Shauncia Cherry

Media Influences Paper

July 26, 2010

Media Influences on African Americans

Media influences have had a profoundly negative effect on African Americans

over time. Early portrayals of African Americans in film and on television have

significantly impacted this group socially in terms of how they are perceived by other

groups as well as development in the way African American people view themselves.

Despite changes in the kinds of roles given to African American actors and more

opportunities for positive portrayals in film and television today, earlier stereotypes still

remain an issue that impacts African Americans and their acceptance in the industry and

by society.

Television and film have been widely used to degrade African Americans and

portray them as inferior beings. The movie, Birth of a Nation, is one of the most noted

examples of this in film. In D.W. Griffins silent movie, made in 1915, African American

men are portrayed as evil beings who set out to assault, rape, and murder white people.

The Ku Klux Klan, a group prominently known for their anti-African American ideas and

violent actions towards this group, is portrayed in the movie as comprising decent, brave,

law abiding, heroes who dedicate their lives to saving white people from the ravenous

attacks of black criminals. White actors painted in blackface were used to portray black

men.

What had the most significant negative impact for African Americans was not the

film in itself. It was the endorsement of the film by prominent leaders and others who
claimed it accurately portrayed life for Southern whites after the Civil War was lost,

including Woodrow Wilson, who was president of the United States at the time.

Although the film depicts African Americans as corrupt lawmakers who have political

power over Southern whites; in reality they didn’t have any political power at all. They

didn’t even have the right to vote. According to the Center for History and New Media,

some of the text used in the film was from “A History of the American People,” which

was published in 1902 by President Woodrow Wilson. The CHNM states, “Wilson’s

prose introduces the reconstruction section of the film, making the rise of the Ku Klux

Klan a positive good that resulted in the redemption of the white South from the ravages

of Negro and Carpetbagger rule.” (Center for History and Media, 2010)

The film was so socially detrimental to African Americans that the civil rights

organization, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (referred

to as the NAACP), which was only six years old at that time, along with William Monroe

Trotter, a Harvard graduate and advocate for the equal rights of African Americans,

fought to have it banned. A mass protest was subsequently held in response to the film;

however, efforts to prove it was harmful to African Americans were not deemed an

adequate reason for banning it. The NAACP then set out to prove that the film was a

public threat and heightened violence. (Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities,

2010)

According to Mass Moments, “Boston mayor, James Michael Curley responded

by holding a public hearing. D.W. Griffith as well as Trotter and NAACP leaders

testified. Curley claimed he could only censor the film if it were indecent and immoral.

After the filmmaker agreed to cut certain sexually suggestive scenes, the film opened.”
(Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities 2010) Although the NAACP’s fight was

only successful in getting a few minor changes made to the film, it was deemed one that

helped give African Americans a new voice in the fight for equality. However, the

stereotypes presented in Birth of a Nation that labeled African American men as lazy,

lawless, fried chicken eating, alcohol abusers who constantly preyed on white women

continued to remain long after the movie was released. Several movies of the thirties

introduced several different types of stereotypes that continued to recur in media and

literature. Although there is more taboo in terms of open labeling, these are still placed on

African Americans today.

The portrayal of black men as lazy, dimwitted and illiterate became a popular part

of entertainment, such as the Stepin Fetchit character perfected by African American

comedian, Lincoln Perry. Stepin Fetchit was labeled as a “coon” character, a derogatory

reference to African Americans. In an assessment of these types of character portrayals,

Ferris State University wrote, “Before its death, the coon developed into the most

blatantly degrading of all black stereotypes. The pure coons emerged as no-account

niggers, those unreliable, crazy, lazy, subhuman creatures good for nothing more than

eating watermelons, stealing chickens, shooting crap, or butchering the English

language.” (Pilgrim, 2000) Despite recognized degradation, this role was once one of the

limited types of roles available for African American men who sought notoriety in film.

For black women, the role of the “mammy” or the loyal housemaid who put the wants

and needs of their white employers before their own was for a long time one of the only

available roles for those seeking film success.

 One of the most noted examples of the mammy character in film was one

portrayed by Hattie McDaniel in the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind. Although her

character was criticized by African Americans and the NAACP as being demeaning,

McDaniel became the first black actress to receive an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

In later films, there was a conscious effort by black actors to seek more positive

on screen roles. In 1967, a movie starring Sidney Poitier called, “Guess Who’s Coming to

Dinner” helped usher in a new era for the portrayal of African Americans in film and

television, and opened the door for more universal discussion on race issues. Poitier’s

character is John Prentice, a distinguished black doctor, who is engaged to a white

woman. He finds opposition to the marriage from both the father of the bride to be as

well as his own father with the reason being race.

Despite more positivity of the role, many African Americans expressed discontent

with Poitier’s film characters suggesting they still accommodated the racial insecurities

of certain white people. For example, Prentice chastises his own father for his racist

views, but seems more understanding of his fiancés father, stating he won’t marry her

unless her father is accepting of it. Other films for which Poitier was criticized by the

black community for similar reasons include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Lilies of

the Field, To Sir with Love, and A Patch of Blue.

For many however, Poitier redeemed himself with his role as Virgil Tibbs in the

1967 movie, In the Heat of the Night. According to Classic Movies, “It was a film whose

echoes were heard beyond the movie theaters, and which opened the door for many more

films with strong black characters.” After the progression of films of the 60s, there was a

step backwards with what were called “blaxploitation” movies of the 70s, in which an all
black or mostly black casts acted out scenarios that dealt with crime, sex, drugs, and

violence. The settings for these films were usually the ghetto and the only successful

people were pimps and hookers. The 70s also produced African American comedies such

as Sanford and Son and Good Times. While the Characters of Fred Sanford played by

Red Foxx and JJ Evans, played by Jimmie Walker, were lovable, they did little to change

the stereotyping of black men as lazy, ignorant, simple minded buffoons who were

always looking to get something for nothing.

Television isn’t the only form of media that has played a part in the stereotyping

of black people. Radio, comic books, and newspapers have significantly contributed to

this as well. Even classic media favorites such as Archie’s Comics, Bugs Bunny, Popeye,

and Walt Disney have participated. (See Image A)

Due to blatant racism based stereotyping of the past and more subtle subsequent

efforts, controversy and caution remains an issue surrounding the creation of African

American characters today. I think one of the reasons for this is because African

Americans are widely viewed in terms of being part of a race as opposed to individual

people, which gives them the burden of representation on screen. It is seldom heard, “He

or she is a credit to their race,” or “He or she is a disgrace to their race” when referring to

anyone other than African Americans. The Three Stooges was a popular program that

portrayed the main characters as mindless buffoons; comparable to the “coon character,”

however, the threat of negative association to the entire race of white people was not

present in its creation as it has been with African Americans portrayed on screen. We

now have in the White House, the first African American U.S. President. He’s articulate

and intelligent but he too suffers the same racist stereotypes. Although we have come a
long way as a society with regards to race relations in the country, we still have quite a

way to go before it is no longer a major concern. The same goes for portrayals of African

Americans in media.