Colorism.....know about it!

On Jan 3, 2013 make sure to watch the OWN network. Oprah will have a lifeclass featuring  Iyanla Vanzant talking about colorism.
What is colorism?
Does colorism fuel the self unsatisfactory for black girls? 
COLORISM......watch OWN Network Jan 3rd @8pm to find out. 

My black is beautiful and so is yours too......Love the skin you are in!

As I watch television I think to myself, when will the world change? I look at my dark skin and think, umm who's going to judge me today? Who will think that this black girl is just another "ghetto hood rat"? Well I am more than what society makes of me! I am a girl who doesn't let her race defined her, but lets it motivate me! I'm proud to be my race are you proud to be yours??

This is how the world is.When can this non sense about light skin vs dark skin stop!

Colorism is the act of believing your skin tone is better than someone of the same race of you.Example being #teamdarkskin vs #teamlightskin. 

Why do we believe that colorism still exist?

MBIB "Imagine A Future" Full Documentary Official

This is exactly what my blog is about. Please watch this in join in with the fight to help black girls learn how to love themselves.

The Pledge

I ____________ (state your name), pledge to never again use a stereotype agasint a black girl in any negative way. Better yet I pledge to never use a negative stereotype from any race in any way. I will not contribute to the lowering of anyone's self esteem from saying hurtful or harmful things regrauding their race. This is my promise.

Comment your name on the bottom of this post if you have taken this pledge!!

Let's Play A Game

List of Commonly know "Black" stereotypes

This is a list of common stereotypes given to black females.

RULES: The object of the game is to ask a black female that is close to you (who will not get offeneded) how many of these things does she do/like/have on the list then ask yourself the same thing. You then take your to scores of how many things you do on the list and compare it to each other's. If she has a score of less than 5 and you do always you must take the pledge that is posted above then comment your name.

1. Fried Chicken, Watermelon, and Grape Soda is their idea Meal.
2. Lazy and Uneducated.
3. You'll only fine them watching BET and reading Jet and Essence Magazines.
4. Invented the fashion fad, "Sagging."
5. Only listen to Rap Music.
6. All women wear bright color weave.
7. Collects Welfare for a living.
8. Lives only in poverty commonly referred to as ,"The Ghetto."
9. Are great runners because they are always running from the Law.
10. They make very good Basketball players.

Agrumentative Speech

Tre’Dessa Smalls

Ms.McKoy

English 2

13 May 2013

Do you really know her?

            When you see a black woman what do you think? Do you let her dark toned skin define who she is? Do you see the stereotypical black women or do you look deeper? When I look at every black woman I see each of their own unique struggles. I see someone who has been cast down to the depths of hell and back all because of one characteristic that people use to label her. We hear stereotypes about the loud, ghetto, and hood rat black girl, but many people never look deeper. These stigmas and stereotypes start to make many black women define themselves as who people say they are. Negative stigmas and stereotypes that surround black females cause them to have lower self-esteem because they feel as they get less respect, leads to higher suicide rates, and leads them to portray themselves according to those stereotypes.  

When negativity strikes no one wants to be around so why would anyone want a negative stigma to surround the forefront of their race? No one would want this. This is exactly how many African American females feel. In a survey I conducted I asked the question: “Do you believe that black girls get less respect than girls of other races?” One of the responses I got was “African American women are born with two strikes against them. They are African American and a woman. There are many different negative stereotypes of both of those. Society (especially in the south) already has an image of which people are based off of these stereotypes, and therefore African American women are treated with less respect than African American men or Caucasian women.” This response proved to me that my blog was relevant and it was a debatable topic. I believe that the way a black girl is treated directly correlates with them having a lower self-esteem. How do we get black females to the place where they can quote Ralph Ellison saying “I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed,” and genially mean it. People talked about the stereotypical black girl as black girls being mean, rude, and loud but studies show that violence and aggression directly link with low self- esteem. “The present research explored the controversial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems” (Donnellan).

