Mammes Matriarchs and Other Controlling Images

11&f,1;- Chapter 4 ------------­ MAMMIES, MATRIARCHS, AND OTHER CONTROLLING IMAGES Called Matriarch, Emasculator and Hot Momma. Some times Sister, Pretty ВаЬу, Auntie, Mammy and Girl. Called Unwed Mothe r, Welfare Recipient and Inner City Consumer. The Black American Woma n has had to admit that while nobody knew the trouЫes she saw, every body, his brother and his dog, felt qualified to explain her, even to herself. -Trudier Harris 1982, 4 асе, class....1!_nd gender oppression сон)d лouontinue without pШYerful ;ideological justifications for their existence. As Cher yl Gilkes contends, • "Black women's assertiveness and their use of every expression of racism to launch multiple assaults against the entire fabric of inequality have been а consistent, multifaceted threat to the status quo. As punishment, Black мth а variety of negative images" (1983а, 294). Portraying African-American women as stere otyeical rrn_mies, matriarёlis, welfare recipients, and hot mommas has been essential to the political economy of domination fostering Black women's oppression. Challenging these controlling images has long been а core theme in Black feminist thought. /��P-�:r-t o_f_�.,gene.i:.alize.djdeology...af doroinatщlLJ.h ese controlling images f Black womanhood take оп special meaning beca use the authority to 1 67 se f power. In order t o exerci ajor instrument o n tio osi p а in Ье define these symbols is а m st rep resentatives mu ite men and th eir y wh ma y te e li e Th r, . n we o me p _ Qls_ fQЛ<;�[Ili.ng_В_lack wo _ b opriate_sym г w pp a ne ate te ! rea ipu c an y a щ m to ey dy existing symbols, or th do so Ьу exploiting alrea Carby suggests th at l e z Ha 2). 198 ds (Patterson �s_r.ele_yanLt0-their nee present а reality but t Jo _ r�fii::ct__ocr:e stereotypes is _<'no al relations" th e objectiye of of objectJ.ve s oc i disguise, or mystification, sm, sexism, ci ra ke to fun ction as а a m d to ages a� m gi n lli Jш <;_Qo � (1987,�h� � part of r<1l,_ n9rm.al,__ ancl�a, ч nat e "b to ar e pp a overty evз:Yd�. life. ditions that originally gener and ec onom ic con l ica t li o p s e u o th ci n a e n Even wh prove remark aЫy te ear , such images pp isa d es g a ­ im n i g a n m lli n i e key ated c ontro oppressed but ar eep Вlack women k ly on е t Тh no . y e on h t i ress because and gender opp ng systems of race, class, becomes the ers g taining inte rlocki n a str or rs e tsid an women as ou ic er m -A an c ri Af f Shay s, а Black status o r norm ality. Ruth roups define th ei g er h ot ich wh m ro f ordinate group i s point standpoint of а sub escribes h ow th e d , t en 't like id res y t -ci inner hear the truth, but they don not k ill people to i ll w "lt rom а f d: n i te ha t discred m one of their own rather h ear it fro ch mu uld nger. o a w str y e а th s y d alwa it an ol ored p erson is te people y our c i wh to them l1 w, o te t N n' r. a e c g e stran Ье dumb strangers, so w are supposed to e ver w ne , at an h c t o ly wh on ty Not soc;;ie s the "Oth� of tney 1980, 29). A l are y wa e h t (G t !" Bu ing . er yth d an l or featen---the..1noraLand..sgeia d tan s o wh s l a idu really belong_,__g_rnngei:s---ili ival because those indiv ential for i ts surv s n, e es m o sly w � n �e ica ta er ul m 1ni --s boundaries. African-A society cl arify its at the m argins of of belonging. e the significance Ьу not belonging, emphasiz ТНЕ OTHER OF BLACK WOMEN AS ТНЕ OBJECTIFICATION erica , " the erts that in Am a Ch ristian ass ba r ar B ti c cri our society's Black feminist r t he defini tion of woman bec ame the basis fo the Other as en m enslaved African wo ack ng images of Bl ini a t n i Ma ). 160 Other" (1985, der, and class oppression. ation for race, gen ific st ju l a c i nis g o ol provides ide ms . Claimed Ьу Black femi scut all three syste s o cr as e id e st ic y s as b Certain mponent of all "the central ideological co mo theorist Bell Hooks to Ье either/ or dichoto s i a e d hi society," one suc ern est pl, W n i eo s p ion t e riz go of domina ous thinking cate ith er/or dichotom E 29). 1985 4, er ll (198 e (K g thinkin f rom one another in terms of their differe11ce ite (Richards 19 things, and ideas i otom es Ыack/wh terms in th e dich e h t , e pl schsc· • xam e 8). For 1983), reason/emotion (Ho stk, emale (Eisenstein a l e /f m (We ), 1983 inion Irel e 1987), fact/op re/nature (Asante 1975; Halpi n 1989), cultu 1979; Bellah 1983), mind/body (Spelman 1982), and subject/object (Halpin 1989) gain meaning only in relation to their counterparts. Another b asic idea concerns the relationship between notions of differ­ ences in ei ther /or dichotomous thinking and o bjectification . In ei ther/or dichotom ous thinking, difference is defined in oppositional terms. One par t is not simply different from its counterpart ; it is inherently opposed to i ts "other ." Whites an d Blacks, m al es and femal es , th o ught and feeling are n ot complementary counterparts-they are fundamentally different enti ties r el ated only through their defini ti on as opposites . Feeling canno t Ье incorporated into thought or even function in conjunction with it because in either/or dichotomous thinking, feeling retards thought, values obscure facts, and judgment clouds knowledge. Objectification is central to this process of opposi tional diffe� In either/or dichotomous thinking, one element is objectified as the Oth er, and i s viewed as an obj ec t t o Ье manipul ated and c ontr oll ed. Soci al theorist D ona Richards (1980) sugges ts that W estern th ought requires objectifica tion, а process she describes as the "separation of the 'know­ ing self from the 'known object' " (р. 72). Intense objectification is а "prerequisite for the despiritualization o f the universe," notes Richards, "and through it the Wes ter n cosmos was made ready for ever increas­ ing materialization" (р. 72). А Marxist assessment of the culture/nature dichotomy argues that histQfJ'_can .be _seen...as_gne in.__"Y_hich_human·beings­ .SOO�.!!Y-objectify the natural world in order to control and exploit it • (Brittan and Maynard 1984, 198). Cultu_н�..is"_d_�fщ�!l...o�Qosite , of �o!Jjestified __naJ_µre that, if left_al_QQe_,-lV__�ulture.1 Feminist • scholars point to the identification of wom en with nature as being central to women 's subsequen t objectification Ьу m en as sex objects (Eisenstein 1983). Вlack scholars contend that defining p eople of col or as Iess human, animalistic, or more "natural" denies African and A sian people ' s subjec­ ·_vity and supports а political economy of domination (Asante 1987). Domination a lways involves attempts to objectify the subordinate group. 'As subjects, people have the righ t to define th eir own reality, estaЫish eir own identities, name their hi story," asserts Bell Hooks (1989, 42). 