(anything is fine) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

(anything is fine) - Essay Example Black women have raised themselves from being considered beasts of labor, assigned to jobs typically considered to be male occupations, to gaining recognition to now leading a nation. Cooper explores how women of color have had a rough time in America, but there is hope for a better future because of their ability to fight back in an embodied way to disprove the public racist opinion. Brittney Cooper is an appropriate person to present a study of this nature as a professor with vast experience in Women’s Studies. Her experience as a black woman and as an expert in women’s studies gives her article a lot of credibility. Moreover, she has pointed out and referenced several articles written by fellow women and black women rights’ campaigners. Cooper gathers several pieces of verifiable evidence to support her arguments ranging from documented historical racism and the black woman’s position from slavery through the civil rights era into current events includi ng public opinion regarding Michelle Obama’s rise to the White House (Cooper, 2010). She has also included her own practical experience as a black woman and reveals telling encounters she's had with white people. There is a lot of evidence available throughout this study that is also generated from credible sources. The article is conclusive due to the quality of the evidence provided by Cooper. However, Cooper did not carry out any original research to prove her points. She could have done so using either questionnaires or survey forms to assess the black and white women’s opinions regarding the claims she was planning to make in her article. From the early days when Sojourner Truth felt it necessary to expose her breasts to a crowd of men to today's public appearances of Michelle Obama, one of the major claims Cooper makes is that the black woman's role in the public domain has been very focused on her body. According to Cooper (2010) black women have always used str ategies such as Michelle Obama’s dedication to presenting a fit body dressed in fashionable and appropriate clothing to defend their negative portrayals in public. Michelle Obama's appearance is a direct challenge to claims that black women are in poor shape and live in the ghettos. Like Sojourner Truth's bare breasts, the image of Michelle Obama cannot be easily argued away. These strategies play a major role in ensuring democracy because she is very clearly a lady of taste and refinement which she has shown in a positive and peaceful but uncompromising way. There are several arguments by Cooper, Darlene Clark and Evelyn Brooks regarding the bodily appearance of women in the public domain as well as their public self-representation and what it means to society as a whole. While the black man’s body has also been used to express concerns about racism and address some of the discriminatory and vulnerability issues that still exist, it is the woman's body that is most ef fective perhaps because the female form is most open for scrutiny in our society. Cooper (2010) attempts to give hope to black women who were initially subjected to sexual discrimination and other forms of exploitation through the use of these examples of black male oppression. Black women have always worried about their role in society as a result of their extreme oppression during slavery and through the forces of racism and discrimination that have