Investigating the possible overlap between depressed and presumably strong Black women, this article maintains that women's experiences of depression are both gendered and raced. A review of clinical and popular literatures examining Black women's experiences of depression as well as findings from an interview study with a nonclinical sample of 44 Black women suggest that the discourse of being strong may normalize a distressinducing level of selflessness and powerlessness among such women. Implications of this study include the need to consider (...) the racially specific ways in which women are placed at risk for and experience depression. (shrink)

This article questions the societal and cultural image of Black women as strong and suggests that this seemingly affirming portrayal is derived from a discourse of enslaved women’s deviance. In highlighting connections between perceived strength and physical size among Black women, the analysis extends current feminist theory by considering the ways in which the weight many strong African American women carry is reflective of the deviant and devalued womanhood that they are expected to embody both within and outside their culture.