The Moynihan Report and Developing Aesthetics
1940 Baby Doll Test
The 1960s were both a significant and tumultuous time for the Black community in America. The decade is characterized by the Civil Rights movement, the passing of new legislation, the Black Power movement, urban unrest, and cultural resistance. Though these were all big moments of progress in the fight for civil rights, there still underlaid undeniable struggles related to racism and inequality.
1965 marked a big year for a shift in Black culture following the production of the Moynihan Report. Though the report mostly focused on the state of Black Families in America through its discussion on the impacts of poverty, and discrimination on Black family dynamics, this report impacted Black people on a more personal, psychological level.
Despite its intention to address poverty and social instability in the Black community, the report faulted Black people for their dissatisfactory place in society (Massey and Sampson). In response to this, Black people felt compelled to alter the way they were viewed by their white counterparts by “proving themself” or adhering to white societal norms. This reaffirmed the findings of the 1940 Baby Doll Test which indicated that even young Black children were impacted by poor race relations with their white counterparts (“The Significance”).
1965 marks the twentieth-year anniversary of EBONY magazine. In all its glory, the magazine has featured the work and accomplishments of notable Black figures such as Langston Hues, Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Myrlie Evers [Williams], and more. Though the magazine was very successful in intentionally highlighting Black people in a positive light, in many ways it still upheld white constructions of desirability.
It is possible that the inundation of EBONY Magazines in 1965 with beauty advertisements was a direct result of the psychological impact that the Moynihan report had on the Black community. With the community feeling the need to be looked at in a positive light by their white counterparts, there was a large push to physically change their appearance with the hopes for upward mobility and respect in society. This is evident in the superfluous amount of beauty advertisements that were marketed directly to Black women, all of which reflected a Eurocentric beauty preference.
This marketing was not paralleled in other popular magazines of the time such as Time magazine and Life magazine. This suggests these advertisements were created specifically to advertise in EBONY magazine and other magazines with similar audiences. Advertisements in 1965 EBONY magazines were intentionally directed toward Black women to encourage them to conform to a white standard of beauty. Refusal to conform to the popularized white standard of beauty was a direct act of resistance for black women such as those in the Black Panther Party. This brings to the forefront a conversation about race, resistance, and power for Black America in the mid twentieth century.