Black Women's Oppression Over the Centuries

In Mr. Carson's lecture we discussed the topic of Black Women's health. One of the topics he discussed was the science of white supremacy. I found this topic really horrifying because it involves white men studying black women's breasts and hips out of the desire to rape, not to have sex with or love, but to rape because black women were known as property and not the actual human beings that they are. I definitely agree that black women are preyed upon by white men so they can fulfill their sexual desires. However, another subject Mr. Carson talked about I do not agree with.

Mr. Carson also talked about what he calls the "cult of white womanhood". In this slide he says that black women tend to raise white babies for white women. He says that many white women hire minority nannies because they can be taken advantage of because the white women know they have control over these women. I personally disagree with this statement. In my personal experience I had many babysitters and many of them were actually white. I know for a fact that my mother would never hire a babysitter because she knew they were a minority and thought she could have control over them, she would hire the best person to take care of my brother and I. I'm not to sure if Mr. Carson was saying this used to be the way things were but if he said that things are still this way, I disagree. 

Despite the fact that I disagree with this topic I do agree with Mr. Carson on the way black women are portrayed in Hollywood. In most movies black women are shown as stupid, big, and obedient. I completely agree that this stereotype exists and one of the examples I can connect this to is the movie The Help. The Help in a very short version is about black women who serve white women, cooking for them, cleaning for them, and taking care of their children. In the movie all the black women display the exact traits Mr. Carson described.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mr. Carson lecture on black women and their health because it opened my eyes to different opinions and helped me to further understand all the struggles that black women have gone through for centuries.