Stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
s of
African Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
are misleading beliefs about the
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
of people of African descent who reside in the United States, largely connected to the
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and
discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
which
African Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
are subjected to. These beliefs date back to the
slavery of black people during the
colonial era and they have evolved within
American society
The society of the United States is based on Western culture, and has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, ...
.
The first major displays of stereotypes of African Americans were
minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
s, beginning in the nineteenth century, they used
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
actors who were dressed in
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
and attire which was supposedly worn by African-Americans in order to
lampoon
Lampoon may refer to:
*Parody
*Amphol Lampoon (born 1963), Thai actor and singer
*''The Harvard Lampoon'', a noted humor magazine
** ''National Lampoon'' (magazine), a defunct offshoot of ''Harvard Lampoon''
***National Lampoon, Incorporated, a 20 ...
and
disparage blacks
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...
. Some nineteenth century stereotypes, such as the
sambo
, aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries)
, focus = Hybrid
, country = Soviet Union
, pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev
, famous_pract = List of Practitioners
, oly ...
, are now considered to be derogatory and racist. The "Mandingo" and "Jezebel" stereotypes
sexualizes African-Americans as
hypersexual
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...
. The
Mammy archetype
A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting black women who work in a white family and nurse the family's children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a larger-sized, dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality ...
depicts a motherly black woman who is dedicated to her role working for a white family, a stereotype which dates back to
Southern plantations. African-Americans are often stereotyped to have an unusual appetite for
fried chicken
Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...
,
watermelon
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieti ...
, and
grape drink
Grape drinks (also known as grape soda, grape pop, or purple drink in certain regions of the U.S.) are sweetened drinks with a grape flavor and a deep purple color. They may be carbonated (for example, Fanta) or not (Kool-Aid).
''Grapeade'' first ...
.
In the 1980s and following decades, emerging stereotypes of black men depicted them as criminals and social degenerates; drug dealers,
crack addicts,
hobos
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
E ...
, and
subway muggers.
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
said the media portrays black people as less intelligent.
The
magical Negro
The Magical Negro is a trope in American cinema, television, and literature. In the cinema of the United States, the Magical Negro is a supporting stock character who comes to the aid of white protagonists in a film. Magical Negro characters, w ...
is a
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
who is depicted as having special insight or powers, and has been depicted (and criticized) in
American cinema
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
.
In recent history, Black men are stereotyped to be deadbeat fathers.
Stereotypes of black women include being depicted as
welfare queen
A "welfare queen" is a derogatory term used in the United States to refer to women who allegedly misuse or collect excessive welfare payments through fraud, child endangerment, or manipulation. Reporting on welfare fraud began during the early 196 ...
s or as
angry black women who are loud, aggressive, demanding, and rude.
Historical stereotypes
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
s became a popular form of theater during the nineteenth century, which portrayed African Americans in stereotypical and often disparaging ways, some of the most common being that they are ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical. One of the most popular styles of minstrelsy was
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
, where White performers burnt cork and later greasepaint or shoe polish to blacken their skin and exaggerate their lips, often wearing woolly wigs, gloves, tailcoats, or ragged clothes to give a mocking, racially prejudicial theatrical portrayal of African Americans. This performance helped introduce the use of racial slurs for African Americans, including "
darky" and "
coon
Coon may refer to:
Fauna Butterflies
* Coon, common name of the butterfly ''Astictopterus jama''
* Coon, species group of the butterfly genus ''Atrophaneura'', now genus ''Losaria''
* Coon, common name of the butterfly '' Psolos fuligo''
Ma ...
".
[
]
The best-known stock character is Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
, among several others, featured in innumerable stories, minstrel shows, and early films with racially prejudicial portrayals and messaging about African Americans.
Jim Crow
The character Jim Crow was dressed in rags, battered hat, and torn shoes. The actor wore Blackface and impersonated a very nimble and irreverently witty black field hand. The character’s popular song was "Turn about and wheel about, and do just so. And every time I turn about I Jump Jim Crow."
Sambo, Golliwog, and pickaninny
The character Sambo was a stereotype of black men who were considered very happy, usually laughing, lazy, irresponsible, or carefree. The Sambo stereotype gained notoriety through the 1898 children's book ''The Story of Little Black Sambo
''The Story of Little Black Sambo'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman and published by Grant Richards in October 1899. As one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children, ...
