Madam C. J. Walker and the Task of Recreating the Black Image

BTSU 201

Image is an important component in people’s identity and socio-cultural experiences. Aesthetics are a crucial piece in the formation of this image. Not being considered ugly and unpresentable comes with various benefits; some of which are needed for basic survival. But achieving recognition in the aesthetics arena has not always been easy for black women because it is a racialized territory in which black women were presented as opposites of beauty and silenced spectators. This paper looks at black women’s use of aesthetic and respectability as tools of political activism with focus on Madam C. J. Walker’s contributions to black aesthetics culture and politics in New York City in the 20th C. The paper explores specific ways in which black women challenged racial stereotypes of themselves and some situations that led to their identity-remaking agenda. The paper also discusses challenges Walker, and, by extension, black women faced in their goal to contest racial stereotypes. The researcher argues that stereotypes have always been a part of black women’s socio-cultural experiences in the U.S. but so has their efforts to get rid of them. Women in American cities, in this case New York, during the 20th C devoted their resources to eliminating negative racial stereotypes. They engaged in respectability politics and aesthetics to demand dignity and respect from white hostile societies. Madam C. J. Walker was a pioneer of the black image redefinition movement. She created beauty products for black women and used her place of wealth and power to demonstrate hard work and success exists among black people too. However, she did not challenge white cultural ideologies and may have contributed to them.