ABSTRACT
There are probably no other women in the US who have been more maligned than women of African descent. White supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy converge to place African American women on the lowest rung of the social and economic hierarchy in US society. In traditional African societies, numerous deities not only represent roles for African women but also provide images that depict how they were thought of. In the Ifa tradition of the Yoruba of Nigeria West Africa, for example, among the most known female deities is Oshun. The matriarch depicts African American women as too domineering, castrating, and wielding too much power in their families, making African American men desert them and their children. The Jezebel image, created during slavery, perpetuated the idea that African American women are sexually promiscuous and "hot constituted", that their sexual appetites are so high they have to go outside of their own race to be satisfied.
