According to some, many media outlets continue to perpetuate negative and unprogressive stereotypes of black women.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., held a forum attracting about 40 people entitled "Waiting to Exhale" to discuss the issue yesterday evening in Huntsman Hall.
College senior Jerryanne Heath -- president of the Bicultural InterGreek Council -- led the forum, showing several clips from movies and television shows. The central point was to highlight the typical roles into which the media pushes black women.
"I think this is a really important issue," Heath said. "There are a lot of negative representations" of black women in the media, ranging from "bossy to subservient."
The first scene shown was from Gone with the Wind, featuring Hattie McDaniel in a role that students felt was negatively stereotypical.
"This was the traditional 'mammy' role in the '30s and '40s," Heath said. She and others added that the part was characteristic of Hollywood's portrayal of "big, black women."
The fact that McDaniel won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for that role sparked a debate about Oscar winner Halle Berry.
Snorts of ridicule ensued after Heath pointed out that "some people have referred to Halle Berry as the Rosa Parks of film."
Students argued whether Berry truly deserved the award, some claiming that she was voluntarily perpetuating existing misconceptions by acting in the sexual roles Hollywood demanded.
Several attendees said they thought successful blacks had a duty to contribute to the black community.
"Our success comes on the back of many others," 2003 College graduate Ashon Crawley said. "There is a responsibility to... alleviate what other people have to go through."
That duty includes financial donations, as well as social programs, according to many of the students in attendance. Unfortunately, several concluded, not enough black people are fulfilling that commitment.
Halle Berry's "not sitting on the front of the bus of black women in film," Crawley said. "She's sending it backwards."
Many thought that a solution to constant negative depictions would be a stronger black female presence in media.
"Black people taking ownership over various forms of media" could be one method of achieving this goal, College senior Stacey Wood said. "There are not enough representations [of blacks]... so it's always gonna be seen as a stereotype."
The debate over media representations of black women could be extended to other ethnic groups, some said.
"It's one of our aims," Alpha Phi Alpha Chapter President and Wharton sophomore Christopher Amos said. "We've begun dialogue with non-historically black Greeks."
Some students noted that there were similarities between black media presentations and those of other minorities.
"What blacks experience as minorities, other minorities experience," Crawley said. "We all experience the oppression of the media."
Both organizers and attendees deemed the event a success.
"It's been an issue getting turnout for educational programming," Amos said, adding that he was satisfied with the numbers for this event.
"It was a wonderful forum to discuss issues that have been on people's minds recently," Wood said. "It's a good discussion to get some things off our mind."
