Research Project

The recent "Burn the Cape" movement, which gained momentum in 2020 and spread through Twitter and other social media platforms, encourages Black women in America to stop being martyrs for every other demographic's political and social fight, including men of all racial backgrounds and non-Black women. This paper pinpoints the origin and promoter of the 'cape', which new generations of Black women claim to burden them with the task of being a self-sacrificing superhero to others while receiving no support in return, as the media representation of Black women. In order to understand why Black women are assigned as the designated martyrs of society, the paper identifies the outcomes and beneficiaries of Black women's self-sacrifice. Analyzing three common media tropes of Black women, the modern mammy, struggle love/lust, and check your success at the door, reveals the intention of the tropes, where other demographics are informed that they are entitled to Black women's labor, while communicating to Black women the need to wear their suffering as a badge of honor. In contrast, three works of Black women literature and the way in which they represent black women are investigated, revealing that suffering is a choice, not an absolute path, where Black women should not be punished for prioritizing themselves.