African American Women Discrimination History
|
African American women have faced a lot of socio, economic and sexual discrimination in the past. They fought for their justice with a lot of perseverance and never lost their hope. Slavery was predominant in the first place and abolition of slavery contributed to a large extent in women’s growth.
|
Many women were active during the Harlem Renaissance which was a period of extensive growth of literature in the form of fiction, music, art and poetry. They proved themselves as intellects equal to men. Some of the women who participated actively during this period are Josephine Baker, Marita Bonner, Anita Scott Coleman, Virginia Houston, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Florence Mills, Helene Johnson, Bessie Smith and Dorothy West. While some of them became very famous and were recognized, the contributions of many were forgotten.
The term “Womanism” became very famous in the context of ‘African-American feminist era’. Women also faced huge challenges in the educational and professional front. They were even restricted from voting for their leaders.
African-American women have successfully established their stand in the recent past. In the year 1993, Tony Morrison won a Nobel Prize for her literary work. She became the first African-American woman writer to win an award. Some of the African-American women have emerged as successful leaders or entrepreneurs of various novel initiatives. For example, Aileen Hernandez served as the Executive Vice President of the organization named NOW for about3 years and became the second president of the same in the year 1970. In addition, this organization was founded by a woman named Hon. Shirley Chisholm. She was a talented speaker of women rights and women equality and started a fearless campaign against color discrimination.
More Articles :
|
