Silenced Voices: The Study of Race, and Gender in ‘WOMBmanWARs

Abstract

Judith Alexa Jackson examines sexism, racism and media in WOMBmanWARs (1994) with the focus on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings of 1991. Jackson is inspired based on what was witnessed on the televisions to explore how these hearings could have been employed to silence Black women and how the structure of the society, including the media, had a role to play in undermining the credibility of the allegations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. The play reflects critically on the power relationships that influence the opinion of the people and how Black women are treated and it also shows the destructive nature of racial and gender-based oppression. With this story, Jackson addresses the larger questions of victim-blaming, media manipulation, and silencing of the marginalized voices as a system

This paper is based on the play WOMBmanWARs (1994). Jackson wrote this play after watching the televised hearings of Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Hearings that rocked the U.S. in 1991