Stereotypes of African Americans
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Jimcrow.jpg/250px-Jimcrow.jpg)
Part of a series on |
African Americans |
---|
Stereotypes of African Americans are misleading beliefs about the culture of people with partial or total ancestry from any black racial groups of Africa whose ancestors resided in the United States since before 1865, largely connected to the racism and the discrimination to which African Americans are subjected. These beliefs date back to the slavery of black people during the colonial era and they have evolved within American society.
The first major displays of stereotypes of African Americans were minstrel shows. Beginning in the nineteenth century, they used White actors who were dressed in blackface and attire which was supposedly worn by African-Americans in order to lampoon and disparage blacks. Some nineteenth century stereotypes, such as the sambo, are now considered to be derogatory and racist. The "Mandingo" and "Jezebel" stereotypes portray African-Americans as hypersexual, contributing to their sexualization. The Mammy archetype depicts a motherly black woman who is dedicated to her role working for a white family, a stereotype which dates back to the origin of Southern plantations. African-Americans are frequently stereotyped as having an unusual appetite for fried chicken, watermelon, and grape drinks.
In the 1980s as well as in the following decades, emerging stereotypes of black men depicted them as being criminals and social degenerates, particularly as drug dealers, crack addicts, hobos, and subway muggers.[1] Jesse Jackson said the media portrays black people as less intelligent.[2] The magical Negro is a stock character who is depicted as having special insight or powers, and has been depicted (and criticized) in American cinema.[3] In recent history, black men are stereotyped as being deadbeat fathers.[4] African American men are also stereotyped as being dangerous criminals.[5] African Americans are frequently stereotyped as being hypersexual, athletic, uncivilized, uneducated and violent. Young urban African American men are frequently labelled "gangstas" or "players."[6][7]
Stereotypes of black females include depictions which portray them as welfare queens or depictions which portray them as angry black women who are loud, aggressive, demanding, and rude.[8]
Laziness, submissiveness, backwardness, lewdness, treachery, and dishonesty are stereotypes historically assigned to African Americans.[9]
Historical stereotypes
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Virginia_Minstrels%2C_1843.jpg/250px-Virginia_Minstrels%2C_1843.jpg)
Minstrel shows 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.[10] One of the most popular styles of minstrelsy was Blackface, where White performers burnt cork and later greasepaint or applied shoe polish to their skin with the objective of blackening it and exaggerating their lips, often wearing woolly wigs, gloves, tailcoats, or ragged clothes to give a mocking, racially prejudicial theatrical portrayal of African Americans.[11] This performance helped introduce the use of racial slurs for African Americans, including "darky" and "coon".[12]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Minstrel_PosterBillyVanWare_edit.jpg/250px-Minstrel_PosterBillyVanWare_edit.jpg)
The best-known stock character is Jim Crow, among several others, featured in innumerable stories, minstrel shows, and early films with racially prejudicial portrayals and messaging about African Americans.
Jim Crow
[edit]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.[13] 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."[14]
Sambo, Golliwog, and pickaninny
[edit]The character Sambo was a stereotype of black men who were considered very happy, usually laughing, lazy, irresponsible, or carefree.[12] The Sambo 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. This depiction of black people was displayed prominently in films of the early 20th century. The original text suggested that Sambo lived in India, but that fact may have escaped many readers. The book has often been considered to be a slur against Africans.