'As objects, one's reality is defined Ьу others, one 's identity created Ьу ers , one's history named only in ways that define one's rel ationship those who are subject" (р. 42). The tr eatment afforded Вlack women mestic work ers exempl ifi es th e many f orms that objectific ation сап :е. Making Black women work as if they were animals or "mules uh i!world" represents one form of objectification. D eference rituals such ling Black domestic workers "girls" and Ьу their first names епаЫе loyers to tr eat their employees Iike children, as Iess сараЫе human .gs. Objectificati on сап Ье so severe that the Other simply disappears, ��-----·----- as was the case when Judith Rollins's employer treated her as if she were invisiЫe Ьу conducting а conversation while ignoring Rollins's presence in the room. But in spite of these pressures, Black women have insisted on our right to define our own reality, estaЫish our own identities, and name our history. One significant contribution of work Ьу Judith Rollins (1985), Bonnie Thornton Dill (1980, 1988а), Elizabeth Clark-Lewis (1985), and others is that they document Black women's everyday resistance to this attempted objectification. Finally, because oppositional dichotomies rarely represent different but equal relationships, they are inherently unstaЫe. Tension is resolved Ьу subordinating one half of the dichotomy to the other. Thus whites rule Blacks, men dominate women, reason is thought superior to emotion in ascertaining truth, facts supersede opinion in evaluating knowledge, and subjects rule objects. The foundations of а complex social hierarchy become grounded in the intervюven concepts of either/or dichotomous thinking, oppositional difference, and objectification. With domination based on difference forming an essential underpinning for this entire sys­ tem of thought, these concepts invariaЫy imply relationships of superiority and inferiority, hierarchical bonds that mesh with political economies of race, gender, and class oppression. African-American women occupy а position whereby the inferior half of а series of these dichotomies converge, and this placement has been central to our subordination. The allegedly emotional, passionate nature of Black women has long been used to justify Black women's sexual exploitation. Similarly, restricting Black women's literacy, then claiming that we lack the facts for sound judgment, relegates African-American women to the inferior side of the fact/opinion dichotomy. Denying Вlack women status as fully human subjects Ьу treating us as the objectified Other in а range of such dichotomies demonstrates the power that dichotomous either/or thinking, oppositional difference, and objectification wield in maintaining interlocking systems of oppression. Analyzing the specific, externally defined, controlling images applied to African-American women· both reveals the specific contours of Вlack women's objectification and offers а clearer view of how systems of race, gender, and class oppression actually interlock. CONTROLLING \MAGES AND BLACK WOMEN'S OPPRESS\ON "Black women emerged from slavery firmly enshrined in the consciousn of white America as 'Mammy' and the 'bad Ыасk woman,' "contends Che Gilkes (1983а, 294). The dominant ideology of the slave era foster, the creation of four interr elated, socially constructed controlling images of Black womanhood, eac h reflecting the dominant group's interest in maintaining Вlack women's subordination. Given tha t both Black and white women were importa nt to slavery's continuation , the prevailing ideology functioned to mask contradictions in social relati ons affecting all women. According to the cul t of true womanhood, "true" women possessed four cardinal virtues: piety, pu rity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Elite white women and those of the emerging middle class we re encouraged to aspire to these virtues. Africa n-American women encoun tered а different set of controlling images. The sexual ideology of the period as is the case today "confirmed the differing material circumsta nces of these two groups of women ••• Ьу bal ancing opposing definition s of womanhood and motherhood, each dep endent on the other for its existence" (Carby 1987, 25). The first controlling image applied to African-Americ an women is that of the mammy-the faithful,. obedient domestic servant. Created to justify the economic exp loitation of house slaves and sustained to explain Black women's long-s tanding restriction to domest ic service, the mamrny image represents the normative yardstick use d to evaluate all Black women's behavior. Ву loving, nurturing, and caring for her white children and "farnily" better than her own, the mammy symbolizes the dominant group's perceptio ns of the ideal Black female relationship to elite white rnale power. Even though she may Ье well Ioved and may wield consideraЫe authority in her white "family," the mamm y still knows her "place" as obedient servant. She has accepted her subord ination. Black women intellectuals have aggressively deconstru cted the image ,f African-American wornen as contented rnarnrnies Ьу challenging tra­ itional views of Black wome n domestics (Dill 1980, 198 8а; Clark-Lewis 985; Rollins 1985). Literary critic Trudier Haпis's (1982) volume From 'ammies to Militants: Domestic s in Black American Literatur e investigates 1rominent differences in how Black women have been por trayed Ьу others literature and how they por tray themselves. In her wo rk on the diffi1ties faced Ьу Black women leaders, Rhetaugh Dumas (19 80) describes 1W Вlack women executives are harnpered Ьу being treated as mamrnies d penalized if they do not appear warm and nurturing . But despite ese works, the mamrny image lives on in scholarly and pop ular culture. (udre Lorde's account of а sho pping trip offers а powerfu l example of its city: "I wheel ту two-yearold daughter in а shopping cart through а nnarket in ••• 1967, and а little white girl riding past in her mother's :ca11s out excitedly, 'Oh loo k, Мотту, а ЬаЬу maid!' " (1984, 126).2 е mammy image is central to interlocking systems of race, gender, class oppression. Since effort s to control African-America n family ,\ ii_ : 1 life require perpetuating the symbolic structures of racial oppression, the mammy image is important because it aims to shape Black women's behavior as mothers. As the members of African-American families who are most familiar with the skills needed for Black accommodation, Black women are encouraged to transmit to their own children the deference behavior many are forced to exhiЬit in mammy roles. Ву teaching Вlack children their assigned place in white power structures, Black women who internalize the mammy image potentially become effective conduits for perpetuating racial oppression. In addition, employing mammies buttresses the racial superiority of white women employers and weds them