Defining The Future For African Americans - 1631 Words

Life as an African American is one marked with struggle and perseverance, which has created a unique community that, is striving to create a brighter future. In determining the future for African Americans one must explore the past and present of the body and self, the community, and the world through the economic, biologic, and psychological lenses. Self image has been a stigma for African Americans since slavery. According to Kerri A. Reddick-Morgan, these notions of negative self image have only been perpetuated by misrepresentations of black beauty/culture in the modeling industry, cosmetic corporations, and the media as a whole. As stated in Reddick’s Emulated through Images: The Globalization of Misconstructed African†¦show more content†¦The movement also encouraged men and women stop straightening their hair and attempting to lighten or bleach their skin. Furthermore, in 1954 Dr. Kenneth Clark conducted a Doll Study with African American children where he asked each child to choose between a white and a black doll; most children chose the white doll. Recently Kiri Davis ran this test again, by Dr. Clark to study how African Americans have progressed since the first study. Again, each child was asked which doll they like to play with, and most children chose the white doll, 15 out of 21 chose the white doll over the black doll. Each child was asked which doll was the â€Å"nice doll,† and why that doll is nice and similar to Dr. Clark’s study many children responded, â€Å"Because she’s white.† When asked which doll looks like them, the African American children hesitantly pushed the black doll toward the interviewer. The film brings up the point that Africans were brought to America without completely knowing where they are from in Africa, because different parts of Africa have completely different cultures , so while other know where they are from African Americans are still in search of where they are from, which causes anger and lower self-esteem. The film also addresses the various