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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Thick description allows Tressie McMillan Cottom to fully embrace her singular vantage and clearly reveal the world she lives in.
Chapter 2: Poor people spend money on status symbols so they can belong and secure access to opportunity.
Chapter 3: White men receive more space in public discourse not due to merit but simply because they are white men.
Chapter 4: Racism, sexism, and classism cast Black women as incompetent.
Chapter 5: Regardless of the political moment, white privilege always protects itself.
Chapter 6: High-achieving Black people are always seen as “special Black,” rather than being regular African Americans.
Chapter 7: Black girls are more likely to often suffer abuse because they’re perceived as adultlike.
Chapter 8: Beauty standards uphold white privilege by excluding Blackness.
Description
Thick: And Other Essays (2019) is a collection of essays by author Tressie McMillan Cottom that centers on the experiences of African American women. Drawing on her own lived experience as well as that of others, McMillan Cottom’s smart, incisive prose provides a fresh perspective on topics as varied as race, beauty, politics, and capitalism, and sheds light on the most pressing issues of today. Part sociological tract, part polemic, the book reveals the brutal and often absurd paradoxes of modern-day America.
Who Should Listen
- Feminists interested in deeper insight into the experiences of Black women
- Activists who want to learn more about the current state of racial inequity
- Social scientists and academics interested in current affairs