more closely to their fathers, husbands, and sons as sources of elite white male power (Rollins 1985). The mammy image also serves а symbolic function in maintaining gender oppression. Black feminist critic Barbara Christian argues that images of Black womanhood serve as а reservoir for the fears of W estern culture, "а dumping ground for those female functions а basically Puritan society could not confront" (1985, 2). Juxtaposed against the image of white women promulgated through the cult of true womanhood, the mammy image as the Other symbolizes the oppositional difference of mind/Ьody and culture/nature thought to distinguish Black women from everyone else. Christian comments on the mammy's gender significance: "АН the functions of mammy are magnificently physical. They involve the body as sensuuus, as funky, the part of woman that white southern America w as profoundly afraid of. Mammy, then, harmless in her position of slave, unaЬ\e because of her all-giving nature to do harm, is needed as an image, а surrogate to contain al! those fears of the physical female" (1985, 2). The mammy image buttresses the ideology of the cult of true womanhood,, one in which sexuality and fertility are severed. "Good" white mothers are: expected to deny their female sexuality and devote their attention to the. moral development of their offspring. In contrast, the mammy image is one of an asexual woman, а surrogate mother in Ыackface devoted to the development of а white family. No matter how loved they were Ьу their white "families," Black wome domestic workers remained poor because they were economically exploite� The restructured post-World War II economy in which African-Ameri women woved from service in private homes to jobs in the low-paid servi, sector has produced comparaЬ\e economic exploitation. Removing Bla, .. women·s labor from African-American families and exploiting it deni< Вlack extended family units the benefits of either decent wages or� women's unpaid labor in their homes. Moreover, many ·.vhite fami both the middle class and working class are аЫе to maintain their . position because_ they have long used Black women as, а source of сЬ labor (Rollins 1985; Byerly 1986). The m ammy image is designe this economic exploit d to mask ation of social class (King 1973). For reasons of econ omic survival, African the mammy role in paid work settings. -American women тау play communities these same women often But within African-American teach their own chil thing quite different. dren B patterns among Black onnie Thornton Dill's (1980) work оп chil some­ d-rearing do m esti cs shows that study showed defere nce behavior at work, while the p articipants in her th from believing that they should Ье defere ey discouraged their children their children to avo nt to whites and enc id do ou mammy in Black slave mestic work. Barbara Christian's analy raged sis nar of the rati ves rev eals that, "unlike the w image of inammy, she hite southern is cunning, prone to at all content with her poisoning her master, lot " and not The fact that the mam (1985, 5). my im age c an not control Black wo as mothers is tied to the men's behavior womanhood. Though а creation of the second controlling image o matriarch fulfills similar more recent phenomenon, the image of thef Вlack fu Black nctions in explaining in interlocking system s of race, gender, and Black women's placem ent Black scholars such as class oppression. Iro W (1948) described the coilliam Е. В. DuBois (1969) and Е. Franklin nically, Fr bouseholds in African-A nnections among higher rates of female- azier he me aded ric an communities, 'assume in Black fa mily networks, and the the importance that women pers However, neither schol ar interpreted Вlack istence of Black poverty. families as а cause of African-American women's centrality in Black social class status. -called matriarchal fa Both verty. During the er milies as an outcome of racial oppressio saw as when Dubois and n and Fr f African-Americans was so total that co azier wrote, the oppression ntrol w е controlling image of matriarch. But what beg as maintained witho ut е works of these earlier an as а muted theme in age in the 1960s, а tim Вlack scholars grew into а full-Ыown rac ialized e of significant politic r African-Americans. Racialization involves al and economic moЬility attaching racial mean previously racially u 1mi and· Winant 198 nclassified relationship, social practice, o ing to r gro 6). re certaiцJy higher in Prior to the 1960s, female-headed house up African-American comm holds • --�g-'feinale-heade unities, but an ideolog dness as а causal feat y ure of Вlack poverty ed. Moreover, "the puЫic ha d not de pict io n of Black ting matr iarchs came at precisely the same women as unfe minine, mo ment was advancing its puЫic critique of ment that the feminist es 198За, 296). American patriarchy" ile the mammy typifie s the Black mother matriarch symbolizes the mother figure in figure in white hom es, Вlack у represents the "good " Вlack m other, the m hom es. Just as the atriarch symbolizes the "bad" Black mother. The modern Black matriarchy thesis contends that African-American women fail to fulfill their traditional "womanly" duties (Moynihan 1965). Spending too much time away from home, these working mothers ostensiЬly cannot properly supervise their children and are а major contributing factor to their children's school failure. As overly aggressive, unfeminine women, Вlack matriarchs allegedly emasculate their lovers and husbands. These men, understandaЫy, either desert their partners or refuse to тапу the mothers of their children. From an elite white male standpoint, the matriarch is essentially а failed mammy, а negative stigma applied to those African-American women who dared to violate the image of the submissive, hard-working servant. Вlack women intellectuals examining the role of women in African­ American families discover few matriarchs and even fewer mammies (Hale 1980; Myers 1980; Sudarkasa 1981Ь; Dill 1988Ь). Instead they portray African-American mothers as complex individuals who often show tremen­ dous strength under adverse conditions. In А Raisin in the Sun, the first play presented оп Broadway written Ьу а Black woman, Lorraine Hansberry (1959) examines the struggles of widow Lena У ounger to actualize her dream of purchasing а home for her family. In Brown Girl, Brownstones, novelist Paule Marshall (1959) presents Mrs. Воусе, а Black mother nego­ tiating а series of relationships with her husband, her daughters, the women in her community, and the work she must perform outside her home. Ann Allen Shockley's Loving Her (1974) depicts the struggle of а lesbian mother trying to balance her needs for self-actualization with the pressures of child-rearing in а homophobic community. Like these fictional analyses, Black women's scholarship оп Black single