Category — Faculty note
An Open Statement to Fans of _The Help_
Professor Ruth P. Wilson, Chair, Department of African-American Studies forwarded this entry, writing:
On behalf of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), this statement provides historical context to address widespread stereotyping presented in both the film and novel version of The Help. The book has sold over three million copies, and heavy promotion of the movie will ensure its success at the box office. Despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism.During the 1960s, the era covered in The Help, legal segregation and economic inequalities limited black women’s employment opportunities. Up to 90 per cent of working black women in the South labored as domestic servants in white homes. The Help’s representation of these women is a disappointing resurrection of Mammy—a mythical stereotype of black women who were compelled, either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families. Portrayed as asexual, loyal, and contented caretakers of whites, the caricature of Mammy allowed mainstream America to ignore the systemic racism that bound black women to back-breaking, low paying jobs where employers routinely exploited them. The popularity of this most recent iteration is troubling because it reveals a contemporary nostalgia for the days when a black woman could only hope to clean the White House rather than reside in it.Both versions of The Help also misrepresent African American speech and culture. Set in the South, the appropriate regional accent gives way to a child-like, over-exaggerated “black” dialect. In the film, for example, the primary character, Aibileen, reassures a young white child that, “You is smat, you is kind, you is important.” In the book, black women refer to the Lord as the “Law,” an irreverent depiction of black vernacular. For centuries, black women and men have drawn strength from their community institutions. The black family, in particular provided support and the validation of personhood necessary to stand against adversity. We do not recognize the black community described in The Help where most of the black male characters are depicted as drunkards, abusive, or absent. Such distorted images are misleading and do not represent the historical realities of black masculinity and manhood.Furthermore, African American domestic workers often suffered sexual harassment as well as physical and verbal abuse in the homes of white employers. For example, a recently discovered letter written by Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks indicates that she, like many black domestic workers, lived under the threat and sometimes reality of sexual assault. The film, on the other hand, makes light of black women’s fears and vulnerabilities turning them into moments of comic relief.
Similarly, the film is woefully silent on the rich and vibrant history of black Civil Rights activists in Mississippi. Granted, the assassination of Medgar Evers, the first Mississippi based field secretary of the NAACP, gets some attention. However, Evers’ assassination sends Jackson’s black community frantically scurrying into the streets in utter chaos and disorganized confusion—a far cry from the courage demonstrated by the black men and women who continued his fight. Portraying the most dangerous racists in 1960s Mississippi as a group of attractive, well dressed, society women, while ignoring the reign of terror perpetuated by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council, limits racial injustice to individual acts of meanness.
We respect the stellar performances of the African American actresses in this film. Indeed, this statement is in no way a criticism of their talent. It is, however, an attempt to provide context for this popular rendition of black life in the Jim Crow South. In the end, The Help is not a story about the millions of hardworking and dignified black women who labored in white homes to support their families and communities. Rather, it is the coming-of-age story of a white protagonist, who uses myths about the lives of black women to make sense of her own. The Association of Black Women Historians finds it unacceptable for either this book or this film to strip black women’s lives of historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment.
Ida E. Jones is National Director of ABWH and Assistant Curator at Howard University. Daina Ramey Berry, Tiffany M. Gill, and Kali Nicole Gross are Lifetime Members of ABWH and Associate Professors at the University of Texas at Austin. Janice Sumler-Edmond is a Lifetime Member of ABWH and is a Professor at Huston-Tillotson University.
Suggested Reading:
Fiction:
Like one of the Family: Conversations from A Domestic’s Life, Alice Childress
The Book of the Night Women by Marlon James
Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neeley
The Street by Ann Petry
A Million Nightingales by Susan StraightNon-Fiction:
Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph
To Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors by Tera Hunter
Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present by Jacqueline JonesLiving In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne MoodyAny questions, comments, or interview requests can be sent to:
ABWHTheHelp@gmail.com
Reprinted from the Organization of Black Women Historians website
August 21, 2011 No Comments
Prof G featured on KPFK Radio Los Angeles
SJSU Women’s Studies Professor Susana Gallardo was featured last Wednesday night on a Los Angeles radio show, Feminist Magazine, at KPFK Radio (click here to listen, starts at 21:00). Hosts Ariana Manov and Celina Alvarez interviewed her about her website Chicanas.com, an online educational resource for and about Mexican American women. ”I created the website in 1996 so that anyone could have access to the history and issues I was learning about in graduate school,” said Prof Gallardo. She recently redesigned and updated the site.
