Angry Black Woman

The Angry Black Woman is a pervasive stereotype in the United States. In the 2011 book Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America, Tulane University professor Melissa Harris-Perry suggests that anger is still one of the most ubiquitous stereotypes faced by black women in modern society. The Angry Black Woman is also known as the "Sapphire" or "Sassy Black Woman".

D.L. Hughley 2012 statement

In an interview with Michel Martin on National Public Radio, Black actor D.L. Hughley caused controversy in 2012 when he expressed his views about African American Women.

I've never met an angrier group of people. Like black women are angry just in general. Angry all the time. My assessment, out of, just in my judgment, you either are in charge or they're in charge, so there's no kind of day that you get to rest.

Academic denial of behavioural differences

A 2009 academic paper in the publication Black Women, Gender + Families, made the argument that there were no significant anger differences between a sample group of Black Women used in the study and a control group. The paper then claimed that the study provided initial empirical evidence disconfirming the stereotype of the Angry Black Woman.

Portrayals in the media

• Aunt Esther, a character in Sanford and Son.
• Sapphire, a character in Amos 'n' Andy.

See also

• Black brute, a similar racist stereotype
• Criminal black man stereotype
• Diary of a Tired Black Man

Further reading

• Erica Chito Childs (August 2005). "Looking behind the Stereotypes of the "Angry Black Woman": An Exploration of Black Women's Responses to Interracial Relationships". Gender and Society 19 (4): 544–561. doi:10.1177/0891243205276755. 
• Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (2011). Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-16554-4.