'' by Helen Bannerman
Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (' Watson; 25 February 1862 – 13 October 1946) was a Scottish author of children's books. She is best known for her first book, ''Little Black Sambo'' (1899).
Life
Bannerman was born at 35 Royal Terrace, Edinbur ...
. It told the story of a boy named Sambo who outwitted a group of hungry tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
s. This depiction of black people was displayed prominently in films of the early 20th century. The original text suggested that Sambo lived in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, but that fact may have escaped many readers. The book has often been considered to be a slur against Africans.
The character found great popularity among other Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
nations, with the Golliwog remaining popular well into the twentieth century. The derived Commonwealth English
The use of the English language in current and former Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British Empire, British colonisation, with some exceptions. English s ...
epithet "wog
''Wog'' is a racial slur in Australian English and British English applied to people from the Mediterranean region such as Southern Europeans and North Africans. In British English, it more typically refers to people from the Indian subcontinen ...
" is applied more often to people from Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
and the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
than to African-Americans, but "Golly dolls" still in production mostly retain the look of the stereotypical blackface minstrel.
The term pickaninny
Pickaninny (also picaninny, piccaninny or pickinninie) is a pidgin word for a small child, possibly derived from the Portuguese ('boy, child, very small, tiny').
In North America, ''pickaninny'' is a racial slur for African American children ...
, reserved for children, has a similarly broadened pattern of use in popular American theater and media. It originated from the Spanish term “pequeno nino” and the Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
term “pequenonino” to describe small child in general, but it was applied especially to African-American children in the United States and later to Australian Aboriginal
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
children.
Black children as alligator bait
A variant of the pickaninny stereotype depicted black children being used as bait to hunt alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
s. Although scattered references to the supposed practice appeared in early 20th-century newspapers, there is no credible evidence that the stereotype reflected an actual historical practice.
Mammy
The Mammy archetype describes African-American women household slaves who served as nannies giving maternal care to the white children of the family, who received an unusual degree of trust and affection from their enslavers. Early accounts of the Mammy archetype come from memoirs and diaries that emerged after the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, idealizing the role of the dominant female house slave: a woman completely dedicated to the white family, especially the children, and given complete charge of domestic management. She was a friend and advisor.
Mandingo
The Mandingo is a stereotype of a sexually voracious black man with a huge penis, invented by white slave owners to promote the notion that black people were not civilized but "animalistic" by nature. The term mandingo is of 20th century origin; a corrupted word for the Mandinka people
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic gro ...
s of West Africa, spanning from Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
, Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
, Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, the Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
, Côte d'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast), Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
with minorities located in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
and Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
Sapphire
The Sapphire stereotype is a domineering black female who consumes men and usurps their role, characterized as a strong, masculine workhorse who labored with black men in the fields or an aggressive woman, whose overbearing drove away her children and partners. Her assertive demeanor is similar to the Mammy but without maternal compassion and understanding.
Jezebel
The Jezebel is a stereotype of a sexually voracious, promiscuous black woman, and was the counterimage of the demure Victorian lady. The idea stemmed from Europeans' first encounter with seminude women in tropical Africa. The African practice of polygamy was attributed to uncontrolled lust, and tribal dances were construed as pagan orgies, in contrast to European Christian chastity.
The supposed indiscriminate sexual appetite of black women slaves was used to justify their enslavers' efforts to breed them with other slaves, as well as rape by white men, including as a legal defense. Black women could not be found to be rape victims in court cases because they were said by whites to always desire sex. The Jezebel stereotype contrasts with the Mammy stereotype, providing two broad categories for pigeonholing by whites.
Tragic mulatta
A stereotype that was popular in early Hollywood, the " tragic mulatta," served as a cautionary tale for black people. She was usually depicted as a sexually attractive, light-skinned woman who was of African descent but could pass for Caucasian. The stereotype portrayed light-skinned women as obsessed with getting ahead, their ultimate goal being marriage to a white, middle-class man. The only route to redemption would be for her to accept her "blackness."
Uncle Tom
The Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The character was seen by many readers as a ground-breaking humanistic portrayal of a slave, one who uses nonresistance and gives his life to protect ...
stereotype represents a black man who is simple-minded and compliant but most essentially interested in the welfare of whites over that of other blacks. It derives from the title character of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...