The figure of the Golliwog, with black skin, white-rimmed eyes, exaggerated red lips, frizzy hair, high white collar, bow tie, and colourful jacket and pants, was based on the blackface minstrel tradition. The character was greatly popular among other Western nations, remaining so well into the twentieth century.[15] The derived Commonwealth English epithet "wog" is applied more often to people from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent than to African-Americans, but "Golly dolls" still in production mostly retain the look of the stereotypical blackface minstrel.[16]
The term pickaninny, reserved for children, has a similarly broadened pattern of use in popular American theater and media. It originated from the Spanish term “pequeño niño” and the Portuguese term “pequenino” to describe small child in general, but it was applied especially to African-American children in the United States and later to Australian Aboriginal children.[17]
Black children as alligator bait
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/1900sc_Postcard-Alligator_01.jpg/250px-1900sc_Postcard-Alligator_01.jpg)
A variant of the pickaninny stereotype depicted black children being used as bait to hunt alligators.[18] 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
[edit]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, 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.[19]
Mandingo
[edit]The Mandingo is a stereotype of a sexually insatiable black man with a large penis, invented by white slave owners to advance the idea that Black people were not civilized but rather "animalistic" by nature.[20] The supposedly inherent physical strength, agility, and breeding abilities of Black men were lauded by white enslavers and auctioneers in order to promote the slaves they sold.[9] Since then, the Mandingo stereotype has been used to socially and legally justify spinning instances of interracial affairs between Black men and white women into tales of uncontrollable and largely one-sided lust. This stereotype has also sometimes been conflated with the 'Black brute' or 'Black buck' stereotype, painting the picture of an 'untameable' Black man with voracious and violent sexual urges.[21]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Onstott_kyle_mandingo.jpg/201px-Onstott_kyle_mandingo.jpg)
The term 'Mandingo' is a corrupted word for the Mandinka peoples of West Africa, presently populating Mali, Guinea, and the Gambia. One of the earliest usages found dates back to the 20th century with the publication of Mandingo, a 1957 historical erotica. The novel was part of a larger series which presented, in graphic and erotic detail, various instances of interracial lust, promiscuity, nymphomania, and other sexual acts on a fictional slave-breeding plantation.[22] In conjunction with the film Birth of a Nation (1915), white American media formed the stereotype of the Black man as an untamed beast who aimed to enact violence and revenge against the white man through the sexual domination of the white woman.[9]
Sapphire
[edit]The Sapphire stereotype defines Black women as argumentative, overbearing, and emasculating in their relationships with men, particularly Black men. She is usually shown to be controlling and nagging, and her role is often to demean and belittle the Black man for his flaws. This portrayal of a verbally and physically abusive woman for Black women goes against common norms of traditional femininity, which require women to be submissive and non-threatening.[23][24] During the era of slavery, white slave owners inflated the image of an enslaved Black woman raising her voice at her male counterparts, which was often necessary in day-to-day work. This was used to contrast the loud and "uncivilized" Black woman against the white woman, who was considered more respectable, quiet, and morally behaved.[25]
The popularization of the Sapphire stereotype dates back to the successful 1928-1960 radio show Amos 'n' Andy, which was written and voiced by white actors. The Black female character Sapphire Stevens was the wife of George "Kingfish" Stevens, a Black man depicted as lazy and ignorant. These traits were often a trigger for Sapphire's extreme rage and violence. Sapphire was positioned as overly confrontational and emasculating of her husband, and the show's popularity turned her character into a stock caricature and stereotype.[9][26]
This stereotype has also developed into the trope of the 'Angry Black Woman', overall portraying Black American women as rude, loud, malicious, stubborn, and overbearing in all situations, not only in their relationships.
Jezebel
[edit]The Jezebel is a stereotype of a hypersexual, seductive, and sexually voracious Black woman. Her value in society or the relative media is based almost purely on her sexuality and her body.[27]
The roots of the Jezebel stereotype emerged during the era of chattel slavery in the United States. White slave owners exercised control over enslaved Black women's sexuality and fertility, as their worth on the auction block was determined by their childbearing ability, ie. their ability to produce more slaves.[28] The sexual objectification of Black women redefined their bodies as "sites of wild, unrestrained sexuality",[29] insatiably eager to engage in sexual activity and become pregnant. In reality, enslaved Black women were reduced to little more than breeding stock, frequently coerced and sexually assaulted by white men.[30]
Post-emancipation, the sexualization of Black women has remained rampant in Western society. Modern-day Jezebels are pervasive in popular music culture; Black women more often appear in music videos with provocative clothing and hypersexual behaviour compared to other races, including white women.[27] The Jezebel stereotype has also contributed to the adultification and sexualization of Black adolescent girls.[31]
Tragic mulatta
[edit]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.[32] 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
[edit]The Uncle Tom 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, 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", particularly for planned escapes.[33] It is the male version of the similar stereotype Aunt Jemima.
