Role Of African-American Women In The 1960's Hidden Figures

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options

Hidden Figures is a film based on a remarkable true story about three colored women in the 1960s. The movie follows the lives of Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Kathrine Johnson. These women used their intellect at NASA to contribute to the launch of the first American into space. Hidden Figures also represents the contribution of these women to society. They helped put a man in space, yet they didn’t receive the proper appreciation during their time. Hidden Figures helps give those women gratitude for all that they did for NASA and the United States. Even though this film acknowledges their achievements, it recognizes the hardships the women faced while working for NASA as well as the hardships of all other African American women in the workplace. A few of the hardships they faced were sexism, discrimination, and ageism.

The 1930’s were hard times for the entire working class, but as usual in history, minorities were hit the hardest. Especially the African American society had to suffer the most under the effects of the great economic depression; they were the first to be discharged from their jobs and the last to be hired. African Americans were even pushed out of jobs, which were previously scorned out by whites. Even if they were allowed to keep their jobs, they still had to face daily racism. Compared to the white folks, the wages of African American workers were at least 30% below white’s wages, even when performing the same job; considering, that even the normal wage of a white American was not enough to cover the subsistent level of expanses of a household.

Adapted from the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures is a film based on the true stories of three black women (Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, & Katherine Johnson) working for NASA in 1960’s. Dorothy Vaughan, played by Octavia Spencer in the film, was a programmer and Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae in the film, was an engineer. Dorothy passed away in 2008 and Mary in 2005. Katherine Johnson, a mathematician played by Taraji P. Henson, is now 98 years old and still resides with her husband Corporal Jim Johnson in Hampton, Virginia where the film is set. These women collectively played a pivotal role in sending the first American into space and eventually to the moon. A critical analysis of the film reveals the history and dynamics of racial domination institutionally and interpersonally as well as prejudices and challenges faced by women in particular.

When looking at the social changes in American culture at the turn of the century, we see extraordinary differences in the accepted behaviours and thoughts of American citizens. The century saw a major shift in the way that people lived, with changes in politics, society, culture, economics, and technology. At the beginning of the century, discrimination based on race and sex was significant, but by the end of the 20th century, women had the same legal rights as men and racism had come to be seen as detestable.

African-American women have often been an overlooked group with the larger context of American Society. Historically, oppression has been meted out to the African-American woman in two ways. Historically, everything afforded to African-American, from educational and employment opportunities to health care have been sub-par. As women they have been relegated even further in a patriarchal society that has always, invariably, held men in higher regard.

African American culture has grown tremendously and has become more popular among all of the races. Not only has it become popular but it has also stirred up a lot of controversy. One aspect of African American culture that has become popular and is very controversial is Black women wearing their hair natural. Black women are really starting to embrace their natural hair and love the skin they are in but there are also a lot of people in society tearing them down. A lot of Black women and men have very curly natural hair and when the women do not feel like managing their hair they wear protective styles like braids or faux locks. Because of these styles, African Americans have been denied jobs and opportunities to prosper in society (Williams, 2015). It is offensive to tell Blacks how to wear their hair and that it is not acceptable. It is basically like telling her that she is unacceptable. There has been a great flow in the popularity of natural hair. In the early 1900’s since Black women were teased for their natural hair, straightened hair had become widely favored in the African-American community, but it lost its popularity to the Afro, which was seen as a symbol of black pride during the 1960s. Later on, Black women and even men returned to using chemical straightening treatments known as relaxers that loosened their naturally curly hair. Experts say that this method was often used as a means of meeting the white standard of beauty. The number of women using relaxers

lthough the enslaved women were married, their husbands could not protect them because of the control that the masters had over both spouses. Many times, due to rape and sexual intercourses between the slave and masters, both white and African American women had to keep their pregnancies hidden and they were not allowed to speak on who the father of the babies were. Often times black women would rebel against their masters because they felt it was morally wrong and often like "their ancestors and counterparts of Africa, most slave women took their motherhood seriously. They put this responsibilities before their own safety and freedom, provided for children not their own, and gave love even to those babies born from violence." (Hallam, 2004) . If a enslaved women, who had children, were to tell who the child's