, and is synonymous with black male slaves who informed on other black slaves’ activities to their white master, often referred to as a "house Negro
A house slave was a slave who worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner, performing domestic labor. House slaves performed largely the same duties as all domestic workers throughout history, such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals, ...
.", particularly for planned escapes. It is the male version of the similar stereotype Aunt Jemima
Pearl Milling Company (formerly known as Aunt Jemima from 1889 to 2021) is an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix for the brand was developed in 1888–188 ...
.
Black brute, Black Buck
Black brutes or black bucks are stereotypes for black men, who are generally depicted as being highly prone to behavior that is violent and inhuman. They are portrayed to be hideous, terrifying black male predators who target helpless victims, especially white women. In the post-Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, black buck was a racial slur
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
used to describe black men who refused to bend to the law of white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
authority and were seen as irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.
In art
From the Colonial Era to the American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, ideas about African Americans were variously used in propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
either for or against slavery. Paintings like John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...
's '' Watson and the Shark'' (1778) and Samuel Jennings's ''Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences
''Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks'' (1792) is an Oil painting, oil-on-canvas painting by the American artist Samuel Jennings. Held in the permanent collection of the Libr ...
'' (1792) are early examples of the debate under way at that time as to the role of black people in America. ''Watson'' represents an historical event, but ''Liberty'' is indicative of abolitionist sentiments expressed in Philadelphia's post-revolutionary intellectual community. Nevertheless, Jennings' painting represents African Americans in a stereotypical role as passive, submissive beneficiaries of not only slavery's abolition but also knowledge, which liberty had graciously bestowed upon them.
As another stereotypical caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
"performed by white men disguised in facial paint, minstrelsy relegated black people to sharply defined dehumanizing roles." With the success of T. D. Rice
Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 – September 19, 1860) was an American performer and playwright who performed in blackface and used African-American Vernacular English, African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of ...
and Daniel Emmet, the label of "blacks as buffoons" was created. One of the earliest versions of the "black as buffoon" can be seen in John Lewis Krimmel
John Lewis Krimmel (May 30, 1786July 15, 1821), sometimes called "the American Hogarth," was United States, America's first painter of Genre art, genre scenes. Born in Germany, he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1809 and soon became a member of th ...
's ''Quilting Frolic''. The violinist in the 1813 painting, with his tattered and patched clothing, along with a bottle protruding from his coat pocket, appears to be an early model for Rice's Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
character. Krimmel's representation of a " abbily dressed" fiddler and serving girl with "toothy smile" and "oversized red lips" marks him as "...one of the first American artists to use physiognomical distortions as a basic element in the depiction of African Americans."
Contemporary stereotypes
Crack addicts and drug dealers
Scholars agree that news-media stereotypes of people of color are pervasive. African Americans were more likely to appear as perpetrators in drug and violent crime stories in the network news.
In the 1980s and the 1990s, stereotypes of black men shifted and the primary and common images were of drug dealers, crack victims, the underclass and impoverished, the homeless
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
, and subway muggers. Similarly, Douglas (1995), who looked at O. J. Simpson, Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
, and the Million Man March
The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading ...
, found that the media placed African-American men on a spectrum of good versus evil
In religion, ethics, philosophy, and psychology "good and evil" is a very common dichotomy. In cultures with Manichaeism, Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic cosmology, dualistic antagonistic oppos ...
.
Watermelon and fried chicken
There are commonly held stereotypes that African Americans have an unorthodox appetite for watermelons and love fried chicken
Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...
. Race and folklore professor Claire Schmidt attributes the latter both to its popularity in Southern cuisine and to a scene from the film '' Birth of a Nation'' in which a rowdy African-American man is seen eating fried chicken in a legislative hall.
Welfare queen
The welfare queen stereotype depicts an African-American woman who defrauds the public welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
system to support themselves, having its roots in both race and gender. This stereotype negatively portrays black women as scheming and lazy, ignoring the genuine economic hardships which black women, especially mothers, disproportionately face.
Magical Negro
The magical Negro
The Magical Negro is a trope in American cinema, television, and literature. In the cinema of the United States, the Magical Negro is a supporting stock character who comes to the aid of white protagonists in a film. Magical Negro characters, w ...
