Tintype - Black Woman with Wonderful Hat
Uploaded by photo_history on 5 Jan 08, 9.59AM PDT.



The black woman.  This is pretty easy to define in modern day terms.  The term needs not the Webster dictionary nor does it need a break down of any sort in latin.  Black woman is a woman, meaning female, who happens to carry a darker tone in her skin, which is called black, but truly isn't of the color black.  Her tone is darker than white, thus making her even of ethnic ancestry and more so a descendant of Africa and from Africans.  Though there are many that are darker than the Caucasian, such as black indians or hispanics etc, the African look and blood line is for the most part considered black - thus black female or black lady or black woman.

On the contrary to the words black woman not needing a full blown out dictionary explanation, the word angry for this text actually does.  The definition of angry below pulled from medterms.com.

Angry: Pertaining to anger, an emotional state that may range in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage. Anger has physical effects; it raises the heart rate and blood pressure and the levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline, and so on.

The definition of Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility, this definition from thefreedictionary.com.


So now we have it spelled out for us.  The Angry Black Woman is the woman who is and has African ancestry and, while being black, has strong feelings of displeasure or hostility all the time and no matter what.  This phrase 'the angry black woman' has been coined for many black women over the course of time, regardless if they are truly angry or not.  This phrase isn't simply an emotional state that comes and goes for many black women, but it is a label that remains attached to them by some people, unfortunately, by not only other races, but by some even from within their own race.  For what reason?

Opinionated, yet with facts to back her up, resistant to going with the flow, deeper voices with sharp tongues when necessary, smart, capable of performing too many tasks, strong in the spine and stands up to just about anything considered a threat to her or her family, and won't just shut up and lie down, may not have the common college degree but may have the uncommon common sense.

These are all items that most women, regardless of race, should in fact know how to do.  Whether or not they do it, is all up to that individual woman.  All is never always necessary and some of them almost always are required.  That said, why is it that the black woman, whenever she exercises too many of these wonderful qualities, it is criticized, as if it is wrong and then coined the popular angry black woman?  Don't other races of women do the same thing and have the same qualities?  Why are these qualities even considered in a bad way when one speaks of the black woman?



INNTHEBASEMENT interviewed some men, both black and white, older and middle aged, to find out what the beef is with grouping together black women under this umbrella.  Surprisingly, the answers were mostly all the same except for one.

Let's look at black male number one (married...by the way, to a black woman;33 years of age):

The black woman is called the angry black woman because most of them have attitude problems, even the ones they show on television, and they are not reserved.   They tend to throw and cause scenes, most of them do, and then they take black men for granted.  These are the reasons that most black women are labeled angry.

When I asked about the opposite of the spectrum...the while woman, the answers were as follows:

White women don't take black men for granted, and they don't have attitude problems, for the most part.  Only lower class white women throw and cause scenes and they don't put their business out in the streets like black women do.  Also they are more reserved. 

Then I asked, how many white women do you know versus black women.  The answer was this:
I really don't know any white women as far as on a day to day basis.  I work with mostly black women.  The only reason I say what I say is because the only white women that I know of are on television and they don't act how the black women act on television.

Tintype of a Black Woman from the West Indies
Uploaded by photo_history on 6 Feb 08, 8.30AM PDT.

On to black male number 2 (single man in his late fifties, divorced...from a black woman but has dated white women in the past) I went, and this time got a slightly different answer.  Below is his response:

Well, black women do have attitude and most men call it an attitude problem.  But really it isn't an attitude problem.  The truth of the matter is, they just aren't gonna hold their tongues...especially if someone is doing them wrong or trying to play games with them.  Now, men say that is an attitude problem because they are doing dirt, and they just want the black woman to dumb down a bit so that they can do whatever it is that they want to do.  Honestly, then these men don't know God either, so they call a virtuous woman an angry black woman because she is on to their game.  That is a term for men or anyone to use who don't know what a real woman is, see. 

And thing is, the reason they are coined angry black women, I don't know, but one thing is for sure that a black woman sounds very threatening when they are serious and they are nothing to play with.  Some call that attitude, but they just don't play.  They are just too smart to let anything go down.  Shoot, if a black woman's man stays out all night, she'll tell him to pack his clothes and take it with him and shake her neck around while she's at it!  That's what some mistake for being angry black woman, and most black women aren't angry.  Just speak what is on their minds.

Next, I asked a white man (late thirties, married...to a white woman).  His reply below:

                                               
                                                                                Black Women Pastors
                                       Uploaded by Jamil-Kareem Exposures on 21 Jun 08, 10.00PM PDT.

So what is it and who is it...that is... an angry black woman.  Is there such a thing or is it just the mentality of some people who just have to be derogatory any chance that they get and try and step on something or someone because they feel threatened by that nature?  What nature is that?  Well the nature that just doesn't normally sit back and take it, the nature that speaks out and up whenever necessary, the nature that has been coined angry and black because their voices aren't muffled but a room full can hear them if they choose, the nature that is tries hard and digs deep and won't sit back and allow something to be snatched away that she has earned, or even that nature that simply tells the truth when no one wants to hear it which makes her sound...well...highstrung...with her education and all.  Or is it just something else to say about a woman that is black?

Whatever it is that some grasp on to for the enjoyment of the criticism, black women can generally take it all in stride because deep down on their insides, they already know that the only person truly angry is the one name calling.  Yes, they are the ones angry...at the black woman... for refusing to be a push over. 

Regardless of it all, all women deserve respect, regardless of if they are soft spoken or loud with no inside voice.  Race isn't a factor.  Attitudes are different based on each individual, not everyone in a race is the same.  Everyone has an attitude, not necessarily with a problem, men and women, but certain personalities get along better with one another.  Simple.  Again, it is only the person mad at the woman who then coins her angry...which actually means attitude problem and then labels all black women as such.