            Suicide is caused by low self-esteem most of the times and in recent days suicide rates for black teens have been alarmingly high. “Historically, black teens and young adults have lower suicide rates than white teens, but in recent decades, the suicide rate for black youth has increased dramatically” (Lee, National Institutes of Health). I firmly believe that stereotypes and stigma surrounded with the African American race is the cause for the increase in suicide rates among African American and black teens. “According to the study, in a given year, African American teen girls are most likely to attempt suicide, followed by Caribbean teen girls, African American teen boys, and Caribbean teen boys” (Lee, National Institutes of Health). According to research suicide coincides with low self-esteem. “Low self-esteem was closely related to feelings of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal tendencies” (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 923). In past studies white females were known to have lower self-esteem. Black women tend to act the way stereotypes label them to be. Black girls tend to have lower self-esteem because of the stigmas and stereotypes that are place upon them. People should support my topic because it would help solve world problems and lower the animosity with African-Americans and other races. This would help bring peace and solutions. 

The stereotypical black girl is known as being loud, ghetto, wanting to fight and all the bad things about people in a nutshell, but if people stopped long enough to look at the reasons behind the emotional appeal of black girls they would understand.  “Those with low self-esteem can become defensive when merely being asked for an opinion, for an idea, or merely for their input on a decision. Expecting that they might be criticized or their suggestion might receive disapproval, they do not like to expose themselves in this way.” (Sorensen). This quote above proves that there is a reason behind “sassy” black girls. When a person pointed out because of their flaws which are categorized by their race it makes them more likely to be defensive. There is no reason that we should say someone is being black, but there is a good answer for the attitude of black girls. After being beat and battered for their skin color for so long many black women start to act the way society deems fit. In an article I read written by Wanda Brooks it said, “[A]… young adult story renders a potentially volatile period in a teenager’s life, one heavily shaped by particularities of living as a darker skinned African American female at the dawn of the 21st century”(Brooks 660). When females are treated differently and are expected to act “less than” or out of character that’s what they do. As a black female its hard living with dark skin also it is hard living with the low expectations of society. Being a black female is a tough task and they have to fight (figuratively) for everything they want in life.

The negative stigmas and stereotypes that surround black females continue to be a problem that needs to be fixed. It has been proven that black women have lower self-esteem but no one knows the actual reason behind them having low self-esteem. The argument that I am presenting with my blog is that black girls have low self-esteem because they feel as they get less respect, leads to higher suicide rates, and leads them to portray themselves according to those stereotypes. People agree with the claims that are presented in this paper because there are many psychological factors and studies that back that point up. So, what is acting black? The world will never know because there is not a true definition, but I can assure anyone that it is not what society labels black as today. Urban dictionary defines the word ratchet as “A madam of the nasty ghetto species” not some of the black decent. Ghetto is defined as “poor; of or relating to the poor life” (Urban Dictionary) not as a black female, so why do we relate these words to the race? The next time anyone labels a black girl remember that there is not a definition to “acting black” and they are lowering her self-esteem even more than society has already done. Low self-esteem continues to be a big deal for women all over, but a huge one for black women in particular!

What do you believe is the biggest problem/ concern of black girls?

family	7	23%
Society	15	48%
School	1	3%
Self-esteem	8	26%

Graph

Do you believe black girls get less respect than girls of other races?

Yes	19	61%
no	12	39%

No fear

The words in the picture are saying so much! Remember no matter who you are or what color your skin is

"Don't be afraid to be yourself."

Documentary

THE SOULS OF BLACK GIRLS

This clip is the truth!! We need to define who we are!

Essential Questions

what if African American girls weren't labeled by society? 

Why is Black girls rock such a driving force in the African American communities? 

What ways do negative stigmas effect African American  young ladies and how does black girls rock help reduce the effects? 

Is it up to the African American race or society to teach black girls to love and accept themselves? 

Do the negative stigmas and stereotypes that surround black females cause them to have lower self esteem?

Break Every Chain

Feeling that you are not good enough is just a chain that needs to be broken!! I personally believe Jesus can break each and every one of those chains and this song tells it too!! If you are a Christian or don't get offended by things that are religious affiliated please listen to this song! Not loving yourself and hating who God made you is one of those chains that you will hear falling!! Be blessed!!

Annotated Bibliography

Tre’Dessa Smalls
19 April 2013
English 2
Ms. McKoy

Annotated Bibliography 

Mary Jane Ojie, et al. "Gold Diggers, Video Vixens, And Jezebels: Stereotype Images And Substance Use Among Urban African American Girls." Journal Of Women's Health (15409996) 20.9 (2011): 1315-1324. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

Mary Jane Ojie gave great insight on how stereotypes affect the images of African-American young ladies. The website had lots of information and the article I used was an academic summary so it was credible. The author had lots of knowledge on this topic because she is African- American and also is very well educated. She has a Doctorate degree in physiology and understands what affects the brain. This article helped me very much in my research. When I started reading the summary I was shocked, but yet pleased because it supported my topic. This academic summary would be great for anyone needing to gain information about how society affects a race.