Black brute, Black Buck
[edit]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.[34] In the post-Reconstruction United States, 'black buck' was a racial slur used to describe black men who refused to bend to the law of white authority and were seen as irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.[35]
In art
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Liberty_Displaying_the_Arts_and_Sciences%2C_or_The_Genius_of_America_Encouraging_the_Emancipation_of_the_Blacks%2C_1792.jpg/250px-Liberty_Displaying_the_Arts_and_Sciences%2C_or_The_Genius_of_America_Encouraging_the_Emancipation_of_the_Blacks%2C_1792.jpg)
From the Colonial Era to the American Revolution, ideas about African Americans were variously used in propaganda either for or against slavery. Paintings like John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark (1778) and Samuel Jennings's Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences (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 "performed by white men disguised in facial paint, minstrelsy relegated black people to sharply defined dehumanizing roles." With the success of T. D. Rice and Daniel Emmet, the label of "blacks as buffoons" was created.[36] One of the earliest versions of the "black as buffoon" can be seen in John Lewis Krimmel'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 character. Krimmel's representation of a "[s]habbily 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."[36]
Contemporary stereotypes
[edit]This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2014) |
Crack addicts and drug dealers
[edit]Scholars agree that news-media stereotypes of people of color are pervasive.[37][38][39][40][41][42] African Americans were more likely to appear as perpetrators in drug and violent crime stories in the network news.[43]
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, and subway muggers.[1] Similarly, Douglas (1995), who looked at O. J. Simpson, Louis Farrakhan, and the Million Man March, found that the media placed African-American men on a spectrum of good versus evil.
Watermelon and fried chicken
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/I%27se_so_happy_-_postcard.jpg/220px-I%27se_so_happy_-_postcard.jpg)
There are commonly held stereotypes that African Americans have an unorthodox appetite for watermelons and love fried chicken. 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.[44]
Welfare queen
[edit]The welfare queen stereotype depicts an African-American woman who defrauds the public welfare system to support herself, 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.[45]
Magical Negro
[edit]The magical Negro (or mystical Negro) is a stock character 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 in National Review.[46] The latter term refers to clumsy depictions of saintly, respected or heroic black protagonists or mentors in US entertainment.[46]
Angry black woman
[edit]In the 21st century, the "angry black woman" is depicted as loud, aggressive, demanding, uncivilized, and physically threatening, as well as lower-middle-class and materialistic.[8] She will not stay in what is perceived as her "proper" place.[47]
Controlling image
[edit]Controlling images are stereotypes that are used against a marginalized group to portray social injustice as natural, normal, and inevitable.[48] By erasing their individuality, controlling images silence black women and make them invisible in society.[8] The misleading controlling image present is that white women are the standard for everything, even oppression.[47]
Education
[edit]Studies show that scholarship has been dominated by white men and women.[49] 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.[49] 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.[49] 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.[8]
Mental and emotional consequences
[edit]Due to the angry black woman stereotype, black women tend to become desensitized about their own feelings to avoid judgment.[50] 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.[50] Once seen as angry, black women are always seen in that light and so have their opinions, aspirations, and values dismissed.[50] 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.[51]
Interracial relationships
[edit]Oftentimes, black women's opinions are not heard in studies that examine interracial relationships.[52] 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.[52]
Since the 1600s, interracial sexuality has represented unfortunate sentiments for black women.[52] Black men who were engaged with white women were severely punished.[52] 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. It was taboo for a white woman to have a black man's child, as it was seen as race tainting.[52] 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.[52]
As concluded from the study, interracial dating compromises black love.[52] 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.[52] "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.[52] 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.[52]
"Black bitch"
[edit]This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2016) |
The "black bitch" is a contemporary manifestation of the Jezebel stereotype. Characters termed "bad black girls," "black whores," and "black bitches" are archetypes of many blaxploitation films produced by the Hollywood establishment.[53]
Strong black woman
[edit]The "strong black woman" stereotype is a discourse through that primarily black middle-class women in the black Baptist Church 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 this 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.[54] That discourse is harmful, dehumanizing, and silencing.
