African-American Women and their Place in Hollywood

The lecture from Dr. Palmer and the articles that we read about African-American women and their place in Hollywood really opened my eyes to a certain racism that I never thought too deeply about.  The entertaining world seems to be a very judgmental place, based primarily on your looks and physical attributes.  Unfortunately the entertainment business is more focused on what looks better to the audience than what actresses could really be the best at the role.  African-American women are primarily the most discriminated in the entertainment business and this is something that needs to change.  The actress who can play the role the best should be able to have the ability to be that role, it should not be the actresses that looks the best for the role.  The auditions and judging for the roles should make everyone equal and should be determined by the quality of the individuals performance.  

I thought Dr. Palmer did an excellent job introducing us to these issues in the entertainment world.  I would never have thought about these things while watching a TV show or movie, but after listening and participating in the lecture, it is definitely something you can notice.  During and after the lecture I was able to think back to the older movies that I've seen, and did notice that there were very few African-American women in major key and lead roles.  I think that in todays entertainment, this issue of discrimination between roles is less frequent than it was 27 years ago, but after reading the articles it is still stunning to me how present this issue still is in the decision factor.  

It doesn't surprise me that "it takes black actresses a longer time to achieve the same milestones as their white counterparts, even when they have the same or more experience".  This quote is from Nicole Perkins' article Twice As Good: How Black Actresses Get Half The Recognition.  The African-American Actresses are already at a disadvantage from fame because of the difficulties that come with earning major roles, but unfortunately  it comes hand in hand with the difficulties of earning that fame after being awarded the major roles.  It was also pretty sickening that depending on the shade of an African-American women's skin could "determine" how pretty she was.  If their skin was lighter, and resembled a white women as much as possible, she was considered more beautiful.  The women with a darker shade if skin weren't considered not as beautiful and were given more commanding roles.  These issues of discrimination in the entertainment industry are ones that need to be changed because we all know today, that the color of your skin does not define you but your character, personality and abilities are what define you.