In the media-driven world that we live in today, it is so important for people to consume media that relates to their experiences. As a black woman, my target audience is people who look like me and I will always do my best to represent what it means to be a black woman in today’s society through my work. Representation in the media has not always been as prevalent it is today, in comparison to when I was growing up and throughout the childhoods of generations before mine. Although black people were the majority in my community, we were still the minority in other places, such as the TV screen. Even with little to no representation in the media, there were a few characters on tv that did provide that representation that were are still advocating for today. Here’s a list of fictional black women that defined my childhood (and hopefully yours too).
PENNY PROUD
Disney Channel’s “The Proud Family” was everything to me as a kid. Penny Proud was my first introduction to what being a young black preteen/teen was and I could not wait to grow up and hang out with my friends like Penny did. She was awkward at times, but also loud, proud, and fun. Penny showed me what it was like to be unapologetically me as a young black girl.
Whitley Gilbert
The original “It Girl”, Whitley Gilbert of “A Different World” was the epitome of “not-so-bad and boujee”. She reminds me of a certain type of black girl that we all know and (sometimes) love. Whitley played a major role in my childhood by introducing me to HBCU culture. She attended the fictional Historically Black College/University, Hillman which has been heavily debated to be based off of my HBCU Hampton University. She also introduced me to one of my favorite black love stories, Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert are still the standard to this day.
Gina and pam
A lot of people tend to compare this duo, arguing about who was the prettiest or who was the better character, but the representation that these two brought to the screen together was unmatched. Gina Waters-Payne and Pamela James from hit 90s show “Martin” were the original friendship goals. To see two beautiful black women in a loving friendship was awesome, Everybody wanted to be like “Gina and Pam”, one was sweet and the other was sassy but they were each other’s ride-or-dies despite their different personalities and I loved their friendship.
Susie carmichael
I think we all grew up watching Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats” a cartoon about toddlers having adventures and constantly creating mischief. It was fun to see what babies could be doing when nobody was watching. Susie Charmichael was a little older than the babies and was the playmate of the main character, Tommy’s older cousin Angelica. Looking back, it was nice to see that not only was she breaking stereotypes of not being “a bad kid” because she was the only black one, but she was also the smartest kid on the show too. Seeing a little black girl with braids and barrettes with a big vocabulary was the representation I needed at that age.
Princess Tiana
Disney’s “Princess and The Frog” was long overdue. By time the movie came out I had already gotten used to not seeing someone who looked like me as a princess. But when the movie finally came out it was like a cultural reset to little black girl’s everywhere. Tiana was not born a princess, she did not even dream of being one. Tiana had goals and aspirations outside of being rescued by a Prince Charming. I truly felt seen when I first saw Tiana on the movie screen because she was just like me, a brown skin girl who loved to cook. There is a reason why Tiana is top three in the list of Disney princesses for me and of course one of the reasons is because she’s black, duh!
Numbuh 5
Cartoon Network was the elite channel for watching cartoons, and it was even better because it gave me what, at the time was the best representation of myself on screen. “Code Name: Kids Next Door” gave me Numbuh five, a calm, cool, and collected black girl who was also a leader. I do not know what it was about her, I just wanted to be like her when I watched the show. It was amazing to see her be the second in command to becoming the leader of the whole organization as the series progressed. She was also voiced by one of my favorite voice actor’s Cree Summer, who happens to voice numerous impactful characters from our childhood.
Representation matters
There are more characters that I could list, but there is still a lack if representation of strong black women in our media. The media plays a big part in our identities, such as building or breaking our self esteem and forming our personalities. I believe we are the generation to create beautiful black women that continue to inspire our young black girls