African American Actresses Role in Hollywood

After reading the three articles and understanding the general themes and tone addressing the issue of roles for African American woman in Hollywood. This was illuminated throughout all three of the articles, however, I then became intrigued by the dates in which the articles were published. Perhaps this for me was more troublesome than the absolutely shocking facts and statistics within the articles regarding black female actress’ and their roles in Hollywood. The dates of the published articles were 1991, 2013, and 2017, the span of years in which this issue is still being addressed in the media is 28 years. It is baffling to think this is still a problem in today’s culture, but clearly, it, has not been addressed and what happened in 1991 is still happening today. Woman African American actresses within the 2017 Buzzfeed Article, “‘The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” This is very familiar to the issue being addressed in 1991 The New York Times article, “‘I’d like to see someone focus on a black woman’s story.’ Said Lynn Whitfield.”


Although, it has been 28 years since the first article has been published. There is still no change in the industry. There are still no roles for African American women. Although a solution is in sight with the role of writers creating more female African American roles, this is only the beginning and the first step to fixing the problem. Shonda Rhimes is one of the most popular writers who is breaking down these barriers as she wrote Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and other projects with ABC. She creates no barriers to the roles she creates, giving everyone an equal opportunity, which is not seen in Hollywood.


Mentioned within Ms. Palmer’s lecture and the articles the color or shade of African Americans are also stereotyped in Hollywood. Within our own lives, we see light skin toned African Americans playing beautiful roles, while darker skin toned African Americans aren’t sought out for those roles. Through the media, tv, and movies this stereotype is soaring through our society. In our own lives we hear ‘she is beautiful’ or ‘gorgeous’ when a young light skin tone woman is playing the love interest or protagonist. While darker skin tones play a stronger role in movies and tv and hear, ‘she is so strong’ or ‘intelligent’ or even ‘wonderful’ but never ‘beautiful’. However, we all know race does not define beauty, strength, or intelligence, but the media, movies, and tv create an illusion that impacts our lives.