Amber Peel

First Draft
Stereotypes, you can't live with them, you can't live without them. Racial stereotypes
have been around for as long as time, and they will always be around. One race in particular that
has always been wildly stereotyped against is black people. Not just African Americans, but
people who are of African descent have been portrayed the same in television and film. The
racial stereotypes developed during American history had a significant role in shaping attitudes
toward blacks during that time. The media took these stereotypes and brought them to life in
television and films. Black representation in television and film is often negative. Children are
impressionable and when watching these television shows and movies, it is for easy for black
adolescents to fall into these stereotypes in their everyday life. How do these stereotypes affect
black adolescence? How do these negative stereotypes shape black adolescence to create a
positive self image? There were many gender-specific distorted images of the black man and
black woman. For most of American history the mass media industry has produced images that
distort and misrepresent the complexities of the Black Experience.
Race is a real cultural, political and economic concept in society, but is not a biological
concept. There are not enough genetic differences between groups of people said Alan R.
Templeton, professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis stated (Fitzpatrick,2003).
This quote shows that while there are plenty of genetic variations in humans, most of the
variation is individual variation. Race is not a real thing, it is something that humans have
established; therefore being black is not a race. Black stereotypes date back to the slavery days.
In the 19th century, every immigrant group was stereotyped against, but with the long history of
prejudices and ignorance towards blacks people had insured longevity to the stereotypes (Ken

Padgett). The most popular black stereotypes where Mammy, Jezebel, Jim Crow, Zip
Coon, and Uncle Tom. (Blackface.com, n.d). These stereotypes came from the white mans
characterizations of plantation slaves and free blacks in the minstrel show era. A minstrel show
was a popular stage entertainment featuring comic dialogue, song, and dance (Dictionary.com).
During these minstrel shows, blackface makeup was worn. Blackface makeup was a layer of
blunt cork on a layer of cocoa butter or black grease paint completed with exaggerated wide red
lips, bulging eyes, kinky wool wigs, and dialect. Imitating black music and dance was also a part
of these minstrel shows (Blackface.com, n.d). The white actors wore outrageous costumes and
exaggerated features to make fun of black people.
To begin with, women in television have usually been portrayed as weak and submissive.
But add the race of a black women and that stereotype gets pushed further. There were two main
stereotypes that black women were put into in television and films. An overly sexual object for
the masters pleasure or a servant who devotes all of her time to her masters family; the Mammy
and the Jezebelle. The Mammy is a large, independent women with dark skin and shining white
teeth. The Mammy lived to serve her master or mistress. Mammy understood the value of the
white lifestyle and cares more about the masters children than her own. She gives great advice
and is seen as harmless and humorous ( Green, 1998). The most famous mammy of all time is
Hattie Mc Daniels character in Gone With The Wild. Gone With The Wind was a successful
movie that came out in 1940. The movie was widely popular and won an Oscar for Best Picture
that year. But the most shocking outcome for the movie was that Hattie McDaniel became the
first black person to win an Oscar for that role of the Mammy. With the success of this movie and
role, playing and working as a mammy was seen as not bad at all. There is little historical
evidence to support the existence of this type of women. Enslaved women of dark complexion in

the 19th century were often beaten, overworked, and raped. Enslaved women also ran away or
helped other slaves escape, when they fought back, they were brutally punished by their slave
owners. Historians and authors rewrote history so society could believe that slavery was a
humane institution (West, n.d). To rephrase it, there was really no such thing as a Mammy
during those times of slavery. Women with darker skin were often not given the opportunity to
work in the house. Darker women were relegated to work on the field with the males (West,
2012).
Furthermore, in 1619, the first ship of enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia. Women were
stripped naked and examined to determine their reproductive capacity. Once sold, these women
were violently forced to have sexual relations with their masters, their masters sons, male
relatives and overseers. The Jezebel stereotype branded black women as sexually promiscuous
and immoral (West,2012). A Jezebel was seductive,alluring,worldly and tempting. Jezebelles
were often known black women became the willing concubines of wealthy white men. Typically
in movies, the Jezebelle was a black women who tried to pass as white. The portrayal of black
women as Jezebels began in slavery,Mulatto women were often mixed. but continued throughout
the 20th century. In the 1915 film The Birth Of A Nation, Lydia Brown played a mulatto
character. She was a mistress in the film. She was portrayed as overly sexual and deceives the
formerly good white man. This type of charter was rare for early American film, but it made an
impact. Black moviegoers were tired of the old cinematic portrayals of blacks like the concerned
Mulatto. Mulatto women were often mixed with white and were of lighter complexion than
most of the other black women with thin lips, long straight hair, slender nose and a thin figure.
Many slaves that were sold into prostitution were Mulattos.