Sardin, Thelma. "Caught Up On Color: Black Women Share their Experiences with Colorism." Chicago Citizen - South End Edition 18 Apr. 2012: 2. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Thelma Sardin is a Black business pioneer who has a well-respected reputation in the African- American community. In this article she talks about “colorism” and how it is a big problem in the black community. This article gave me a whole new view to my research topic, it gave me a new understanding. This article was aimed at the middle age and younger females in the black community. This article was of great help to my research process.

Brooks, Wanda, Susan Browne, and Gregory Hampton. "There Ain't No Accounting For What Folks See In Their Own Mirrors": Considering Colorism Within A Sharon Flake Narrative." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 51.8 (2008): 660-669. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

The authors of this source were a good help because they used real life observations to help promote their viewpoint. They talked about how colorism is becoming a bigger problem than it should be. It shows how darker black girls have less of opportunity to get good things in life. It saddens me to read this article because I am a darker black girl. This article hit a soft spot in me. This article seems like it was intended for everyone to see and especially treat black girls different ways based on their skin tones. The authors work around young black girls so they have enough knowledge on the topic to write about it. This article was extremely helpful.

Hines, Paulette, and Linda Berg-Cross. "Racial Differences In Global Self-Esteem." Journal Of Social Psychology 113.2 (1981): 271. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

This article was great and really helpful because it gave great support to my blog topic. The authors had tested and different firsthand experiences to support all of their claims. This was a credible source because they had all the sources to the information they used. I used this article to support all of my claims I had made during pervious assignments. This article was intended for anyone who wants to understand how racial differences play a role in self- esteem. This source was very valuable.

Great Song!! (PG-13) NOT TO BE WATCHED AT SCHOOL

This is song I always listen to when I run out of motivation. When I feel like I can't take no more and I feel like I don't love myself I listen to this song. This song reminds me that there is someone who is in a worst condition then me and suffering something worst!! It says runaway love, this means to my followers you need to run away from the thoughts that tell you your black is good enough!! I will runaway from those thoughts with you!! Hold your head up your beautiful!!

Inspirational Song (Religious)

This is a song that you can begin to understand when you love yourself. You get to a place in life where you are comfortable with yourself no matter what anyone else says or does. Be blessed my followers!!

Wordle

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6583295/Black_is_Beyond_Beautiful_

Academic Summary

Tre’Dessa Smalls

Ms.McKoy

English 2

11 April 2013

What’s the difference?

Authors Paulette Hines and Linda Berg- Cross argue that people have different levels of viewpoints on global self-esteem, self-esteem, and racial differences when it comes to them. They claim that self-esteem in African- American adolescents tend to be lower than self-esteems of white adolescent in both boys and girls. Hines and Berg- Cross developed this claim gathering information from the many conducted studies that took place for this research. The authors reasoning for lower self- esteems are because blacks are exposed to many negative appraisals from larger society. The researchers who conducted this experiment picked 2625 of Maryland star students that are all on an even playing field intellectually speaking. Since the students are all similar in a normal way the results varied and showed a great representation of self-esteems which helped support his claim by showing such a range. Some people do not perceive themselves as others do, as if someone was perceived worthless they may feel different about themselves. Hines and Berg- Cross developed this claim by looking at how society perceives certain groups then studying the results of the self- esteem analysis of those same groups. It was said that females are more self- critical than their male counterpart. The authors’ supports the claim with the results of both races of females having lower self-esteem but African American females had lower self- esteem all together. Lastly, Authors Paulette Hines and Linda Berg- Cross purpose is to show that racial differences have an effect on people’s self-esteem. In order to link answer the question of way black adolescents have lower self- esteems than of those who are white. This work is significant because it supports my research topic in many ways and gives facts to back it up with.

Motivation

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psalms 139:14

Animoto Video

Let's Chat

Just today I heard someone say "she's acting black." This person was talking to an white girl that was being loud, rude, and uncivilized. My question is why does she have to be acting black? Can't you just say she was acting uncivilized? Is there a definition to acting black or acting white? When I was born I didn't come with the how to act black manual. Why do we label people as we do? Why do we as part of society let stereotypes be the driving force to explain or determine how someone is acting? Do you ever stop to think how you make a black person feel when you use the term "acting black?" When I hear acting black it makes me mad! I don't act "Black", yes I am African American, but you can't act a skin color! The term is an outrage we all act as how we want to act! Like I said before I am black, but I don't act black I act like myself, Tre'Dessa Coretta Smalls!! I challenge us a whole to stop using stereotypical terms such as "acting black", "acting white" or "acting Mexican" or of any other ethnicity. Remember you are the only one who can determine the actions you will take so why blame it on acting a skin color? Think about it!!