The "strong black woman" narrative is a controlling image that perpetuates the idea it is acceptable to mistreat black women because they are strong and so can handle it. This 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.[54]
Independent black woman
[edit]The "independent black woman" is the depiction of a narcissistic, overachieving, financially successful woman who emasculates black males in her life.[55]
Black American princess
[edit]Athleticism
[edit]Black people are stereotyped as being more athletic and superior at sports than other races. Even though they make up only 12.4% of the US population, 75% of NBA players[56] and 65% of NFL players are black.[57] African-American college athletes may be seen as getting into college solely on their athletic ability, not their intellectual and academic merit.[58]
Black athletic superiority is a theory that says black people possess traits that are acquired through genetic and/or environmental factors that permits them to excel over other races in athletic competition. White people are more likely to hold such views, but some black people and other racial affiliations do as well.[59]
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.[60] The stereotype suggests that African Americans are incapable of competing in "white sports" such as ice hockey[61] and swimming.[62]
Intelligence
[edit]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.[63] 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's book The Mismeasure of Man (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.[citation needed]
Media
[edit]Early stereotypes
[edit]Early minstrel shows of the mid-19th century lampooned the supposed stupidity of black people.[citation needed] 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's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as "racist" because of its depiction of the slave Jim and other black characters. Some schools have excluded the book from their curricula or libraries.[64]
Stereotypes pervaded other aspects of culture, such as various board games that used Sambo or similar imagery in their design. An example is the Jolly Darkie Target Game in which players were expected to toss a ball through the "gaping mouth" of the target in cardboard decorated using imagery of Sambo.[65]
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 black people from American society entirely.[66]
Film and television
[edit]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.[67]
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 in Gone with the Wind) drawn from minstrel shows,[68] through to the heroines of blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, but the latter was then weakened by commercial studios.[69] The mammy stereotype was portrayed as asexual while later representations of black women demonstrated a predatory sexuality.[70]
Fashion
[edit]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.[71]
Sports
[edit]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.[72] 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.[60] Some contemporary sports commentators have questioned whether black people are intelligent enough to hold "strategic" positions or coach games such as football.[73]
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 black people were more likely than whites to be described in demeaning intellectual terms.[74]
Criminal stereotyping
[edit]According to Lawrence Grossman, former president of CBS News and PBS, television newscasts "disproportionately show African Americans under arrest, living in slums, on welfare, and in need of help from the community."[75][76] 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.[77]
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."[78] 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."[78]
New media stereotypes
[edit]Social media
[edit]In 2012, Mia Moody, assistant professor of journalism, public relations and new media in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences, documented Facebook fans' use of social media to target US President Barack Obama 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, sexual orientation, personality, and diet.[79]
Moody analyzed more than 20 Facebook groups/pages using the keywords "hate," "Barack Obama," and "Michelle Obama." Hate groups, which once recruited members through word of mouth and distribution of pamphlets, spread the message that one race is inferior, targeted a historically oppressed group, and used degrading, hateful terms.[79]
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.[79]
Video games
[edit]Representations of African Americans in video games tend to reinforce stereotypes of males as athletes or gangsters.[80][81]
Hip hop music
[edit]Hip hop music has reinforced stereotypes about black men. Exposure to violent, misogynistic rap music performed by African American male rappers has been shown to activate negative stereotypes towards black men as hostile, criminal and sexist.[82][83] Hip hop portrays a stereotypical black masculine aesthetic and has stereotyped black men as hypersexual thugs and gangsters who hail from an inner city ghetto.[84][85] Listening to this misogynistic and violent hip hop has effects on African-American men and their cognitive performance. They perform worse in tests resembling the Graduate Record Examination after listening to this kind of music compared to white men under the same conditions.[86] African-American women are degraded and referred to as “bitches” and “hoes” in rap music.[87] African-American women are over-sexualized in modern hip hop music videos and are portrayed as sexual objects for rappers.[88] Over-sexualization of African American women in rap music videos may have health implications for viewers of such videos. In a survey study, adolescent African American women watching rap videos and perceiving them to contain more sexual stereotypes were more likely to binge drink, test positive for marijuana and have a negative body image.[89]
See also
[edit]- Africa–United States relations
- African characters in comics
- African-American culture
- African-American history
- African-American representation in Hollywood
- African diaspora
- Afrophobia
- Aunt Jemima
- Blackface
- Black matriarchy
- Black people
- Culture of Africa
- Culture of the Southern United States
- Discrimination in the United States
- History of Africa
- Person of color
- Colored people's time
- Coon song
- Discrimination in the United States
- Discrimination based on skin color#United States
- History of the Southern United States
- How Rastus Gets His Turkey
- Life as a BlackMan (board game)
- Lynching
- Lynching in the United States
- Mass racial violence in the United States
- Minstrel show
- Negrophobia
- Racial profiling
- Racial segregation
- Scientific racism
- Slavery in the United States
- Stepin Fetchit
- Criminal stereotype of African Americans
- Police brutality in the United States
- Race in the United States criminal justice system
- Race and the war on drugs
- Stereotypes of Africa
- The Story of Little Black Sambo
- Uncle Remus
- Stereotypes of groups within the United States
- Stereotypes of Americans
- Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
- Stereotypes of white Americans
- Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians in the United States
- Stereotypes of indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States
- Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States
- Stereotypes of South Asians
- Stereotypes of Jews
- Blonde stereotype
- LGBT stereotypes
- Ethnic stereotype
- Racism against African Americans
- Racism in the United States
- Racialization
- Culture of Africa
- History of Africa
- Stereotypes of Africa
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b Drummond, William J. (1990). "About Face: From Alliance to Alienation. Blacks and the News Media". The American Enterprise. 1 (4): 22–29. OCLC 4683318001. ERIC EJ414473.
