The Struggles of African American Women in Arts

Tymira Lewis Lewis 1 April 23, 2026 ENGL2017-65125 Major Project The Struggles of African American Women in Arts The history of African American involvement in the arts includes both remarkable cultural innovation and ongoing structural inequality. African American art is rooted in resilience, storytelling, and resistance, reflecting the lived experiences of a community that navigates both oppression and creativity. Despite their significant impact on global culture, African American artists still face systemic barriers that hinder their recognition and independence in the arts. For African American women, these obstacles are heightened by the combined effects of racism and sexism, which often distort how they are represented and valued. In Dirty South Feminism: The Girlies Got Somethin’ to Say Too! Southern Hip-Hop Women, Fighting Respectability, Talking Mess, and Twerking Up the Dirty South, Adeerya Johnson looks at how Southern hip-hop women deal with these pressures by valuing authenticity over respectability. Black women in the arts have long dealt with a complicated and ongoing struggle shaped by underrepresentation, invisibility, unfairness, intense scrutiny, and the right to be true to themselves in creative spaces. Underrepresentation is a major concern, as Black women are often left out of galleries, casting calls, publishing deals, and leading artistic institutions. Despite their significant influence in music, visual art, dance, film, and literature, their presence is often Lewis 2 diminished or erased in favor of more marketable or conventional portrayals that adhere to narrow beauty standards. These standards often exclude darker skin tones, natural hair, and culturally specific expressions, pressuring artists to conform or risk being overlooked. Adeerya Johnson connects underrepresentation to systemic bias, industry practices focused on marketability, regional prejudice, and cultural erasure. She states, “The lack of representation is an act of misogynoir and disregard to Black women’s marketability in hip-hop, a lack of seriousness and quality southern hip-hop music compared to East and West Coast rap, and the ignorance of Black women and girls’ experiences, impact, and relevance to southern hip-hop culture” (Johnson 8). In “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry, Childs emphasizes how stereotypes continue to shape what is considered beautiful or acceptable in the arts. She states, “Controlling images, such as Mammy and the Jezebel, position Black women as unattractive, hypersexual beings, and permeate social institutions which reproduce these controlling images” (Childs 3). Black women often face harsher judgment than their peers. Their work is dissected more critically, and their professionalism is more frequently questioned. Their appearance is scrutinized more closely, their mistakes are less tolerated, and their achievements are downplayed. This creates an environment where they must overperform just to keep their place, highlighting an ongoing imbalance that continues to shape their experiences in the arts. This imbalance creates constant pressure to prove their worth, making the artistic journey not just about creating but also about enduring and challenging systemic bias at every level. When Black women are included, it is often in limited or stereotyped roles that do not reflect the richness and diversity of their experiences. Black women in the arts have long navigated a narrow pathway shaped by stereotypes and typecasting, where opportunities are Lewis 3 often filtered through restrictive expectations. In film and television, roles offered to Black women often focus on narratives of suffering—stories centered on trauma, hardship, or resilience in tough situations. Tyler Perry has many films that fit this pattern, like Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, and I Can Do Bad All By Myself, among many others. While these stories can be meaningful, the imbalance creates a distorted image, suggesting that Black womanhood is primarily defined by pain. This trend, known as “Black trauma narratives,” limits the variety of characters Black women can portray, leaving little space for joy, depth, fantasy, or everyday life. Tokenism complicates matters further. Black women may be included in projects solely to meet diversity requirements without being assigned substantial or meaningful roles. This can lead to characters that feel incomplete or disconnected from the main narrative. In Black Women in Film: The Film Stereotypes, Clichés, and Tropes that Negatively Influence Perceptions of Black Women, Isatou Sey discusses this issue, calling it the “single story problem.” He explains that instead of broadening how Black women are portrayed, tokenism recycles the same narrow roles. As a result, Black women in the arts are not only underrepresented but also misrepresented, which affects both their opportunities and how their beauty, identity, and value are viewed (Sey 1). Beyond the screen, intersectional discrimination impacts almost every part of the creative process. Black women are less frequently cast in leading roles, less likely to hold opportunities behind the camera, and often face tougher criticism in reviews. Their work might be judged more harshly or completely misunderstood, especially when it challenges mainstream ideas. This creates a cycle where industry decisions are driven by assumptions that reinforce the same stereotypes. The fight for recognition among Black women in the arts is closely connected to issues of cultural appropriation and the erasure of historical contributions. Cultural appropriation often happens when elements of Black women’s creative expressions are adopted widely without crediting the creators. From hairstyles and