The Mammy Essays

The Mammy Essays The Mammy Essay The Mammy Essay Mammies, Matriarchs and Other Controlling Images Patricia Hill Collins: Black Feminist Thought Chapter Main Concepts: As it relates to African-American women, the intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender and sexuality could not continue without powerful ideological justifications for their existence, which is perpetuated through controlling images. Controlling societal images is one of the many powers held by the dominant group (white males) in the U. S. to manipulate ideas about black womanhood. Through the perpetuation of these controlling images of the black woman as the mammy, matriarch, welfare queen, jezebel/hoochie and black lady, black women become objects instead of subjects ? i. e. domestic workers are often referred to as â€Å"work mules/animals† or â€Å"girl† Like other people of color and subordinate groups, black women are seen as the â€Å"other† in our society. By not belonging, black women emphasize the signifi cance of belonging. ? Black feminist thought derives from this kind of thinking, as a means to resist these controlling images. Black women insist on the right to establish and define their own reality Controlling Images and Black Women’s Oppression During this slavery era images of black women were socially constructed to maintain their subordination Unlike Black women, white women were encouraged to possess four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity ? Mammy: Asexual, faithful, obedient domestic servant; yardstick used to measure all black women behavior Image aims to influence maternal behavior; raises children to know place in society Matriarch: Spends too much time out the home working; overly the aggressive; emasculates husbands and lovers; unfeminine. Unlike mammy, she is the â€Å"bad† black mother Introduced in a government report on Black poverty in 1965 called the Negro Family: The Case for National Action (Moynihan report) ? The report blamed black mothers for their childrens failures; working lead to a lack of attention and care; delinquency; Further a sserts that slavery destroyed black families by reversing roles of men and women Black backlash- Diverts attention from the reality of political and economic inequalities that shape black children experiences ? Welfare Queen: Makes use of social welfare benefits to which they are entitled by law; Lazy; fails to pass on work ethic; alone; updated version of â€Å"breeder woman† during slavery This image provides justification for the efforts to control black women’s fertility to the needs of a changing economy ? i. e. during slavery children were valued as property the more slave children you have the more assets you have After WWII black women and their children seen as a economical liability During the 1980s, despite Reagan and the Republicans opposition, Black women and children could not be forced to work, and Black men dropped out of legitimate labor force ? Prison Industrial Complex ? Jezebel/ Hoochie: Represents a deviant black female sexuality; originated un der slavery to justify the many assaults against slave women by white men ? These women are seen as having a strong sexual appetite which leads to an expected outcome of increased fertility Hoochie unlike the Jezebel is an image accepted by the Black community ? Three types of hoochie: plain, gold digger, hoodrat Normal female heterosexuality is expressed in terms of true white womanhood unlike the black â€Å"hot momma† Because of black women sexual appetite is seen as inappropriate or worst, insatiable, black women are characterized as freaks and become stigmatized in society Black women sexuality and fertility is defined by the dominant group (white men) ? Black Lady: Combination of the mammy and matriarch Claire Huxtable, The Cosby Show Controlling Images and Social Institutions Schools, news media and government agencies constitute important sites for reproducing controlling images usually based on the idea of black women having some kind of deviant sexuality ? Social science research; AIDS and teen pregnancy ? Popular culture; Black hip hop music ? Accessibility to birth control measures Controlling images are also perpetuated in Black institutions ? Family, church and civic organizations are all sites where controlling images of black women are simultaneously resisted and reproduced. Color, Hair Texture and Standards of Beauty Despite the resistance of Black women to being objected as the â€Å"other†, controlling images still influence their lives, becoming even more visible. They impact how Black women interact with the world ? Speaking standard/proper English somehow makes you less black i. e. â€Å"I never think of you as black†; â€Å"I don’t see race when I’m with you† The binary thinking between Black and white beauty: ? Thin, white, blonde hair and blue eyes are not beautiful without the â€Å"other†, full lips, broad noses, dark skin and kinky hair White skin and straight hair privileges white women by being the standard of beauty; No matter what a Black woman subjective reality is, she’ll never meet the main stream standards of beauty All women in U. S. are objectified, and their value determined by how they look, but Black is the most â€Å"un-American† Black Women’s Reactions to Control ling Images Historically African American literature by women writer’s usually provide a comprehensive view of Black women struggles to form positive self-definitions in face inferior images Many fictional characters of Black women have themes of pain, violence and death that make up their lives; experiences of internalized oppression ? These characters use drugs, alcohol, excessive religion, and even retreat into madness to attempt to escape painful black female realities ? Denial is another response to controlling images; â€Å"I’m not like the rest† Black female writer’s also document the responses of positive self-definition by Black women ? The Color Purple (the conclusion) ? Waiting to Exhale ? How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Law of Constant Composition in Chemistry

Law of Constant Composition in Chemistry In chemistry, the law of constant composition (also known as the law of definite proportions) states that samples of a pure compound always contain the same elements in the same mass proportion. This law, together with the law of multiple proportions, is the basis for stoichiometry in chemistry. In other words, no matter how a compound is obtained or prepared, it will always contain the same elements in the same mass proportion. For example, carbon dioxide (CO2) always contains carbon and oxygen in a 3:8 mass ratio. Water (H2O) always consists of hydrogen and oxygen in a 1:9 mass ratio. Law of Constant Composition History Discovery of this law is credited to the French chemist Joseph Proust, who through a series of experiments conducted from 1798 to 1804 concluded that chemical compounds consisted of a specific composition. Considering John Daltons atomic theory was only just beginning to explain that each element consisted of one type of atom and at the time, most scientists still believed elements could combine in any proportion, Prousts deductions were exceptional. Law of Constant Composition Example When you work with chemistry problems using this law, your goal is to look for the closest mass ratio between the elements. Its okay if the percentage is a few hundredths off. If youre using experimental data, the variation might be even greater. For example, lets say that using the law of constant composition, you want to demonstrate that two samples of cupric oxide abide by the law. Your first sample was 1.375 g cupric oxide, which was heated with hydrogen to yield 1.098 g of copper. For the second sample, 1.179 g of copper was dissolved in nitric acid to produce copper nitrate, which was subsequently burned to produce 1.476 g of cupric oxide. To work the problem, youd need to find the mass percent of each element in each sample. It doesnt matter whether you choose to find the percentage of copper or the percentage of oxygen. Youd simply subtract one of the values from 100 to get the percent of the other element. Write down what you know: In the first sample: copper oxide 1.375 gcopper 1.098 goxygen 1.375 - 1.098 0.277 g percent oxygen in CuO (0.277)(100%)/1.375 20.15% For the second sample: copper 1.179 gcopper oxide 1.476 goxygen 1.476 - 1.179 0.297 g percent oxygen in CuO (0.297)(100%)/1.476 20.12% The samples follow the law of constant composition, allowing for significant figures and experimental error. Exceptions to the Law of Constant Composition As it turns out, there are exceptions to this rule. There are some non-stoichiometric compounds that exhibit a variable composition from one sample to another. An example is wustite, a type of iron oxide that may contain 0.83 to 0.95 iron per each oxygen. Also, because there are different isotopes of atoms, even a normal stoichiometric compound may display variations in mass composition, depending which isotope of the atoms is present. Typically, this difference is relatively small, yet it does exist and can be important. The mass proportion of heavy water as compared with regular water is an example.