Narrative Poem

Who She Saw

(Narrative Poem)

Underneath her DARK skin

Lived a weeping girl within

She hated herself in and out

She lived with every single doubt 

When she was young she was taught to love her skin

But as she got older that love grew real thin

Her skin wasn’t pretty and bright

When she got older someone told her “her skin was dark as sin in daylight”

She did not take that insult alright

After that society made her label her skin color as her plight 

Her hair was coarse and nappy

Looking at herself she could never be happy

Plump and big were her lips

Wide and thick were her hips

The mirror had said her skin was too black 

It showed her everything she lacked

Flawless hair, light skin, and being another race

She didn’t like her body or face

She longed for a different skin color just to get a little taste

Wish I could tell you that this girl was set free

But I have to tell you this girl was me

Because of what people in society say

That was the message I felt I conveyed

In front of my family I just smiled

They didn’t know that I thought black was foul

I scrubbed roughly to try to get it off

But wait….. it was permanent

Yes it was an affirmative

I would always stay

I wonder why God made me this way

Every time I tried it never would come off I just would sigh then cough.

Because of what people would say

My heart turned into ice and it wouldn’t melt away

They picked on me everyday

And I just wanted to run away

I never again had wanted to see the light of day

I was scared to tell, it hurt to have to repeat the thing they would say

The scars on my arm came from the racial storm

Day after day more of them would form

I would start the cutting process again and again

Each time jabbing deeper in my unwanted dark skin

I kept it all inside

Buried it all just tried to hide

It was too much for me to keep

So I just continued to weep

I was like a flower withered and dry

Needing someone to sprinkle water on me before I died

In my head I knew slavery had ended back then

But I had become a victim of slavery because of what I had called my ugly skin

I felt like life was a living hell

All because of being black wasn’t perceived to well

Because of being black I wanted to die

And yes I did try

After talking to some they told me being black wasn’t a condition

It was my great position

They help me find my place in this world

And they stop the horrible wind that had whirled

They told me I was beautiful and I tried believed it

Until this day I still struggle to receive it

But I will no longer let anyone tell me my black isn’t beautiful

Because for that person I will have a mouth full

Society and those bullies 

Will no longer pull me

I have grown to love my skin fully

I cried because of the societal lies

But never again because like Dr. Maya Angelou said “Still I Rise.”

http://blacksnob.com/snob_blog/2011/5/27/dark-girls-documentary-takes-painful-look-at-colorism.html#.UTqtIRzvv3x

Go to this blog and read it!! It is close in relation to my topic!! Watch some of the videos and read it!!

You have to learn to love yourself!! Your black is beyond beautiful no matter what anyone says!!

This video shows what the stigmas given by society about African- American girls result in. This is really how many black women feel. Read my Exploratory Essay and then re-watch this video. I hope this will get you closer to understanding why my project is so essential.

Research Memo

Tre’Dessa Smalls

English 2

Ms. McKoy

28 February 2013

Black Girls through Your Eyes

Hypothesis:

Black girls they are beautiful just as any other girl, but I believe many of them don’t see their true beauty. Personally I went through a time where I had extremely low self esteem and wasn’t comfortable in my skin but I had to get to the root of the problem and see what was causing me to feel that way. In my survey I hope to gather information that would lead me to knowing if what factor plays the biggest role in black girls having love self esteem. I asked questions like “Have you ever picked on a black girl because of her skin tone?” and “True or False: Some African American girls are pretty?” and I pray that these questions bring forth the result I am looking for. I hope that these surveys will answer my topic question “What are the major factors that cause black girls to have low self esteem?”

Context:

My targeted audience was African American female of any age range. I choose this group because they all know how it feels to be an African American girl going through the struggles of growing up “different.” I discovered that many people do believe that African American girls tend to have a lower self esteem and those people also believe that society plays a vital role in them having that mind set. I used gender and race as my demographics to see how people feel about this topic within races and genders. My results are both reliable and valid because of my varied demographics. After I administrated my surveys I realized that I need more questions directed toward emotions. I feel as if I had more questions that were more that surrounded the topic of my personal struggle but asked in an unbiased way my results would have been of even more value. I know my questions are reliable because they are not biased in any way and I just don’t have one type of answer to each.  

