UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff CCeennttrraall FFlloorriiddaa SSTTAARRSS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2007 UUnnddeerrpprriivviilleeggeedd BBllaacckk AAmmeerriiccaannss:: TThhee AAfftteerrmmaatthh OOff KKiinngg CCoottttoonn Patience Bryant University of Central Florida Part of the Communication Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SSTTAARRSS CCiittaattiioonn Bryant, Patience, "Underprivileged Black Americans: The Aftermath Of King Cotton" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3099. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3099 UNDERPRIVILEGED BLACK AMERICANS: THE AFTERMATH OF KING COTTON by PATIENCE D. BRYANT B.A. Florida Atlantic University, 2005 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Nicholson School of Communication in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2007 ©2007 Patience Denece Bryant ii ABSTRACT It has been criticized that the present economic state of Black Americans is a reflection of their history stemming from slavery. Diana Pearce’s Feminization of Poverty Theory discusses the idea that the ever-rising number of underprivileged Black Americans is due to the fact that there exists a rise in female headed households. The researcher constructed and analyzed several concepts that fall under the Feminization of Poverty Theory: education, employment, family, and social class. For the analysis the study used the documentary Lalee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton. Results show that each of the categories are approximately equal in proportion under the Feminization of Poverty Theory and that they also affect the impact that capital, government programs, economy, and investments have on underprivileged Black Americans. ii i This thesis is dedicated to my nieces Santanna and Yahnae. My two favorite girls who will help lead their people out of the cycle of poverty. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am so thankful to my committee members Dr. Maria Cristina, Dr. Burt Pryor, and Dr. Denise Delorme for all of their time, suggestions, and patience. A special thank you to Dr. Santana for her jokes, friendship, prayers, knowledge, time and helping me through this tough process by constantly encouraging me and pushing me when I wanted to give up. I would also like to thank all of my friends and family for all of their help and advice as I worked on my thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................1 The Study....................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................3 Black Americans: Historical Perspectives..................................................................................3 Slavery....................................................................................................................................3 King Cotton.............................................................................................................................4 Segregation.............................................................................................................................5 Desegregation.........................................................................................................................6 United States Economy...............................................................................................................7 Poverty....................................................................................................................................7 Welfare....................................................................................................................................8 Feminization of Poverty..........................................................................................................9 Theoretical Framework.............................................................................................................11 Separation of Class...............................................................................................................11 Social Levels.........................................................................................................................12 Media Portrayals of Black Americans......................................................................................13 Media Influence....................................................................................................................14 Stereotyping..........................................................................................................................14 Media and Class....................................................................................................................15 Deception: the Face of Poverty.............................................................................................16 Invisible Poor........................................................................................................................17 On The Screen...........................................................................................................................18 Film/Television.....................................................................................................................18 Documentary.........................................................................................................................21 Realism.................................................................................................................................22 The Black Underprivileged.......................................................................................................23 Silence of Class.....................................................................................................................23 Education..............................................................................................................................23 Black Community.................................................................................................................24 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................26 The Study..................................................................................................................................27 Education..............................................................................................................................28 Employment..........................................................................................................................28 Family...................................................................................................................................29 Social Class...........................................................................................................................29 CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS...................................................................................................31 Breakdown................................................................................................................................31 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION...............................................................................................46 Limitations................................................................................................................................46 Future Studies...........................................................................................................................47 v i APPENDIX: CORRESPONDENCE EMAILS WITH HBO.......................................................48 LIST OF REFERENCES..............................................................................................................51 vi i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Feminization of Poverty Theory....................................................................................33 Figure 2: Education category scenes. Education is needed for success. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films............................................................................................................34 Figure 3: Education category scenes. Joblessness is due to largely weak schooling, a lack of reading and math skills at a time when such skills are increasingly required even for blue- collar jobs. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, HBO films. Reprinted with permission.......35 Figure 4: Education category scenes. It is felt that the high level of joblessness is due to poor schooling and a low level of reading and math skills. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, HBO films. Reprinted with permission................................................................................36 Figure 5: Employment category scenes. Pay rate of a black woman will be equal to a white male in 135 years, while a black man could catch up to a white man in 35 years- only 100 years sooner than a black women. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films....................37 Figure 6: Employment category. Women are in the secondary sector of the dual-economy theory because they work in marginal industries, low-paying jobs and seasonal sporadic jobs. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films............................................................................38 Figure 7: Employment category. While many women are poor for the same reasons that men are poor- for example, they live in a job-poor area, and/or they lack the necessary skills or education much of women’s poverty can be traced to two causes that are basically unique to women. First, women most provide all or most of the support for their children, and secondly, they are disadvantaged in the labor market as women. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films............................................................................................................39 Figure 8: Family category scenes. Single-women are more likely to support minor children than are single men and their household income is much lower. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, HBO films. Reprinted with permission................................................................................40 Figure 9: Family category. Most of the work women do goes unpaid. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films............................................................................................................41 Figure 10: Family category. Female-Headed Households- females carry the majority of the financial responsibility. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films...........................42 Figure 11: Social Class category. American women of color are doubly disadvantaged but they area also said to be doubly ignored, overlooked in analysis that are concerned with either racial or gender inequality. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films......................43 Figure 12: Social Class category. The analysis of poverty by gender has been criticized for overlooking or downplaying racial and ethnic inequalities. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films.........................................................................................................................44 Figure 13: Social Class category. Faith is often at the core of poor Black Americans. It is often used to help them get through tough times. Lalee Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, © HBO films. ...............................................................................................................................................45 vi ii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Black Americans (for the purpose of this study, the term Black Americans has been defined as third generation Americans of African descent) after continuous years of oppression, stereotyping, and unequal opportunities still “lag behind” the rest of America, forcing them to run what seems to be an unending race to keep up with the mainstream. Hegemony as defined by Antonio Gramsci (Gorham, 1999), introduces the idea that we live in a society with various power structures and with one main group dominating over another. Such power structures often leave underprivileged Black Americans lagging behind the rest of society labeling them as the invisible poor. The label is a result of dominance and superiority. The power relations are used to decide who has representation, which is listened to, and what issues matter (O’Donell, 2005). “African-American history is directly tied to past government-sanctioned enslavement. Since the early days of the slave trade, pictorial stereotypes have been used to maintain the dominant culture’s power over the group” (Lester, 2006, p.97) The Study As of 2005 the poverty rate for Black Americans was down from 31.3 percent to 24.9 percent, however the poverty rate for Black American female-headed households was reported as being 28.7 percent (U.S. Census, 2006). This study looks at the lives of underprivileged Black Americans and the issues that they face every day as a result of their race, class, and history in this country. The primary purpose of the study is to analyze the elements of the cycle of poverty 1