Michele Wallace facts for kids

Michele Faith Wallace (born January 4, 1952) is an important black feminist writer and cultural critic. She is the daughter of the famous artist Faith Ringgold. Michele Wallace is best known for her 1979 book Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. Her writings about books, art, movies, and popular culture have been published widely. This has made her a leading voice among African-American thinkers. She teaches English at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).

Early Life and Education

Michele Faith Wallace was born in Harlem, New York, on January 4, 1952. She and her younger sister, Barbara, grew up in a black middle-class family. Her mother, Faith Ringgold, was a teacher before becoming a well-known artist. Her father, Robert Earl Wallace, was a talented pianist. Michele's parents separated when she was young. She and her sister were raised by their mother and stepfather, Burdette "Birdie" Ringgold, in Harlem's special Sugar Hill area.

Growing up, Michele went to private schools. She spent her summers at camp or traveling in Europe. She first attended Our Savior Lutheran Church elementary school. Later, she moved to the New Lincoln School, which was a very modern school. At this school, she learned about radical politics for the first time.

After high school, Michele went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1969. She studied there for one semester before returning to Harlem. In 1970, she and her mother worked together on anti-war and anti-imperialist art projects. She also took night classes at the City College of New York. During this time, Michele and her mother started an organization called Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation (WSABAL). This group worked to make sure that the voices of women of color were heard in the art world. In 1973, she helped create the National Black Feminist Organization. She worked with her mother and other important black feminist activists like Margaret Sloan-Hunter. Michele earned her bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from City College in 1974.

Michele Wallace's Career

From 1974 to 1975, Michele Wallace worked at Newsweek magazine. She was a researcher for book reviews. During this time, she also wrote articles for Ms. magazine. In 1974, she started writing for The Village Voice. She wrote about black feminism, her childhood in Harlem, and her experiences as an educated black woman. Her articles in The Voice helped her become a well-known black feminist writer in New York.

In 1975, she left her job at Newsweek. She received money to start writing a book. This book later became Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. She spent the next two years writing and editing it. In 1976, she began teaching journalism at New York University. Later, she became an assistant professor of English there. Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman was published in 1979. In 1983, Wallace was a special editor for Essence magazine. From 1995 to 1996, she wrote a regular column for The Village Voice.

Today, Michele Wallace teaches at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Besides her bachelor's degree, she has a master's degree in English from City College (1990). She also has a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University (1999). She has taught at many universities, including Rutgers University and Cornell University. Her writings are included in many important collections of essays. These include All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave (1982), Reading Black, Reading Feminist (1990), and Daughters of Africa (1992).

Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman

About the Book

Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman was published in 1979. This book criticizes sexism (unfair treatment based on gender) within the black community. It also looks at black nationalism in the 1960s. The book argues that the Civil Rights Movement sometimes accepted ideas about manhood that were harmful. Wallace believed this created a divide between black women and men. In the book, she shares her own stories and combines them with social, cultural, and historical analysis. She also thinks about her own experiences as an educated black woman from the middle class. A part of the book was published in Ms. magazine in January 1979 before the full book came out.

Black Feminist Ideas

Even though her editor did not want to call it a feminist book, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman is a great example of black feminist writing. Michele Wallace believed that black women faced unique challenges because of both their race and their gender. She argued that black women could not find full support with black men or with white women.

Wallace felt that black men sometimes blamed black women for problems that came from slavery. She also thought white women did not fully understand the specific issues black women faced. In Black Macho, Wallace was most concerned about how black men sometimes did not support black women. She felt that when black men dated white women or encouraged black women to be submissive, it made the unfair treatment of black women worse.

Invisibility Blues: From Pop to Theory

Exploring Black Experiences

Invisibility Blues: From Pop to Theory was first published in 1990. It is seen as a very important book in the history of Black feminism. The book starts by looking at the work of her mother, artist Faith Ringgold. Then, it explores Michele Wallace's own life growing up in Harlem. It also discusses the experiences of black people and her life as a writer in the 1970s.

Wallace also writes about how black voices are still not heard enough in politics, media, and culture. She talks more about the connections between race, social class, gender, and society. She also highlights important figures like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Cade Bambara, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. This book includes 24 essays written between 1972 and 1990. It aims to show the experiences of Black women in American culture from a different point of view than that of white middle-class feminists.

Dark Designs and Visual Culture

A Collection of Essays

Dark Designs and Visual Culture, published in 2004, is a collection of more than fifty articles that Michele Wallace wrote over 15 years. It includes some of her most famous pieces and interviews about her work. This book shows how her ideas about black feminism grew over time. It brings together the many different topics Wallace has written about.

Wallace starts the collection by reflecting on her life and career. The essays and articles focus on popular culture, literary ideas, and issues in black visual culture. She discusses topics like the historical tragedy of the "Hottentot Venus," an African woman who was shown as a curiosity in Europe in the 1800s. She also writes about movies like The Watermelon Woman (1996), Gone with the Wind (1939), and Paris Is Burning (1990). Wallace also talks about growing up in Harlem, her relationship with her mother Faith Ringgold, and how she handled the media attention and criticism she received for her 1979 book Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman.

Awards and Honors

Michele Wallace has received several awards and fellowships for her work:

• "Modernism, Postmodernism and The Problem of The Visual in Afro-American Culture", PSC-CUNY Creative Incentive Award, City University of New York (1991)
• "The Problem of The Visual in Afro-American Film", Eisner Fellowship, City College of New York (1991)
• Artists' Fellowship: Nonfiction Literature, New York Foundation for the Arts (1991)
• "The Problem of The Visual in African-American Film", Eisner Fellowship, City College of New York (1993)
• The Blanche, Edith and Irving Laurie New Jersey Chair in Women's Studies at Douglass College, Rutgers University (1996–1997)
• Lifetime Achievement Award of Journalism Alumni, City College of New York (2008)

See also

• bell hooks
• Black Arts Movement
• Black feminism
• Faith Ringgold
• Intersectionality
• Misogynoir
• Ntozake Shange