Data Analysis:

Demographics:	Question One: Do you believe that African American girls have low self esteem?	Question Two: Some black girls are pretty?
Black Male:2	All the black males answered no to this question.	All the black males answered true to this question
Black Female:13	The response for this question was split half said yes and the other half said no.	Every single black female that took this survey said true to this question.
White Male:2	Both responders said yes	All of them answered true.
White Female:14	Many of the respondents said yes , but there was a few that answered no.	Every one of them except one person answer true. That one false that I got was the only false throughout all the responses to this question.
Asian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Asian Female:1	She answered yes.	She answered true.
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Hispanic Female:1	She answered no.	She answered true to this question.
Indian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A	N/A
Demographics	Question three: Do you label black girls as “ratchet” or “ghetto?”	Question four: How important is it for a girl to know how important she is?
Black Male:2	Yes-1 No-1 Sometimes-0	1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-1 8-0 9-0 10-1
Black Female:13	Yes-0 No-1 Sometimes-9	1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-1 10-12
White Male:2	Yes-2 No-0 Sometimes-0	1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-1 10-1
White Female:14	Yes-2 No-3 Sometimes-9	1-2 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-0 10-9
Asian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Asian Female:1	Yes-0 No-0 Sometimes-1	1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-0 10-1
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Hispanic Female:2	Yes-o No-2 Sometimes-0	1-0 2-1 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-0 10-0
Indian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A	N/A
Demographics	Question five: Do you believe that black girls get less respect than girls of other races?	Question six: Explain
Black Male:2	Yes-0 No-2	Left it blank.
Black Female:13	Yes-10 No-3	Most of the responses had to do with being wrongfully stereotyped and people not liking black people in general.
White Male:2	Yes-2 No-0	The respondents said because they got looked down on.
White Female:11	Yes-6 No-5	African American women are born with two strikes against them. They are African American and a woman. There are many different negative stereotypes of both of those. Society (especially in the south) already has an image of which people are based off of these stereotypes, and therefore African American women are treated with less respect than African American men or Caucasian women.
Asian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Asian Female:1	Yes-0 No-1	Left this section blank.
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Hispanic Female:1	Yes-1 No-0	Left this part blank.
Indian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A	N/A
Demographics	Question seven: Do you know what “Black Girls Rock” is?	Question eight: Explain it
Black Male:2	Both if the respondents knew what “Black Girls Rock” is.	Both guys didn’t respond to this question.
Black Female:13	All of the black females knew what “Black Girls Rock” is.	They all said something about “Black Girls Rock” being an empowerment program for black girls and they said they saw the show on BET.
White Male:2	Neither respondent knew what “Black Girls Rock” is.	They left this section blank.
White Female:11	More than half of the white females didn’t know what “Black Girls Rock” is. Only about two of them knew what it was.	One person said it was a program for black girls to feel better about themselves and most of the rest left it blank.
Asian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Asian Female:1	She did not know what “Black Girls Rock” is.	Left it blank
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Hispanic Female:2	One respondent knew what it was and the other person did not.	They both left it blank.
Indian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A	N/A
Demographics	Question nine: Check all that apply:	Question ten: have you ever picked on a black girl because of her skin tone?
Black Male:2	I have black friends- My black friends are girls- My black friends are boys- My black friends are both male and female- I make “black jokes” about my black friends-	Yes-1 No-1
Black Female:13	I have black friends- My black friends are girls- My black friends are boys- My black friends are both male and female- I make “black jokes” about my black friends-	Yes-7 No-3
White Male:2	I have black friends- My black friends are girls- My black friends are boys- My black friends are both male and female- I make “black jokes” about my black friends-	Yes-1 No-1
White Female:14	I have black friends- My black friends are girls- My black friends are boys- My black friends are both male and female- I make “black jokes” about my black friends-	Yes-2 No-12
Asian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Asian Female:1	I have black friends- My black friends are girls- My black friends are boys- My black friends are both male and female- I make “black jokes” about my black friends-	Yes-1 No-0
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Hispanic Female:2	All of the respondents had some form of black friends and she answered yes to making black jokes.	Yes-0 No-2
Indian Male: 0	N/A	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A	N/A
Demographics	Question eleven: What do you believe is the biggest problem/ concern of black girls?
Black Male:2	Family-0 Society-0 School-2 Self esteem-0
Black Female:13	Family-1 Society-7 School-1 Self esteem-4
White Male:2	Family-0 Society-0 School-0 Self esteem-2
White Female:12	Family-6 Society-4 School-1 Self esteem-2
Asian Male: 0	N/A
Asian Female:1	Family-1 Society-0 School-0 Self esteem-0
Hispanic Male: 0	N/A
Hispanic Female:2	Family-0 Society-2 School-0 Self esteem-0
Indian Male: 0	N/A
Indian Female: 0	N/A