Prof Gallardo was also featured with Cal State Los Angeles Professor Dionne Espinoza about that weekend’s conference “Against Fear & Terror” for Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, a Chicana/Latina academic organization. The conference featured plenary speakers on immigrant organizing, Central American immigration, and transgender Latina issues.
Feminist Magazine is a weekly Southern California radio show of news, views, politics and culture with a feminist perspective…for more info see http://feministmagazine.org/
August 11, 2011 No Comments
Anti-Immigrant Movement to Target Native Born: Right wing seeks to overturn historic Civil Rights case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark
As the proud granddaughter of undocumented Mexican immigrants, nothing disheartens me more than the current wave of anti-immigrant hysteria. I find very heartening, on the other hand, this article by economist Masao Suzuki discussing how current anti-immigrant legislation crosses racial and ethnic lines.
These anti-immigrant forces try to argue that undocumented immigrants today are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. This is the same argument that the anti-Chinese movement used 100 ago years to try to strip Wong Kim Ark of his birthright citizenship, saying that Chinese immigrants, who were banned from naturalizing by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, were not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. But the 1898 U.S. Supreme Court rejected this argument, pointing out that the only exceptions are children of diplomats (who are immune from U.S. law) and the children of a hostile occupation force in the United States.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark extended fundamental civil rights won by African Americans to Asian Americans. Later this case was cited in the 1982 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas state law that tried to exclude unauthorized Mexican immigrant children from public schools.
This move by anti-immigrant forces to target native-born Americans shows that this movement is not about the legality of immigrants. The anti-immigrant movement is a right-wing movement that is all about stripping away the right to go to public schools and to be citizens. These rights were won by African Americans through struggle – like the Civil War – and later extended to Asian Americans and Latinos.
See full article: Anti-Immigrant Movement to Target Native Born
August 7, 2010 No Comments
Dr. Rue’s production, _Rabbit Hole_ opens Friday 5/14!
We are happy to announce that our very own Women’s Studies professor, Victoria Rue, is directing the Pulitzer prize winning play [07'] , Rabbit Hole, at the Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre. Details follow….
Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre, the longest running theater in Santa Cruz, is proud to announce it’s play to close our twenty-fifth season. Actors’ Theatre will bring to life David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama “Rabbit Hole,” running May 14 to June 6, 2010, at the Santa Cruz Actor’s Theatre, 1001 Center Street, Santa Cruz, CA.
Lindsay-Abaire’s play, which garnered five Tony nominations and won the Pulitzer for drama in 2007, tells the story of Becca and Howie, a married couple whose 4-year-old son, Danny, was killed by a car eight months earlier. Struggling to cope and unable to reconcile their different ways of grieving, their relationship has begun to unravel: Becca is trying to forget the pain, Howie is holding onto his fading memories, and other family members are complicating the situation. Hope is reignited when Jason, the teenage boy driving the car that killed Danny, comes into their lives. Despite its heavy subject matter, Lindsay-Abaire’s play is a balance of comedic moments with serious themes.
The production is directed by theatre titan Victoria Rue. Dr. Rue’s work as a theatre director and playwright has been seen in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and New York’s Shakespeare Festival, among other theaters.
“This is a play about compassion,” said Victoria Rue. “Grief and rage and love rise up. We also laugh. We recognize this as our human condition.”
A quietly moving play, the story explores the reconnection of relationships and the possibilities of hope after tragedy. Rabbit Hole, is a beautifully observed and heartfelt look into the grief and healing one family experiences dealing with a death in the family. Meticulously mapped, Lindsay-Abaire never indulges with sentiment.
