The upper piece gives a darker feel, with the black face staring forward, showing no emotion. The part of Ntozake Shange's poem, More Love Poems #3, Lady in Blue, for which the piece was painted, states "we deal with too many emotions/so why don't we carry on, and be white then/" . This blank, emotionless look shows that black women are expected to be stoic, while it is acceptable for white women to display their emotions without being labeled as overreacting or crazy. The ropes, tied around the woman's waist, symbolize the restrictions this imposes on black women; at the bottom of the piece, the ropes seem to loosen slightly, representing women freeing themselves from these constraints imposed by