“The Angry Black Woman” Fights Back
by Bridget Foehl and Nicole Giacalone
In recent decades, women, and more specifically black women, have been judged for the way in which they handle trauma. Trauma, in this case, refers to an emotional or physical response to verbal, physical, behavioral, or environmental discrimination, whether intentional or unintentional. Discrimination in this form tends to communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups. When Black women respond to such trauma or traumatic events, they tend to face backlash from individuals and the media, instead of focusing on the reasoning for their actions. This cycle of blaming Black women has led to the creation of “the Angry Black Woman” stereotype which is a racial trope used in American society to portray black women as ill-mannered and ill-tempered. This cycle of blaming Black women for their emotions distracts from the lawless discrimination of others, once again excusing white people, and placing all blame on the victim, the Black woman.
Beyonce calls attention to this phenomenon in her 2016 visual album Lemonade. Through narration and song, Lemonade recounts the ways in which Beyonce moved through the eleven stages of intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, resurrection, hope, and redemption in eventually forgiving her husband Jay Z after his alleged affair. Each stage visually and verbally depicts Beyonce’s emotions and reactions, connecting to the experiences of Black women in modern society America. In a specific scene where Beyonce is singing “Hold Up,” Beyonce swings a baseball bat while walking down the street hitting car windows and fire hydrants. In this scene, Beyonce sings “what’s worse, looking jealous or crazy? jealous or crazy? or like being walked all over lately, walked all over lately I’d rather be crazy.” Beyonce is calling attention to the ways in which Black women are judged no matter how they react. Black women must walk on such a thin line, a line that is much more forgiving of white people. Beyond this example, as Beyonce moves through the 11 stages, she gives Black women permission to experience emotions of hurt, anger, confusion, and emptiness without apology. Beyonce gives power to Black women in embracing all the emotions they are told not to feel.
This topic is further explored through the character Sethe in the novel Beloved. The trauma Sethe endures is in direct relation to her time in slavery. While in slavery, Sethe has no control over her family. This provides the motivation for Sethe to escape slavery; to save her family. Therefore, once free, the trauma forces Sethe to go to extremes in order to protect her family from returning to a life of slavery. In a specific scene, Sethe’s master arrives at Sethe’s house to capture her and her family and return them to their slave owners. Sethe senses their arrival and brings her children to a shed in the back of her home where she decides to kill one of her children, and the other three are spared due to Sethe’s lack of time. Although Sethe goes to extreme and horrific measures, this scene details the ways in which the large-scale discrimination of Black women leads to severe and almost uncontrollable trauma in victims. In addition, the way in which readers react to this scene connects back to “the Angry Black Woman” stereotype. Through class discussion, it was revealed that readers are scared by or tend to not understand Sethe’s response to her trauma, representing the backlash Black women face. Blaming the victim for their actions, although quite severe in Sethe’s case, distracts from the real problem at hand: the continuous build-up of harmful situations that led to their actions.
Beyonce highlights American tennis player and modern-day example, Serena Williams, in Lemonade who has been ridiculed for her actions relating to trauma. This past November, Serena opened up about her trauma caused by a collection of microaggressions and being booed by thousands of fans. She received a code violation for coaching, along with a game penalty for calling the umpire a “thief,” a penalty point for breaking her racket, and was later fined $17,000. Her reactions were just like any other players, but being a black female in sports she was punished with fines, publicity, and the idea of “The Angry Black Woman.” The “Angry Black Women,” stereotype dates back to the 19th Century and has been pervasive in modern culture today. Men on the other hand, are allowed to be as angry as possible to exhilarate their masculinity, while Black women are reprimanded for expressing any form of anger and defending themselves. The whole idea of sexism has been prevalent throughout this course. Serena Williams told Associated Press that her feature in the video “Sorry” in Lemonade was due to her prior involvement with the team along with her strength and courage. As stated by Serena, “I have known the director since I was like nine years old. I know Beyonce pretty well, so they were like, ‘We would love for you to be in this particular song. It’s about strength and it’s about courage and that’s what we see you as.’” Naomi Osaka, US Open Winner, spoke out of the controversial Serena Williams meltdown on the TODAY show, stating that she was sad and thought the crowd was potentially booing at her because she has been a fan of Serena. The video can be reached by clicking on the link. Through prior discussions, we view Serena Williams as a powerful role-model who is the queen of sports and had the confidence within her to speak out on her feelings on how she has been deeply affected as a Black woman in society, as well as within the sport of Tennis.
Beyond Beyonce’s example of Serena Williams in Lemonade, there are many other examples of Black women being judged for their emotions in modern day America. One example is Eboni K. Williams who accused Luann de Lesseps of labeling her as an “angry Black woman” during an episode of “The Real Housewives of New York.” A sex-filled debate turned into a largely heated exchange about race, leading Williams to argue her points and stand her ground. As tensions rose, Luann de Lesseps asked Williams “Why are you getting so angry?” and Williams responded, “So now I’m the angry black woman, Luann.” This is another instance of a Black woman being unable to express her emotions and share her points without being labeled. Rachel Lindsey from the Bachelorette franchise has also voiced her experiences with the stereotype. In her season finale, Lindsay recalls her runner-up telling her that “[she] was going to live a mediocre life if [she] didn’t choose him” to which Lindsey responded, “Actually I’m living my best life.” Chris Harrison, the host, then said to Rachel “Rachel, you seem angry” to which she responded, “That’s a strong word.” And Chris responded, “Well, you seem upset.” Throughout the entire interaction, Rachel Lindsey had not raised her voice, yelled, or said any form of strong words. Despite her staying calm, once again, a Black woman is labeled for simply standing up for herself.
