Hi All,
I found this article, written by LaMont Jones of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to be interesting. The content has and seems to remain thought provoking and should cause many of us to really look at how we view others and ourselves.
Anyway, I hope you take a few moments to read the full article below.
Jane
Black and beautiful: African-American women haven't had an easy time in the fashion world
Monday, April 23, 2007
By LaMont Jones
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The national debate sparked by broadcaster Don Imus' use of the term "nappy-headed hos" to describe black players on the Rutgers women's basketball team has raised an unintended, seldom-discussed question:
How have African-American women maintained their femininity and sense of beauty after centuries of dehumanization?
They survived the inhumanity of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the indignity of being separated from their families on slave auction blocks. They endured abuse and rape by slave masters and overcame the injustice of being bred and worked like animals.
During segregation and after desegregation, they suffered doubly for being black and female in a culture that esteemed neither.
More recently, the physical attributes historically possessed by black women were deemed undesirable by America's wider society -- until women of other ethnic groups began to exhibit them. Cornrows weren't chic until Bo Derek got them, curvaceous derrieres weren't s*xy until Jennifer Lopez came along, and full lips were unattractive until Angelina Jolie's kissers showed up and sparked a cottage industry of lip-plumping potions. …
(FULL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07113/78018...
Posted By: Jane L. Wilson
Monday, April 23rd 2007 at 9:18AM
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