Show Me The Mammy

Who is our modern day mammy?

Or...    

Who are our modern day mammies?

[Exception:  We can include TV personalities]

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:  SEE FOLLOW UP POST...

The Readers Spoke - The Mammy Post

 

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Comments

[stacey]

That's a great question. I am having a hard time with it, I must admit. I think it is because there is so much reality tv on these days. Everyday people becoming stars just because they were on some crazy show.

Wow! I can't think of anyone right now. All of the sitcoms are showing hip young mothers and grandmothers for that matter. In the movies, it seems like alot of men are playing women roles, lol, ie. Tyler Perry as Madea.

Im stumped!

~S~

[Mes Deux Cents]

Hi,

Too easy; Oprah, Sherri Sheppard, Mo-Nique.

I think Oprah may be the greatest Mammy of all time.

After all isn't the definition of a mammy a Black women who cares for and comforts Whites?

But I know a lot of people will disagree. Oprah is very popular.

Thanks

[stacey]

Mes Deux Cents,

I guess I was thinking traditionally. But I will have to agree with you on this. Yeah, Oprah is the epitome of the modern mammy.

I think Queen Latifah has started to fill that role as well, although I love her.

Thanks, great points.

~S~

[JaliliMaster]

Oprah is one of many talk show hosts, most of which are male or white females. In fact, she's the most successful one out there. A mammy would not be more successful than her 'master/mistress'. There is a four letter word that I want to call not only the poster who suggested Oprah, but the Stacey who agreed with him/her. The word starts with 'f' and ends with 'l'. Another clue: The middle letters are 'oo'. I don't mean to sound rude, I am not a big oprah fan, infact, quite the contrary, but there is no doubt to whether or not she is a savvy business woman. Or is it because her show is not a 'black' talk show. She beat the white folk at their own game and now controls it. If that is a mammy, then God help the rest of us black women.

It seems, that in the black community, if you are a black female, you are not allowed to be succsful without being called all sorts.

On a lighter note, I agree with the Sherris Shepherd one, and to a lesser extent, with Queen Latifah. As for Mo-Nique, she may not kiss white peoples ass, but nowadays, 'Mammy' is also about the image you portray. Very overweight, black female, not that successful in her own right, will say/do anything to please 'the massa', etc. THAT is a mammy.

So on a second thought, the only one of the above who qualifies as a mammy is Sherri Shepherd. The fact that someone is black, overweight and female does not render them an inhabitant of the mammy status. Otherwise, majority of black women in America can be called mammies, don't you think?

[johnny wishbone]

Oprah. Another quality of mammys is that they take care of business. one of my favorite "mammy" characters is butterfly mcqueen in a movie called duel in teh sun from 1946. in it.. her character vashti is asked "Oh Vashti, why are you so slow?" to which Vashti replies "I don't rightly know, Miss Pearl, except I always have so much to remember." my point is a good mammy understands why she is doing what she is doing and is wise enough to always be above the caricature. Mo'Nique, while not my favorite comedienne is a VERY good actress who could possibly be a "good" mammy in the future. Easing white folks fears while hangling is a serious juggling act, and the reason a "mammy" often occurs, as in the example of Oprah, is some weak dude who should be her wall (steadman) is worried more about making sure his kids have light skin and green eyes than being with his woman.

[JaliliMaster]

Johnny Wishbone, I'm afraid you lost me on the light skin, green eyes comment. Please explain.

[Orville]

Well this one is an excellent topic the obvious mammies drum roll please....are of course Oprah, Sherri Shepard, I have to add Monique.

I feel sad for doing this but I have to include Queen Latifah in this category. I thought the HBO TV film Life Support she did an amazing job. I was sad she didn't win an emmy for that performance. Although in the film Lost Holiday was perhaps a movie role that tried to present her as a complete woman. Usually though Queen Latifah is the black asexual mammy in her films.

But let's not forget the fictional black mammies on TV such as Dr.Bailey also known as the Nazi on Grey's Anatomy. A lot of people don't realize Dr. Bailey is a stereotype of black female sexuality. Dr. Bailey has no love life a husband and child we hardly ever see. But whenever the white costars need a shoulder to cry on mammy Bailey is there.

Another mammy stereotype is the Pine Sol lady commericals. Also, what about the black lady on General Hospital I mean no offense but why did they hire her? She has zero love life, she's just there. Even on Tori Spelling's tacky reality TV show she has a black mammy that takes care of her newborn child.

[johnny wishbone]

my light skin green eyes comment means that steadman is of old southern thinking that light skin and green eyes are more acceptable than dark skin and brown eyes. pretty straightforward fare i think.

[hottnikz]

Sherri Shepard came to mind first. I disagree with Oprah & Queen Latifah.Maybe I have the wrong idea of what a mammy is. To me it would involve being in a position where you have to agree with and kiss the white mans arse. Oprah is a media giant and Queen has the Flavor Unit imprint. Latifah has been her own boss for years, and although she is hollywood now and gets endorsements I still don't get that mammyish vibe from her.