- ^ "Jackson Assails Press On Portrayal of Blacks". The New York Times. 19 September 1985.
- ^ D. Marvin Jones (2005). Race, Sex, and Suspicion: The Myth of the Black Male. Praeger Publishers. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-275-97462-6.
- ^ "Single black fathers fight 'deadbeat Dad' stereotype". Associated Press. 29 June 2019.
- ^ Oliver, Mary Beth (2003). "African American Men as 'Criminal and Dangerous': Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the 'Criminalization' of African American Men". Journal of African American Studies. 7 (2): 3–18. doi:10.1007/s12111-003-1006-5. JSTOR 41819017. S2CID 142626192.
- ^ Obama on Our Minds: The Impact of Obama on the Psyche of America
- ^ Feminisms Matter: Debates, Theories, Activism - Page 165
- ^ a b c d Harris-Perry, Melissa (2011). Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. Yale University Press. pp. 87–89. ISBN 978-0-300-16554-8.
- ^ a b c d "Popular and Pervasive Stereotypes of African Americans". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ferris State University.
- ^ Waterhouse, Richard (1985). "The Internationalisation of American Popular Culture in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the Minstrel Show". Australasian Journal of American Studies. 4 (1): 1–11. JSTOR 41053377.
- ^ Saxton, Alexander (1975). "Blackface Minstrelsy and Jacksonian Ideology". American Quarterly. 27 (1): 3–28. doi:10.2307/2711892. JSTOR 2711892.
- ^ a b Lemons, J. Stanley (1977). "Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920". American Quarterly. 29 (1): 102–116. doi:10.2307/2712263. JSTOR 2712263.
- ^ Rehin, George F. (December 1975). "Harlequin Jim Crow: Continuity and Convergence in Blackface Clowning". The Journal of Popular Culture. 9 (3): 682–701. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1975.0903_682.x. ProQuest 1297376766.
- ^ Dorman, James H. (1969). "The Strange Career of Jim Crow Rice (With Apologies to Professor Woodward)". Journal of Social History. 3 (2): 109–122. doi:10.1353/jsh/3.2.109. JSTOR 3786238.
- ^ Pieterse, Jan Nederveen (1992). "Chapter 10: Popular Types". White on Black : Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. "England: Golliwog", pp. 156-158. ISBN 0300050208. Retrieved 6 March 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Gordon, John (2008). "Gaslight, Ghostlight, Golliwog, Gaslight". James Joyce Quarterly. 46 (1): 19–37. ISSN 0021-4183. JSTOR 27820924.
- ^ Santiago-Valles, Kelvin (1999). "'Still Longing for de Old Plantation': The Visual Parodies and Racial National Imaginary of US Overseas Expansionism, 1898-1903". American Studies International. 37 (3): 18–43. ISSN 0883-105X. JSTOR 41279710.
- ^ Slaughter-Defoe, Diana (2008). "Reviewed work: African American Childhoods: Historical Perspectives from Slavery to Civil Rights by Wilma King". The Journal of African American History. 93 (2): 294–296. doi:10.1086/JAAHv93n2p294. ISSN 1548-1867. JSTOR 25609979.
- ^ White, Deborah G. (Deborah Gray) (1999). Ar'n't I a woman? : female slaves in the plantation South. Internet Archive. New York : W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-31481-6.
- ^ Yang, George; Ryser, Tracey Ann (2008). "Whiting up and Blacking Out: White Privilege, Race, and White Chicks". African American Review. 42 (3/4): 731–746. ISSN 1062-4783. JSTOR 40301264.
- ^ Pilgrim, David (2023) [2000]. "The Brute Caricature". Jim Crow Museum. Ferris State University.
