Shirley Temple Thesis

Shirley Temple There is always a certain person that comes to mind when a specific name is said. For many, an image of a little girl with golden curled hair would appear in their minds when the name Shirley Temple is spoken. The little girl that would ultimately end up changing the lives of millions of Americans by giving them both hope and joy all throughout the hard times of the great depression. During the Great Depression, America was callous, struggling both emotionally and financially. It was at this time that they would usually find many ways to distract themselves from their surroundings. They would often use Shirley as an escape from reality. Many would claim that it is like she appeared at the right moment, the venerable little

They would often get fired from their jobs and be replaced by white people who did not have one. It was a harsh time where blacks and whites did not get along. Shirley however, was able to make the situation better with the help of some of the roles that she did. Much of Shirley’s fame was credited to her status of America’s adorable and unimpeachable child. She was all plump knees and dimples with blonde curly hair. Her position was quickly put on the edge when she started appearing in films that involved ‘Blackface’ a term used when a non-black person uses make up and plays the role of a black person. The films she did reflected the harsh times that the black people were enduring and also had some very notable contributions. (The little girl…)This means that she was otherwise playing roles that acted the way ‘colored people’ did, stereotypically. In one of the films, she played the daughter of a slave-owning family. In the film, the slaves are seen to be content, singing and dancing for their masters, the “unlikely” friendship between Shirley’s character and that of her butler who was portrayed by Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Shirley also played with actors in blackface in the 1937 film Dimples. In fact, she also portrayed blackface herself in The Littlest Rebel. Robinson and Shirley temple played in various films together. Robinson played