Barack Obama being elected as the first African-American US president became a symbolic event for the entire country. It was especially valuable because such a turn must further prove the development of racial equality in the USA. Thus, the African-American community faced the election most actively and with the highest hopes. Obama’s president position affected the community as a direct consequence. So, one could raise a hypothesis that his presidentship changed African-Americans in several fields. More precisely, the changes include the enhancement of African-American self-esteem and racial pride, the decrease of stereotypes and bias against the community, and the raise of their political awareness.
A few studies were conducted on the topic of Obama’s status and the changes around African-Americans. To be specific, the research incorporates data from Ong, Burrow, and Cerrada (2016), who muse about Obama as a role model for the current and future African-American generations. Moreover, Columb and Plant (2016) accentuate that Obama-exemplified “exposure to positive Black exemplars caused a reduction in implicit anti-Black evaluative bias and implicit racial stereotyping” (p. 538). Also, Kinder and Chudy (2016) add that the presence of an Afro-American president has stimulated political activity among the community. Thus, the hypothesis is essential for further studies uncovering the exact dynamics of African-Americans’ increase of self-value and political awareness, and the regress of racial stereotypes. For this reason, the research must revolve around the question of how deeply and how permanently Obama’s presidentship changed several social tendencies of the African-American community. These include, as stated, the shifts in their self-esteem, prejudice, and bias, and political mobilization.
References
Columb, C., & Plant, E. A. (2016). The Obama effect six years later: The effect of exposure to Obama on implicit anti-black evaluative bias and implicit racial stereotyping. Social Cognition, 34(6), 523-543.
Kinder, D., & Chudy, J. (2016). After Obama. The Forum, 14(1), 3-15.
Ong, A. D., Burrow, A. L., & Cerrada, C. (2016). Seeing the other in the self: The impact of Barack Obama and cultural socialization on perceptions of self-other overlap among African Americans. Social Cognition, 34(6), 589-603.