[theblackactor.com]

Interesting comments, guys.

Thank you!

[kimi]

The only one on this list I agree with is Sherri Sheppherd. Definitely add the pine sol lady to that list & yeah the chick from General Hospital - she's the new millenium "mean mammy" tho LOL

Otherwise, I believe the other women have worked hard & got theirs on their own rights/terms, Oprah in particular.

[theblackactor.com]

@ Kimi:

Milenium Mean Mammy

@ Johnny:

Good Mammy

LOL

I had fun with this post. And I loved everyone's comments. I thought I'd be finished with this matter for now. But everyone's comments were so thought provoking, and interesting that Ima turn this into another post. I don't know what yet.

[LaJane Galt]

-Sherri Sheperd
-Pine Sol (yep Orville)
-that other bug-eyed lady in commercials
-the one that grabs her kids to her bosom in the theater
-Bailey
-Madea
-Eddie Murphy
-Martin Lawrence
-Mo'Nique
-Loretta on Family Guy is a triple threat; she's a Sapphire (cracks on Cleveland) and a Jezebel (slept w/ Quagmire) too!

[Orville]

I think Oprah is a mammy because of the way she acts towards white women. Oprah always goes out of her way NEVER to upset her white female audience. Doesn't anyone notice this? Mammy isn't just about being overweight and being black. The stereotype of mammy is also the attitude of not offending whites and bending to their concerns. Over the years Oprah's show has gotten so white. Yes on the one hand you can say its just business. But mammy Oprah also never discusses the friction between white women and women of colour. I remember in my women studies classes in university this was a major issue that a lot of black feminists and feminists of colour had with white women. The feminist movement always tried to downplay the issue of racism and ignore it. And I feel Oprah does the exact same thing because she simply wants to make money off of white women so she won't offend them. Oprah is mammy because she soothes the prejudices of white women and she goes out of her way to "nurture" them and make them "feel good."

[stacey]

To: JaliliMaster

There is no need to call people names to get your point across.

We are not discussing Oprah's obvious deserved success, we are discussing if she is a mammy. And I believe she is because of the way she caters to white folk (and thats what mammys do). I still watch her show sometimes, but I am not a huge fan and I do give her her props for making it. Im not mad at Oprah! :)

[Nadine]

Most casting agents are white women and to most casting agents, Loretta Divine and her "progeny" represent their black woman of choice.

Loretta Divine is the epitome of everything mammy in Hollywood. Formerly a hottie, Loretta was not the "in-demand" actress she is today. I was shocked to see that she is to join yet another cast on abc.

The modern day mammy represents everything reprehensible to white "culture" in terms of their idealized woman. Fat with attitudes, heartless/cold, liars, destroyers of men, lazy...why not place black women in that role since the white woman is 110 pounds of purity and strength who can leap buildings, pull wires out of walls, skydive and shoot a gun with fantastic precision? Why practice equity on-screen when it benefits the broker(casting agent) and all that she represents?

Look, Oprah has mammy tendencies, but is not what is insidious to blacks as a whole...

Black Hollywood and its black male actors have also made things easier for whites by perpetuating the images without a need for white Hollywood to be caught with its hand in the cookie jar. Will Smith (Pursuit of Happyness, Hitch, I, Robot) The absence of (Hitch), or vilification of black women (Pursuit/I, Robot)", Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence (need I say more), Tyler Perry with the SAME OLD STORY LINE, black woman on drugs leaves child FOR THE FATHER TO RAISE, utter nonsense. Now black women don't even raise their kids, black men do, but let us not let white Hollywood of the hook. Their need to surprise you with a legion of no-name mammys in even the most benign of movies and commercials(i.e. enchanted/PSP2 commercial) is simply a declaration of war on black women making black women THE most hated demographic in this country.

The problem is that "Americans" liken these images to National Geographic and believe these images to be true affecting the lives of millions of African-American woman college graduates, or just straight hard working women, who enter the workforce to only be treated as a harbinger of all mammy misrepresentations.

Let's stop Loretta Divine...let us no longer accept what they tell us we should be...CRASH was a disgustingly shameful movie and Black Hollywood is a waste; they have more power than they know, but do nothing. When will women of color stand up and say, "The mammy is not acceptable"?

[theblackactor.com]

Great comment, Nadine.

