Image of African American WomenDespite the strong presence of black, beautiful and powerful women in the media, such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé Knowles, African American women have been considered unattractive in the eyes of society . These notions did not develop overnight, but remain as obstacles born of slavery. These stereotypes keep Black women incarcerated in the belief that they are not beautiful. However, Black women have fought and fight these harmful perceptions in many different ways. My project will focus on two artists in particular, Maya Angelou and Kara Walker. I will examine three poems by Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Women, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Still I Rise while examining the works of Kara Walker to compare different approaches to transforming unfavorable images of African American women. mine told me he found dark girls "hideous." I was shocked to hear this because not only was his comment insensitive and racist, but it was also black. This comment didn't surprise me because it's a popular belief that dark girls are unattractive. In Hey Girl, Am I More Than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair Tracey Owen Patton provides a historical review on the emergence of black stereotypes, elaborating on how black women gained the status of inferiority. Black women are held to Eurocentric expectations, evolving these adverse perceptions from the created principle that White women are the only defining archetypes of beauty (Patton 26). The social practice of comparing black women to white women casts a negative light on the black female community, leading to the manifestation... middle of paper... Ale's image is still felt today, which can be clearly seen through the comment on my acquaintance. I am grateful to artists like Maya Angelou and Kara Walker for protesting perceptions of black women and working to transform them. Angelou and Walker use their work to demand respect for African American women and classify them as beautiful and crush their harmful stereotypes once and for all. Works Cited Dekel, Tal. (2007). Sex, race and gender: contemporary artists of color, the case of KaraWalker. Alantis, 31(2), 82-93.Feldstein, Ruth. (2012). “The World Was on Fire”: Black Women Entertainers and Transnational Activism in the 1950s. OAH History Journal, 26(4), 25-29.Patton, Tracy Owen. (2006). Hey girl, am I more than my hair?: African American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair. NWSA Newspaper, 18(2), 24-51.