The image of African Americans has been greatly depreciated by the roles they play on television sitcoms. On these shows African Americans are depicted as being maids, clowns, and buffoons. This misrepresentation of African Americans has become common place through out the media. One of the most controversial sitcoms was the Amos ‘n Andy Show. This sitcom included two black comedic men and began the creation of the African American stereotypes that most people have grown accustom to today.
The Amos ‘n Andy Show began as a radio show with two white men portraying two black comedic men. When the show transferred to television, it consisted of the two black men portraying the two black comedic dummies. They were still performing the slapstick comedy as they did on the radio show, but to be able to see them visually had a greater effect. The roles that the two black men played are the typical roles that blacks play in television networks. The shows portraying blacks as having low self-esteem became very popular among whites and some blacks. The Amos ‘n Andy Show was taken off air after being protested by blacks including the NAACP (Poussaint 1). The Amos ‘n Andy Show
Godfrey 2 had a profound effect on blacks. From that point on, blacks believed that in order to be successful in the television network they had to portray themselves as being idiotic and lazy.
Stereotypes such as this have been continuously developing in the television network even today. The modernized images played by blacks are drunks, thugs, thieves, gangsters, and other characters that are inferior to whites. By creating these images of blacks, it has caused both blacks and whites to see African Americans as being ignorant and believing that is the only way that they should act. Television networks depict whites as the typical families with no problems, and blacks as the single parents with a long list of problems. The impact of those roles had a great effect on how the African American race, young and old conceive their selves. Even today, there are very few African American business people. These racist stereotypes has conformed their minds into thinking that less is best. Young African American children watch these televisions shows that portray blacks as being thugs and uneducated. Those children go through school acting that same way, getting into trouble, and making nothing of their selves.
Minstrel shows were developed in the 1840's and reached its peak after the Civil War. They managed to remain popular into the early 1900s. The Minstrel shows were shows in which white performers would paint their faces black and act the role of an African American. This was called black facing. The minstrel show evolved from two types of entertainment popular in America before 1830: the impersonation of blacks given by white actors between acts of plays or during circuses, and the performances of black musicians who sang, with banjo accompaniment, in city streets. The 'father of American minstrelsy' was Thomas Dartmouth 'Daddy' Rice, who between 1828 and 1831 developed a song-and-dance routine in which he impersonated an old, crippled black slave, dubbed Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a fool who just spent his whole day slacking off, dancing the day away with an occasional mischievous prank such as stealing a watermelon from a farm. Most of the skits performed on the Minstrel shows symbolized the life of the African American plantations slaves. This routine achieved immediate popularity, and Rice performed it with great success in the United States and Britain, where he introduced it in 1836. Throughout the 1830s, up to the founding of the minstrel show proper, Rice had many imitators.
“Leave it to Beaver” was a popular sitcom about a traditional nuclear family played out through the perspective of an adolescent boy whose curiosity and antics often got him into trouble (TV.com). Despite the show promoting positive family values, it also inadvertently shed light on a historically dark period of time in American history. One such instance was the lack of diversity on the show. Nearly 100% of the show’s characters were white throughout the six-season, 234 episode series. In the single episode that depicted an African-American, the character was a servant, further a reflection of the times when African-Americans where predominantly seen and treated as second-class citizens (Leaveittobeaver.org). However, this 1950’s ideal serves as a reference point to what typical families looked like and how vastly different they look now.
The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded.
This form of entertainment insured that the deep hatred would not die with the civil war generation, but would be past down through the generations, and although Jim Crow entertainment wasn’t always mocking black people the concept is still around
Marlon T. Riggs’ video, Color Adjustment, offers the viewer an exciting trip though the history of television, focusing on the representation, or lack thereof, of African-Americans. A perfectly chosen combination of television producers, actors, sociologists, and cultural critics join forces to offer insight and professional opinion about the status of African-Americans in television since the inception of television itself. As Color Adjustment traces the history of television shows from Amos n’ Andy and Julia to "ghetto sitcoms" and The Cosby Show, the cast of television professionals and cultural critics discuss the impacts those representations have on both the African-American community and our society as a whole. Color Adjustment continually asks the question: "Are these images positive?" This video raises the viewer’s awareness about issues of positive images for African-Americans on television.
Modern culture, especially that perpetuated on MTV, has given many suburban white kids the idea that they are oppressed by some business-like aristocracy. That may be true in a way, but in another, it is puzzling that the reaction has been for many middle-class Caucasian youth to adopt black culture as their own. And as far as media perception of black people, I really don't fit that mold. I am very in touch with my culture, heritage and race. And I take a great deal of pride in it. But because I don't fit the stereotype that even white kids are now trying to emulate, it sometimes puts me at odds with my own perception of my race.
