"A Woman's Worth: A Look Into

In Phenomenal Woman, Mrs. Angelou, describes herself from her own point of view. She talks of her inner mystery and explains, to those who can’t see it, why men notice her. Using a very rhythmic rhyming scheme, she projects a strong self-confidence. Using phrases that describe her body help her to show that self-assuredness. Every action she makes, from the stride in my step, to the fire in my eyes, shows that she moves about a room like she has complete control. The words she uses show that she knows what she is doing, and everything is intentional. She knows that even though she is not the generic, petite woman, she is beautiful and can attract attention from anyone she wants to. At one point, Maya Angelou says, I’m a woman. This statement is very broad. Broad in the sense that it speaks for many women, not

Popular culture materials and commercial images are also very valuable tools for exploring the cultural constructs that framed the lives and experiences of African-American women. Because popular and commercial materials were created and disseminated to large segments of American culture, they served both to reflect and to perpetuate a range of race, gender, and class stereotypes and/or fears. Popular images of African-American women can be found in a variety of forms such as advertisements, postcards, calendars, letterhead, popular art work, sheet music, post cards, greeting cards, and other ephemeral items. These types of materials may exist in specific collections such as those listed below, but ephemeral and popular materials are often standard component in most collections. Nineteenth and early 20th century sheet music, postcards, and advertisements document the narrow stereotyping of African-American women as mammies, earth mothers, and seducers. More contemporary advertisements show African-American women as smart, successful, and still, very sexy. Earlier materials employ "humor" to exaggerate these stereotypes and to make statements about race relations and black life in general. Later materials use a more serious tone to lend credibility to racist and sexist messages. As with documentary photographs, both the creator and the intended audience of the material must be considered when interpreting the significance of a particular image. Most popular images of African-American women were originally created by Anglo-Americans and intended for a white audience with buying power, which was largely female. Throughout the 20th century, the cross section of both creators and audiences of popular images have changed and the business of commercial imagery itself has become a more sophisticated craft to the extent that contemporary stereotypes of African-American women

Some topics in this essay:
African American, African Americans, Woman Angelou, Angelou I’m, Maya Angelou, african-american women, Phenomenal Woman, american women, african american women, african american, black women, Maya Angelou’s, images african-american women, images african-american, phenomenal woman, popular images, white women, White America, , racist sexist, african-american women's experiences, popular images african-american, women realized,