The coon, which was short for raccoon, was a derogatory word used to describe free adult African Americans. It represented how White America viewed free adult blacks; depicting them as lazy, child-like, slow, dimwitted, free blacks, that acted without a purpose since they did not have a master to give them a purpose through slavery, and loved to eat watermelons and chicken. It was a clear representation that slavery was a good thing for society and without slavery free blacks would act in this manner.
After slavery was abolished, White America would continue to use the coon stereotype to ridicule blacks and make them feel as an inferior class of citizens. Creating Minstrel shows in which white actors would dress up and portray blacks as coons. Around the early 1900’s, during the Jim Crow Laws, whites believed that blacks were genetically inferior to whites, and argued that they were children, irresponsible,
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Even now we still have some Americans who use a more modern form of the coon to mock and ridicule successful African Americans in our society. One example is during the 2008 presidential campaign, in which Barrack Obama was targeted by modern racists who created photo shopped images depicting him in big clothes, eating watermelon, fried chicken, and mispronouncing his words. These modern day racists went as far as including his wife and daughters in these images. A form of the coon has even made an appearance in a modern day movie franchise, or at least being accused of being a coon. The Star Wars movie franchise was accused in 1999 of creating a racial stereotype of a coon in the form of a character named Jar Jar Binks. In which critics claimed that Jar Jar, “a bumbling dimwitted amphibian-like character, spoke Caribbean-accented Pidgin English, and had ears that suggested dreadlocks” (Pilgrim); Jar Jar looked like the latest in black cinematic
In early 1900, Patrick “Pat” Chappelle founded The Rabbit’s Foot Company (or, The Rabbit Foot Minstrels) as a roaming, tented minstrel company. Chappelle, equipped with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and notable talent as a banjo guitarist, was to become the figurehead of one of the most successful vaudevillian entities in U.S. history, and, perhaps most importantly, the first exclusively black-owned and operated traveling variety shows in the country. Despite this evolution to “variety show,” The Rabbit’s Foot Company “came forth in the unmistakable form of a minstrel show.” To define, minstrel shows oft manifested as sketch, musical, and variety performances that targeted and mocked black people using blackface and exaggerated stereotypes
These devices ensure the audience’s attention and understanding, rather than a lack of sympathy or interest. His devices also connect the audience to the issue and makes them understand the depth of misrepresentation. Staples in his own way is able to show how preconceived notions are cruel generalizations of large groups of people, and a constant plague to the african american
Where do we draw the lines between adoration and mockery, influence and appropriation, and individuality and stereotyping? Accordingly, the racial subject has always been a touchy topic to discuss, but with the lasting effects that the black minstrelsy has left in the society, we most definitely need to deal with the racial subject. Only this way can the American society move forward both as a nation and as a species, and through such efforts, only then can we ensure that such history can never repeat
In the sixties, segregation and racism dominated in most social settings. In the seventies, most minorities were trying to deter from old beliefs of prejudicial ideas. In modern times, minorities have equal rights and respect to their white counterparts. Four sitcoms, Amos ’n’ Andy, Julia, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show depict how the role of minorities changed throughout different time periods. First of all, in the 1950’s, African Americans had few roles in television sitcoms, but when they were offered parts, it consisted of stereotypical portrayals of characters being lazy, simple, or holding domestic servant roles.
Using the racist Minstrel shows, Delacroix comes up with Mantan: The New Millennial Minstrel Show, featuring an impoverish tap dancer Manray and his friend Womack, who he transforms into two coons, Mantan and Sleep and Eat. Pitching the idea to his white boss, Thomas Dunwitty, the idea was adopted with much fervour. Dunwitty believed that cultural appropriation allows for the whites to share in black culture but failed to see how derogatory the Minstrel show was to African Americans, therefore he pushes the idea to his bosses. Skipping forward, the Minstrel show, although receiving condemnation from equal rights activists, becomes a big success, even moving the defeated Delacroix to a feeling of esteem and achievement.
