Stereotypes of the African American Male in the Media

Media of the Past

One big stereotype that really stood out around the 1830s was the “Jim Crow” figure. It all started from a comedian from New York named Thomas Dartmouth Rice . He created the character after going down South and seeing a crippled, elderly black man sing and dancing. In Rice’s act he would blacken his face with charcoal paste, put on some old rag clothes, and dance around like a clown. This act became one of many “minstrel shows.” Minstrel shows are stereotypical caricatures of Afro-American slave life performed by whites in black face. After the Civil War, black performers began appearing in the shows. Jim Crow was just one of many negative stereotypical characters in minstrel shows. You also had “Sambos”, “Coons”, and “Zip Dandies.”



















Sambos

It is Hispanic in origins, rooted in the word Zambo, which means a bowlegged monkey-like person. Its characteristics were that of a childish, dependent black person who posed no harm or threat to white society. One of the more popular was the book called “The Story of Little Black Sambo”, by Helen Bannerman.













Coons

This was another word used to describe African Americans. It was associated with so-called coon songs that parodied black language, attitudes, and manners. One popular song was “All Coons Look Alike to Me.” Many songs were written by black composers and performed by black entertainers.

Zip Dandies

Performers would dressed in ties and tails with a top hat but had especially deformed physical features such as "beef-steak lips." The intention was to show how ridiculous blacks could be when they tried to act in the manners of white gentlemen.



Blackface in Animation

Even in the world of animation you could see signs of the minstrel show.














Check out this link to see some examples that I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LMrdcs4ucc



The black face stereotypes were easy to accept because the symbolism was basic:

White = Light = Day = Good

Black = Dark = Night = Evil


Europeans carried the symbolism over to “light” and “dark” skin. This is why in the days of slavery, if you were an African American that had very light skin you didn’t have to work in the fields like the other slaves. You lived in the house with the slave master and was treated a little better. As a result many African Americans with darker skin sometimes wished they had lighter skin.




Media of the Present


Many people look at Black Entertainment Television(BET) as a way to see how African Americans live and behave. Black Entertainment Television started as a great way for African Americans to show how much we’ve learned from our past. It was a place on television that focused more on showcasing new African American music. Now it’s turned into one big updated Minstrel Show. Many performers on this channel are displayed as thugs and gangsters and are considered to be cool. Today it’s become a glamorized show that’s enjoyed by upper class Caucasian kids. Actually Caucasian kids buy more than 70% of all rap music.













When foreign cultures see this they think all African Americans act in this manner.

“We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them.”
-Walter Lippmann on the power of stereotypes