Stereotypes of African Americans

Template:Globalize/USA This article discusses stereotypes of Americans of African descent present in American culture.

Overview of Black Stereotypes by Europeons

History of Black Stereotypes by Europeans

Black stereotypes in America are a product of a long history of separation between Whites and Blacks. When Blacks first arrived in this country in great numbers they did so as slaves. Because of this they (Blacks) were looked down upon and considered uncivilized and wild peoples. Stereotyping often served to justify the enslavement of what the Europeans believed to be an uncivilized and less human race. After major civil rights movements and the abolishment of slavery black stereotyping also changed. Over time Blacks became more accepted in society and White European stereotypes of them changed.

Black Stereotypes: Then and Now

Top Ten Stereotypes of Black Americans Year 1933 1995 1 Superstitious Sexy 2 Lazy/Slovenly Athletic 3 Happy-go-lucky Rhythmic/Musical 4 Ignorant Stupid 5 Musical Poor 6 Ostentatious Loud 7 Very Religious Criminal 8 Dirty (physically) Hostile 9 Naive Very Religious 10 Unreliable Dis-Loyal to Family

In the 1930's, studies found a high level of consistency among adjectives used to describe Black people. Furthermore, most of these adjectives were negative, and included terms such as superstitious, lazy, and ignorant. Today’s stereotypes are not much different, and include unintelligent, loud, poor, unable to swim, and criminal. Stereotypes can also be “positive” terms, although this does not make them less damaging to their targets. Such "positive" stereotyping would include characterizatins of blacks as more, musically and sexual.

Inaccurate Black Stereotypes

Many of the black stereotypes do not correspond with reality. Here are a few important examples.

• Most black people are not poor and most of America's poor people are not black. On TV, black people are depicted as poor nearly twice as often as their true incidence; black people actually account for 29% of America’s poor, although many might assume the incidence to be in excess of 50%.

• Because black people tend to be stereotyped as criminal, many people are surprised to learn that criminality among African-American youth is significantly lower when it comes to the use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs than either white or Hispanic people.

• Although black people are stereotyped as dirty, African-Americans often exhibit more concern about cleanliness than white people do. Black people spend more money on cleaning supplies and comparable amounts on personal care products than white people. Black women engage in more feminine hygiene practices than white women.

Historical archetypes

Black face archetype of minstrel shows

Promotional poster for Spike Lee's movie Bamboozled (2000) shows an example of blackface.

Minstrel shows portrayed and lampooned black people in stereotypical and often disparaging ways, as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical.

Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to affect the countenance of an iconic, racist American archetype — that of the darky or coon. White blackface performers in the past used 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.

"Sambo" archetype

Main article: Sambo (racial term)

This stereotype gained notoriety through the 1898 children's book The Story of Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman. It told the story of a boy named Sambo, who outwitted a group of hungry tigers. The original text suggested that Sambo lived in India, but this fact may have escaped many readers, and the book has often been considered to be a slur against Africans. Notably tigers were common in India (and endangered now) but had been extinct in Africa for thousands of years.

"Mammy" archetype

Main article: Mammy archetype

Characteristics of "Mammy" include dark skin, a heavyset frame and large bust, and overall matronly appearance, complete with an apron around her waist and a kerchief on her head. She is overweight and dressed in gaudy clothing, as well as genial, churchgoing, and spiritual to the point of delusion — "Lord have mercy" is a common phrase associated with this archetype. She is compliant in the face of white authority, as in the Aunt Jemima and Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind's Mammy character, standards of this archetype.

The term Mammy is a variant of mother, used most prominently by black people in the South during and soon after slavery. White people used the term, as well, to refer to black female slaves, servants and caregivers, as well as a general term for black women. When in common use by white people, the word was often used sentimentally, but many black people considered it patronizing or insulting. Today, the term mammy, when applied to a black woman, is considered highly pejorative.

"Magic Negro" archetype

Main article: Magical Negro

The magical negro (sometimes called the mystical negro, magic negro, or our Magical African-American Friend) is a stock character who appears in fiction of a variety of media. The word "negro", now considered archaic and offensive, is used intentionally to emphasize the belief that the archetype is a racist throwback, an update of the "Sambo" stereotype. The term was popularized by Spike Lee, who dismissed the archetype of the "super-duper magical negro" in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University and at Yale University.

The Black Image In The Media

The predominant black image in the media today is the product of an African American subculture from the ghettos and projects in America. Since the late eighties rap music popularized and idolized the gang banging thug. This image contributed greatly to the modern stereotyping of blacks as lazy, ignorant and criminal, by whites, Asians and other non black races the world over. The contribution of the rap icons such as "Fifty Cent" and "Tupac", to the Black image in America is highly debated but these figures have certainly contributed to the stereotypes of modern Blacks. Rap Music in general often portrays Blacks as gang bangers and criminals and glorifies the struggle of living below the poverty line and the resulting criminal activities believed necessary to survive in the ghetto.

Stereotypical portrayal in the media

See also: Race and intelligence (media portrayal)

Early stereotypes

Early minstrel shows lampooned the assumed stupidity of black people. Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843

Early minstrel shows lampooned the supposed stupidity of black people. Movies such as Birth of a Nation questioned whether or not black people were fit to run for governmental offices or vote. Secretary of State John C. Calhoun arguing for the extension of slavery in 1844 said,

Here (scientific confirmation) is proof of the necessity of slavery. The African is incapable of self-care and sinks into lunacy under the burden of freedom. It is a mercy to give him the guardianship and protection from mental death.