mothers also challenges the matriarchy thesis (Ladner 1972; McCray 1980; Lord 1984; McAdoo 1985; Brewer 1988). Like the mammy, the image of the matriarch is central to interlocking sys­ tems of race, gender, and class oppression. Portraying African-American women as matriarchs allows the dominant group to Ыаmе Black women for the success or failure of Black children. Assuming that Black poverty is passed on intergenerationally via value transmission in families, an еЦtе white male standpoint suggests that Black children lack the attention. and care allegedly lavished оп white, middle-class children and that this deficiency seriously retards Black children's achievement. Such а view diverts attention from the political and economic inequality affecting Вlack' mothers and children and suggests that anyone сап rise from poverty if he or she only received good values at home. Those African-Americans who: remain poor are Ыamed for their own victimization. Using Black women's performance as mothers to explain Black economic subordination links gender ideology to explanations of class subordination. The source of the matriarch's failure is her inaЬility to model appropriate gender behavior. In the post-World War II era, increasing numbers of white women entered the labor market, limited their fertility, and generally challenged their proscribed roles in white patriarchal institutions. The image of the Black matriarch emerged at that time as а powerful symbol for both Вlack and white women of what сап go wrong if white patriarchal power is chal\enged. Aggressive, assertive women are penalized-they are abandoned Ьу their men, end up impoverished, and are stigmatized as being unfeminine. The image of the matriarch also supports racial oppression. Much social science research implicitly uses gender relations in African-American com­ munities as one putative measure of Black cultural disadvantage. For example, the Moynihan Report (1965) contends that slavery destroyed Black families Ьу creating reversed roles for men and women. Black • family structures are seen as being deviant because they challenge the patriarchal assumptions underpinning the construct of the ideal "family." Moreover, the absence of Black patriarchy is used as evidence for Black cultural inferiority (Collins 1989). Black women's failure to conform to the cult of true womanhood сап then Ье identified as one fundamental source of Black cultural deficiency. Cheryl Gilkes posits that the emergence of • the matriarchal image occurred as а �unterideology to efforts Ьу AfricanAmericans and women w�o were c nfrontinginterlocking systems of race, � { gender, and class oppressюn: "The 1mage of dangerous Вlack women who • were also deviant castrating mothers divided the Black community at а critical period in the Black liberation struggle and created а wider gap between the worlds of Вlack and white women at а critical period in women's history" (1983а, 297). Taken together, images of the mammy and the matriarch place African­ •• American women in an untenaЫe position. For Black women workers in domestic work and other occupations requiring long hours and/or . substantial emotional labor, becoming the ideal mammy means precious time and energy spent away from husbands and children. But being employed when Black men have difficulty finding steady work exposes Mrican-American women to the charge that Black women emascu­ Jate Black men Ьу failing to Ье submissive, dependent, "feminine" .women. Moreover, Вlack women's financial contributions to Black family well-being have also been cited as evidence supporting the matriarchy thesis (Moynihan 1965). Many Black women are the sole support of their families, and labeling these women "matriarchs" erodes their lf-confidence and abllity to confront oppression. In essence, African­ erican women who must work are labeled maщ_mies, the_n_ar_e stig:wэ.­ �d �againasmalriarchs f�i9g_�trщ1g figures iцJli�ir_own.t�mes.:· •• j) ---···-· ��--·--��--�-------- А third, externally defined, controlling image of Black womanhood-that of tl1e welfare mother-appears tied to Black women's increasing depend­ ence оп the post-:--World War II welfare state. Essentially an updated version of the breeder woman image created during slavery, this image provides an ideological jus tification for efforts to harness Black women's fertility to the needs of а changing political economy. During slavery the breeder woman image portrayed Black women as more suitaЫe for having children than white women. Ву claiming that Black women were аЫе to produce children as easily as animals, this objectification of Black women as the Other provided �ifi��ti(!!lJor interfereц_c� in_ the reproductive rights of enslaved Africans. Slaveowners wanted-enslave<ГAfricans to "breed" because every slave-child born repre­ sented а valuaЫe unit of property, another unit of labor, and, if female, the prospects for more slaves. The externally defined, controlling image of the breeder woman served to justify slaveowner intrusion into Black women's decisions about fertility (King 1973; Davis 1981). The post-World War II political economy has offered African-Americans rights not availaЫe in former historical periods (Fusfeld and Bates 1984; Wilson 1987). African-Americans have successfully acquired basic political and economic protections from а greatly expanded welfare state, particularly Social Security, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, unemployment compensation, affirmative action, voting rights, antidiscrimination legislation, and the minimum wage. In spite of sustained opposition Ьу RepuЫican administrations in the 1980s, these programs allow many African-Americans to reject the subsistence-level, exploitative jobs held Ьу their parents and grandparents. Job export, deskilling, and increased use of illegal immigrants have all been used to replace the loss of cheap, docile Black labor (Braverman 1974; Gordon et al. 1982; Nash and Fernandez-Kelly 1983). The large numbers of undereducated, unemployed African-Americans, most of whom ar e women and children, who inhabit inner cities cannot Ье forced to work. From the standpoint of the dominant group, they по longer represent cheap labor but instead signify а costly threat to political and economic staЬility. Controlling Вlack women's fertility in such а political economy becomes important. The image of the welfare mother fulfills this function Ьу labeling as unnecessary and even dangerous to the values of the coun- . try the fertility of women who are not white and middle class. А closer look at this controlling image reveals that it shares some impor-, tant features with its mammy and matriarch counterparts. Like the matriarch, the welfare mother is labeled а bad mother. But unlike the matriarch, she is not too aggressive--on the contrary, she is no aggressive enough. While the