As Black History Month comes to a close, and we turn to March and the beginning of Women's History Month, I've been thinking a lot about this intersection: the history of Black women. Indeed, this has been the focus of many of my posts on Travel & Culture Salon's Facebook and Instagram pages this past month.

I've focused on examples of Black female figures in history being whitewashed and fetishized in pop culture. The stereotype of the angry and/or erotic Black woman emerges from this tradition and continues today.

From Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian's Paper Magazine spread, portrayals of Black women in pop culture are slow to progress. Yet, examples abound of compelling efforts to determine and reclaim accurate lines of historical and cultural lineage.

This 1950's movie poster is meant to depict the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian queen of the 10 century BCE, known in Jewish and Islamic tradition to have visited the court of King Soloman bearing gold, jewels, and spices. Commerical trade relations were important between ancient Israel and southern Arabia.⁠⁠
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The Queen of Sheba was a powerful Black woman known in a variety of epics and traditions. According to the Bible, the purpose of her visit was to test Solomon’s wisdom by asking him to solve a number of riddles.⁠
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According to art historian, Michael Ohajuru, "the Renaissance saw [Queen of Sheba's] whitewashing and sexualization on a grand scale . . . [and] by the 18th Century she is no longer a queen meeting a king to have a healthy debate – she is an idolatrous seductress."

Cleopatra, the historical figure, is both fierce and flawed. Like many great historical figures. Her story is the stuff of novels, the stuff of Shakespeare. Indeed's it's a challenge to separate fact from fiction with regard to Cleopatra. ⁠
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The facts: She was the very last Pharaoh of Egypt when she died at age 39, a descendent of a Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death. She had an affair with Julius Caesar (after sneaking into his palace rolled up in a carpet), resulting in a son whom she named her co-ruler following Caesar's assassination (and after having her brother murdered). She then went on to have a love affair with Marc Antony whom she married and had twins. This caused a whole lot of controversy resulting in Rome attacking Egypt, and ending with Marc Antony committing suicide as Rome closed in on him and Cleopatra. Cleopatra also then killed herself, although likely from a poisonous concoction, not a snake bite as depicted in Shakespeare's play.⁠
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The questions: The evidence against Cleopatra being Black is incomplete. It's unlikely she descended from a pure Macedonian Greek ancestry, yet there is no concrete evidence that her mixed background is necessarily Black. And while drama and sexual intrigue have dominated history books and movies, as seen here in Elizabeth Taylor’s portrayal, Cleopatra can actually be remembered as a shrewd strategist and brilliant negotiator. ⁠

hattie mcdaniel.jpeg — 3.Hattie Mcdaniel

Before those 50’s movies with Cleopatra and Queen of Sheba, Hattie McDaniel starred as Scarlett O’Hara’s house slave, Mammy, in Gone With the Wind and was the very first Black Oscar winner in 1940 at the 12th Academy Awards.

If Black women weren’t eroticized or whitewashed, then the typical depiction was that of the maid, servant, or slave. Another stereotypical role.

The child of former slaves, McDaniel’s was segregated from attending her Oscar win and never matched her success in Gone With the Wind with her future roles.

She was also criticized by Black audiences for perpetuating negative stereotypes but famously told critics, “I’d rather play a maid than be a maid.”

By the time of her death in 1952, she was a polarizing figure and would sadly be refused the right to be buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery as she had hoped.

Kim Kardashian was criticized for her 2014 Paper Magazine spread for effectively reincarnating Sarah 'Saartjie' Baartman, a real 18th-century South African woman who had steatopygia (excess fatty tissue around her hip and bottom area) and, as Natasha Mwansa writes, “spent most of her adult life being exhibited as a caged freak-show attraction both in London and Paris, where she died and was displayed even in death up until the late ‘70s.” Mwansa points out that the exploration of Baartman is part of a long tradition of depicting Black women as primitive and sexually insatiable. Incredibly, at the very time that Baartman was a caged freak sideshow, bustles were the fashion rage for white women.

The photo shoot was conducted by famous photographer, Jean-Paul Goude's original Jungle Fever shoot of then-girlfriend Grace Jones in 1982.

This is what People Magazine wrote about Goude back in 1979:

Jean-Paul has been fascinated with women like Grace since his youth. The son of a French engineer and an American-born dancer, he grew up in a Paris suburb. From the moment he saw West Side Story and the Alvin Ailey dance troupe, he found himself captivated by “ethnic minorities—black girls, PRs. I had jungle fever.” He now says, “Blacks are the premise of my work.”

As Blue Telusma comments in her article, “Kim Kardashian Doesn’t Realize She’s the Butt of an Old Racial Joke:”

This mess runs deep.

Shona Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and most recently Bridgerton (stay cool, ladies) was criticized in a New York Times article for perpetuating the image of the angry Black woman.

To this, she fired back on Twitter, mentioning the two white protagonists on her shows Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, "How come I am not 'an angry black woman' the many times Meredith (or Addison!) rants?"

In this example, we see the collision of sexism and racism. While women, in general, suffer from the “bitch” label in business and entertainment for speaking up and standing up, Black women are subjected to even more hysterical mocking and criticism when cast in the very few roles that currently allow them to be full-dimensional characters.

In 2007, Misty Copeland became the third black female soloist in the American Ballet Theater's 78-year history.

Yet, in 2012, the same American Ballet Theater showcased “Corsaire,” in which the Turks are depicted as the stereotypical silly fools, an all too common treatment in most ballet productions where people of color are relegated to ethnic roles. Just think of The Nutcracker.

According to a 2015 NYT article,

The dearth of black women in top ballet companies has been attributed to a variety of factors, from the legacy of discrimination and lingering stereotypical concepts of what ballerinas should look like to the lack of exposure to ballet and training opportunities in many communities.

Dance scholar, Donna Mejia, says the lack of diversity within classical European dance styles and companies sparked a need for troupes like the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Beyoncé’s representations of pregnancy draw from the Black Madonna tradition.

Black Madonnas are paintings or statues, mostly located in churches or shrines in Europe and highly venerated by believers. There are about 400–500 Black Madonnas in Europe, and at least 180 'Vierges Noires' in Southern France alone. Some are associated with miracles and attract substantial numbers of pilgrims. Ever since the Middle Ages.⁠⁠
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Black Madonnas are subject to a great deal of controversy as to whether they were originally black or brown when they were made, or have simply turned darker due to factors like aging or candle smoke. ⁠⁠
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European worship of the Black Madonna has been criticized, since adoring it has done nothing to change modern politics that put people of color at a disadvantage. And plenty of whitewashed copies of Black Madonnas exist today, enraging some, but for others represent the original intention.⁠⁠

As for Beyoncé’s interpretation, she is Queen Bey. It’s a reclamation. She reclaims the Black Madonna tradition, emphasizing its association with power, miracles, and ancient mother goddesses.⁠⁠