Our Roles

Joanne Kilgour Dowdy interprets roles of black women in films.  She references “Passion Fish”, “Wit”, “The Color Purple”, “Losing Isaiah”, “The Josephine Baker Story”, “Clara’s Heart”, “Sarafina”, “Music from the Heart”, and “Eve’s Bayou”.  Each of these nine films provides a distinct view of black women.  "The Color Purple" was filmed earliest in 1985.  This film shows the triumph of a young woman who was manipulated and abused.  Nevertheless, she persevered and created opportunities for herself.  Produced in 2001, “Wit” was the latest of the films.  It depicts the story of a black nurse named Sue.  Dowdy’s students viewed Sue as the "invisible character" as she played a key role but was not a main character.

These nine stories reflect the roles that black women play every day in real life.  We learned about the many roles of black women in readings such as “Going Against The Grain” and “To Protect and Serve".  Outside of our educational pursuits in this class, we see the struggles that black women have endured particularly in another class called African Diaspora and The World.  In “Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy In Feature Films” Joanne Dowdy explores ways that symbols help create our world.  Each of the films named above were constructed by a white director.  Therefore, Dowdy had her students use critical analysis when viewing these films, particularly when black characters are in the cast. 

I think that Dowdy wants her students and readers to be aware of how black people, specifically black women are represented by the media.  She uses nine films that were produced over sixteen years to show similarities in the roles black women have played.  In movies, we are often abused, weak, and sometimes incompetent.  When these films are continuously being produced, these images of black women begin to come to life in society and many of the ideas from the films become reality.  Black women can either conform to the expectations of society or use the expectations placed upon us as inspiration to do better and learn more.  We need to create new pictures; positive images that uphold integrity and hard work; images that radiate our beauty.