- ^ Van Deburg, William L. (1984). Slavery & race in American popular culture. Internet Archive. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-299-09630-4.
- ^ "The Sapphire Caricature". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ferris State University.
- ^ Jerald, Morgan C.; Ward, L. Monique; Moss, Lolita; Thomas, Khia; Fletcher, Kyla D. (September 2017). "Subordinates, Sex Objects, or Sapphires? Investigating Contributions of Media Use to Black Students' Femininity Ideologies and Stereotypes About Black Women". Journal of Black Psychology. 43 (6): 608–635. doi:10.1177/0095798416665967. ISSN 0095-7984. S2CID 151814376 – via Sage Journals.
- ^ Versluys, Eveline (2014). "Stereotypes of African American Women in US Television: Analysis of Scandal and Hawthorne". Ghent University Library. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "The Sapphire Caricature". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ferris State University.
- ^ a b Anderson, Joel R.; Holland, Elise; Heldreth, Courtney; Johnson, Scott P. (August 2018). "Revisiting the Jezebel Stereotype: The Impact of Target Race on Sexual Objectification". Psychology of Women Quarterly. 42 (4): 461–476. doi:10.1177/0361684318791543. ISSN 0361-6843.
- ^ West, Carolyn M. (1995). "Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel: Historical images of Black women and their implications for psychotherapy". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 32 (3): 458–466. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.32.3.458. ISSN 1939-1536.
- ^ Collins, Patricia H. (2004). Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. London: Taylor & Francis Group. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-415-93099-4.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "The Jezebel Stereotype - Anti-black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ferris State University.
- ^ Meshelemiah, Jacquelyn C. A. (October 2022). "How the Jezebel Stereotype has been Weaponized Against Black Girls and Made Them Vulnerable to Sex Trafficking: An Examination of Carceral Public Systems". Journal of African American Studies. 26 (4): 355–374. doi:10.1007/s12111-022-09596-0. ISSN 1559-1646. S2CID 253217915.
- ^ Bost, Suzanne (1998). "Fluidity without Postmodernism: Michelle Cliff and the "Tragic Mulatta" Tradition". African American Review. 32 (4): 673–689. doi:10.2307/2901245. ISSN 1062-4783. JSTOR 2901245.
- ^ "The Tom Caricature - Anti-black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum". www.ferris.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
- ^ "The Brute Caricature - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University".
- ^ Corredera, Vanessa (2017). "Far More Black than Black: Stereotypes, Black Masculinity, and Americanization in Tim Blake Nelson's O". Literature/Film Quarterly. 45 (3). ISSN 0090-4260. JSTOR 48678555.
- ^ a b McElroy, Guy C.; Gates, Henry Louis; Art, Corcoran Gallery of; Museum, Brooklyn (1990). Facing history: the Black image in American art, 1710–1940. Bedford Arts. pp. xi, xiii, 14. ISBN 978-0-938491-38-5.
- ^ Dates & Barlow, 1993.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ Martindale, 1990.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ Collins, 2004.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ Poindexter, Smith, & Heider, 2003.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ Rowley, 2003.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ West, 2001.[full citation needed][page needed]
- ^ Entman 2000.
- ^ Demby, Gene (2013-05-22). "Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From?". NPR. Archived from the original on 29 Jun 2015. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
- ^ Woodard, Jennifer Bailey; Mastin, Teresa (November 2005). "Black Womanhood: Essence and its Treatment of Stereotypical Images of Black Women". Journal of Black Studies. 36 (2): 264–281. doi:10.1177/0021934704273152. S2CID 144676210.
- ^ a b Brookhiser, Richard (August 20, 2001). "The Numinous Negro: His importance in our lives; why he is fading". National Review. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ a b Jones, Trina; Norwood, Kimberly (2017). "Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black Woman". Iowa Law Review. 102 (5).
- ^ Collins, Patricia Hill (2000). Black Feminist Thought. Routledge. pp. 69–70. ISBN 978-0-415-92483-2.
- ^ a b c Griffin, Rachel Alicia (2011). "I AM an Angry Black Woman: Black Feminist Autoethnography, Voice, and Resistance". Women's Studies in Communication. 35 (2): 138–157. doi:10.1080/07491409.2012.724524. S2CID 144644154.
- ^ a b c Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Tamara (2009). Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman: Voice and the Embodiment of a Costly Performance. Temple University Press. pp. 78–91. ISBN 978-1-59213-669-8.