(or mystical Negro) is a stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
who appears in a variety of fiction and uses special insight or powers to help the white protagonist. The Magical Negro is a subtype of the more generic ''numinous Negro'', a term coined by Richard Brookhiser
Richard Brookhiser (; born February 23, 1955) is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at ''National Review''. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilt ...
in ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
''. The latter term refers to clumsy depictions of saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
ly, respected or heroic black protagonists or mentors in US entertainment.
Angry black woman
In the 21st century, the "angry black woman
The angry black woman stereotype is a racial trope in American society and media that portrays Black American women as inherently ill-mannered and ill-tempered. Related concepts are the "Sapphire" or "Jezebel".
Among stereotypes of groups wi ...
" is depicted as loud, aggressive, demanding, uncivilized, and physically threatening, as well as lower-middle-class and materialistic. She will not stay in what is perceived as her "proper" place.
Controlling image
Controlling images are stereotypes that are used against a marginalized group to portray social injustice as natural, normal, and inevitable. By erasing their individuality, controlling images silence black women and make them invisible in society. The misleading controlling image present is that white women are the standard for everything, even oppression.
Education
Studies show that scholarship has been dominated by white men and women. Being a recognized academic includes social activism as well as scholarship. That is a difficult position to hold since white counterparts dominate the activist and social work realms of scholarship. It is notably difficult for a black woman to receive the resources needed to complete her research and to write the texts that she desires. That, in part, is due to the silencing effect of the angry black woman stereotype. Black women are skeptical of raising issues, also seen as complaining, within professional settings because of their fear of being judged.
Mental and emotional consequences
Due to the angry black woman stereotype, black women tend to become desensitized about their own feelings to avoid judgment. They often feel that they must show no emotion outside of their comfortable spaces. That results in the accumulation of these feelings of hurt and can be projected on loved ones as anger. Once seen as angry, black women are always seen in that light and so have their opinions, aspirations, and values dismissed. The repression of those feelings can also result in serious mental health issues, which creates a complex with the strong black woman. As a common problem within the black community, black women seldom seek help for their mental health challenges.
Interracial relationships
Oftentimes, black women's opinions are not heard in studies that examine interracial relationships. Black women are often assumed to be just naturally angry. However, the implications of black women's opinions are not explored within the context of race and history. According to Erica Child's study, black women are most opposed to interracial relationships.
Since the 1600s, interracial sexuality has represented unfortunate sentiments for black women. Black men who were engaged with white women were severely punished. However, white men who exploited black women were never reprimanded. In fact, it was more economically favorable for a black woman to birth a white man's child because slave labor would be increased by the one-drop rule
The one-drop rule is a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry ("one drop" of "black blood")Davis, F. James. Frontlin"W ...
. It was taboo for a white woman to have a black man's child, as it was seen as race tainting. In contemporary times, interracial relationships can sometimes represent rejection for black women. The probability of finding a "good" black man was low because of the prevalence of homicide, drugs, incarceration, and interracial relationships, making the task for black women more difficult.
As concluded from the study, interracial dating compromises black love. It was often that participants expressed their opinions that black love is important and represents more than the aesthetic since it is about black solidarity. "Angry" black women believe that if whites will never understand black people and they still regard black people as inferior, interracial relationships will never be worthwhile. The study shows that most of the participants think that black women who have interracial relationships will not betray or disassociate with the black community, but black men who date interracially are seen as taking away from the black community to advance the white patriarchy.
"Black bitch"
The "black bitch" is a contemporary manifestation of the stereotype. Characters termed "bad black girls," "black whores," and "black bitches" are archetypes of many blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...
films produced by the Hollywood establishment.
Strong black woman
The "strong black woman
The Strong Black Woman Schema, as defined by scholars, is an archetype of how the ideal Black woman should act. This has been characterized by three components: emotional restraint, independence, and caretaking. Strong Black women must hold back t ...
" stereotype is a discourse through that primarily black middle-class women in the black Baptist Church
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
instruct working-class black women on morality, self-help, and economic empowerment and assimilative values in the bigger interest of racial uplift and pride (Higginbotham, 1993). In that narrative, the woman documents middle-class women attempting to push back against dominant racist narratives of black women being immoral, promiscuous, unclean, lazy and mannerless by engaging in public outreach campaigns that include literature that warns against brightly colored clothing, gum chewing, loud talking, and unclean homes, among other directives. That discourse is harmful, dehumanizing, and silencing.
