provide enhanced training and treatment to help slow the tide of unrealized potential within key sectors of the African American community.

scholarly journals Blackness, Colorism, and Epidermalization of Inferiority in Zora Neale Hurston’s Color Struck: A Fanonian Reading of the Play

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
Mahshid Mirmasoomi ◽  
Farshid Nowrouzi Roshnavand
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
African Slaves ◽  
Inferiority Complex

Ever since the first encounter between Columbus and Native Americans, the West has embarked on a subtle process of “Otherizing” non-whites as a means to maintain its hegemonic power over the subalternized groups. This strategy was also employed by the dominant whites in the United States, where a stereotypical representation of black slaves served as a justification for the institution of slavery. Through depicting blacks as irrational, lascivious, and eternally damned with a deviant pigmentation, the racist representational strategy turned into a useful instrument to subjugate African slaves. Under such circumstances, blacks, merely due to their different skin color, were barred from having any major contribution to the sociopolitical or cultural spheres. Frantz Fanon was one of the critics concerned with the psychological effects of racism on the colonized subject. He believed racis m would eventually cause an inferiority complex in black-skinned subjects who found themselves unable to effect any alteration in the discriminatory status quo; in other words, the white dominators would gradually compel blacks to internalize the negative stereotypes of their skin color which portrayed blackness as the symbol of vice and depravity. According to Fanon, this would finally bring about blacks‟ self-hatred and their efforts to behave like powerful whites, a process which he called epidermalization of inferiority. The process of epidermalization is conspicuous in African American community, where the degrees of blackness or whiteness have become the index of assigning or denying privileges, a hierarchical system which is called colorism. As a case study, Zora Neale Hurston‟s play Color Struck (1925) is analyzed in this paper to demonstrate the entrenched presence of coloris m and epidermalization of inferiority in African American community, all of which attest to the preponderance of white ideological force and the coercion of blacks into the internalization of stereotypes as a means of survival.

scholarly journals The Effects of Colorism on Self Perception and Self-Esteem

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-07
Author(s):  
Shanika Lavi Wilson ◽  
Shaquila O’Shay Massey ◽  
De’Onna Smith ◽  
Christopher Solomon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Black African

Colorism has been a historical racial dilemma for the African American community since slavery. Colorism can be defined as a form of bias, based upon different aspects of physical appearance including skin color, facial features, and hair that favors the facial appearance of Caucasian white Americans (Beopple, 2015). Over the last 10 years quantitative and qualitative data has been gathered to study the effect of colorism on the African American community with a specific focus on the psychological well-being of this population. A survey was conducted to evaluate the effects of colorism on African American women and their self-esteem and self-perception. A total of 25(N=25) surveys were gathered of women, ages 18-50, who all identified as black, African American or a person of color. The analyzed research results concluded that colorism, although has negatively impacted many participants, has not lowered or altered their self esteem or self perception.

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