In the 1930s and 1940s Black male actors were limited to two stereotypical roles: Coons
and Toms. Black males have also been portrayed negatively television and films and put into
negative stereotypes. Dating back to the 1830s century, the first image of black people in
minstrel shows was Jim Crow. This character was shown as an elderly,crippled and clumsy slave.
Jim Crow was an uneducated man who had his white master to thank for being looked after
(historylearningsite.co.uk, n.d). Jim Crow become the image of the black man across the world
because it was brought to life on so many enormous crowds following the Civil War. This
stereotype stuck because many people who lived north and west of the world had never came in
contact with an African American. This was a bad thing because all across the world, black men
were represented and shown as shuffling buffoons and that stage portrayal evolved over time
(Green, 1998).
Next, there is the Zip Coon better known as Coon. This stereotype made a mockery
of free blacks. This character was an arrogant, ostentatious figure, that dressed in high style and
spoke in a series of puns that undermine his attempts to appear dignified (Blackface.com, n.d).
Unlike Mammy, the Zip Coon did not know his place (ferris.edu, 1999). Through the medium of
this racial impersonation, whites were able to control and manipulate the image of blacks even
more so than through the medium of inanimate caricatures. Ludicrous behavior was posited as
the opposite of rational behavior, and the whites impersonating blacks as ludicrous, childish, and
dependent creatures fostered an image of black men that was devoid of intelligence, masculinity,
dignity, and self-determination (Brown, 2008, pg. 653).
Then, there is the Uncle Tom stereotype. The Uncle Tom is a faithful, older, black male
servant. He is well behaved and respectful of the master despite being mistreated and
disrespected. A Tom does not complain, rebel, or runaway (ferris.edu, 1999). was named from

the famous Harriet Beecher Stowe antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), a character
intended to inspire sympathy in White readers. Stowe's Tom is a gentle, humble, faithful
Christian slave. Despite his loyalty and gentle nature, Tom is sold, cursed, slapped, kicked,
flogged, worked like a horse, then beaten to death. While intended as a contrast for White
brutality, Stowes Tom came to be seen not as a sympathetic character, but a pathetic one. He
never resists. He never lifts a hand to hit his masters nor to stop a blow. Tom does not complain,
rebel, or run away (authentichistory.com, 2012).
Every person develops an identity, but all are not positive. With the negative stereotypes
that movies and television put on black people, its easy for black adolesce get lost with finding
their self identity. Kids dont know who they are at such a young age and with popular negative
images of people who look like them, people who they try to relate to are negative it could be
hard to find positivity in themselves. Black teenage girls self-esteem has remained the relatively
constant during the same period of time that researchers reported the white teenage girls selfesteem significantly decreased. But in the 1960s, self-esteem studies reported the blacks suffered
from low self-esteem.That report changed overtime due to the social and political changes in the
1960s and studies after that showed that blacks processed high self-esteem. Black teenage girls
are struggle with sexual attractiveness and racial messages about black image in the White
America(Adams, n.d). Black kids do not see a positive reflection in themselves and their culture
in mainstream movies and television.
African American teens are faced with many challenges in today's society. Self-esteem is
the result of life experiences and is a product of an individual's early relationships. Experts say
teaching black children to build and maintain a positive self-esteem should begin in the home.
Experts agree that instilling positive self-esteem in African American children should start not

only start in the home but with the parents themselves . Bronwyn Mayden is the executive
director for the Campaign for Our Children,a non-profit organization has stated "arents should be
the primary role models for their children,not the people they see on television". Experts also say
that Learning about black history and the contributions of black Americans in our society today
is an excellent tool for building the self-esteem of black children (Morton, 2002).
Adolescence is a critical time of self-reflection and self-definition in which youths must
work to determine both what kind of person they would like to become and how well they are
meeting this goal. In making these judgments, teens draw on those around them, both for models
and for feedback. For most of history, black people have been portrayed in negative ways
through film and television shows. So how has this affected the black youth of America? With all
of the heavy exposure to white-aimed tv and movies, lower self-esteem among black adolescents
becomes more and more prevalent. This could lead to serious social and psychological problems
in these teenagers.
To help black adolescents with self-esteem and self-image, important adults in their lives
have to set an example for them. The black youth may face challenges when attempting to
identify appropriate role models because of the dilemma that African American youth face
related to their relative exclusion and inclusion in American society. Adolescents of color were
significantly less likely to have role models than White adolescents . While adolescents are
attempting to form their identities and growing into adults, it is critical for them to have samesex parental models with whom to identify (Yancey, Siegel, and McDaniel, 2002). There has to
be black adult figures in their lives that are positive and dont fit into the black negative
stereotype.

The community also has to take a stand to help black teens with their self image. Small
focus groups involving individuals of different races could be organized through agencies,
schools, universities or churches. Discussion of racial stereotypes and attitudes in a safe format
would allow people to explore and possibly discard stereotypes. Individuals can reassess their
own prejudices and biases and effect a change within themselves. Through a non-judgmental
process of exploration, the possibility that people who believe and perpetuate stereotypes do so
not out of hate but as a means of protecting themselves can be considered. They may do so out of
ignorance, habit or fear rather than maliciousness. By suspending our disbelief and seeing each
person as an individual rather than through the eyes of a preconceived stereotype, we can begin
this change on the individual level. As a result, resolution on the community and societal levels
can occur (Green,1999).
In conclusion, black people have been stereotyped against and will always be stereotypes
against. Although much has changed since the days of Jim Crow, Zip Coon, Mammy, Aunt and
Jezebelle, it can be argued convincingly that similar stereotypes of African-Americans exist in
2015. Society as a whole must come to terms with the fact that stereotypes and oppression still
exist today. Society has made enormous progress since the days of slavery and the stereotypes
that supported it. Yet it seems that many people are unaware of the remaining stereotypes,
negative attitudes, and oppression of African-Americans. Because stereotypes are so often
accepted as the truth, defining the problem is a crucial step of intervention. Black teens
succeeding in difficult situations needs to be executed and disseminated. The strengths of Black
girls need to be acknowledged in discussions of normal adolescent development along with their
positive ramifications for practice with African American communities. Blacks teens need a

strong home system to lift them up to boost their self esteem and the community as a whole
needs to come together to help better black teens.