Lena Horne is beautiful by any standard, no matter what age, race, or color you compare her. But when I was very young, I remember my aunt telling me that Lena Horne's Caucasian features--slim nose, delicate mouth, fine bone structure, and only moderately dark skin--contributed to the entertainer's success in our predominantly white society. I accepted that explanation because I was very young and didn't know any better, but much-needed changes in our society and consciousness were imminent.
Lena Horne has matured, grown even more beautiful and even more successful s a performing artist. However, her autobiography, Lena, revealed her ambivalence and confusion, due apparently to her "universal" beauty that seemed to pit her success against her "black" identity.
Fortunately, our views and standards of beauty are steadily broadening through the whole spectrum of color, race, and ethnicity. But the most dramatic impact and change has come about among the widely varied types of black beauty. Because black people arrived in the United States from many different circumstances and from many corners of the world, there is no single type or standard of black beauty. Two of the most successful supermodels on magazine covers today are Beverly Johnson, who typifies the classic Afro-American woman, and Iman, a native of Somalia who first came to America as a member of her country's UN delegation and whose statuesque African beauty is now gracing film screens.
Setting standards
In recent years, and at long last, we're seeing more and more beautiful black women setting standards and creating role models on television, in public and professional life, and in the arts. Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad is the beautiful and capable mother and lawyer on The Cosby Show. Oprah Winfrey is one of the best communicators and interviewers in any medium, and also an Oscar nominee to boot. Metropolitan Opera star Kathleen Battle is acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and accomplished sopranos of her time, following in the footsteps of another brilliant black American opera great, Leontyne Price.
Multitalented Whoopi Goldberg sets her own standard of style and is embraced by a host of fans and admirers who love her quirky looks. Toni Morrison has attained her place as one of the finest American novelists while also working as a publishing editor and college professor and looking more handsome as she grows older. Phylicia Rashad's sister, Debbie Allen of television's Fame, is an Oscar nominee (for Ragtime) as well as an Emmy-winning choreographer. And actress-singer, Melba Moore has a graduate degree in music and was a music teacher before becoming a performing artist.
These women are black and of all ages, shapes, sizes, and shades. They provide role models of the highest standards for all of us and illustrate that the black American woman represents a wonderful variety of beauty, personal style, and accomplishment.
The black American woman is the product of a turbulent and extraordinary history and is a mixture of this background and heritage. Black Africans brought to America as slaves had the strong, classic black features of their native lands: deep ebony skin, tightly curled hair, prominent bone structure, and full features.
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