Why American Horror Story: Cult’s Version Of An Angry Black Woman Works (& Doesn’t)

I called it. When inceptor Ryan Murphy created a comical caricature of white feminism with Sarah Paulson’s character, Ally, I had a feeling that there was going to be a Black counterpart. Because American Horror Story: Cult is all about neatly categorizing some of the most visibly politicized camps in the wake of the 2016 election, I expected his version of a radicalized Black Lives Matter activist. In episode 4, what we have instead is an angry Black woman in the form of Beverly Holt (Adina Porter). Where Ally’s politics and experiences with the rest of the world are played up as extreme, Beverly’s rage is her defining characteristic even though the circumstances of her life warrant at least a lit bit of anger. In this way, the trope portrayed by Porter both succeeds and fails in its intentions.