"Weaving together trenchant critical and historical analysis in the distinctive voice of a black woman, Beretta Smith-Shomades Shaded Lives is an important contribution to the literature on African-American women and television, and the media generally."

Michael Budd, coauthor of Consuming Environments: Television and Commercial Culture

Since its invention, television has been one of the biggest influences on American culture. Through this medium, multiple visions and disparate voices have attempted to stake a place in viewer consumption. Yet even as this programming supposedly reflects characteristics of the general American populace, television-generated images are contradictory, manipulated by various economic, political, and cultural forces.

In Shaded Lives, Beretta Smith-Shomade sets out to dissect images of the African-American woman in television from the 1980s. By closely examining the television texts of African-American women in comedy, music video, television news and talk shows (Oprah Winfrey is highlighted), Smith-Shomade shows how these voices are represented, what forces may be at work in influencing these images, and what alternate ways of viewing might be available.

Smith-Shomade offers critical examples of where the sexist and racist legacy of this country collide with the cultural strength of Black women in visual and real-lived culture. As the nations climate of heightened racial divisiveness continues to relegate the representation of Black women to depravity and display, her study is not only useful but also critical.

Beretta E. Smith-Shomade is an assistant professor of media arts at the University of Arizona. She also works as a video documentary producer.