There is a clear through-line in our nation’s history of blackface. As a detrimental tradition, the practice reflects a collectively low opinion of African-Americans, so much so that it became feasible to reduce an entire group of people to caricatures. When Rondrich describes minstrelsy as the “first truly American band” based on its origin within and its reflection of our past beliefs, I found it a sickeningly accurate statement. It is rather astonishing how music has been used to disseminate racially charged imagery—in this situation, Adorno’s fears of music perpetuating group-thought was startlingly supported. Beyond the racial elements, the growing popularity of blackface minstrelsy reflects how low-quality entertainment (more colloquially,
Racial confrontations were present in the 1950s, sometimes escalating into full-scale anti-black riots. Most of white Americans in 1950s ignored larger patterns of racial and political repression. because at the time, the media was not responding to any of them, creating the ignorant culture of the 1950s remembered as innocent. That decade was built on illusion perpetuated by the entertainment media. Coontz states the fact that these humorous television programs did not reflect the reality, but rather what, at the time, was the should be style of life for the white family.
42 is a story about Jackie Robinson, the renowned baseball player who broke the colour barrier by becoming the first African-American to join the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers (“42”). It portrays the struggles, mainly racism, Robinson had to go through while he was in the baseball team and how he managed to overcome them. The world is a constantly judgmental place. This can be seen through the segregation of the Blacks and Whites, media being dominated by the majority and racism against the Blacks.
According to Matt Seitz, the word “Negro” started to fall out forty years ago. He mentions that “the word negro was easier for people
In Marlon Riggs’ 1992 documentary film titled Color Adjustment, Riggs, the Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions, continues his studies of prejudice in television. The documentary film looks at the years between 1948 and 1988 to analyze how over a 40 year period, race relations are viewed through the lens of prime time entertainment. The film examined many of television’s stereotypes and mythes and how they changed over the years. The one hour and twenty-two minute documentary is narrated by Ruby Dee, the American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.
During Slavery and many years later white people would produce offspring with African Americans, thus creating fair skinned children. During these times there were hardships and disadvantages for black people. As a result fair skinned people pretended to be white in order to obtain the advantages and opportunities that came with the title, while avoiding the same hardships and disadvantages their fellow black family members and friends faced. They achieved this by lying and by cutting all ties to the individuals and family members that were of African American descent.
As a young country, the United States was a land of prejudice and discrimination. Wanting to grow their country, white Americans did what they had to in order to make sure that they were always on top, and that they were always the superior race. It did not matter who got hurt along the way because everything that they did was eventually justified by their thinking that all other races were inferior to them. A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki describes the prejudice and discrimination against African Americans and Native Americans in the early history of the United States.
The other side of the blade, "Zip Coon" was used to finish the job. The Zip Coon was used to defile the names of free black slaves in the north. A Zip Coon was apparently a fortunate northern African American who would "act white. " The coon exaggeration was one of the top characters amongst minstrel actors. In these Minstrel shows, "audiences laughed at the slow-talking fool who avoided work and all adult responsibilities"(The Coon Caricature).
The Mis-Education of the Negro is one of the controversial books by Woodson, which attempts to convince the blacks in America that they have accepted white domination as the consequence of being brainwashed. Woodson’s arguments in the book The Mis-Education of the Negro are solid, convincing, and applicable in the contemporary world. Some of the issues mentioned in the book, which were facing the African-Americans, are still relevant today. When the
On September 20, 1984, the Cosby Show made airways and forever changed the general population views on gender roles and race on television. Shows in the 1980s and 1970s were still perpetuated outdated gender stereotypes and televise them, for the American audience to perceive as “normal”. The Cosby Show went against the typical gender and racial stereotypes of African Americans on television. The show reshapes the four basic elements of gender stereotypes such as personality traits, domestic behaviors, occupations, and physical appearance” (“Gender Roles and Stereotypes”). The episode “Back to school”, The school season has begun and each of the children is having a different perspective on the school they attended.