‘For better or for worse, there is history, there is the book and then there's the movie’: Foregrounding and Marginalizing African American Women in the Film Hidden Figures (2016)

This paper critically examines the representation of gender and race in the biographical drama film Hidden Figures (2016), directed by Theodore Melfi. The film is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book of the same title, which spotlights previously hidden figures in US history: the black female mathematicians who worked in the early US space program. The movie was released to critical acclaim and embraced by audiences as empowering African American girls. At the same time, the film was criticized for including a ‘white savior’ scene in which the black female protagonists are marginalized. After providing background information on Shetterly’s book and the film’s critical reception, this paper conducts a close formal analysis of a pivotal sequence in the film, which is compared to the events told in the nonfiction book. To shed light on the power structures that the film sequence projects, the results of this analysis are, subsequently, related to critical theoretical approaches to Hollywood cinema, as well as to Sara Ahmed’s concept of ‘affective economies.’ In conclusion, we argue that Hollywood filmmakers’ expectations about the desires of ‘mainstream’ audiences work to perpetuate the repression of previously repressed herstory on the ‘silver screen.’

Literacy 4 Brown Girls: An Explorative Study Centered on the Identity and Literacy of African-American Girls

The academic needs of African-American girls too often are not linked to their intersecting identities. These interlocked identities often go unseen, thus are rarely addressed in K-12 schools. Specifically, their identities are neglected in some of their English Language Arts classrooms through the sole use of hegemonic literary practices. Literacy 4 Brown Girls was implemented at a Midwest school for twelve weeks. The purpose of this case study was to explore the ways in which a literacy collaborative, designed with the identities of African-American girls in mind, might impact the identity construction of 12 African-American girls at a local school. Through careful document analysis, findings from this study reveal that African-American girls require school programs that focus on honoring, uplifting, and supporting the construction of their intersecting identities. Not doing so posits that the identities of African-American girls are unimportant and perpetuates their academic neglect and disengagement.

School-Related Barriers that might be Impeding Academic Success for African American Girls

This study explored African American girls’ perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and teachers’ perceptions to understand the unique impact of each on educational outcomes for African American girls compared to girls from other racial/ethnic groups. The sample included 2,384 7th grade girls. In this multi-informant study, girls completed a survey that included ratings of perceived teacher discrimination, teachers rated the girls on academic engagement and antisocial behavior, and end-of-the-year GPA for each girl was gathered from school records data. One-way ANOVA revealed a main effect of race/ethnicity, such that African American girls reported higher levels of racial/ethnic discrimination, had a lower GPA, and were rated by their teachers as less engaged and more anti-social compared to Asian, Latinx, and white girls. Regression analysis revealed that, compared to white and Asian girls, low teacher perceived engagement was related to lower achievement for African American girls. These results highlight the need to analyze the educational experiences that African American girls are facing.