Thank you for sharing your insight with us! I really appreciate it! :)

[Budrick]

Oprah's megasuccess does NOT preclude her from being a Mammy figure. If Butterfly McQueen's character from Gone With the Wind is considered the model as opposed to the wordless still image mammies that existed prior to her portrayal, the "mammy" is NOT ignorant, crazy or loud. Remember.. on SEVERAL occasions in the movie GWTW the character of Rhett Butler says that "Mammy" is the ONE person whose respect her cares to earn and even buys her a garment she has wished for when he returns from New Orleans. The trouble with the Mammy character is that her function and value to Scarlett O'Hara is that she sublimates her own natural humanity and predictable human wants and goals to the care and feeding of Miss Scarlett's well being, outsized ego, and delusional view of herself. In THAT sense.. Oprah's audience nowadays is full of Scarlett O'Hara's applauding THEMSELVES for the WONDROUS image that Oprah reflects back at them. She's not one of them.. but she has mastered their desired vision of themselves.. and she is much like a news reporter on the evening news(as was her profession) reporting from the scene of mainstream white american women's aspirations. The black women in the audience are just along for the ride and welcome to join in, but you don't need to watch Oprah's show for long to see her SHARPLY upbraid blacks who get out of line with this agenda. She has NO trouble snapping at a black person in one breath while being worshipful of the "laudable goals" of being a white middle class person in the next.

Remember.. Oprah is a broadcast professional. She became a billionaire when the King Brothers Syndication Co. signed her to a 9 year deal. Her job? Get the lion's share of white women sitting on their butts at 3 PM or 4 PM from sea to shining sea. She did that and stayed with that show through that contract and earned a 250,000,000 payday. She defeated all comers including the venerable Phil Donahue(notable because his show often CHALLENGED the assumptions of his middle class white audience about the society they lived in.. Oprah offered the alternative). But remember that those FIRST 9 years of Oprah national were NOT about changing your life or Deepak Choprah or the Rules or the Gift or Dr. Phil.. it was about Oprah PROVING to her white audience that black people got no free rides with her. She would stand there and let her Chicago audiences beat down welfare mothers and poor black women while belaboring to these guests "can you understand WHY these people are upset with you?" That earned her the TRUST of the white women.. they knew that Oprah would stand with THEIR aspirations and THEIR view of black issues .. just as they thought Colin Powell would(and when he wouldn't LOOK how many enemies he made within the Bush administration)..just as they feel Barack Obama or Tiger Woods would.

Anyway.. I know I'm going long here.. but in THAT sense.. Oprah is the ultimate Mammy figure.. not because she is fat or ignorant.. but because she sublimates the meat and potatoes issues that animate the lives of the majority white female audience(and staff) that participate in her show. Yes she's filthy rich.. and she loves her dogs and her ranch and her school.. but doing show after show where she is advising middle class young white couples on how to make their marriage work while maintaining a token relationship with Steadman where she AVOIDS precisely the tough issues these people must be dealing with is absurd. She is modelling the lifestyle to which these white women aspire to be sure.. but ultimately.. when the gay designers finish redoing the closets and everyone has found the 600 dollar swedish pillows under their seats.. THEY go home and back to the extended white family made up of their children, husbands, fathers, mothers, brothres, coworkers, colleagues, alumni associations, churches, suburban neighborhoods, political affiliations.. now you add up THESE connections just for the women sitting in Oprah's live audience and their power comes to a LOT more than Oprah if she had FIVE BILLION dollars. Oprah's JOB is to hawk this lifestyle and products to THIS MASSIVE FEMALE POWER NETWORK. That's all broadcast television does and Oprah does it better to be sure. But dig... OPRAH didn't give away 250 cars.. GENERAL MOTORS gave away 250 cars... Oprah just starred in the TV AD that is her show. Bless her for her vision and for the good she does. But remember just HOW Oprah bonded to her powerful, influential, and financially potent white female audience.. by appearing to put THEM first above her OWN life and her OWN people. She doesn't compete with them in being the world's best wife.. the world's best mother.. she isn't going to show up at their college reunion and know everybody.. she's not going to walk into downtown Chicago and link up with the millions of blacks there to unleash massive economic power. Nope.. she's going to spend that billion on herself and her dogs.. she's going to build little boutique vanity projects like the South African school and she's going to do shows on missing kids... GOOD things.. but not TRANSFORMATIVE THINGS that might take money OUT of the pockets of her sponsors or her target audience.

Aunt Jemima no longer wears the rag on her head.. she's a well coiffed professional looking black woman. Enjoy your pancakes!

[theblackactor.com]

@ Budrick

Budrick: Thank you for taking the time to share share this value-filled comment with us.

I'd almost forgotten about this:

But remember that those FIRST 9 years of Oprah national were NOT about changing your life or Deepak Choprah or the Rules or the Gift or Dr. Phil..

She didn't really start off that way, did she? On the other hand, that stuff was prolly not at the forefront of American's consciousness then; or was it? Whatever the case, she's allowed to evolve.

Budrick: Your words give us some food for thought indeed. Thank you for sharing your view. :)

People seem to feel strongly about her one way or the other. That's for sure.

[ClubPenguin]

I still watch her show sometimes, but I am not a huge fan and I do give her her props for making it.