matriarch's unavailaЬility contributed t, her children's poor soci alization, the welfare mo ther's accessibility is deemed the proЫem. Sh e is portrayed as being con tent to sit around and collect welfare, shu nning work and passing on her bad values to her offspring. The image of the welfare mother rep resents another failed mammy, one who is unwil ling to become "de mule uh de world." Тhе image of the welfa re mother provides ideolo gical justifications for interlocking systems of race, gender, and class oppression. African­ Americans сап Ье racial ly stereotyped as being lazy Ьу Ыaming Black w elfare mothers for failing to pass on the work ethic. Moreover, the welfare mother has no male autho rity figure to assist her. Typically portrayed as ап unwed mother, she violates one cardinal te net of Eurocentric masculinist thought: she is а woman alone. As а result, her treatment reinforces the dominant gender ideology positing that а woman's true worth and financial securi ty should occur through heterosexual marriage. Finally, in the post-World War II political economy , one of every three African-American familie s is officially classifi ed as poor. With such hig levels of Black poverty, h welfare state policies sup porting poor Вlack mothers and their children have become increasingly expensive. Creating the controlling image of the welfare mother and s tigmatizing her as the cause of her own poverty and that of African-Ame rican communities shifts the angle of vision away from structural sources of poverty and Ыames the victims themselves. The image of the welfar e mo ther thus provides ideological justification for the dominant group's int erest in limiting the fertility of Black mothers wh o are seen as producing too many economically unproductive children (D avis 1981). Тhе fourth controlling image -the Jezebel, whore, or sex woman-is central in this nex ually aggressive us of elite white male image s of Black woman­ hood because efforts to con trol Black women's sexua lity lie at the heart of Biack women's oppression . The image of Jezebel ori ginated under slavery when Вlack women were portrayed as being, to u se Jewelle Gome .words, "sexually aggressive z's wet nurses " (Clarke et al. 1983, 99). Jezebel's function was to relegate all Black women to the category of sexually aggressive women, thus pro viding а powerful rationale for the widespread sexual assaults Ьу white me n typically reported Ьу Вia ck slave women (Davis 1981; Hooks 1981; D. White 1985). Yet Jez ebel served another function. If Вlack slave wo men could Ье portrayed as having excessive sexual appetites, then increa sed fertility should Ье the expected outcome ,Ву su_ppressing the nurtu . ring...that African-Americ an women might give their own children which would strengthen Black family networks, and 1у forcing Вiack women to work in the field or "wet nurs e" white ·- ildren, slaveowners effect ively tied the controlling im ag es of Jezebel and ammy to the econom� herent in the ins titution of slavery. ✓ The fourth image of the sexually denigrated Black woman is the foun­ dation underlying elite white male conceptualizations of the mammy, matriarch, and welfare mother. Connecting all three is the common theme of Black women's sexuality. Each image transmits clear messages about the proper links among female sexuality, fertility, and Black women's roles in the political economy. For example, the mammy, the only somewhat positive figure, is а desexed individual. The mammy is typically portrayed as overweight, dark, and with characteristically African features-in brief, as an unsuitaЫe sexual partner for white men. She is asexual and therefore is free to become а suпogate mother to the children she acquired not through her own sexuality. The mammy represents the clearest example of the split between sexuality and motherhood present in Eurocentric masculinist thought. In contrast, both the matriarch and the welfare mother are sexual beings. But their sexuality is linked to their fertility, and this link forms one fundamental reason they are negative images. The matriarch represents the sexually aggressive woman, one who emasculates Black men because she will not permit them to assume roles as Black patriarchs. She refuses to Ье passive and thus is stigmatized. Similarly, the welfare mother represents а woman of low morals and uncontrolled sexuality, factors identified as the cause of her impoverished state. In both cases Black female control over sexuality and fertility is conceptualized as antithetical to elite white male interests. Taken together, these four prevailing interpretations of Black woman­ hood form а nexus of elite white male interpretations of Вlack female sexuality and fertility. Moreover, Ьу meshing smoothly with systems of race, class, and gender oppression, they provide effective ideological jus­ tifications for racial oppression, the politics of gender subordination, and the economic exploitation inherent in capitalist economies. CONTROLLING IMAGES IN EVERYDAУ LIFE: COLOR, HAIR TEXTURE, AND STANDARDS OF ВЕАUТУ Like everyone else, Mrican-American women learn the meaning of race, gender, and social class without obvious teaching or conscious learning. Тhе controlling images of Вlack women are not simply grafted onto existing social institutions but are so pervasive that even though the images themselves change in the popular imagination, Black women's. portrayal as the Other persists. Particular meanings, stereotypes, and ... myths can change, but the overall ideology of domination itself seems to Ье an enduring feature of interlocking systems of race, gender, and class oppression (Omi and Winant 1986, 63). Mrican-American women encounter this ideology through а range of unquestioned, daily experiences. But when the contradictions between Black women's self-definitions and everyday treatment are heightened, controlling images become increasingly visiЫe. Karen Russell, the daughter of basketball great Bill Russell, desc ribes how racial stereotypes affect her: How am I supposed to react to well -meaning, good, liberal white peop le who say things like: "You know, Kar en, 1 don't understand what all the fuss is about. You're one of ту good frien ds, and I never think of you as Ыасk." Implicit in such а remark is, "1 thin k of you as white," or perhaps just, "I don't think of your race at all." (Ru ssell 1987, 22). Ms. Russell was perceptive enough to see that remarks intended to com­ pliment her actually insulted African-Am ericans. As the Others, African­ Americans are assigned all of the neg ative characteristics opposite and inferior to those reserved for whites. Ву claiming that Ms. Russell is not really �'Ыасk," her friends unintentiona lly validate this system of racial meanings and encourage her to internal ize those images. Although Black women typically resi st being objectified as the