From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond: Cultural Images and the Shaping of U. S. Social Policy (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The purpose of this book is to examine factors that contribute to the social, political, economic, legal and educational disenfranchisement of African American women..." (more)
Key Phrases: microcultural institutions, positive cultural images, traditional cultural images, African American, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a long overdue chronicle of the media's portrayls, and distortions, of African-American women. . .provides a holistic approach to understanding the effects of racist, sexist and classist ideologies on [their] lives. . . .reccomend it to anyone concerned with these issues." -- Contemporary Sociology

"...a persuasive account of the ways media images, government policy, and public preceptions have combined to keep African American women in the lowest ranks of the social hierarchy...The effects of social policy and media stereotypes have been studied elsewhere; Jewell's strength is in revealing the subtle, if pernicious, ways in which the two affect each other.... Jewell's analyses are clear and readable." -- NWSA Journal

"...forceful and well-documented." -- Gail Wood, WLW Journal

"From Mammy to Miss America is a long overdue cultural history of African-American female subjectivity as it has been produced through the white, Anglocentric and patriarchal industries of entertainment, advertising and government. Jewell mounts a forceful project that is not only able to loosen the grip of white culture on the image of the African-American woman but demystify its ideological hegemony in order to transform existing policies towards a more just and equitable social order." -- Peter McLaren, Miami University of Ohio

"In From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond ... author Sue K. Jewell explores how cultural images of black women are distorted by the mass media. ... Jewell makes the point that current social policy has proved ineffective for black women. Affirmative action has systematiclly been portrayed in the media as undermining meritocracy. Covert forms of discrimination are difficult and expensive to prove. And, despite increasing educational achievements, black women are still vastly overrepresented in low-paying service industries, such as in domestic and janitorial work." -- The Columbus Dispatch

...forceful and well-documented.
–Gail Wood, WLW Journal

Product Description

Passionately written and supported with detailed evidence, From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond focuses on the way in which American power elite, specifically the mass media, have largely contributed to the oppression of black women in American society. As the veritable makers of ideology-- through news and entertainment--the mass media evoked stereotypes of African American women, powerful enough to reinforce their economic and societal oppression. Jewell looks at how the Mammy and Jemimah images of African American women were generated not only by the mass media, but also through government policy. She also pays particular attention to the rise of the ``bad black girl'' image of the 1970s, which culminated in the controversy surrounding the first African American Miss America--Vanessa Williams.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 12, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415042534
• ISBN-13: 978-0415042536
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,099,804 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)