3 books found
As the largest employer of one of the world’s leading economic and geo-political superpowers, the history of the federal government’s workforce is a rich and essential tool for understanding how the “Great Experiment” truly works. The literal face of federal policy, federal employees enjoy a history as rich as the country itself, while reflecting the country’s evolution towards true democracy within a public space. Nowhere is this progression towards democracy more apparent than with its internal race relations. While World War II was a boon to black workers, little is known about the nuanced, ongoing struggles for dignity and respect that black workers endured while working these “good, government jobs.” American Dream Deferred challenges postwar narratives of government largess for African Americans by illuminating the neglected stories of these unknown black workers.
by Frederick W. Gooding Jr., Frederick W Gooding Jr
2024 · Teachers College Press
"Drawing on cinema and popular media, Gooding offers guidance for honing media literacy skills with middle, high school, and undergraduate college students. Twelve concise racial rubrics are provided to help readers discern the disparate treatment of non-White characters onscreen, including an analysis of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time"--
Despite Hollywood’s recent efforts to appeal to more racially diverse audiences, mainstream movies routinely present a limited view of non-Whites generally, and Black women specifically, in stark contrast to the broadly developed spectrum of White characters. Black women characters are frequently rendered invisible, and even in films featuring their image, Black women characters too often fall prey to historically stereotypical patterns. These consistently marginalized Black female images serve to reflect and reinforce messages of racial imbalance distributed worldwide. In Double Crossed: Black Female Intersectionality in Hollywood, author Frederick W. Gooding Jr. chronicles the Black female experience through the lens of Hollywood. Gooding begins by contextualizing the origins of early Black female imagery on screen, largely restricted to the domestic mammy figure, then traces how these images have shifted over time. Through close readings of such films as Gone with the Wind, Bringing Down the House, The Princess and the Frog, and The Help, as well as case studies looking at Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes, Gooding considers not only the image the Black woman creates, but also the shadow she casts. This volume demonstrates the historical, economic, and social consequences of Hollywood’s distorted representation of Black women on screen and in real life.