African American women who have appeared in what are arguably films that fall under the horror genre are generally overlooked and grossly ignored due commonly to their status as subservient or supportive characters to white protagonists. Although this can be said for almost all film genres, African American women found in this space and the characters they embody are heavily representative of, at times, racial and sexualized concepts of evil. However, these earlier depictions are overthrown in an extremely complex manner in the 1970’s onward that dare to celebrate the varying aspects of humanity through these bodies. Arguably from the 1930’s to present day, despite the troublesome sociocultural climate in regards to race and gender, Black women in horror have been representative of resistance and protest in relation to racist and sexist systems used to suppress their voices and agency.
Here, I will provide an overview of the historical foundation of African American female characters in the horror genre beginning in the 1930’s and map their trajectory in the most significant and frequent appearances in the horror genre including their heavy presence in 1970’s Blaxploitation horror all the way up to the present day. This approach will also juxtapose these appearances with important products and social policies that work together to produce a consistent narrative about Black women during these specific time periods.
About the presenterAshlee E. Blackwell
A critical film writer from Philadelphia, Ashlee holds a MA in Liberal Arts from Temple University. She’s written for Paracinema Magazine, Shock Til You Drop, Rue Morgue.com, Birth.Movies.Death, The Guardian US, Shadow and Act and works closely on programming with the Ax Wound Film Festival. She is most notably the founder and content creator for Graveyard Shift Sisters, an exploratory web scholarship site that focuses on Black women in the horror genre.