Other, these controlling images remain powerfu l influences on our relationships with whites, Black men, and one another. Dealing with issues of beauty-particularly skin color, facial features, and hair texture-is one concrete example of how controlling images denigrate African-American women. А children's rhyme often sung in Black communities proclaims: Now, if you're white you're all right, If you're brown, stick around, But if you're Ыасk, Git back! Git back ! Git back! Externally defined standards of beauty long applied to African-American women claim that no matter how inte lligent, educated, or "beautiful" а Black woman may Ье, those Вlack wom en whose features and skin color are most African must "git back." Blue-ey ed, Ыond, thin white women could not Ье considered beautiful without the Other-Black women with classical African features of dark skin, broad nos es, full lips, and kinky hair. Race, gender, and sexuality converge on this issue of evaluating beauty. Judging white women Ьу their physica l appearance and attractiveness to ·men objectifies them. But their whi te skin and straight hair privilege them in а system in which part of the basic definition of whiteness is its superiority to Ыackness. Black men 's Ыackness penalizes them. But because they are men, their self-definitio ns are not as heavily dependent оп their physical attractiveness as those of all women.But African-American women experience the pain of never being аЫе to live up to externally defined standards of beauty-standards applied to us Ьу white men, white women, Black men, and, most painfully, one another. Exploring how externally defined standards of beauty affect Black wom­ en's self-images, our relationships with one another, and our relationships with Black men has been one recurring theme in Black feminist thought.3 The long-standing attention of musicians, writers, and artists to this theme reveals African-American women's deep feelings concerning skin color, hair texture, and standards of beauty.ln her autoЬiography, Мауа Angelou records her painful realization that the only way she could become truly beautiful was to become white: Wouldn't they Ье surprised when one day I woke out of my Ыасk ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and Ыond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn't let me straighten? ...Then they would understand why I had never picked up а Southem accent, or spoke the common slang, and why I had to Ье forced to eat pigs' tails and snouts. Because I was really white and because а cruel fairy stepmother ...had tumed me into а too-Ьig Negro girl, with nappy Ыасk hair. (Angelou 1969, 2). Gwendolyn Brooks also explores the meaning of skin color and hair tex­ ture for Black women.During Brooks's childhood, having African features was so universally denigrated that she writes, "when I was а child, it did not occur to me even опсе, that the Ыасk in which I was encased ...would Ье considered, опе day, beautiful" (Brooks 1972, 37).Early оп Brooks learned that а clear pecking order existed among African-Americans, опе based оп one's closeness to whiteness. As а member of the "Lesser Blacks," those farthest from white, Brooks saw first-hand the difference in treatment of her group and the "Brights": One of the first "world"-truths revealed to me when I at Jast became а member of SCHOOL was that, to Ье socially successful, а little girl must Ье Bright (of skin). It was better if your hair was curly, too-or at least Good Grade (Good Grade implied, usually, по involvement with the Hot Comb)-but Bright you marvelously needed to Ье.(1972, 37) This division of African-Americans into two categories-the "Brights" and the "Lesser Blacks"-affects dark-skinned and light-skinned women differently. Darker women face being judged inferior and receiving the treatment afforded "too-Ьig Negro girls with nappy hair." Institutions controlled Ьу whites clearly show а preference for lighter-skinned Blacks, discriminatirig against darker ones or against any African-Arnericaнs who appear to reject white images of beauty.Sonia Sanchez reports, "sisters tell me today that when they go out for jobs they straighten their hair because if they go in with their hair natural or braided, they рrоЬаЫу won't get the job" (Tate 1983, 141). Sometimes the pain most deeply felt is the pain that Вlack women inflict оп one another.Marita Golden's mother told her not to play in the sun because "you gonna have to get а light husband anyway, for the sake of your children" (1983, 24).In Color, а short film exploring the impact of skin .color оп Вlack women's lives, the dark-skinned character's mother tries to get her to sit still for the hot comb, asking "don't you want your hair flowing like your friend Rebecca's?" We see the sadness of а young Black girl sitting in а kitchen, holding her ears so they won't get burned Ьу the hot comb that will straighten her hair. Her mother cannot make her beautiful, only "presentaЬle" for church.Marita Golden's description of а Black beauty salon depicts the internalized oppression that some African-Arnerican women feel about African features: Between cпstomers, twirling in her chair, white-stockinged legs crossed, my beautician lamented to the hairdresser in the next stall, "1 sure hope that Gloria Johnson don't соте in here asking for me today.1 swear 'fore God her hair is this long." She snapped her fingers to indicate the length. Contempt riding her words, she lit а cigarette and finished, "Barely enough to wash, let alone press and curl." (Golden 1983, 25) African-Arnerican women who are members of the "Brights" fare little better, for they too receive special treatment because of their skin color and hair texture.Harriet Jacobs, an enslaved light-skinned woman, was sexually haarassed because she was "beautiful," for а Black woman.Her straight hair . and fair skin, her appearance as а dusky white woman, made her physically attractive to white men.But the fact that she was Вlack, and thus part of а group of sexually denigrated women, made her availaЫe to white men as no group of white women had Ьееп.In descriЬing her situation, Jacobs notes, "if God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse.That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave" (Washington 1987, 17). This difference in treatment of dark-skinned and Iight-skinned Black women creates issues in relationships among African-American women. Toni Morrison's (1970) novel The Вluest Еуе explores this theme of the tension that сап exist among Вlack women grappling with the meaning of externally defined standards of beauty.Frieda, а dark-skinned, "ordinary" Black girl, struggles with the meaning of these standards. She wonders white dolls they hen she rej ected the why adults always got so upset w n a ge whose r een Peal, а child he ow gave her and why light-skinned Maur love and the down her back," got two braids hung like "lynch-ropes explores on is rr ack boys alike. Mo attention of teachers, adults, and Bl ht skin ig l r e h ts fi n for the bene Freida' s attempt not to Ыаmе Mauree ida's growing realization that of Fre and long hair afforded he r as part herself but the "Thing" that made n ee ur a M ot n the "Thing" to fear was Maureen beautiful. s the anger and frust ration experiGwendolyn Brooks (1953) capture tial treatment women in dealing with the diff eren enced Ьу da rk-skinned her novel Maud Martha, inned sisters receive. In they and their lighter-sk could take against а red­ e ponders actions she the d ark-skinned h eroin e. "l could," sband fouпd so attractiv headed Black woman whom her hu sweep down. the re and scratch he r up considered Maud M artha, "go over scream, 'I'm eam. 