'Your Hair Ain't Naughty:' Representations of Women in Rita Williams-Garcia's Novels

[...]Big Ma's speech, appearance, and behavior personifies Mammy. Harris-Perry suggests stereotypes like Mammy and the strong Black woman make concealing and suppressing Black female identity an appealing option(60). [...]a closer look at Big Ma reveals much more than a resemblance to Mammy; sh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Lion and the unicorn (Brooklyn) Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 327 - 343
Main Authors Hinton, KaaVonia, Branyon, Angela
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.09.2017
Subjects
19th century
African American literature
African Americans
American literature
Childrens novels
Cultural heritage
Cultural identity
Females
Feminism
Girls
Identity
Intergenerational relationships
Literary criticism
Morality
Novels
Obligations
Race
Slavery
Stereotypes
Williams-Garcia, Rita
Women
Writers
Young adult literature
Alabama
New York
United States > US
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Summary:[...]Big Ma's speech, appearance, and behavior personifies Mammy. Harris-Perry suggests stereotypes like Mammy and the strong Black woman make concealing and suppressing Black female identity an appealing option(60). [...]a closer look at Big Ma reveals much more than a resemblance to Mammy; she personifies the impact of the culture of dissemblance. According to Hine, Black women clubs such as the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs made it their duty to "counter negative stereotypes," and as a result, "many Black women felt compelled to downplay, even deny, sexual expression" (Hine 918). [...]though the books are not autobiographical, in her CSK Author Award acceptance speech, Williams-Garcia recalls that while growing up during this period she had a similar perspective, and she "wasn't completely on board with the feminist struggle of the sixties.
ISSN:0147-2593
1080-6563
1080-6563
DOI:10.1353/uni.2017.0030