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Representation of African American Women in Media
The representation of African American women in media has changed throughout the years. There are three main archetypes of African American women in media - the Mammy, the Sapphire, and the Jezebel. The Mammy archetype was created during the period of slavery to create an image of what a slave women should look and act like as an asexual maternal figure. The Mammy archetype manifested mostly in literary works and films during the mid-1900s and was reimagined during the 1980s. One of the most popular manifestation of this archetype is Aunt Jemina.

The second archetype of African American women to be created is the Sapphire woman. The Sapphire woman, also known as the angry black woman, was hostile and emasculated Black men through various insults. This archetype was popular during the 1940s and 1950s, created by the Amos and Andy radio show.

The Jezebel archetype was also created as the opposite of the ideals of the Mammy woman. The Jezebel was a slave woman that satisfied the sexual needs of their white slave masters, and was used to justify the rape of Black slave women. Women who fit this archetype were depicted with European standards of beauty.

The representation of African American women has spread to various forms of media. One form of media where African American women have represented is the music industry, specifically the hip-hop genre. The number of Black women in the music industry have increased throughout the years, despite the industry mostly focusing on African American men. African American women have used the hip-hop genre to increase their representation and reconstruct what their identity means to them.