When Disney’s First ‘African’ Princess Looked Nothing Like Me

As a child, I loved Disney princesses. As an adult, my concern goes beyond the problematic stereotypes.

“This entire scenario played out multiple times during our childhood. We’d anxiously await VHS gifts from our parents, and upon their return, we’d become completely consumed by the films. But Hercules wasn’t like the other movies — it had Black women in it, more than one! In my childhood, I lacked a critical, analytic lens to interrogate why five Black…