Angry black woman

The angry black woman stereotype is a derogatory racial stereotype of Black American women as pugnacious, poorly mannered, and aggressive.[1]

Among stereotypes of groups within the United States, the angry black woman stereotype is less studied by researchers than the Mammy and Jezebel archetypes.[2][3]

Carolyn West categorizes the Angry Black Woman (ABW) as a variation on the "Sapphire" stereotype or, colloquially, "Sistas with Attitude".[4] She defines the pervasive Sapphire/ABW image as "a template for portraying almost all Black women" and as serving several purposes. West paraphrases Melissa V. Harris-Perry who contends, "...because [Angry Black Women's] passion and righteous indignation is often misread as irrational anger, this image can be used to silence and shame Black women who dare to challenge social inequalities, complain about their circumstances, or demand fair treatment".[4][5]

Author and Professor of Law at Columbia University and at the University of California, Los Angeles Kimberlé Crenshaw defined and pioneered the analysis of the term "intersectionality" which describes this dual conflict experienced by black women specifically. In her TED talk, Crenshaw explains that black people experience a unique discrimination from white people, and women experience a unique discrimination from men.[6] Black women, consequently, experience a unique form of discrimination from black men and white women and cannot only be judged based on the singularities of race or gender.

  1. ^ Motro, Daphna; Evans, Jonathan B.; Ellis, Aleksander P. J. (January 31, 2022). "The "Angry Black Woman" Stereotype at Work". Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Publishing. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  2. ^ Kelley, Blair L. M. (September 25, 2014). "Here's Some History Behind That 'Angry Black Woman' Riff the NY Times Tossed Around". The Root. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  3. ^ Harris-Perry, Melissa V. (2011). Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0-300-16554-8.
  4. ^ a b West, Carolyn M. (2017). "Mammy, Sapphire, Jezebel, and the Bad Girls of Reality Television: Media Representations of Black Women". ResearchGate. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  5. ^ Harris-Perry, Melissa V. (2011). Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16541-8. OCLC 711045639.
  6. ^ Ted Talk