When I was reviewing the responses I got on my survey I saw many trends in some of my answers. There were so many different societal views that were revealed through this process of the way people see black girls. I realized that many people do have the same views as me but the reason we feel that way are not the same. My topic question got answered through my survey and I got to see many perspectives of the answer.

The first question was related to self esteem in black girls and I realized that quite a few people believe that black girls do have low self esteems. 40% of my respondents answered yes to this question which was higher than I expected. The answers I got to this question made me think a little further about why people feel that why and what do they believe contribute to this problem. My next question related to the first question in a way. This question asked “true or false: Black girls are pretty?” 90% of the people who answered the question said true. I was astounded by the respondents’ answers because I thought society saw black girls as being less beautiful than other girls. Only three people answered false to this question and it really made me feel good about my peers, but question the relevancy of the goal of my project.

 Labeling was the topic of my next question and I saw a trend in how people answered. Out of my three answer choices, the option of sometimes was the most popular. Many people admitted to sometimes labeling black girls as “ghetto or ratchet” which wasn't a surprise.

My next two questions were questions of importance. Asking about importance leads to identifying the factors that make black girls have low self esteem.  I had asked how important do you think it is for a girl to know her worth. Most people answered 10 which was the highest number if importance on the survey question. These answers were extremely important to finding out do people think that having a good self esteem is imperative.

Do you believe black girls get less respect than girls of other races? Do you know what "Black Girls Rock" is? Do you make "black jokes" about your black friends? Have you ever picked on a black girl because of her skin tone? Those are some of the many questions that have helped drive this project. The responses have really helped me understand my project more. 63% of my survey takers said that black girls do in fact get less respect than girls of other races. Some explained it as “African American women are born with two strikes against them. They are African American and a woman. There are many different negative stereotypes of both of those. Society (especially in the south) already has an image of which people are based off of these stereotypes, and therefore African American women are treated with less respect than African American men or Caucasian women.” I felt that this meant that many people understand that black girls get treated less than.  Many people knew that “Black Girls Rock” is an empowerment Television show but many didn't know that it was more than that. “Black Girls Rock” is also a black youth empowerment program that teaches them many life lessons and how to love themselves. I saw that “black jokes” were a common theme, but this survey help me realize that is something I should tackle with my blog. The response that really choked me up was the one about skin tones. When I wrote that question I didn't believe that anyone would answer it honestly, but 26% of my people answer honestly and said yes.  

I think in my last question I really did get exactly what I wanted to know I was trying to find it. The trends show that society is a biggest concern in a black girl’s life which leads to messing up her self esteem. The results of my last question society and self esteem were the highest two answers. This question shows that people really do believe that society plays a huge role on the way black girls see themselves.

Conclusion:

I have gotten lots of valuable information from my surveys and it certainly has opened my eyes to how people view black girls. I have unveiled many other ways to expand upon my research. Also I believe that my surveys have let me see a common thread in all of my research and some things that some black girls need to work on. My surveys had way more than one meaning with the results that I obtained, but I definitely able to construct many more questions that are related to my topic.

Follow Up:

The response I got to my questions five and six will help me expand my project in another way. With question five I found out that many people believe that black girls get less respect than girls of other races, in question six they said that it’s because of stereotypes and outside appearance. Those responses really rattled me and have made me want to delve a little dipper into them. I found out that it’s a common thing to categorize all black girls as “ratchet” and “ghetto” even the girls they do not know. But, most of them don’t even know why the call them “ratchet” and “ghetto” and most of them just do it because of skin color disregarding personality. In the future I will research the stereotypes of black girls and how to diminish the long lasting effects they have on a black girl’s self esteem. My original question is “what are the major factors that cause black girls to have low self esteem?” and with answering this question it will get me closer to answering further inquiry.