- ^ Ward, Earlise C.; Clark, Le Ondra; Heidrich, Susan (November 2009). "African American Women's Beliefs, Coping Behaviors, and Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Services". Qualitative Health Research. 19 (11): 1589–1601. doi:10.1177/1049732309350686. ISSN 1049-7323. PMC 2854663. PMID 19843967.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Childs, Erica (2005). "Looking Behind the Stereotypes of the 'Angry Black Woman': An Exploration of Black Women's Responses to Interracial Relationships". Gender & Society. 19 (4): 544–561. doi:10.1177/0891243205276755. S2CID 145239066.
- ^ Fontaine, Nargis (5 May 2011). From Mammy to Madea, and Examination of the Behaviors of Tyler Perry's Madea Character in Relation to the Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire Stereotypes (Thesis). doi:10.57709/1958901.
- ^ a b Corbin, Nichola; Smith, William; Garcia, J. Roberto (14 May 2018). "Trapped between justified anger and being the strong Black woman: Black college women coping with racial battle fatigue at historically and predominantly White institutions". International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 31 (7): 626. doi:10.1080/09518398.2018.1468045. S2CID 150175991.
- ^ Moody, Mia (March 2012). "From Jezebel to Ho: An analysis of creative and imaginative shared representations of African-American women". Journal of Research on Women and Gender. 3 (1): 74–94. hdl:10877/12850.
- ^ Crepeau, Richard C. (2000). "Lapchick, Joe (1900-1970), basketball player and coach". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1900111. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing, 2000 [United States]: Modified Race Data Summary File: Version 1". 2006. doi:10.3886/icpsr13574.v1.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Simiyu, Wycliffe (2012). "Challenges of Being a Black Student Athlete on U.S. College Campuses" (PDF). Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics. 5: 40–63. hdl:10950/485.
- ^ Sheldon, Jane P.; Jayaratne, Toby Epstein; Petty, Elizabeth M. (September 2007). "White Americans' Genetic Explanations for a Perceived Race Difference in Athleticism: The Relation to Prejudice toward and Stereotyping of Blacks" (PDF). Athletic Insight. 9 (3): 33. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
- ^ a b Hall, Ronald E. (September 2001). "The Ball Curve: Calculated Racism and the Stereotype of African American Men". Journal of Black Studies. 32 (1): 104–119. doi:10.1177/002193470103200106. S2CID 145345264. ERIC EJ633998.
- ^ writer, Tetsuhiko Endo Adventure sports (28 February 2012). "Debunking the Stereotype That Blacks Don't Swim". HuffPost. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "Young Harlem Athletes Are 'Cross-Checking' Hockey Stereotypes". Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Walzer, Amy S.; Czopp, Alexander M. (2011-09-01). "Able But Unintelligent: Including Positively Stereotyped Black Subgroups in the Stereotype Content Model". The Journal of Social Psychology. 151 (5): 527–530. doi:10.1080/00224545.2010.503250. PMID 22017070. S2CID 31468700.
- ^ "Expelling Huck Finn". jewishworldreview.com. Retrieved January 8, 2006.
- ^ Booker, Christopher Brian (2000). 'I Will Wear No Chain!': A Social History of African-American Males. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-95637-0. LCCN 99086221.
- ^ Finkelman, Paul (2006). "Stereotypes of African Americans". Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. pp. 203–205. ISBN 978-0-19-516777-1.
- ^ Robert M. Entman; Andrew Rojecki (2000). The Black Image in the White Mind. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-21075-9.
Entman Rojecki.
[page needed] - ^ K. Sue Jewell (12 October 2012). From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond: Cultural Images and the Shaping of US Social Policy. Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-134-95189-5.
- ^ Yvonne D. Sims (2006). Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5154-8.[page needed]
- ^ Micki McElya (30 June 2009). Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America. Harvard University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-674-04079-3.
- ^ Jennifer E. Millard; Peter R. Grant (2006). "The Stereotypes Of Black And White Women In Fashion Magazine Photographs: The Pose Of The Model And The Impression She Creates". Sex Roles. 54 (9–10): 659–673. doi:10.1007/s11199-006-9032-0. ISSN 0360-0025. S2CID 144129337.