“Lindsay-Abaire’s story is about how grief is often held so tightly to the chest that it is difficult for our arms to embrace the present.” said Victoria Rue.
“Rabbit Hole” is Lindsay-Abaire’s first naturalistic work, a departure from his trademark style of dark comedy seen in previous plays such as “Fuddy Meers” and “Kimberly Akimbo.” Despite the differences, Lindsay-Abaire said all his plays deal with the same underlying dilemma: “… it’s about characters finding themselves in an upside-down world and trying to find clarity in a world that doesn’t make any sense.”
The cast includes Kristin Brownstone as Becca; Steven Capasso as Howie; Nan Dejarlais as Becca’s mother, Nat; MarNae Taylor as Becca’s sister, Izzy; and Taylor Closs as Jason.
Dates for “Rabbit Hole” are: Friday, May. 14 (Opening), and closing Sunday, June 6.
Performances are Friday through Saturday at 8PM and Sundays at 3PM.
All performances at Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz
Tickets are $16 general; $13 students/seniors. Buy tickets at the theatre box office one hour before show times.
To make a reservation, call 831.425.PLAY (831.425.7529). You can also purchase tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or Visit Actors’ Theatre website at www.santacruzactorstheatre.org
April 26, 2010 No Comments
Michelle Obama calls attention to “food deserts”
This article from the Racewire blog draws attention both to First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to reform the American diet. She does this both by modeling the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and using organic gardening methods, but also advocates structural change by working with America’s food manufacturers to reduce fat and sodium content in their food. Go Michelle!
As Michelle Obama turns up the heat on food manufacturers, PolicyLink and The Food Trust have released a report that maps America’s “food deserts” and looks at their lasting effects in rural areas and low-income communities of color.
The report culls research from more than 100 previous studies to bring together the best data available on food access. The findings won’t shock anyone living in one of America’s many food deserts, but they prove Obama’s childhood obesity campaign can’t stop with telling parents to feed their kids better:
- 23.5 million Americans lived over a mile away from the nearest supermarket in 2009;
- African Americans were nearly four times as likely to live a food desert as whites;
- 80 percent of nonwhite residents in Albany, N.Y., can’t find low-fat milk or high-fiber bread sold in their neighborhoods;
- More than 70 percent of families eligible for food stamps in Mississippi travel at least 30 miles to reach a supermarket.
March 18, 2010 No Comments
bell hooks radio interview Thursday noon, “Teaching Critical Thinking”
Tune in to hear bell hooks interviewed on 99.5 FM WBAI Pacifica Radio Thursday, March 18 at 12 noon to 1pm EST. She’ll be promoting her newest book, Teaching Critical Thinking (Routledge, 2010). WBAI is New York’s Pacifica radio station, accessible online.
March 15, 2010 1 Comment
Transgender Awareness Week 3/8 – 3/11
Click on image to see fullsize
March 3, 2010 No Comments
Women & Shamans, 6pm Tuesday, 3/2
Dear Campus Community and Friends of Women’s Studies
On Tuesday, March 2nd, the course I teach on “Gender, Sexuality and Religion” will host Max Dashu, director of the Suppressed History Archives in Oakland. She will be speaking on the vast legacy of Women Shamans from far-ranging cultural backgrounds, ancient to modern. We’ve moved to a larger room to accommodate visitors: please feel free to join us. The class runs from 6:00 to 8:45 pm, in Boccardo Business Classroom 003 (ground floor, accessed from the courtyard). Click on the links below for more background on Max and the specific talk she is presenting on Tuesday. Hope to see you there:
Date: Tuesday, March 2nd
Where: Boccardo Business Classroom 003 (BBC 003)
When: 6:00 PM
Who: Max Dashu, Director, Suppressed History Archives
What: Talk on Women Shamans
Hosted: Prof. Jennifer Rycenga, Comparative Religious Studies class on Gender, Sexuality and Religion
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/catalog/womanshaman.html
Jennifer Rycenga
Professor, Comparative Religious Studies and Humanities
February 28, 2010 No Comments
Privatization Is The Issue
OMG! Check out this article by George Lakoff from UC Berkeley. http://keepcaliforniaspromise.org/?p=77 . This is exactly what I was trying to say in my last blog post. I guess great minds do think alike. Ha ha ha.
