Lizdst’s Weblog

Ange-Marie Hancock constantly defines what it means for one to carry a “public identity” in her book, The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen. She describes this term to be a preconceived notion(s) of a person or group of people (more specifically the African American female welfare recipient) from the viewpoint of society. However, Hancock also clarifies that the idea of public identity goes beyond stereotypes because when a group of people is thought to have developed a public identity, they have been generalized beyond the point that the public is conscious of. Public identity is more than just stereotyping, but an institutionalized concept in which the target group is unable to escape. This idea is manifested in two particular films, “Bush Mama” and “Dreamgirls.” I found it interesting that while these films were created by different writers and producers and created at two different times (the 1970’s and the 2000’s) it is not difficult to find a correlation between the main characters in these films.

The public identity of the welfare recipient has a few distinct characteristics: African American, female, single mother, poor, and uneducated/unskilled therefore limiting their employment opportunities, if they work at all. Effie, one of the main characters in Dreamgirls, and Dorothy, the welfare mother in Bush Mama both share these characteristics. However, although Effie and Dorothy are so similar, they also embody the public identity of both the welfare queen and the black woman in two completely different manners. The Bush Mama character, Dorothy is in some aspects portrayed as a jezebel. Dorothy illustrates this figure because she is a single mother who is dependent on male companionship, which is lacking at the time. Furthermore, Dorothy is portrayed as a neglectful mother because she is constantly away from her home and her daughter. In fact, she has her daughter taken by social services as a result of her getting pregnant again, which illustrates an image of hyper sexuality and hyper fertility, both characteristics of the jezebel. However, Dorothy does work daily in the film and therefore is not portrayed as completely lazy and unemployed as many jezebel figures are.

     On the other hand, Effie, the group member who was rejected in the film Dreamgirls, portrays more of an “overly aggressive black woman” or mammy stereotype within her role. Like Dorothy, Effie is reduced into a poor, unemployed single mother who must resort to welfare to support herself and her daughter. However, Effie’s role differs simply because of her strong, overtly aggressive and sometimes stubborn attitude. She carries the attitude that states, “I don’t need anybody but myself to succeed” which re-enforces the image of the mammy. Furthermore, Effie is dropped into the mammy role due to Deena, the light-skinned, thinner, character played by Beyonce. Because of Deena’s character, Effie is labeled as ugly because of her more typical African American features and overweight, another characteristic of the mammy character.

     I feel as though both characters were portrayed in stereotypical manners, which reiterated the idea of the public identity of the welfare recipient. Dorothy was a single black mother, waiting on her man to come home from jail, so the can finally live without the burden of financial strife…also known as, the welfare queen. Furthermore, Effie was transformed from a talented, rising star to a poor, single mother who was tragically the cause of the demise of her success. In other words, if Effie hadn’t been so strong willed and stuck on her principles, she would have succeeded…although different from Dorothy, Effie is also the welfare queen. Although these images are not unrealistic, they are all too often displayed as African American women. Unfortunately, the images displayed in these films are not merely stereotypes of welfare recipients; they are images that have been internalized by society as well as the individual group they target…thus, the public identity of the welfare queen lives on.

Many of my classmates’ first blogs were very insightful, informative and intelligent. There are a multitude of students to whom I would suggest Deborah Gray White’s book, Too Heavy a Load. However, there is one blogger in particular who would find this literature interesting. My classmate made several points regarding the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill case. She quoted facts from the case and elaborated on how these facts related to gender and race issues. However, I would have loved to read how the history of black women in society ties into this case. Therefore, White’s book could give this blogger great information concerning the history of Black women in American society. Furthermore, the book would inform her of the social relationships between black men and women throughout history which is very much related to the Thomas/Hill case.

Deborah Gray White’s book, Too Heavy a Load is a book that’s packed to the brim with information regarding the free Black woman in American history. This literature explains everything from her shortcomings and struggles to her advances and secrets to achieving such. While many of the facts within are incredibly informative, many of the historical statements were also controversial. For example, White discussed a major social activist for Black females and her mentality about “passing” for white. I was shocked to find that such an important Black women’s’ activist in her time was not opposed to passing. I saw this as slightly hypocritical and as a negative mentality that revolutionary groups of the time period should not possess. It is due to facts like these that my classmate would find Too Heavy a Load to her assistance. In documenting specific facts, White was able to give a two-sided explanation for the purposes, goals and practices of women’s clubs. The book shows that Black women’s clubs ware not always as progressive as one may believe. My classmate would find it insightful to learn of the positive and negative aspects of Black women’s movements as they relate to the history of the Black woman in today’s society.

Considering all of the factual information that White gave in her book, I would say that I definitely directly benefited from the Black women’s club movement. As seen in my first blog, I characterize myself as a Black woman; therefore, if I did not benefit from this movement then the movement itself would have been in vein. All black women’s clubs during this time period embedded a certain mentality in Black people as a whole, but especially in Black women. That mentality was one of extreme strength, courage and intelligence. The Black women’s clubs taught the Black woman to be independent, more than her sexuality and unashamed of her intellect. Black women wouldn’t be the beautiful, powerful and proactive group of people that we are if it were not for the Black women’s club movement. Despite the fact that black women slide back into stereotypes at times, when we speak as a unit we speak profoundly and in volumes.

            One specific organization that made an impact on my life is of course Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. If it had not been for this phenomenal organization, I would not have learned that I have a voice in changing injustice in my community and that I have the power to step out against societal norms when I see fit. Delta Sigma Theta instilled courage in me and hopefully all of the people that we have helped that allowed Black women to stand up on their own two feet and attempt to expel the images of the one-dimensional Black woman. Delta also showed me how powerful Black women can be when we unite and work as a unit, which was a recurring theme in all Black women’s groups. The time period in which Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and other similar groups were founded implies weakness. However, despite the negative aspects of Black clubs at this time such as hierarchy of complexion and economic class, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s strengths in community building then overshadowed and continue to outweigh weakness in any form.

The Black women’s club movement’s nation building efforts were progressive and inspiring. However, while these efforts contributed to the progression of the nation as a whole, I feel that they more so contributed to the advancement of the Black woman and the Black community. As I learn of the many actions that Black women’s groups took such as anti-lynching campaigns, literacy programs and voting rallies, I view these as factors that were intended to help the Black community. Therefore, if the many efforts that Black women’s clubs made resulted in the advancement of the nation as a whole, it seems to have been unintentional. The inspirational women and women’s’ groups described in this book were primarily concerned with bettering their race and many focused primarily on women as opposed to all the people of America. However the efforts and successes that were achieved during the club movement created a snowball effect that began as a means to better the state of Black women and ended as a means that inadvertently helped men and women of all races.