The "strong black woman" narrative is a controlling image that perpetuates the idea that it is acceptable to mistreat black women because they are strong and so can handle it. That narrative can also act as a silencing method. When black women are struggling to be heard because they go through things in life like everyone else, they are silenced and reminded that they are strong, instead of actions being taken toward alleviating their problems.
Independent black woman
The "independent black woman" is the depiction of a narcissistic
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
, overachieving, financially successful woman who emasculates black males in her life.
Black American princess
Athleticism
Blacks are stereotyped as being more athletic and superior at sports than other races. Even though they make up only 12.4 percent of the US population, 75% of NBA players and 65% of NFL players are black. African-American college athletes may be seen as getting into college solely on their athletic ability, not their intellectual and academic merit.
Black athletic superiority is a theory that says blacks possess traits that are acquired through genetic and/or environmental factors that permits them to excel over other races in athletic competition. Whites are more likely to hold such views, but some blacks and other racial affiliations do as well.
Several other authors have said that sports coverage that highlights "natural black athleticism" has the effect of suggesting white superiority in other areas, such as intelligence. The stereotype suggests that African Americans are incapable of competing in "white sports" such as ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
and swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
.
Intelligence
Following the stereotypical character archetypes, African Americans have falsely and frequently been thought of and referred to as having little intelligence compared to other racial groups, particularly white people. This has factored into African Americans being denied opportunities in employment. Even after slavery ended, the intellectual capacity of black people was still frequently questioned.
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...
's book ''The Mismeasure of Man
''The Mismeasure of Man'' is a 1981 book by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The book is both a history and critique of the statistical methods and cultural motivations underlying biological determinism, the belief that "the social and economic ...
'' (1981) demonstrated how early 20th-century biases among scientists and researchers affected their purportedly objective scientific studies, data gathering, and conclusions which they drew about the absolute and relative intelligence of different groups and of gender and intelligence.
Media
Early stereotypes
Early minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
s of the mid-19th century lampooned the supposed stupidity of black people. Even after slavery ended, the intellectual capacity of black people was still frequently questioned. Movies such as '' Birth of a Nation'' (1915) questioned whether black people were fit to run for governmental offices or to vote.
Some critics have considered Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
's ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United St ...
'' as "racist" because of its depiction of the slave Jim
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim ...
and other black characters. Some schools have excluded the book from their curricula or libraries.
Stereotypes pervaded other aspects of culture, such as various board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
s that used Sambo or similar imagery in their design. An example is the Jolly Darkie Target Game
The ''Jolly Darkie Target Game'' was a game developed and manufactured by the McLoughlin Brothers (now part of Milton Bradley Company) which was released in 1890. It was produced until at least 1915. Other companies produced similar games, such ...
in which players were expected to toss a ball through the "gaping mouth" of the target in cardboard decorated using imagery of Sambo.
Other stereotypes displayed the impossibility of good relations between black and white people, instilling the idea that the two races could never coexist peacefully in society. The intent was to lead audiences to the conclusion of the proper solution to remove blacks from American society entirely.
Film and television
In film, black people are also shown in a stereotypical manner that promotes notions of moral inferiority. For female movie characters specifically, black actresses have been shown to use vulgar profanity, be physically violent, and lack overall self-control at a disproportionately higher rate than white actresses.
African-American women have been represented in film and television in a variety of different ways, starting from the stereotype/archetype of " mammy" (as is exemplified the role played by Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African ...
in ''Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind most often refers to:
* ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell
* ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel
Gone with the Wind may also refer to:
Music
* ''Gone with the Wind'' ...
'') drawn from minstrel shows, through to the heroines of blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...
movies of the 1970s, but the latter was then weakened by commercial studios. The mammy stereotype was portrayed as asexual while later representations of black women demonstrated a predatory sexuality.
Fashion
In print, black people are portrayed as overtly aggressive. In a study of fashion magazine photographs, Millard and Grant found that black models are often depicted as more aggressive and sociable but less intelligent and achievement-oriented.
