Interview No. 2

1.    What is your name?

Kwanza Carter

2.    Where were you born?

Ackerman, Ms

3.    Where did you grow up?

Ackerman, Ms

4.    What were your parent’s names and occupations?

David L. Carter Forestry Director

Wanda Carter Bank Teller

5.    Do you have any siblings?

Montez and Hayes Carter

6.    What was your life like growing up as a black girl in Ackerman?

Life was good. Had a fun childhood and came from a working class family.

7.    Did you ever encounter racism?

Not exactly, but it was clear that racism exists.

8.    What privileges or setbacks do you feel that you experienced growing up a black female in the North/South?

Having both parents was a privilege.

9.    What, if anything, do you remember your parents telling you about race?

Race is only in the eye of the beholder.

10.           What did your parents tell you or instill in you regarding being a woman, specifically a black woman?

Independence

11.           Did you attend school?

Yes

12.           What was it like in school for you as a black female?

School was fun.  Always at the top of class.

13.           Did you graduate and attend college?

Ole Miss.  Felt as if she can overcome racism with her grades

14.           Did you get married?

Yes to Nick Jackson

15.           Did you have any children?

Not the right time in career

16.           Where did you work as an adult?

Ole Miss Library, Pharmacy

17.           What is life like living as a black woman?

Life is good.  Happily married and doing what I love to do.

18.           What are your relationships like with other women?

Have plenty friends. 

19.           Would you consider yourself friends with white women?

All treat each other the same, I do not discriminate.

20.           What type of relationship do you have with black men?

Have many male friends.

21.           What do you think is the role of both black men and women in relationships and inside of the home should be?

Black women and men should work together as partners in the home; Love and support to raise a happy family and home.

22.           What do you think about people dating outside of their race?

People should marry who they want.  I believe in falling in love, not race.

23.           What issues do you think most affect black Americans today?

Bringing each other down within the Community

1.    What is your name?

-Detra Payne

2.    Where were you born?

-Los Angeles, California

3.    Where did you grow up?

-Pasadena, California

4.    What were your parent’s names and occupations?

-Dr. James F. Payne Director of AAS Dept. and Madelyn B. Payne Prof.

5.    Do you have any siblings?

-Nimbi Payne Nursing School in Memphis

6.    What was your life like growing up as a black girl in Beatty, Oregon?

-“I had a good time”

- Middle Class Family, 160 acre ranch

-The only black family within hundreds of miles

-Family traveled the world

7.    Did you ever encounter racism?

- Yes

- Was the only black kid in the school

-“In the 9^th grade I was called the N word everyday”

- Picked on by senior boys

8.    What privileges or setbacks do you feel that you experienced growing up a black female in the North/South?

-          “Growing up with both parents was definitely a privilege.”

-          Parents were educated

-          Teaching at Ole Miss Ms. Payne has had minor setbacks with students.  Students are not open to learning from an African American woman therefore she is treated rudely in the classroom.  Students have labeled her mean and aggressive.

9.    What, if anything, do you remember your parents telling you about race?

-          Ms. Payne’s mom always wanted her to be honest with her beauty. 

-          Dad taught her that everyone is equal.

10.           What did your parents tell you or instill in you regarding being a woman, specifically a black woman?

-          “My mom taught me to be true to myself”, she said.  The black woman is a minority in race, gender, and was viewed as ugly.  Ms Payne’s mother taught her to accept her black-ness because black is beautiful. 

11.           What was it like in school for you as a black female?

-          Good time

-          Only 3 Blacks in the Theatre Dept.- People don’t gravitate toward theatre because they don’t believe it’s a real major

-          BA in theatre

-          Masters in Fine Arts

-          Witnessed Racism- Guy in fraternity was costumed in black face, afro, and school’s band uniform.

12.           Did you graduate and attend college?

-          University of Washington

-          Major: Theatre

-          Actor Studio Drama School

13.           Did you get married?

-          No, because I haven’t found the right guy.  The right guy is someone who is strong, independent, loving, stabled, and caring.

14.           Did you have any children?

-No, not married yet.

15.           Where did you work as an adult?

-“As an actor I had plenty of miscellaneous jobs”

- Substitute teacher

- College Prof.

- Starbucks

- Hostess

- Painter

- Secretary of the Tavis Smiley youth foundation

16.           What is life like living as a black woman?

-          Life as an educated black woman is unique because I help uplift my race.  My black is beautiful.

17.           What are your relationships like with other women?

-          Great

18.           Would you consider yourself friends with white women?

-         Yes, definitely.

-         Don’t discriminate upon race.

19.           What type of relationship do you have with black men?

-          Black men fear me because of my intelligence and education.

-          I respect them as a man and they respect me as a woman.

