The Esteem Of The Lowly-regarded

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Naujma Williams Jamie Steckelberg English 1 23 April 2009 The Esteem of the Lowly-Regarded “For many thousands of years the African woman has been worshipped, revered and idolized by individuals, families and nations—not only in Africa but around the world.” (Rashidi 2001) Black women were always thought of in a highly regarded matter. In the Egyptian times, Black women were worshipped and held up with prestige and value. Although the phrase Nubian Queen barely scratches the surface of the depth in which Black women were referred to in importance, today’s social standards for Black woman have dropped tremendously. We are no longer worshipped and our value is often defaced in the media and by society and even witha more detrimental blow; by ourselves. We seem to forget what our value in society once was and still could be because of how slavery demolished our worth and self-image. Ladies, our story does not begin in America where we were put into bondage and often sold away like chattel. No sisters, our history goes way back. Back to when we were queens of the Nile and we had monuments made in our honor. As were Queen Tiye, born in 1415 and died in 1340 BCE. Her husband who appraised her immensely built temples and statues in her honor. He even built her a lake, purely for her amusement. (Queen Tiye, 1996) Queen Tiye reshaped the people’s thinking about women of royalty and reigned over Egypt for roughly 50 years. Her personality was her trademark to the people and her splendor was renowned amongst her followers. She had political

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rule over her people during her son’s reign as pharaoh and though she has lightly attracted the interest of Egyptian scholars, purely on the grounds because she was Black, her legendary status with her people will never be forgotten. (Queen Tiye, 1996) Hatshepsut ruled Egypt from 1479-1458 BC. She took rule when her stepson was too young to rule the throne and convinced her people to fully except her as pharaoh even though beingpharaoh was predominantly a man’s job. (Hatshepsut, 2001) Queen Phillipa was England’s first Black queen. “She was very wise and was known and loved by the English for her kindliness and restraint. “ (Generation, 2004) In Nubia, Black women were influential in the religion practices, being that Isis was one of their main religious idols. She had more followers than any other religious figure being that Isis was considered a phenomenal woman and the goddess of nurturing and femininity. In that time, there had been sixteen queens who had power over the land, being looked up to as extraordinary people. Six of these queens ran the lands beside their husbands. Nubian women had great rights. They were thought of as “warrior queens” and “queen mothers”. (Kneller, 1993) Sara Baartman was a South African native that was brought London to be put on display as being over sexed and racial inferior to the white colonist that held her on display. The European people of that time would watch her gallop around on stage, perform a sexually seductive dance and even have sex on stage with her to show what it would be like to have sex with a Black woman. After being a medical phenomenon, she was discarded to a circus where she was one of their side show freaks. Her surname was ‘Hottentot Venus’, and being so she was thought of to be

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over sexed because of her big breasts and oversized buttocks. When she no longer was needed in the circus, she roamed the streets as a prostitute where she died of illness and loneliness. (Sara's Story a symbol of subjugation and Humiliation, her homecoming will be a spiritual thing, 2008) To add to the degradation of Black women, we were referred to as jezebels. This demeaning reference allows for a person’s mind to automatically assume that Black women are promiscuous. White women were always put on petistools, standing for purity where as the Black women was always thought of as being willing and having animal like instincts when it comes to sex. This was reinforced throughout society in music, through caricatures drawn solely for the purpose of the degradation of the Black women, in the actions toward Black women, and eventually in the behavior of the Black women herself, especially towards herself. (Pilgram, 2002) Sometimes I wonder do we make stereotypes to model after the behaviors of individuals or do persons follow the preconceived notions made by the waysothers already view them. Because of the ongoing cycle of degradation of the Black woman, we often dismiss her pain. Even when it comes to ourselves, we refuse to empathize with the pain that has been bestowed upon the Black woman. Onset alligations against her as predetermined behavior traits only begin to display the cycle of abuse that the Black woman must walk with everyday. On television, the radio, even with friends she is held at the bottom of the totum pole yet she carries the burden of her whole race upon her shoulders. We have 2 strikes against us: one being that we are Black and the other being that we are women. These are words that are often recited to young Black females during

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their coming of age. The fact that we bare life of a beautiful race is often easily dismissible to the world around her. The point I’m making by explaining past queens is to help you understand that we did not start out in bondage. We were praised for our beauty and held at an imperial status at one time. However as history goes on, we were slowly degraded and belittled. How do you love yourself when you are taught otherwise? We are long way from the queens that we once were in Egypt. Not only do we not see ourselves in this status of regard but the concept of us being inferior to the rest of the world is constantly being enforced…to the rest of the world. Because of this being how the rest of the world seems to view us, we are viewing ourselves in this matter as well. We tend to encourage each other to see how good we can drop it like it’s hot instead of encouraging each other to strive to better ourselves. We choose men that don’t appreciate us instead of realizing our self-worth and going after men that persuade us to do the same. Sisters, why do we degrade ourselves along with the rest of the world? I don’t know about you but I want my queen status back.

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Works Cited Generation, E. (2004, august 13s_phillipa.html). Queen Phillipa. Retrieved march 27, 2009, from 100 Great Black Britons: http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/queen This article talks about Queen Phillipa and how she was the first Black queen of England. She was well loved and gave birth to a Black princess. Hatshepsut. (2001). Retrieved April 23, 2009, from Kingtutone.com: http://www.kingtutone.com/queens/hatshepsut/ Hatshepsut took over the throne when her stepson was supposed to reign as pharaoh. People appreciated her reign. She would dress up like a male so people would view her as pharaoh. Kneller, T. L. (1993, September 4). The Role of Woman in Nubia. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from Nubian Hair Supplies: http://wysinger.homestead.com/nubianwomen.html Nubian women were appraised in ancient Nubia. The women, though the roles have changed significantly over time, were thought of as warrior queens and queen mothers, giving us a glimpse of how they were thought of in those times. Pilgram, D. D. (2002, july). Jezebel Stereotype. Retrieved April 21, 2009, from Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabila: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel/ This very compelling article talks about the stereotype of jezebel for the Black women and how the stereotype came about. Queen Tiye. (1996). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from Black history pages: http:blackhistorypages.net/pages.php Queen Tiye was well loved by her people and was well appraised by her husband who showed his love in many extraordinary ways. Sara's Story a symbol of subjugation and Humiliation, her homecoming will be a spiritual thing. (2008, July 9). Retrieved April 25, 2009, from Chicken Bones: A journal: http://www.nathanielturner.com/sarastory.htm Sara Baartman was just one story of many of the victims of racial hatred toward the Black race. It was wrong how they used her to prove that the white race was superior, saying that she was over sexed and this is the reason that the Black race was inferior.

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Simone Schwartz-Bart, A. S.-B. (2001). The Praise of Black Women 1. Hong Kong: Modus Vivendi Publications. This Book told of extraordinary women of color that you don't hear about everyday.