African-American Women Are Invisible, Says New Study

Black women are unnoticed and their efforts often go unappreciated, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

The study was conducted by University of Kansas psychologists who presented 131 White undergraduate participants with 32 headshots of Black women. Later they were shown the same 32 headshots, along with 24 new headshots that included more Black women and men. Asked to indicate which Black women they had seen before, the White participants were “unable to distinguish a Black woman they had seen before from a ‘new’ Black woman.

The conclusion for psychologists was “evidence of Black women’s relative invisibility, at least among college-age White samples.”

Reading this study makes us wonder: Is it really saying anything many Black women don’t already feel?