The Black Woman: An Anthology by Toni Cade Bambara (Book Review Sample)

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A critical analysis of extracts from ‘The Black Woman: An Anthology by Toni Cade Bambara
The history of black movement in the US has a very prominent history. Ever since when slave trade was still on and afterwards when the agitation by the underprivileged masses was a common phenomenon black movement began to gain ground particularly among the black American population. It only became pronounced after the abolition of the trade when apparently the discrimination based on race became more pronounced. Until today the issues about race remain subtly ingrained particularly in the American society. However in the recent centuries gender equality agitation has opened up the oppressive system in today’s society to reveal the challenges that black women in the US go through. The black woman is an anthology of narratives and poems by different authors focusing on racial and gender discrimination meted out on black women in America. The author of the anthology opines that discrimination on the basis of gender has had far reaching effects among women but worse still has been the discrimination based on both gender and race.
In the poem titled "Nikki-Rosa" the author portrays the black childhood experiences that define and shape the struggle that is the black movement. By stating that "childhood remembrances are always a drag" the author is indicating that the life a black American child lives is laden with many hardships. In particular the parents of such a child are often struggling from hand to mouth to make ends meet. Such is the bleak past that whenever this child grows and makes it in life to become famous, the biographers will deliberately try to blot out this past. There is a deliberate attempt to disassociate the famous status from the poverty characterized past that surrounds most black American children when they were growing up. The author sees this weakness with the biographer if her or she is of white ancestry who the author describes as the "white person ever has a cause to write about… because they never understand black love" (Bambara N.p).
The "Woman Poem" is yet another of the collections that narrates the ordeal and challenge that befalls the black woman in America. The oppressive society and the desire to be liberated are voiced in this poem. The author amplifies the absurdity that is faced by a black woman in the American society. So subjective is the system that the author points to the fact that being a woman is "having a job they won’t let you work or no work at all" (Bambara N.p). The oppressive and confining nature of the society leaves the woman with the traditional family roles and yet she still must be the breadwinner because the male figure has been deliberately shut out of the employment system that is predominantly capitalistic. As such the woman just lives her whole life tied to unhappiness.
The challenge that stems from being a woman and a black woman in America is further highlighted in the narration titled "Double jeopardy: To be black and female”. The author of this narration analyzes the situation that the black woman faces in the American society. To this situation the author mentions the "grave misconceptions, outright distortions of facts and defensive attitudes" as factors that contribute to this concern (Bambara N.p). Capitalism is the catalyst of race and this continue to bar the black man from getting meaningful employment. Furthermore the author reveals that the system has economically exploited the black woman as a result of a unemployed male figure in the home. The black woman has to go looking for menial jobs often in white homes or offices where she is physical abused and under paid. This effect is bad for her family as there is no mother figure to tend the children while the same efforts are expended on the employer’s children. As a result the black family is falling apart because the system has labeled the black man as a lazy person unable to find any meaningful employment. Generally practicing the family roles as a black woman becomes a ...