Stereotypes
Television, Radio, and the Movies are something we all as Americans participate in. However, is the way the media stereotypes a certain race really the belief that influences society today? In the following paragraphs I plan to examine the history of African-Americans in the media and some of the many stereotypes we see in society today against African-Americans in present day Radio, Television, the Movies, and personally interview some of my peers on what they believe is really a reality and what is not.
So where did these stereotypes come from? How long has society believed these stereotypes, and why? African American stereotypes can be dated all the way back since 1830s with the term of blackface. What is blackface you mite ask? It was a term that was used to describe white people who would use 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 complete the transformation. Around the year of 1828 a white comic actor by the name of Thomas D. Rice, who truly popularized blackface introduced the song "Jump Jim Crow", which came to mean "to act like a stereotyped stage caricature of a black person".The number was supposedly inspired by the song and dance of a crippled African in Cincinnati called Jim Cuff or Jim Crow. The song became a great 19th century hit and Rice performed all over the country as Daddy Jim Crow.
Another example that influenced blackface was the Amos 'n' Andy show. A show that was based on stereotypes of African-Americans and popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. The show began as one of the first radio comedy serials, written and voiced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll and originating from station WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois. With blackfacing having to play a big part in African-American stereotyping its no wonder as to why the stereotypes we had seen in the past still exist today. In the 1930s, studies...
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