Armoring: Leaming to Withstand Racial Oppression

Abstract

This article explores the concept of psychological armor among African American women. Armor is a concept found in the psychological literature describing a selfprotection strategy against racism. Using narratives taken from life histories, we examine this process among African American women raised in two kinds of family systems: families of nurturance and support; and families of struggle and stress. Our analysis reveals that armoring is as much a coping mechanism against racism, as it is against sexism, and that a woman’s family class origin is a strong moderating factor.