Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezabel Stereotypes are alive and well!

Driving my car on the busy Birmingham freeway, I was able to hear Stephanie Robinson blog titled, "Scandalous Progress." She explained that there has been criticism about the roles women of color are playing in some high-profile T.V. series.

So it made me think about the old stereotypes....

MAMMY

Mammy is first and foremost asexual, and accordingly, in this society she had to be fat. Most portrayals of Mammy depict her as an "obese African American woman, of dark complexion, with extremely large breasts and buttocks . . . ." By doing this, male slave-owners could disavow their sexual interests in African American women. By characterizing Mammy as an asexual, maternal and deeply religious woman whose main task was caring for the master's children and running his household, the slave-owner found in her the perfect slave. She was a loyal, faithful, but still untrustworthy member of the family who always knew her place.

She was a loyal and faithful slave who took care of the master’s children and household.  The mammy stereotype was created to imply that black women were only suitable for domestic work and that they were undesirable by white men.  This stereotype continued after emancipation, this version of the traditional mammy can be seen in the 2011 film ‘The Help’ and the most famous and wide spread depiction of her can be found on the cover of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix.

Like the traditional mammy, the modern day mammy is almost always large, asexual, and wise.  The modern day mammy has a little more attitude than the traditional mammy and comes in many different skin tones (though not light skin).  Tyler Perry’s Madea is probably the most famous depiction of the modern day mammy.  Her role as a mammy is even more solidified in the most recent film featuring Madea, ‘Madea’s Witness Protection,’ where she takes care of and gives advice to a white family. 

Tyler Perry's Hattie Mae

The second stereotype of African American women is that of Jezebel.

JEZEBEL

Jezebel "is the promiscuous female with an insatiable sexual appetite." In Biblical history, Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of Israel. Jezebel's actions came to exemplify lust. Subsequently, the name Jezebel has become synonymous with women who engage in lewd sexual acts and who take advantage of men through sex. Jezebel is depicted as erotically appealing and openly seductive. Her easy ways excused slave owners' abuse of their slaves and gave an explanation for Jezebel's mulatto offspring. This inability to be perceived as chaste brought about the stereotype of dishonesty.

In other words, African American women were not, and often are not, portrayed as being truthful and, therefore, they could not be trusted. Throughout history, our court system has also exploited the myth of Jezebel. The courts have used this image to make racism and sexism appear natural. The sexual myth of Jezebel functions as a tool for controlling African American women. Consequently, sexual promiscuity is imputed to them even absent specific evidence of their individual sexual histories. This imputation ensures that their credibility is doubted when any issue of sexual exploitation is involved.

the jezebel stereotype was created during slavery. This stereotype was created to justify the brutal and continuous raping of black women. This stereotype depicted black women with sexual urges that they could not contain.  It projected the false truth that black women truly desired sex with their white masters.  This stereotype marked a stark contrast between the pure image of white women and the sexually promiscuous image of black women.  This stereotype also depicts Latinas.

You can find the modern day depiction of Jezebel in an almost unlimited amount of rap music videos.  These women are pictured in little clothing and are always the sexual accessory of a man.  The modern day Jezebel all ways shows too much skin and is over sexual at all times.  In the 2011 film ‘Video Girl’ actress Meagan Good plays a modern day Jezebel who is practical owned by her white boyfriend as she performs as a sex object in music videos.

SAPPHIRE

Finally, in the stereotype of Sapphire, African American women are portrayed as evil, bitchy, stubborn and hateful. In other words, Sapphire is everything that Mammy is not. "The Sapphire image has no specific physical features other than the fact that her complexion is usually brown or dark brown.

"Unlike other images that symbolize African American women, Sapphire necessitates the presence of an African American male. The African American male and female are engaged in an ongoing verbal duel. Sapphire was created to battle the corrupt African American male whose "lack of integrity, and use of cunning and trickery provides her with an opportunity to emasculate him through her use of verbal put-downs."

Ernestine Ward popularized the Sapphire image in the Amos and Andy television series. Ward played a character known as Sapphire, and her husband, Kingfish, was played by Tim Moore.

Sapphire's spiteful personality was primarily used to create sympathy in viewers for Kingfish specifically and African American males in general. As a result, many African American women suppress these feelings of bitterness and rage for fear of being regarded as a Sapphire.

If a black woman didn’t fit into the mammy or jezebel stereotype, she was thought of as Sapphire.  Hard, strong, emasculating, overbearing and controlling are all characteristics of the traditional Sapphire stereotype.  Sapphire was created to threaten the power of the black male and to place a negative gaze upon any black woman who dared to critique the horrible conditions black women had to face.  The Sapphire stereotype was popularized by the character, Sapphire Stevens, in the mid 20^th century television show Amos ‘n’ Andy.

Today Sapphire has evolved into the angry black woman.  This stereotype is probably the most popular characterization of black women today.  This woman is always yelling, starting fights, and insulting men.  Reality television is perpetuating this stereotype more than ever by highlighting fights between black women and failed relationships with black men. 

 

 

 

This stereotype has become such a popular way to view black women that our first lady, Michelle Obama, who exudes grace and class has been classified as a modern say Sapphire.