Fierce angels: the strong black woman in American life and culture
Author:
Publisher:
One World/Ballantine Books
Pub. Date:
[2010]
Edition:
1st ed
Language:
English
Description
"Fierce Angels explores and explodes the idea of the "strong black woman." Authoritative yet deeply personal and confessional, Sheri Parks's new study of the black female's role as communal savior and martyr will challenge and change anyone who reads it. It exposes the overwhelming emotional costs - as well as benefits - attached to this role." "Beginning with the oldest ongoing archetype, the Dark Feminine, Parks reveals the layered significance of the fertility of darkness - the abyss out of which the world was spoken into existence, the primordial creator in ancient Greek, Sumerian, and West African cultures, and the essence of Mother Earth herself. As these myths matured, they played critical parts in the assignment of maternal roles to women of African descent, the Dark Feminine acquiring a particularly acrid scent once she crossed the Atlantic Ocean in shackles, bound for a life of slavery." "Parks traces the development of the "strong black woman" throughout her life on Southern plantations and New York streets and in countless kitchens in between. From the Black Madonna celebrated by Italian Americans to the nurturing and selfless "Mammy" forced to nurse her master's child before her own, these abiding symbols of fortitude and dependability only solidified the mold into which the powerful dark woman was cast and paved a path that her descendants would have no choice but to follow." "Fierce Angels follows the inheritors of this legacy of power, compassion, and familial devotion into today's world, seeing her in Coretta Scott King, who relinquished her dreams for those of her husband, and in Angela Dawson, a mother in East Baltimore whose home was fire-bombed when she tried to save her community from drug dealers. Parks also shares important examples from entertainment, cogently reexamined and in some cases surprisingly reclaimed, from Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind to the no-nonsense Lieutenant Anita Van Buren played by S. Epatha Merkerson on Law & Order." "Bringing it all home, Parks recalls the personal costs she's paid for her own identity and captures those moments when she is expected to be all and know all, whether for her students at work or for strangers in the produce aisle in the supermarket. She investigates the support systems holding these stereotypes in place - latched onto by those both within and outside the traditional black community - and challenges readers, mothers, and daughters alike to examine how damaging and rewarding the assignment of this role can be and to take control of it within their lives."--BOOK JACKET.
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ISBN:
9780345503145
Staff View
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 939dc01b-6bad-c7eb-6f1d-cecdc03bd534 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | fierce angels the strong black woman in american life and culture |
Grouping Author | sheri parks |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-03-22 19:29:17PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-04-19 02:24:21AM |
Solr Fields
accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Parks, Sheri
author_display
Parks, Sheri
available_at_aimslibrary
Aims Community College - Greeley
detailed_location_aimslibrary
Aims Greeley Circulation
display_description
"Fierce Angels explores and explodes the idea of the "strong black woman." Authoritative yet deeply personal and confessional, Sheri Parks's new study of the black female's role as communal savior and martyr will challenge and change anyone who reads it. It exposes the overwhelming emotional costs - as well as benefits - attached to this role." "Beginning with the oldest ongoing archetype, the Dark Feminine, Parks reveals the layered significance of the fertility of darkness - the abyss out of which the world was spoken into existence, the primordial creator in ancient Greek, Sumerian, and West African cultures, and the essence of Mother Earth herself. As these myths matured, they played critical parts in the assignment of maternal roles to women of African descent, the Dark Feminine acquiring a particularly acrid scent once she crossed the Atlantic Ocean in shackles, bound for a life of slavery." "Parks traces the development of the "strong black woman" throughout her life on Southern plantations and New York streets and in countless kitchens in between. From the Black Madonna celebrated by Italian Americans to the nurturing and selfless "Mammy" forced to nurse her master's child before her own, these abiding symbols of fortitude and dependability only solidified the mold into which the powerful dark woman was cast and paved a path that her descendants would have no choice but to follow." "Fierce Angels follows the inheritors of this legacy of power, compassion, and familial devotion into today's world, seeing her in Coretta Scott King, who relinquished her dreams for those of her husband, and in Angela Dawson, a mother in East Baltimore whose home was fire-bombed when she tried to save her community from drug dealers. Parks also shares important examples from entertainment, cogently reexamined and in some cases surprisingly reclaimed, from Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind to the no-nonsense Lieutenant Anita Van Buren played by S. Epatha Merkerson on Law & Order." "Bringing it all home, Parks recalls the personal costs she's paid for her own identity and captures those moments when she is expected to be all and know all, whether for her students at work or for strangers in the produce aisle in the supermarket. She investigates the support systems holding these stereotypes in place - latched onto by those both within and outside the traditional black community - and challenges readers, mothers, and daughters alike to examine how damaging and rewarding the assignment of this role can be and to take control of it within their lives."--BOOK JACKET.
format_aimslibrary
Book
format_category_aimslibrary
Books
id
939dc01b-6bad-c7eb-6f1d-cecdc03bd534
isbn
9780345503145
itype_aimslibrary
General Circulating
last_indexed
2024-04-19T08:24:21.147Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_aimslibrary
E185.86 .P277 2010
owning_library_aimslibrary
Aims Community College
owning_location_aimslibrary
Aims Community College - Greeley
primary_isbn
9780345503145
publishDate
2010
publisher
One World/Ballantine Books
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
African American women
African American women in popular culture
Women -- United States -- Identity
African American women in popular culture
Women -- United States -- Identity
title_display
Fierce angels : the strong black woman in American life and culture
title_full
Fierce angels : the strong black woman in American life and culture / Sheri Parks
title_short
Fierce angels
title_sub
the strong black woman in American life and culture
topic_facet
African American women
African American women in popular culture
Identity
Women
African American women in popular culture
Identity
Women
Solr Details Tables
item_details
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b64104059 | .i137468830 | Aims Greeley Circulation | E185.86 .P277 2010 | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | aigci |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b64104059 | Book | Books | 1st ed | English | One World/Ballantine Books | [2010] | xxiii, 244 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
scoping_details_aimslibrary
Bib Id | Item Id | Grouped Status | Status | Locally Owned | Available | Holdable | Bookable | In Library Use Only | Library Owned | Holdable PTypes | Bookable PTypes | Local Url |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b64104059 | .i137468830 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | 188, 189, 190, 191 |