The early days of television held great optimism and hope for this new form of media as an avenue for African Americans to assimilate into white American culture. However, a pattern became evident, a pattern of type casting African Americans in roles which did not accurately and wholly portray the individual. A misrepresentation of African Americans became the common image on television. Variety shows initially promoted the new media as an opportunity for equal representation and communication between the races. However, a trend developed with African Americans often being “portrayed as custodians, maids, servants, clowns, or buffoons” (Crenshaw). The negative image, which was developed by these stereotypes, was perpetuated in the Amos and Andy Show. This television show began as a radio show featuring two white men
Network news appears to convey more stereotyped impressions, a narrower range of positive roles for blacks than for whites. Representations of whites in network news are more varied and more positive than of blacks, not because of conscious bias, but because of the way conventional journalistic norms and practices interact with political and social reality. The findings raise questions about the journalist ability to represent the reality of black America while adhering to the professional practices that currently shape network news. Mainstream news portrayed African American as criminals, homeless beggars, welfare queens, ghetto-dwelling gang members, or drug addicts in American Society. Perpetuation of young black men as dangerous has been planted in the mind of American society not only by words and images projected by journalists but also in the mainstream news especially. Television particularly the news has the least positive representation of African Americans especially young males. When television became a house-hold item in the early 1950, this was a dark time in American History because there were huge racial tensions brewing in the south. The news show African American mostly young males getting abuse, hosed by police and attack by police dogs during a peaceful protest. It gives the negative images that African American was unlawful people and need to be dealt with swift action. Most of the time African Americans weren’t resisting but the news media depicted the images that they were and police were just doing their job to keep the peace.
Tan, A. S., Fujioka, Y., & Tan, G. (2000). Television use, stereotypes of African Americans and opinions on affirmative action: An affective model of policy reasoning. Communication Monographs, 67, 362-371.
...cal discourse. It is important that news media are challenged to be fair and accurate. Therefore, racial bias contribute to racist policies, inhuman treatment and indifferent, and murderous attitude that so many black people and other people of color will find themselves as victims. Also, “The Cosby Show” exemplifies that not all black families are poor and uneducated. Although television seems to be more realistic than the shows of the past, we still have a long way to go. It is time for the media stop hanging on to what have been proven to be untrue and outdated stereotypes. The media must stop trying to keep America segregated and racist. Therefore, when watching the news and television shows, viewers must keep in mind that these are just stereotypes. The African-American people and other people of color are really not much different from anyone else.
An act call Blackface arose around this time, it was ‘used to imply the patronization of blacks by whites” (Msimang). It was described as a form of comedy for the most part. Painting a white man black and placing him on a stage and having him humiliate the African American culture was considered amusing to the white community. They would jokingly imitate the gestures that African Americans made, they tone of voice, their so called aggressiveness, attire, and they would even mimic slavery on stage. Blackface was just another way a suppressing the African American community, making them ashamed of themselves and their upbringing, making them want to be different,want to be accepted,want to be white. “The main point is how they’re stuck “in bondage” .. and how nothing ever changes”, (Raboteau 2) Characters like the lawn jockeys and Bernie’s father were left questioning the cruelty of society, why was it that they were looked down upon every time they were seen in public? why couldn 't they just fit
For many years, racial and ethnic stereotypes have been portrayed on multiple television programs. These stereotypes are still illustrated on a day-to-day basis even though times have changed. Racial or ethnic stereotypes should not be perpetuated on certain television programs. These stereotypes provide false information about groups, do not account for every person, allow older generations to influence younger generations, create tension between groups, and affect people in many ways.
Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be detrimental to the white consumers, who base what they know about blacks by what is represented in television, but also the black consumers, who grow up with a false sense of identity.
Ghettos, low-riders, hip-hop, rap, drugs and crime, it has got to be a Black man right? Saggy pants, unintelligible language, lazy, and the lists continue to both stereotype and describe Blacks. Do Black Americans perpetuate their own discrimination? Are Black Americans creating their own low status in society? Black people around the world have been hypnotized into believing all their failures in life are due to discrimination, but are they correct? Blacks are often their own worst enemies, often the cause of their own disasters, and many don’t see that until it’s too late, if ever. Discrimination and prejudice are imposed upon Blacks, often because the culture they live in is not “acceptable” to the dominant society. On the other hand, an understandable reason for Blacks actions is often due to unattainable opportunities towards the American Dream.
Racial and ethnic diversity on television is not something that I have ever really noticed as a problem, but sitting down, and paying very close attention to the people, their roles in the show, I was able to see that there was a lack of diversity on TV. I chose a random TV channel, one that I probably would not watch, and studied the characters in the show and in the commercials for over two hours, I realized that I had never paid that much attention to the people in the show. I noticed after I was done that the largest group of people in the show and on the commercials, were white people, although there was some diversity, maybe one or two people of a different nationality, gender, or race, that overall the lack of diversity was minimal compared