Even after slavery ended the intellectual capacity of black people was still frequently questioned. Lewis Terman wrote in The measurement of intelligence in 1916,

(Black and other ethnic minority children) are uneducable beyond the nearest rudiments of training. …There is no possibility at present of convincing society that they should not be allowed to reproduce, although from a eugenic point of view they constitute a grave problem because of their unusual prolific breeding.

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been often cited as racist due to the depiction of the slave Jim, among other black characters, which has led to schools banning the book. The word "nigger" appears numerous times, and is used to describe Jim and other black characters. While this is not surprising for the time, it is understandably offensive to modern readers, particularly African-American students, who may have been required to read the book in high school. It's important to note that the depiction of slave Jim may not have been intended to be derogatory towards blacks and shouldn't undermine the literary talent of the writer as It was written in a different time and place.

Film and Television

See also: Acting white

According to Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki, authors of the The Black Image in the White Mind, in television and film black characters are less likely to be the "the intellectual drivers of its problem solving." Entman and Rojeki assert that media images of black people may have profound effects on the perceptions by both black and white people about black intellectual potential.

Political activist and one time presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson said in 1985 that the news media portray black people as "less intelligent than we are." Film director Spike Lee explains that these images have negative impacts "In my neighborhood, we looked up to athletes, guys who got the ladies, and intelligent people," said Lee. "[Now] If you're intelligent, you're called a white guy or girl."

In film, black people are also shown in a stereotypical manner that promotes notions of moral inferiority. In terms of female movie characters shown by race:

• Using vulgar profanity: black people 89 percent, white people 17 percent
• Being physically violent: black people 56 percent, white people 11 percent
• Being restrained: black people 55 percent, white people 6 percent

Sports

In Darwin's Athletes, John Hoberman writes that the prominence of African-American athletes encourages a de-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 black people 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 journalist Derrick Jackson in 1989 showed that black people were more likely than white people to be described in demeaning intellectual terms.

The news media: criminal stereotyping

Information according to the author of: The Black Image in the White Mind illustrates ways in which negative media images of African Americans are disproportionate and arguably harmful to race relations:

• A mug shot of a black defendant is four times more likely to appear in a local television news report than of a white defendant.
• The black accused is two times more likely to be shown physically restrained in a local television news report than when the accused is white.
• The name of the accused is two times more likely to be shown on screen in a local TV news report if the defendant is black, rather than white.

According to Lawrence Grossman, former president of CBS News and PBS, TV newscasts "disproportionately show African-Americans under arrest, living in slums, on welfare, and in need of help from the community." African-Americans are misrepresented for several reasons. Although FBI statistics show that most violent crimes involve others of same race, there is a common misperception that black-on-white crimes are more common. Black-on-white crimes are over-represented on news shows because the majority audience can better identify with white victim. Emphasis on deviance generates higher ratings for TV networks by playing on people's fears. However, these images of black (and white) people on TV newscasts do not represent reality and negatively impact the way we think about race and race relations.

Pornography

It is important to note that the writer of the following section on "Pornography" may watch too much porn and fantasize about being in porn and masturbates constantly or be in porn which could possible hinder his or her ability to write non biased and non manipulative and racially charged statement on Wikipedia. This person may be an angry black man or an angry white woman or black woman. Who may feel jealousy or hate for white males. It cannot be confirmed or denied through any factual evidence but you must make the decision for your self.

Some people make the assumtion that all black men have more primitive penises than men of other races, so black men have long been featured prominently in pornography, though until the 1980s they seldom were depicted as having sex with white women. There were a number of reasons for this, ranging from pornographers' assumptions that depictions of interracial sex would alienate their target white male audience by exposing their sexual inferiority, to actresses being reluctant do engage with black men for fear of hurting their careers. Since the late 90s, however, many of porn's most famous male performers have been black, such as Lexington Steele, Sean Michaels, Jack Napier, Mandingo, and Shane Diesel, and these performers are known for having interracial sex with white women. In porn, black men are promoted as more bestial than white men, combining more primitive penises and more bestial characteristics. Interracial porn emphasizes these traits and their desirability to white women who are disgusted by their weak and inadequate male counterparts. Black men are also stereotyped as fetishizing the female buttocks more often than the breasts that are fetishized in white porn.

Black women, on the other hand, have yet to reach the status of black men in porn. In porn they are regarded as exotic and possessing thicker, more curvaceous bodies which are often showcased in films aimed at black men with "big butt" fetishes. However, unlike black men, black women are rarely identified as being especially desirable to men of other races or as sharing specific personality traits besides an occasional domineering streak.

See also

• African characters in comics
• Blackface
• Coon song
• Ethnic stereotype
• Ethnic stereotypes in pornography
• Stereotype threat
• Racial profiling
• Uncle Tom
• Uncle Remus

External links

• Robin Eisenbach. "The Color of Television: A Multicultural Look at the Effects of Television". University of Oregon Media Literacy Online Project. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
• "Still I Rise !": The African-American Woman, and Her Struggle with the Jezebel and Mammy Stereotypes