- ^ Hoberman, John Milton (November 3, 1997), Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race, Mariner Books, ISBN 978-0-395-82292-0
- ^ Hill, Marc L. (22 October 2003). "America's Mishandling of the Donovan McNabb-Rush Limbaugh Controversy". PopMatters. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
- ^ Sabo, Don; Sue Curry Jansen; Danny Tate; Margaret Carlisle Duncan; Susan Leggett (November 1995). "The Portrayal of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality in Televised International Athletic Events". Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
- ^ Grossman, Lawrence K. (1 July 2001). "From Bad to Worse: Black Images On 'White' News". Columbia Journalism Review. 40 (2): 55. Gale A76693187 ProQuest 230359721.
- ^ Romer, Daniel; Jamieson, Kathleen H; de Coteau, Nicole J. (June 1998). "The treatment of persons of color in local television news: Ethnic blame discourse or realistic group conflict?". Communication Research. 25 (13): 286–305. doi:10.1177/009365098025003002. S2CID 145749677.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Rome, Dennis (2004). Black Demons: The Media's Depiction of the African American Male Criminal Stereotype. Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 0-275-97244-5. ISSN 1549-196X.[page needed]
- ^ a b Oliver, Mary Beth (2003). "African American Men as 'Criminal and Dangerous': Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the 'Criminalization' of African American Men". Journal of African American Studies. 7 (2): 3–18. doi:10.1007/s12111-003-1006-5. S2CID 142626192.
- ^ a b c Moody, Mia (Summer 2012). "New Media-Same Stereotypes: An Analysis of Social Media Depictions of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama". The Journal of New Media & Culture. 8 (1).
- ^ "Hispanics and Blacks Missing in Gaming Industry – New America Media". Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Williams, Dmitri; Martins, Nicole; Consalvo, Mia; Ivory, James D. (2009). "The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games". New Media & Society. 11 (5): 815–834. doi:10.1177/1461444809105354. S2CID 18036858.
- ^ Howard, Simon; Hennes, Erin P.; Sommers, Samuel R. (July 2021). "Stereotype Threat Among Black Men Following Exposure to Rap Music". Social Psychological and Personality Science. 12 (5): 719–730. doi:10.1177/1948550620936852. S2CID 234783670.
- ^ Rudman, Laurie A., & Lee, Matthew R. (2002). Implicit and Explicit Consequences of Exposure to Violent and Misogynous Rap Music. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 5(2), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430202005002541
- ^ Oware, Matthew (March 2011). "Brotherly Love: Homosociality and Black Masculinity in Gangsta Rap Music". Journal of African American Studies. 15 (1): 22–39. doi:10.1007/s12111-010-9123-4. S2CID 144533319.
- ^ "Black Men vs. The Stereotype of the Hyper-Masculinity vs. Hardness of Rappers | PAX".
- ^ Howard, Simon, Hennes, Erin P., & Sommers, Samuel R. (2021). Stereotype Threat Among Black Men Following Exposure to Rap Music. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(5), 719–730. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620936852
- ^ Lindsay, Melanie (June 2016). WHO YOU CALLIN' A BITCH? A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGES USED TO PORTRAY AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN RAP MUSIC (Thesis).
- ^ Lewis, Ladel (June 2005). The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos. Masters Theses (Thesis).
- ^ Peterson, Shani H., Wingood, Gina M., DiClemente, Ralph J., Harrington, Kathy, & Davies, Susan (2007). Images of Sexual Stereotypes in Rap Videos and the Health of African American Female Adolescents. Journal of Women’s Health, 16(8), 1157–1164. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2007.0429
Bibliography
[edit]- Collins, Patricia Hill (1990). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Hyman. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-044-45138-9.
- West, Carolyn (2008). "Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, and Their Homegirls: Developing an 'Oppositional Gaze' Towards the Images of Black Women". Lectures on the Psychology of Women (4).[dead link]
- White, Deborah Gray (1999). Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South (Revised ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31481-6.
Further reading
[edit]- Amoah, Jewel D. (1997). "Back on the Auction Block: A Discussion of Black Women and Pornography". National Black Law Journal. 14 (2): 204–221.
- 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).
- Stampp, Kenneth M. (1971). "Rebels and Sambos: The Search for the Negro's Personality in Slavery". The Journal of Southern History. 37 (3): 367–392. doi:10.2307/2206947. JSTOR 2206947.
- West, Carolyn M. (1995). "Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel: Historical images of Black women and their implications for psychotherapy". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 32 (3): 458–466. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.32.3.458. ProQuest 614327223.