Sports
In ''Darwin's Athletes'', John Hoberman writes that the prominence of African-American athletes encourages a lack of emphasis on academic achievement in black communities. Several other authors have said that sports coverage that highlights "natural black athleticism" has the effect of suggesting white superiority in other areas, such as intelligence.[ Some contemporary sports commentators have questioned whether blacks are intelligent enough to hold "strategic" positions or coach games such as football.]
In another example, a study of the portrayal of race, ethnicity, and nationality in televised sporting events by the journalist Derrick Z. Jackson in 1989 showed that blacks were more likely than whites to be described in demeaning intellectual terms.
Criminal stereotyping
According to Lawrence Grossman, former president of CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
and PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
, television newscasts "disproportionately show African Americans under arrest, living in slums, on welfare, and in need of help from the community." Similarly, Hurwitz and Peffley wrote that violent acts committed by a person of color often take up more than half of local news broadcasts, which often portray the person of color in a much more sinister light than their white counterparts. The authors argue that African Americans are not only more likely to be seen as suspects of horrendous crimes in the press but also are interpreted as being violent or harmful individuals to the general public.
Mary Beth Oliver, a professor at Penn State University, stated that "the frequency with which black men specifically have been the target of police aggression speaks to the undeniable role that race plays in false assumptions of danger and criminality." Oliver additionally stated that "the variables that play contributory roles in priming thoughts of dangerous or aggressive black men, are age, dress, and gender, among others which lead to the false assumptions of danger and criminality."
New media stereotypes
Social media
In 2012, Mia Moody, assistant professor of journalism, public relations and new media in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences, documented Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
fans' use of social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
to target US President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
and his family through stereotypes. Her study found several themes and missions of groups targeting the Obamas. Some groups focused on attacking his politics and consisted of Facebook members who had an interest in politics and used social media to share their ideas. Other more-malicious types focused on the president's race, religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
, personality
Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, mos ...
, and diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
.
Moody analyzed more than 20 Facebook groups/pages using the keywords "hate," "Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
," and "Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
." Hate groups, which once recruited members through word of mouth
Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...
and distribution of pamphlets, spread the message that one race is inferior, targeted a historically oppressed group, and used degrading, hateful terms.
She concluded that historical stereotypes focusing on diet and blackface had all but disappeared from mainstream television shows and movies, but had resurfaced in newmedia representations. Most portrayals fell into three categories: blackface, animalistic and evil/angry. Similarly, media had made progress in their handling of gender-related topics, but Facebook offered a new platform for sexist messages to thrive. Facebook users played up shallow, patriarchal representations of Michelle Obama, focusing on her emotions, appearance, and personality. Conversely, they emphasized historical stereotypes of Barack Obama that depicted him as flashy and animalistic. Media's reliance on stereotypes of women and African Americans not only hindered civil rights but also helped determine how people treated marginalized groups, her study found.
Video games
Representations of African Americans in video games tend to reinforce stereotypes of males as athletes or gangsters.
Hip hop music
Hip hop music has reinforced stereotypes about black men. Violent, misogynistic lyrics in rap music performed by African American male rappers has increased negative stereotypes against black men. African-American women are degraded and referred to as “bitches” and “hoes” in rap music. African-American women are over-sexualized in hip hop music videos and are portrayed as sexual objects for rappers. Hip hop portrays a stereotypical black masculine aesthetic. Hip hop has stereotyped Black men as hypersexual thugs and gangsters who hail from an inner city ghetto.
See also
* African characters in comics
* African-American culture
African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ame ...
* African-American history
African-American history began with the arrival of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albion in California in 1579. The ...
* African-American representation in Hollywood
The presence of African Americans in major motion picture roles has stirred controversy and been limited dating back decades due to lingering racism following slavery and segregation. "Through most of the 20th century, images of African-Americans ...
* Afrophobia
Afrophobia, Afroscepticism, or Anti-African sentiment is a perceived or actual prejudice, hostility, discrimination, or racism towards people and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora.
Prejudice against Africans and people of African desce ...
* Black matriarchy
Black matriarchy is a term for the black American families mostly led by women.
First usage
The issue was first brought to national attention in 1965 by sociologist and later Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in the Moynihan Report (al ...
