Stereotypes of African Americans are generalizations about African Americans or African American culture. These stereotypes have evolved within American culture dating back to the colonial years of settlement, particularly after slavery became a racial institution that was heritable. The early blackface minstrel shows of the 19th century portrayed blacks as joyous, naive, superstitious, and ignorant, characteristics related to the way slaveholders in earlier years believed them to be.
Such scholars as Patricia A. Turner note "stereotyping objects in popular culture that depict blacks as servile, primitive, or simpleminded and explains how the subtle influences of such seemingly harmless images reinforce anti-black attitudes."[1] As with every other identifiable group, stereotypes continue today. Blacks are often portrayed as lazy and very religious. They also are portrayed as having a love of fried chicken, watermelon, corn bread, and Kool-Aid.[2][3]
The idea of race in the United States is based on physical characteristics and skin color. It played an essential part in shaping American society even before the nation existed independently.[4] The perception of black people has been closely tied to their social strata in the United States.[5] In early American history, the primary reason that Africans were in the colonies was as enslaved laborers transported by the slave trade.
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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 effect 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.
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. "Sambo" refers to black men that were considered very happy, usually laughing, lazy, irresponsible or carefree. This depiction of black people was displayed in films of the early 20th Century. The original text suggested that Sambo lived in India, but this fact may have escaped many readers. The book has often been considered to be a slur against Africans.[6]
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. She is compliant in the face of white authority, as in the Aunt Jemima and Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind's Mammy characters, standards of this archetype.
The term 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, who often cared for white children of the slaveholder household. White people often used it in a sentimental way, but many black people considered it patronizing or insulting.[7] Today, the term mammy when applied to a black woman is considered pejorative.[8]
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 who, by use of special insight or powers, helps the white protagonist. 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.[9] The term was popularized by Spike Lee, who dismissed the archetype of the "super-duper magical negro"[10] in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University[11] and at Yale University.[12]
This stereotypical concept was invented by white slave owners who promoted the notion that male African slaves were animalistic and bestial in nature asserting, for example, that in "Negroes all the passions, emotions, and ambitions, are almost wholly subservient to the sexual instinct. . . ." and "this construction of the oversexed black male parlayed perfectly into notions of black bestiality and primitivism."[13]
Studies show that the welfare queen idea has roots in both race and gender. Franklin Gilliam, the author of a public perception experiment on welfare, concludes that:
While poor women of all races get blamed for their impoverished condition, African-American women are seen to commit the most egregious violations of American values. This story line taps into stereotypes about both women (uncontrolled sexuality) and African-Americans (laziness).
Studies show that the public dramatically overestimates the number of African-Americans in poverty, with the cause of this attributed to media trends and its portrayal of poverty.[14]
Early minstrel shows of the mid-19th century lampooned the supposed stupidity of black people. In 1844 Secretary of State John C. Calhoun, arguing for the extension of slavery, wrote,
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.[15]
Even after slavery ended, the intellectual capacity of black people was still frequently questioned. Movies such as Birth of a Nation (1915) questioned whether or not black people were fit to run for governmental offices or vote.
In 1916 Lewis Terman wrote in The measurement of intelligence,
(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.[16]
Stephen J. 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 men vs. women.
Some critics have considered Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as racist because of its depiction of the slave Jim, among other black characters. Some schools have excluded the book from their curriculum or libraries.[17] The word "nigger" appears numerous times and is used to describe Jim and other black characters. While the term was contemporary for the period when Twain wrote the book, some modern readers have found it offensive. Other critics have noted that Twain's portrayal of the relationship between Finn and Jim overturned stereotypes of the time and recognized Jim's humanity and strength.
Political activist and one time presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson said in 1985 that the news media portrayed black people as "less intelligent than we are."[18] 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."[19]
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:[20]
In Darwin's Athletes, John Hoberman writes that the prominence of African-American athletes encourages a de-emphasis on academic achievement in black communities.[21] 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.[22] Some contemporary sports commentators have questioned whether black people are intelligent enough to hold "strategic" positions or coach games such as football.[23] 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.[24]
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."[25] [26]
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