The Whitewashing Of Black Women In Magazines.

Today's class about body culture in advertising proved to be very interesting to me not only because it addressed how women are portrayed in the media, but also because this is a topic that touches close to home. As a former full-time magazine editor, I've seen the work that goes into creating the cover images that the public sees on the front of the magazines. And by work, I mean the extensive Photoshopping that's usually done.

One of the first shoots that I ever worked on was in the early 2000's and featured Beyonce. Not only did I have the opportunity to attend the shoot, but I was also given the opportunity to meet her. Such exciting times for new magazine editor such as myself! While I worked predominantly in the Beauty department (my official title was Beauty Editor ) but I was also a part of the Cover team. This meant some of my work duties included providing assistance to the editors on the team which included shuttling completed pages back and forth in the office for approval. I remember being so shocked to see the Editor-In-Chief of the magazine give her orders as to what she wanted Beyonce to look like after viewing all of the images. I thought she looked perfect, but nope. The Art Editor spent hours whittling down her waistline, lightening her skin tone, toning down the size and shape of her hips, nose and lips. It was disgusting and I was appalled. I remember even asking the Art Editor about the work she was going and whether or not she hated it. She sighed and said "It's just a job, not a big deal" and continued carving away at the image.

I later learned after attending some of the business meetings at Time, Inc. that this Photoshopping work was done to black females based off of research done that showed what people responded best to. It should have been surprising to see that light-skinned celebrities with long hair always skewed the highest when it came to sales. But, it wasn't. It doesn't seem like there will ever be a time or date when we as black women aren't being whitewashed.

EXTRA CREDIT POST: Three Things I Learned On A Civil Rights Tour In Alabama.

As a freelance journalist, I sometimes get to do really cool things like go on press trips. I've been on some pretty amazing ones, but this one definitely takes the cake as one of the best.

I received an invitation from the state of Alabama Tourist Board (officially named Sweet Home Alabama) to come on a Civil Rights Tour. The trip would last a weekend and myself, as well as 5-6 other journalists/bloggers would get to visit places such as The King Center in Atlanta, GA and the Alabama Archives in Montgomery, Ala. I love history so obviously I packed a bag and set off to the airport to begin the tour. Here's what I learned:

1. It might behoove black people to take on (and actually practice) some of Dr. Martin Luther King's ideals today. Pretty much everything that Dr. King preached about - more specifically - the importance of banding together in a non-violent manner - still rings true today. We started the tour in on Wednesday, September 13 Atlanta with a visit to the King Center. Also known as the Center for Nonviolent Social Change, it was established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King. While there, we got to view all kinds of King's memorabilia and I learned more in-depth information about his nonviolence ideals. One of King's greatest gifts was that he was able to successfully get black people to band together and fight (without raising their fists or use weapons) in order to gain their rights. Of course, this movement was not without its challenges, but I believe this is definitely something that black people could do today when it comes to getting equal treatment in today's society.

2. You are responsible for your own education. The next day (Thursday, September 14) we visited the Rosa Parks/Dexter Parsonage Museum in Montgomery, Ala. The woman giving the tour (Dr. Cherry) didn't allow us to record her or take her photo (which was kinda weird) but she was a really smart woman. (I still managed to snap a pic with her anyways hahaha) The home we toured is where Dr. King and his family lived from 1954-59 and you could even still see the dents on the front porch where bombs went off. (Lots of people were obviously upset about the bus boycott.) Dr. Cherry informed us that Dr. King received multiple death threats daily via phone and, no matter how scared he got, he continued his work. One thing he always did was to read and research everything and Dr. Cherry said that he was very good at taking responsibility for learning everything he could. She talked to us about the importance of education and that it was especially important for black people to get as much as we could. She was extra proud of me after hearing that I'm currently in graduate school working on a Master's degree.

3. There will be things in life that will break your heart, but you must never let it break your spirit. As part of the tour, we got to visit Selma, Ala. and our tour guide was a woman who survived Bloody Sunday. On February 17, 1965, a state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion. A protest march from Selma to Montgomery was scheduled and on March 7, John Lewis and Hosea Williams lead a group of 600 black people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The peaceful marchers were met by armed state troopers who attacked them. This was the catalyst for the march led by Dr. king and Rev. Ralph Abernathy to the State Capitol. I learned about the death of housewife Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white woman who was killed at the hands of racists while trying to help blacks who were being attacked by state troopers and was horrified. Actually, I was horrified by all of it. While I'd certainly heard all about these events, walking the streets of Selma and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge made the events more vivid in my mind. But, our tour guide said that although the events during that time broke her heart, it never broke her spirit. These words stuck with me.

Overall the trip was very eye opening. Since returning, I've checked out tons of books about the Civil Rights Movement because, as it turns out, most everything that I learned in school doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what really happened during that time.

Black In America.

A young black woman cried in my first day of Race, Gender & The Media class.

It was a young black woman with long lashes and short hair seated in the front row.

I'd heard from previous students that this was easily something that could happen. (Heated debates and arguments is another issue that others promise will crop up.) Also, Dr. Everbach warned us at the beginning of class that tears were likely to happen as it happened just about every semester of the class.

We'd just finished viewing Vice's Charlottesville: Race And Terror, which gave an in-depth close-up of the recent "Unite The Right" rally held last month in Charlottesville, Virginia. VICE News Tonight Correspondent Elle Reeve - a blonde-haired white woman wearing hipster looking metal framed glasses - took a camera guy to the march where she interviewed several of top white nationalists, alt-righters and neo-Nazis. It was scary watching people spew so many hateful words and thoughts in regards to race and what they believe the future of America to look like.

I'd previously watched the video on my own when it was released and, from a journalistic standpoint, thought it to be extremely interesting. I think that the correspondent, Elle, asked some great questions and I applauded her bravery for inserting herself in the middle of those crazies to get the story. I feel like, at the end of the day, this is what journalism is all about.

However, as a black woman, I found the whole thing to be super sad and disturbing. So, when that student began crying in class, I felt her pain. She said that people may not like the content of the video, but for her it was all about her skin color. It's not as if you can change the skin color you are born with. She was (rightly) afraid for her life and the rest of black America and - on most days - I feel the exact same way. I worry about not just myself, but more so for my beautiful son. I want to protect him from all of the hate in the world, but I know that's just something that I can't realistically do. It saddens me to know that he - along with the rest of the black people that I know - will forever have a hard time existing in this country as long as racists like those shown in the Vice documentary are alive.