The "reality" of Black, Married & Pregnant.
As a self-described "marketing maven" I spend a lot of time creating posters and flyers. Last night I was working on a project and one of the things I needed was a photo of an African-American married couple that was expecting a baby. One of those standard pictures of the daddy kissing the mommy's belly. Call me crazy but as a person of color I like featuring people of color in positive situations whenever possible.
For the the other photos I was collecting a simple Google search pretty much netted me what I was looking for (full body shots with a white background). But for this loving black pregnant couple, not only could I NOT find what I was looking for during numerous Google searches that I finally had too break down and try a stock photo service. That's right, I was going to have to BUY a photo of a loving and pregnant black couple. Oh well, sometimes those are the breaks. So I go to a popular stock photo service (one that will remain unnamed) and type in "Black, Married, Pregnant" and these were the results for about 90% of the very limited options.
America, once again you leave me speechless.
#FreeOurBlackHusbands
And in case this isn't plain, the issue is not the interracial nature of the couples. It's the fact that there were so few options of married and pregnant Black women and Black men. What does this say for the world's perceptions of Black families?
In the end I had to spend $14.99 for a stock photo with another service, and even then I had to do without the ring. The lengths one has to go to for some positive imagery.
For the the other photos I was collecting a simple Google search pretty much netted me what I was looking for (full body shots with a white background). But for this loving black pregnant couple, not only could I NOT find what I was looking for during numerous Google searches that I finally had too break down and try a stock photo service. That's right, I was going to have to BUY a photo of a loving and pregnant black couple. Oh well, sometimes those are the breaks. So I go to a popular stock photo service (one that will remain unnamed) and type in "Black, Married, Pregnant" and these were the results for about 90% of the very limited options.
America, once again you leave me speechless.
#FreeOurBlackHusbands
And in case this isn't plain, the issue is not the interracial nature of the couples. It's the fact that there were so few options of married and pregnant Black women and Black men. What does this say for the world's perceptions of Black families?
In the end I had to spend $14.99 for a stock photo with another service, and even then I had to do without the ring. The lengths one has to go to for some positive imagery.