An Interpretation of Afro-American Images' Transformation from a Perspective of the Stages of Historical Development

Abstract

This paper focuses on Afro-American images’ transformation. The author starts from an explanation of the definition of image of womanhood and Images of Afro- American Women, further interprets the feature of Afro-American images respectively from three stages of historical development: African Diaspora stage, African immigrant stage and Afro-American and integrated stage. In this process, a transitional characteristic has been highlighted: Slave images being owned by men master at the stage of diaspora; in the immigrant stage, freed women images being possessed by men owner; and developed to Afro-American stage, something has changed, the subjugation of women is not inherent, but relatively to be balanced, male-female interacted can be observed in gender-based social formation. To be concluded, the underlining causes of the transition lie in social interactions that have reinforced or contracted assumptions in the case of female Afro-American themselves, those interactions are important in understanding why Afro-American women self-image in certain ways. The paper offers a view of images of Afro-American women that seeks to liberate not only Afro-American, but also other women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.