Angelia Emily Grimké, a sister, a wife, a women’s right advocate, and a women who fought tirelessly against slavery. Grimké held her composure in hostile crowds, even as stones were casted out, and harsh words cut into the dust filled air. This strong independent woman fought for those who could not fight for themselves. She lived in a time when women were encouraged to keep their heads low and their opinions kept to themselves. Grimké worked along with her sister to fight for rights that at the time did not come easily. In today’s world, the thought of women and the African American race having little input in the government or day to day living is disturbing. Americans take great pride in having a voice and the ability they have to use that voice at any time of any day. Unfortunately these times were not always easy to come by. People like Angelia Grimké paved the way for those rights and the overall rights of equality. She accomplished this by expressing her opinion and beliefs to those who were not always willing to agree. Grimké and many like her fought the hard fight and did not give in when they were outnumbered. Grimké came from a slave owning family in the south; therefore, she saw firsthand the effects of slavery. Into Grimké’s adult life, she moved north and further developed her beliefs through her relationship with God and devotion to her Bible, as well as, historical documents like the Constitution. These developed beliefs seen in her published

Since the birth of the United States of America, African Americans have struggled for society to hear them and treat them as equals. In the 1800s, they fought for equality through the Civil War. Another big time period where African American strove for equality was The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, which effectively changed crucial aspects of the nation and made great strides in the rights of African Americans in the United States.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, developments in standard and social rights, correspondence, and equity cleared the United States. In the midst of the 1950s, the United States was the world's most grounded military power. The battles for balance in training, housing, and employment in the 1950s economy was impacting occupations to open for African Americans. In any case, not every single white American invited to the change. In between these decades, the execution of three significant social and political reformers taken place for the words and actions that they had planned to combat the inequalities in America. Besides the executions of truthful men, shady political leaders entered into leadership in the early 1970s, which favored white America

In the 1960’s, african americans were often denied the right to register to vote.They were very persistent/determined to gain the right to vote,but the whites refused to let them have a say in the any part of government.It was almost impossible for african americans to even have a chance in the court system because it was ruled by an all white judge,all white juries,and etc. Whites and african americans didn’t get along from the beginning because whites judged them based solely on the color of their skin. Since, the whites already didn’t get along with african americans, then what makes you think they’ll let them

Despite this, they were not treated as well as they should be. An example to prove this is stated in the Ernest Green movie when Ernest Green who was African American got the opportunities to go to an all white school with better education to get a good job in the future but, when he got to the school he got the total opposite of a warm welcome. At the school there were now protests to try and stop the transfer of African American students from going into the school.(Laneuville) This proves how the white Americans still had a bad attitude towards African Americans but, they were starting to get better at respecting. Additionally, in Hidden Figures, there are women who worked for NASA. Nevertheless, because of the racism, they had their own little rundown building, and they didn’t get to work alongside the other people who work at NASA. To add to this, there was also more evolution of African American respect, when the director of the friendship 7 spaceship launch, Allan, took down the black and white bathroom signs and said, “we all pee the same color.”(Melfi) which was saying how it doesn’t matter what color we are, we are still made out of the same things, and have the same DNA. This proves how people in the 1950s-1960s were improving with treating African Americans with courtesy.

In this paper I will be giving an essay that will have a brief introduction on how my overall topic has evolved from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century, ending with my thesis statement that will show you how it has evolved. This will also tell you how its evolutionary change has impacted our modern society of today.

In Patricia Hill Collins’ “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” she illustrates four main stereotypes that Black women face. The first controlling image applied to African American women is “The Mammy.” The mammy is the faithful, obedient servant to the white family and the stereotype attempts to hide the fact that black women who work for white families are being exploited. By loving and caring for her white “children” more than her own, the mammy symbolizes the dominant group’s perceptions of the ideal black female relationship to elite white male power. The smiling mammy signals her agreement with the situation, seemingly accepting her subordination (Collins, 71). Next is the image of the Black matriarch (Collins, 73). According to the stereotype, they spend too much time away from home, are overly aggressive and unfeminine, and allegedly emasculate their lovers and husbands. This stereotype attempts to control conduct by punishing black women for assertiveness and hides the oppression by making it seem that black women are naturally this way (Collins, 74-75).