Date of Submission

Spring 2017

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Economics; Human Rights

Project Advisor 1

Tabetha Ewing

Abstract/Artist's Statement

This research sets out to highlight the life-altering degree to which negative, domineering depictions of Black women has had and continues to have on their livelihood and also to argue that due to their systemic inability to control and craft their own reputation, this should be categorized as a human rights violation and enforced on the grounds of defamation law. Although I am not a Black woman myself, as a Black man who was raised by three Black women, I have seen first hand the importance of proving this point. Many Black women scholars, many of whom I will be referencing in this research, have already done the crucial work of analyzing the condition of Black women in America and I don’t believe that I am providing a better perspective, but instead hope to offer a unique perspective as a Black male looking in from the outside and noticing that something isn’t quite right with the picture I see. I approach this issue from both a legal and media analytical standpoint informed by critical race theory, which allows me to construct constitutionally sound and concrete evidence as to how and why redress should be granted to Black women. Underpinning this research is my desire to test out human rights as a model of action/activism for Black individuals and in determining how, if at all, it is going to work in this specific case for Black women.

Open Access Agreement

Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.

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