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You are a robust, black woman, is that statement a compliment, a burden, a fact or a fantasy? Welcome to the present. The book is "Fierce Angels: A strong Black Girl in American Life and Tradition." It was written by Professor Sheri Parks. There's a new guide on the market that explores the origins of the idea and its psychological and emotional cost. She joins us from WYPR in Baltimore.

Professor SHERI PARKS (Writer, "Fierce Angels: A powerful Black Lady in American Life and Tradition"): Hi.

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KEYES: So, former Essence editor Susan Taylor stated your ebook opens a window onto female black power, both the reverence for it and what it's wrought. Is that what you have been setting out to do?

Prof. PARKS: Well, yes, I used to be making an attempt to explain something that was occurring in my own life and something that I noticed in different women's lives that we had been residing, however not understanding. So, yes, that's exactly what I used to be trying to do.

KEYES: Talk to me about who you see as robust, black ladies as we speak. Our first lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, who else?

Prof. PARKS: Effectively, there are actually these, but there are lots of girls in on a regular basis life. And, actually, I'm even more involved about them, those ladies who grow up with the expectation that they may take care of all people, and individuals who count on them to take care of everyone. I'm suggesting that black girls already have an organically grown, traditional mannequin of female energy that they use to move by means of the world, however that the expectations which might be put on them because of that are often exhausting.

KEYES: Let's take heed to a clip of Oprah from the movie "The Color Purple," where she's enjoying the wonderfully robust character Sofia.

(Soundbite of movie, "The Shade Purple")

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Ms. OPRAH WINFREY (Host, Actor): (As Sofia) All my life I had to battle. Lady, little one ain't secure in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I needed to combat in my very own house. I had to battle my uncles. I had to combat my brothers. However I'll kill him lifeless earlier than I let him beat me. I loves Harpo. God knows I do. I needed to combat my daddy.

KEYES: I'm wondering, Sheri, is it that Oprah or the eternally empathic speak host Oprah that embodies the strong, black woman or is it both?

Prof. PARKS: Effectively, both. And there is a quote in the e book from Coretta Scott King who says that black woman are strong because they've had to be robust. Actually in "The Shade Purple," Alice Walker is making an attempt to say something about black ladies being created by the circumstances of their lives. And certainly that is there.

However, additionally, I do not suppose you could explain the sheer power that Oprah has in American life without referring back to this image. But she's also, I feel, learned to look after herself, which is something that many black women are usually not giving themselves permission to do.

KEYES: I'm fascinated that you just mentioned that, as a result of I remember Octavia Butler's sci-fi novel "Kindred," the place she travels again in time and finally ends up having to assist her white slave-owning ancestor and injures herself really badly in the process. How much is this friendly savior concept affecting girls?

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Prof. PARKS: Effectively, one of many issues that - I'm by no means saying that black ladies are the only sturdy women, I am saying that black women are the women in this culture who are frequently celebrated for being strong. And i imply soiled in all the ways in which we are able to consider that. And so, traditionally there are conditions the place the 2 photos are performed in opposition to one another, certainly during slavery, the weak, fragile, white Victorian superb of a white lady was only made attainable as a result of there were black women around to do the dirty work.

I also say that that image is something that has maybe been preserved the strong woman has been preserved by black women, when all women at some point in their lives have to be strong. And it's something that we train in our girls and something that we grow up expecting to have to do and that other people count on it of us. Possibly black ladies have many extra circumstances wherein they should be robust.

KEYES: However hasn't that picture nearly been co-opted by the people who paint black girls as indignant? Is that who we are? They're, like, there's that African-American girl strolling down the street, or more correctly, strutting down the street carrying her sword and shield.

Prof. PARKS: No, that is not who we're. But, I mean, you used the phrase co-opted, and I feel what's necessary to grasp is that this function is nearly always co-opted in a roundabout way. And for those who consider the images, we often see that sturdy, black lady within the function of the lieutenant, where she's working for the advantage of someone else. Certainly in slavery that strong, black lady was actually co-opted for using the slave grasp.

Black ladies typically feel that because of that, that this is a role that we should always run away from. And I am saying, when you've got a task in a tradition that has such a powerful and historical presence in a culture, maybe we should always flip round and have a look at it, which is what I'm trying to do in "Fierce Angels," is to have ladies take a look at this picture and see for themselves what they need to do with it.