'Listen,' I could I could spit оп her back. I could scr o do it in реасе.' " (Washington ean t making а ЬаЬу for this man and I m e cts these actions, reasoning "if th e j e 1987, 422). But Maud M artha r f?" ea l а at g in he have up there hack root was sour what business did s etw een Africanb s ip h s n io t a el r n i s e Тhis "sour root" also creates issu M artha explains : American women and men. Maude t it's . I try to shut my eyes to that , bu lt's my color that makes h im mad ps kee e h t Bu . kay o s side, what is really me, he like no good. Wh at I am in to er ord n i t i ver o p jum to as wall. Не h looking at my color, which is like а rder o n i h Не h as to jump away up h ig meet and touch wh at Гvе got f or h im. 1987, 421) t jumpin g. (Was hin gton a th all f t ired o to see it . Не gets awful M aude Martha skinned women hurt Her husband's attraction to lightited ll up high" over the wa of color lim because his inaЬility to "jump away for who she truly was. his aЬility to see her NTION IN BLACK ISSUES MERITING FURTHER АTTE FEMINIST THOUGHT \mages s to Controlling Black Women' s Reaction sses her God, Nanny eloquently expre In Their Eyes Were Watching so it : "Ah was born back in slavery standpoint on Вlack womanhood But do. of whut а woman oughta Ье and wasn't for m e to fulfill my dream low so n ody dow in ! You can't beat nob nothing can't stop you from wish till you can rob 'em of the y will. Ah didn't want to Ье used for а work-ox and а brood-sow and Ah didn't want mah daughter used dat way n either" (Hurston 1937, 17). Like many African-American women, she resisted the controlling imag es of "work-ox" and "brood- sow," but her status as а slave prevented her fulfilling her "dreams of whut а woman oughta Ье and to do." She saw the constraints оп her own life but managed to keep the will to resist alive. Moreover, she tried to pass on that vision of freedom from cont rolling images to her grandd aughter. �spi� the pervasiveQess of controlling imag_eJ;, African-American women ave resisted these ideological justification; f�n n 1 е white women w о "face the pitfall of bein (G1 es seduced into joining the oe_eressor under the p�eten�e of sharing power," and for whom "there is а wider range of pretended choices and rewards for id�ntifying with patriarchal power and its tools," Вlack women are offered J!O.§YCh JШSSihiШy (Lorde 1984, 117-18). One theme that merits contшued analysis in Black feminist thought-especially Ьу Black feminist socio\o­ gists, historians, and psychologists-<:oncerns documenting and explaining Вlack women's diverse reaction s to being objectified as the Other. Literature Ьу Вlack wom en writers provides the most comprehensive view of Black women's struggles to form positive self-definitions in the face of denigrated images of Black womanhood. Portraying the_rang_e of ways that African-American women experience internalized oppression is �omшent theme in Black women 's writin g. Mary Helen Washington's (1982) discussion of the theme of the suspended woman in Black wom­ en's literature describes one dimension of Black women's internalized oppression. Pain, violence, and death form the essential content of these women's lives. They are suspended in time and place: their life choices are so severely limited that the women themselves are often destroyed. Pecola Breedlove, an unloved, "ugly" eleven-year-old Black girl in Toni Morrison's novel The Вluest Еуе (1970), internalizes the d enigrated images of African-American women and believes that the absence of Ыuе e yes is central to her "ugliness." Pecola cannot value her Blackness-she longs to Ье white so that she сап escap e the pain of being Black, female, poor, and а child. Her mother, Pauline Breedlove, typifies the inter­ ..nalization of the mammy image. Pauline Breedlove neglects her own children, preferring to Iavish her con cern and attention on the white charges in her care. Only Ьу accepting this subordinate role to white chil­ dren could she, as а poor Black woman, see а positive place for herself. Black women writers have chronicled other forms of Black women's attempts to escap e from а world predicated upon denigrated images of B lack womanhood. Fictional African-American women c haracters use drugs, alcohol, excessive religion, and even retreat into madness in an attempt to create other worlds apart from the ones that produced such painful Black female realities. Pauline Breedlove in The Bluest Еуе and Mrs. Hill in Meridian (Walker 1976) both demonstrate an attachment to religion that allows them to ignore their daughters. Eva Medina in Gayl Jones's Eva's Мап (1976), Merle Кibona in Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, the Тimeless People (1976), and Velma Henry in Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters (1980) all experience madness as an escape from pain. Den@l is another characteristic response to the controlling images of Black womanhood and their accompanying conditions. Ву claiming that • they are �ot like the rest, some African-American women _reje5t connec­ tions to other Вlack women and demand special treatment for theшse ves. Mary Helen Washington (1982) refers to these characters а assi ·1ated �- They are more aware of their condition than are suspended women, but in spite of their greater potential for shaping their lives, tfieysfш feel thwarted because they see themselves as misplaced Ьу time and circumstances. Light-skinned, middle class Cleo, а key figure in Dorothy West's novel The Living is Easy (1948), typifies this response. In one scene strong-willed Cleo hustles her daughter past а playground filled with the children of newly arrived southern Вlacks, observing that "she wouldn't want her child to go to school with those niggers." Cleo clings to her social class position, one that she sees as separating her from other African-Americans, and tries to muffle the negative status attached to her Blackness Ьу emphasizing her allegedly superior class position. Even though Cleo is more ассерtаЫе to the white world, the price she paytl9r her