Socially, Psychologically, And Therefore Physically Unbeautiful: An Examination Of The Early 1900S Black American Female Perception Of Beauty

Abstract

Combining a psycho-social perspective, Black feminist thought, and an Afrocentric framework, this thesis will utilize selected Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper articles and advertisements in order to examine some of the possible factors that affected the early 1900s Black female perception of her social, psychological, and physical beauty. To determine the early 1900s perception of Black female social beauty, this thesis will use Afro articles to better understand the dynamics of race and gender in early 1900s American society, will reference European pseudoscience to explain some European constructed hierarchies of race and beauty, and will make use of United States Census data to determine how race was defined in early 1900s America. The perceived psychological beauty of the early 1900s Black female will be analyzed through the examination of Afro beauty advertisements, and the interpretation of the possible myths or realities of the Tragic Mulatto represented in literature. Further, this thesis will explore the early 1900s Black female perception of her physical beauty with the charted data collected from beauty advertisements in the Baltimore Afro. Last, the early 1900s perceived Black female beauty, will be connected to the perception of Black women and beauty in the new millennium.