“In many ways, the first lady has made people see — really see — black women for the first time. For example, when a black model appeared on the May cover of Vogue, news articles credited the ‘Obama effect,’ ignoring the concerted lobbying by fashion industry activists that began long before Barack Obama was even a presidential contender…Enthusiasm over glossy-magazine beauty as defined by a darker-skinned black woman has to be seen against the backdrop of history, when black women’s appearance was used as a tool of oppression. High culture rhapsodized in love sonnets about ivory complexions, flaxen hair and ruby lips. And today, black women still mostly surface as sidebars in beauty stories.” Robin Givhan in her interesting story from today’s Washington Post on Michelle Obama’s cultural role, and her real and fictional predecessors.