acceptance is the negation of her racial identit)' and separation t:he sustenance that such an 1denfiГyniight offer. J3lack women wпters not only portray the"raiige of responses that indi­ vidual African-American women express concerning their objectification as the Other: they also document the process of personal growth toward �tive self-definitions. The personal growth experienced Ьу Renay, the heroine in Ann Allen Shockley's"Loving Нег (1974), illustrates the process of rejecting externally defined controlling images of Black womanhood. Shockley initially presents Renay as а suspended woman who is trapped in а heterosexual marriage to an abusive husband and who tries to deny her feelings for other women. Renay retreats into music and alcohol as temporary spaces where she can escape having her difference-in this case, her Blackness and lesbianism-judged as inferior and deviant. After taking а white woman lover, Renay is initially quite happy, but she grows to r:ealize that she has replaced one set of controlling images-namely, those she experienced with her abusive husband-with another. She leaves her lover to pursue her own self-definition. Ву the novel's end Renay has begun to resist all external definitions of hers elf that stem from controlling images applied to Вlacks, women, and lesbians . .Renay's experiences typify how Black women writers explore the theme of Black ,vomen's resistance to these denigrated images, а resistance typified Ьу the emergent woman in Black women's literature. Sherley Anne Williams's novel Dessa Rose (198 6) describes а Вlack slave woman's emerging sense of power after she particip ates in а slave revolt, runs away, and eventually secures her own freedom . Dorine Davis, the heroine in Rosa Guy's А Measure of Time (1983), is rape d at age ten Ьу her white employer, subseq·uently sleeps with men for mon ey, yet retains а core of resistance. Bad things happen to Dorine, but Guy does not portray Dorine as а victim. In The Bluest Еуе (1970), Toni Morris on presents the character of Claudia, а ten-year-old Black girl who, to the chagrin of grownups, destroys white dolls Ьу tearing off their heads and who refuses to share her classmates' admiration of light-skinned, long-haired Maureen Peal. Claudia's growing awareness of the "Тhing that made her [Maureen Peal] beautiful and us ugly" and her rejection of that Thingracist images of Black women-rep­ resents yet another reaction to negativ e images of Black womanhood. Like Merle Кibona in Paule Marshall's The Тimeless Place, the Chosen People, Vyry in Margaret Walker's Jubllee (196 6), Janie Crawford in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), or Meridian in Alice Walker's Meridian (1976), Claudia repr esents а young version of emergent Black women carving out new definitio ns of Black womanhood. lnstitutional Sites for Transm itting Controlling lmages Schools, the media, corporations, and )�Overnment age_ncies ai-e_ essential sites for transmitting1deolo.gies objecti:fy .ingJ3JacqQ!!lan....as�" 1Ъеsе шsfiГutions are not controlled Ьу African:_Americans and are gearly the source of and ultimate beneficiaries of �е externally defined controllin I s. �onting the controlling image� ·forwarded Ьу institutions external to Afпcan-American communities sho uld continue as а fundamental con­ cern of Вlack feminist thought. But this effort should not obscure the equally important issue of examining how African-American institu.1ions �о perpetuate notions·of Black womeo as_t .he_O-1her. Although it may Ье painful to examine'-especially in the context of а racially charged society always vigilant for signs of African-Am erican disunity-the question of the role of Black institutions as transmi �s of controlling images of Вla'ck womanhood merits investigation. Some Вlack women are becoming incr easingly vocal in describing what they see as sexism in African-American communities (Wallace 1978; Hooks 1981; White 1984). Black feminist Pauline Terrelonge is one of the few Black women who has directly confronted the issue of the Black com­ munity's role in the subordination of Black women. Terrelonge asks, "if there is much in the objective condition of Ыасk women that warrants the development of а Ыасk feminist consciousness, why have so many Ыасk omen failed to recognize the patterns of sexism that directl im i�e оп their eve а 1ves. , 562). То answer this question, Terrelonge contends that а common view within African-American communities is that African-Americans have withstood the long line of abuses perpetuated against us mainly because of Вlack women's "fortitude, inner wisdom, and sheer ability to survive." Connected to this emphasis on the moral, spiritual, and emotional strength of Black women is the related argument that African-American women play critical roles in keeping Black fami­ lies together and in supporting Black men. These activities have been important in offsetting the potential annihilation of African-Americans as а "race." As а result, "many Ыacks regard the role of uniting all Ыacks to Ье the primary dut •of the Ыасk woman one that should supersede а� о er ro es that she mi�nt to �rform, and certainly one at is ry essentially incompatiЫe with ��n individual liberation" (р. 557-.-nstitutions controlled Ьу African-Americans сап Ье • seen as contra­ dictory locations where Black women learn skills of independence and self-reliance which еnаЫе African-American families, churches, and civic organizations to endure. But these same institutions may also Ье locations where Black women learn to subordinate our interests as women to the allegedly greater good of the larger African-American community. Some Black feminist activists claim that relegating Black women to more submissive, supporting roles in African-American organizations has been an obstacle to Black political empowerment. In descriЬing the 1960s nationalist movement, Pa__!lli M_!lrray contenduha.Lm�men mis­ interpreted Black_w..��ce_ ao.oJo.-dependence Ьу tacitly ассе ting the matriarch thesis. Such а stance wasaiю1Sliighl_y pro lematic for Вlack women. Murray observes, "the Ыасk militant's �еvаГо'ГБim manhood suggests an acceptance of this st,ereotype, an association otmasculiшty w1th male dominanceand а tendency to treat the values of self-reliance and independence as purely masculine traits" (1970, 89). • Sheila Radford-Hill (1986) sees Вlаск women's subordination in African.;_ American institutions as а continuing concern. For Radford-Hill the ero­ sion of Black women's traditional power bases in African-American com•' munities which followed nationalist movements is proЬlematic in that "Вlack macho constituted а betrayal Ьу Ыасk men; а psychosexual rejection of Ыасk women experienced as the capstone to our fall from cultural power•••• Without the power to influence the purpose and dir ect our collective ехрепеnсе, w1tfiou Гthe::p·