…The university is lot more than an economic engine: it is a quality of life engine. And when it is truly public, it is a moral engine.
And it is especially a moral engine because it educates millions of Californians. Education is about more than making money. It is about coming to know the world, about learning to think critically, and about developing the capacity to create new knowledge, new social institutions, and new kinds of businesses. It is about each of millions of people becoming more of what they can be. That is the real promise of California. It is our system of higher education that delivers on that promise.
The reason that the Master Plan designates “state-supported higher education” is that higher education contributes a disproportionate amount to the protection and empowerment both of individuals and of corporations, and to the creation of a California civilization.
All discussion of moral issues must start there, with the systemic and moral effects of higher education.
From this perspective, the university-as-factory metaphor is not only inaccurate, but is immoral. It is both because it hides all that — all of what public universities are about.
The university-as-factory metaphor sees the university as a factory producing educations in the abstract and selling them to students and/or their parents. All discussion of raising tuition or taking more out-of-state students who pay more tuition is based on that metaphor. The central argument is that students (or their parents) should be paying what the product is worth, economically, over a lifetime, and that they shouldn’t be complaining about fee raises because they’re getting a relatively good deal.
The factory metaphor misses almost everything. It obviously misses the enormous contribution to the economy of the state as a whole. But it also misses all the other forms of protection and empowerment, as well as shaping California civilization…..
September 10, 2009 2 Comments
Girls, women, sports & homophobia
Two articles on women and sports today:
A favorite topic of mine that we discuss in my intro classes is the impact of Title IX and the growth of girls’ and women’s sports on American culture. Critics have long argued that women’s sports like the WNBA are simply not as economically viable as men’s. This New York Times article offers an interesting argument that the reverse is true for young girls’ sports – that girls’ participation is more likely to involve entire families’ – and therefore be more economically viable.
The second article points to how women’s sports is constructed so as to be economically viable – specifically, how it caters to society’s homophobia. Mike Wise at the Washington Post asks why a staple of sports coverage – the “kiss cam” is not used at Washington Mystics games. The Mystics manager says it’s “not appropriate” because so many kids are at the games, which directly touches on the double standard by which heterosexual family values are worshipped at a sports event which takes for granted its substantial lesbian support base.
On girls’ sports
Ten members of Kirsten Grant’s family converged here last week to watch her play in a major youth softball tournament. Her mother, father, sister and brother had driven 13 hours with her from their home in suburban Toronto. Other relatives had traveled from as far as Salt Lake City. During lulls in play, they all went shopping and visited local attractions.
But last year, when Kirsten’s older brother, Erik, played on a traveling baseball team, the experience could not have been more different. Parents rarely accompanied the team, he said, and the coach frowned on anything that distracted from the game. “No leisure activity,” said Erik, 19. “It was eat, sleep and drink baseball.” More here
On the lack of “kiss cams” at Mystics games
“Why don’t they have a KissCam at Mystics games?” a young friend asked last week, which preceded an awkward pause and an even more awkward answer.
Really, why doesn’t the inclusive WNBA franchise in the nation’s capital, of all places, send their video cameramen and camerawomen to find unsuspecting couples in the stands during timeouts and capture their mugs for all of Verizon Center’s crowd to see? And wait for the couple’s reaction, which usually involves a polite, if awkward, peck on the lips.
Just like they do at NBA games and other sporting events in which the participants are men.
“We got a lot of kids here,” Sheila Johnson, the Mystics’ managing partner, said when asked last week at a game. “We just don’t find it appropriate.” More here
Also see story at Out Sports
July 29, 2009 No Comments