20.           What do you think is the role of both black men and women in relationships and inside of the home should be?

-         I think the role of the black man is to take lead, provide, and care for his family.  A black woman should show her equality by being independent but motherly at the same time.

21.           What do you think about people dating outside of their race?

-          People can date who they want, it’s their own personal preference.

22.           What issues do you think most affect black Americans today?

-          Undercover racism. 

Madame CJ Walker

Madame CJ Walker, the first female millionaire, created hair care product and earned her fortune.  She didn’t do it just for the money, she did it to better her community, charity, and to beautify the black woman.  By creating this hair care product, she cured the problem of insecurity within the African American woman by adding glamour to her appeal.  By doing so, this gave our women to demand respect and be treated like a lady instead of a beast.
    This product Created the “New Woman” era.  Along with the Harlem Renaissance women begin to find a new identity outside of their husband.  This period in African American history is very important to our culture because our women are finally stepping up and letting it be known that they have voice.  In this era black women had begun being see in film, glamorous images, and the Jazz scene. 

Dark Skin Vs. Light Skin

Recently, my friends and I got into an argument about whether we prefer dark skinned women vs. light skin women.  Personally i don't have a preference, and I don't understand how someone can judge beauty on a person's skin color.  I honestly don't understand how a black man can say he prefers a light skin girl over a dark skin girl.  With that statement, that informs me that deep down you can agree with slavery.  In other words it is basically saying that the darker you are, the uglier you are.  Sounds like something "Massa" would say to me.

"BEAUTIFUL BLACK WOMAN" by Vernon J Davis

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  BEAUTY  IS  SURPASSED  BY  NONE

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  SENSUOUS  SPLENDOR  IS  LIKE 

 

THE  SHINING  SUN

 

YOUR  WONDROUS  WAYS  COME  FROM  YOUR  SOUL

 

WHICH  NO  ONE  MAN  MAY  HOPE  TO  CONTROL

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOU  ARE  THE  GUIDING  HOPE  OF  OUR 

 

PEOPLE

 

 

 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  MIND  MAINTAINS  YOUR 

 

GLORIOUS  POWER

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  SPIRIT  IS  LIKE  A  SHINING 

 

CHURCH  TOWER

 

WHICH  POINTS  THE  WAY  TO  HEAVEN  ABOVE

 

AND  WHICH  SEEKS  TO  FIND  TRUE  LOVE

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOU  ARE  THE  GUIDING  HOPE  OF  OUR 

 

PEOPLE

 

 

 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  TIME  IS  LIKE  A  PRECIOUS

 

COMMODITY

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOUR  EBONY  WILL  IS  STRONG  AND 

 

FREE

 

SO  TAKE  YOUR  PRECIOUS  TIME  AND  YOUR  DETERMINED  WILL

 

AND  USE  THEM  BOTH  TO  EMPHASIZE  WHAT  YOU  REALLY  FEEL

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  YOU  ARE  THE  GUIDING  HOPE  OF  OUR 

 

PEOPLE

 

BEAUTIFUL  BLACK  WOMAN,  IN  YOU  LIES  OUR  FUTURE!

 

Let Your Hair down Pretty Girl

    Alice Walker, the mayor’s wife, is a beautiful woman with long pretty hair.  To bad she couldn’t floss it around the way she wanted to.  Alice had no identity outside of her husband because he wouldn’t allow her to be an elegant lady.  Instead of appreciating his beautiful and gorgeous wife he preferred her to have no friends, no sex appeal, and hide her long curly hair.  As he lay in his death bed and took his last breathe, he looked at her and said “I hope thundering and lightning kills you”.  Even after this horribly rude and disgusting statement, she stayed at his bedside and respected him as her husband even though it wasn’t deserved.  After Alice’s husband died she did not just stay in her house and become the ordinary widow of her era.  Alice put some clothes on, exhaled and let her pretty hair hang down.

Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman a South African woman was viewed as an object instead of a human being.  Stripped of her pride and dignity she was extremely exploited because of the size of her backside.  Sarah Baartman had a body that white people had never seen before, therefore they paid more attention to her physical characteristics instead of her brain.  Driven to an early grave by an anonymous cause at the age of 25, scientist weren't concerned with what the cause was because they were so anxious to dissect her body and remove her genitals.  Ironically the same thing that killed Sarah Baartman keeps our young women going these days.  Women in today's society adore their body to the fullest, and as a matter of fact a woman will do whatever she can to have more sex appeal!  basically trying her best to become a sex symbol.  A woman does this because she knows that she can use sex as a tool to get what ever she desires.  So instead of feeding her brain with knowledge; she would rather feed her backside with enhancers.  In the future the words will transform from "She Gotta Donk" into "She's Dumb".