fashion trends to musical styles and performance techniques, aspects rooted in Black cultural expression are often separated from the original creators and repackaged for mainstream audiences. This results in a shift of visibility and profits away from the original creators, reinforcing economic inequalities and weakening claims to intellectual ownership. Lockhart offers a clear example of this in A Stolen Culture: The Harmful Effects of Cultural Appropriation Lockhart illustrates how Miley Cyrus transitioned from her “innocent” image to a rebellious persona during her Bangerz era, heavily borrowing from Black culture through music styles, twerking, and hairstyles like Bantu knots (rebranded as “space buns”) and dreadlocks. Meanwhile, Black women, such as Zendaya, faced criticism for wearing the same styles, as noted in comments by Giuliana Rancic (Lockhart 16-17). Historical erasure complicates this issue by distorting or removing records of Black women’s contributions. While some instances of historical erasure may be unintentional, others arise from biases in documentation, archiving, and critique. Many groundbreaking achievements either go undocumented or are wrongly credited to others with greater access to institutional power. Without appropriate recognition, these contributions often get left out of educational resources, critical discussions, and industry acknowledgment. In The Erasure of Black Women, Tamara Anderson shares various examples, including Ella Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nina Simone (Anderson 13, 17, 19). These women made significant contributions to society and art, yet they receive little acknowledgment, are forgotten, or overshadowed by male counterparts. This lack of documentation and recognition creates a ripple effect, making it difficult for future generations Lewis 5 of Black women artists to find role models, references, or proof of precedent when advocating for their work. In the arts, Black women often deal with the expectation that their work should represent not only themselves but also an entire culture. Instead of being recognized as individuals with unique voices, they are often seen as representatives of all African Americans. Each project can be examined for how it reflects a broader community, which imposes an emotional weight that many of their peers do not have to bear. Rather than just creating art, they constantly have to think about how their work will be viewed as cultural commentary. At the same time, censorship and silencing pose barriers to full expression. A study by Oliver Haimson, Daniel Delmonaco, Peipei Nie, and Andrea Wegner shows that moderation is applied unevenly. Content from conservative users often gets removed for breaching guidelines related to misinformation or offensive language, while content from Black users, particularly posts about racism or racial justice, is disproportionately taken down or flagged (Haimson, Delmonaco, Nie, Wegner 1). Black women frequently use social media and the arts to share their experiences with racism, sexism, and beauty standards. However, their voices can be silenced when their content is suppressed. Work exploring themes of race, gender inequality, or systemic injustice is often dismissed as overly political or divisive. Institutions might shy away from supporting such work, not necessarily due to its quality but because of perceived risk. As a result, artists may feel they need to tone down their messages or avoid certain topics to secure opportunities. The challenges that African American women face in the arts highlight a long-standing pattern of exclusion and misrepresentation that spans history and persists today. From controlling images and token roles to the appropriation of their culture and the silencing of their voices, these obstacles work together to limit both opportunity and authenticity. Nonetheless, Black Lewis 6 women artists continue to push against these restrictions, using their work as an avenue for expression, critique, and empowerment. While some progress has been made, real change requires a commitment to genuine representation and equal recognition. Recognizing and dismantling these systemic issues is essential not only for equity in the arts but also for expanding cultural understanding and allowing more truthful, diverse narratives to emerge. Resources Lewis 7 Anderson, Tamara D. and Anderson, Maya (2021) "The Erasure of Black Women," #CritEdPol: Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies at Swarthmore College: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 2: 8-25. DOI: 10.24968/2473-912X.3.1.2 Childs, K. M. (2022). “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry. Social Media + Society, 8(2). Johnson, Adeerya. 2021. Dirty South Feminism: The Girlies Got Somethin’ to Say Too! Southern Hip-Hop Women, Fighting Respectability, Talking Mess, and Twerking Up the Dirty South. Religions 12: 1030. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111030. Lockhart, Amirah, "A Stolen Culture: The Harmful Effects of Cultural Appropriation" (2021). Honors Theses. 1804. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1804 Oliver L. Haimson, Daniel Delmonaco, Peipei Nie, and Andrea Wegner. 2021. Disproportionate Removals and Differing Content Moderation Experiences for Conservative, Transgender, and Black Social Media Users: Marginalization and Moderation Gray Areas. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW2, Article 466 (October 2021), 35 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3479610. Sey, Isatou K., "Black Women in Film: The Film Stereotypes, Cliches, and Tropes that Negatively Influence Perceptions of Black Women" (2023). Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize. 21. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mcleod/21.