* Colored people's time
Colored people's time (also abbreviated to CP time or CPT) is an American expression referring to African Americans as frequently being late. It states that African Americans can have a relaxed or indifferent view of work ethic, which leads to ...
* Coon song
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they w ...
* Discrimination based on skin color
Discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism, or shadeism, is a form of prejudice and/or discrimination in which people who share similar ethnicity traits or perceived race are treated differently based on the social implications th ...
* '' How Rastus Gets His Turkey''
* '' Life as a BlackMan'' (board game)
* Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
* Lynching in the United States
Lynching was the widespread occurrence of extrajudicial killings which began in the United States' pre–Civil War South in the 1830s and ended during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Although the victims of lynchings wer ...
* Mass racial violence in the United States
In the broader context of racism against Black Americans and racism in the United States, mass racial violence in the United States consists of ethnic conflicts and race riots, along with such events as:
* Racially based communal conflicts betwe ...
* Racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
* Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
* Scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies ...
* Stepin Fetchit
Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black a ...
* Criminal stereotype of African Americans
African Americans, and African American males in particular, have an ethnic stereotype in which they are portrayed as dangerous criminals. This stereotype is associated with the fact that African Americans are proportionally over-represented in the ...
* Police brutality in the United States
Police brutality is the repression by personnel affiliated with law enforcement when dealing with suspects and civilians. The term is also applied to abuses by "corrections" personnel in municipal, state, and federal prison camps, including mi ...
* Race in the United States criminal justice system
Race in the United States criminal justice system refers to the unique experiences and disparities in the United States in regard to the policing and prosecuting of various races. There have been different outcomes for different racial groups i ...
* Uncle Remus
Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post-Reconstruction era Atlanta, a ...
* Stereotypes of groups within the United States
Stereotypes exist of various groups of people as found within American culture. These stereotypes may be disproportionately well known to people worldwide, due to the transmission of American culture and values via the export of American-made films ...
* Stereotypes of Americans
Stereotypes of American people (here meaning citizens of the United States) can today be found in virtually all cultures. They are often manifest in America's own television and in the media's portrayal of the United States as seen in other coun ...
*
* Stereotypes of white Americans Stereotypes of white people in the United States are generalizations about the character, behavior, or appearance of white Americans by other Americans in the United States. For stereotypes about Americans by people of other nationalities, see Ste ...
* Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians in the United States
Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians in the United States refers to ethnic stereotypes of first-generation immigrant, first-generation Asian immigrants as well as Asian Americans, Americans with ancestry from East Asia, East and Southeast ...
*
* Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States
Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States have been presented in various forms by the mass media in the American culture. Stereotypical representations of Arabs are often manifested in a society's media, literature, theater and other ...
* Stereotypes of South Asians
Stereotypes of South Asians are broadly believed impressions about individuals of South Asian origin that are often inconsistent with reality. While the impressions are wrongly presumed to be universally true for all people of South Asian origin ...
* Stereotypes of Jews
Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature.
Common objects, phrases and traditions which are used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness include bagels, the complaining ...
* Ethnic stereotype
An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nationa ...
* Racism against African Americans
In the context of racism in the United States, racism against African Americans dates back to the colonial era, and it continues to be a persistent issue in American society in the 21st century.
From the arrival of the first Africans in early ...
* Racism in the United States
Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and ...
* Racialization
In sociology, racialization or ethnicization is a political process of ascribing Ethnic group, ethnic or Race (human classification), racial identities to a relationship, social practice, or group that did not identify itself as such. Racializati ...
*Stereotypes of Africa
Stereotypes and generalizations about Africa, its inhabitants, and their culture have evolved in the Western world since the years of colonial settlement. The idea of Africa's negative stereotypes come from historical and media interactions. Man ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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*
*
Further reading
*
*Anderson, L. M. (1997). ''Mammies no more: The changing image of black women on stage and screen''. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
*Bogle, Donald. (1994). ''Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks: An interpretive history of Blacks in American films'' (New 3rd ed.). New York, NY: Continuum.
*Jewell, K.S. (1993). ''From mammy to Miss America and beyond: Cultural images and the shaping of U.S. social policy''. New York, NY: Routledge.
*Leab, D. J. (1975/1976). ''From Sambo to Superspade: The black experience in motion pictures''. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Patricia A. Turner, ''Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture'' (Anchor Books, 1994).
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