Surviving the Storm: The Representation of African Americans from Gee's Bend to Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

The representation of African Americans has been a difficult subject to discuss and a difficult problem to solve. Different ways of approaching the representation of African Americans are shown in news feeds, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, and poems. There are no known solutions that make the misrepresentation of African Americans a thing of the past, therefore, a continuous discourse must confront the problem.

Representation of African Americans in Gee’s Bend and Hurricane Katrina are the particular instances discussed. Photographs, a documentary, and poems show how misrepresentation of African Americans occur and are discussed. These examples are able to show how the framing of information can be detrimental.