KEYES: I want to talk a little bit bit about Hattie McDaniel, the mammy from the movie "Gone with the Wind." You are saying that the notion of her is as a result of folks don't understand who she is. She's been misunderstood. And as an alternative of being this subservient particular person, she was really infusing her roles, and that function in particular with some challenge and pushback.

(Soundbite of "Gone with the Wind")

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Ms. HATTIE MCDANIEL (Actor): (As Mammy) I have told you and informed you which you can all the time tell a lady by the way in which that she eat in entrance of oldsters like a chook. And i ain't aiming for you to go to Mr. John Wilkes's and eat like a discipline hand and gobble like a hog.

Ms. VIVIEN LEIGH: (As Scarlett) Fiddle-dee-dee. Ashley Wilkes informed me he likes to see a woman with a healthy appetite.

Ms. MCDANIEL: What gentlemen says and what they thinks is 2 various things. And that i ain't noticed Mr. Ashley asking for to marry you.

Prof. PARKS: For those who truly go and watch the movie, she does an infinite amount of fussing in the movie. She would say, aren't white folks foolish to think that these ladies who work for them love them that a lot? And one of the things she did was to mock the picture of the mammy. She had a racially uplifting theater profession before she went to Hollywood. What Hattie was doing at that moment was being subversive. She's a nasty maid.

And she thought she might carry that image into Hollywood and of course found that Hollywood wasn't a lot concerned about that. And so we actually do misread and that i say that always African-Americans have given away their foremothers to this picture of the mammy. However she continued to try to infuse subversiveness into her roles. And if you return and have a look at what girls who are taking part in these mammies, women who were truly dwelling the role as mammies, they have been typically working very arduous to make use of what energy that they had for the advantage of their households and their communities.

KEYES: You're listening to tell ME Extra from NPR Information.

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We are speaking concerning the image of the sturdy, black lady with Professor Sheri Parks. She's author of "Fierce Angels: A strong Black Lady in American Life and Tradition."

Sheri, I wished to speak to you in regards to the sacred, darkish feminine this ancient archetype that you simply had been talking about. Actually, this picture has been along all the way in which again to how many lots of of years?

Prof. PARKS: It's back to the primary recorded creation stories the place and I am very inquisitive about the fact that particle physics says essentially the identical thing, that before there was anything, there was darkness. However after all the ancient mythology stated, and then she gave birth and the world begins. And so this may be very... I found situations of the sacred, dark feminine on each continent.

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KEYES: Actually? As a result of I've seen mother-driven cultures, however I believe I've seen that mostly, like, among the many Vikings and that form of factor. Was it really it's Africa, it is everywhere?

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Prof. PARKS: It's in all places. I mean, they're all over the place if you begin in search of them. What you noticed is that the Celts really held onto it overtly longer than any European individuals. There are dark Madonnas throughout South and Central America. However there are black Madonnas all over Europe. There are the Native American corn goddesses.

KEYES: It is interesting once more that you say that. We have been talking earlier in regards to the image of the sturdy, black girl being hijacked. If there's all this reverence for this particular person, how can that be? And between the campaign to paint the first lady, Michelle Obama, as an offended, black lady, there's a film known as "Diary of a Drained Black Man," I mean, when you read some of the media on the market, it seems like no one values an African-American woman's power or her coronary heart.

Prof. PARKS: Effectively, the flipside of reverence will be concern. All individuals had to do was attach the label to some pretty non-indignant habits. Actually Michelle Obama was painted as an offended, black woman and discover, with very little evidence. And that's why so a lot of the most popular photos are with her beneath management. But the label alone had a lot currency and worry attached to it. That concept that this strong, black lady goes to be out of control is vital to understand.

And that concept that the robust, black woman out of management becomes this out of management, offended image is a very harmful one for black girls as a result of when folks concern someone, they may try to harm them. And, two, that if they're not in command of her, she is going to get out of management. And I believe many black ladies have found that usually they have been harm by people who, one, assume that she can't be hurt. That she's too sturdy to be hurt.

KEYES: Sheri Parks, creator of "Fierce Angels: The Strong Black Lady in American Life and Culture," joined us from our member station WYPR in Baltimore. Thanks much for an fascinating conversation.

Prof. PARKS: Thanks.