Through Eyes of the Beholder: Racist and Stereotypical Representations of African Americans in Black Memorabilia
From the colonization of American up until the recent past, a significant number of images of African Americans have been unflattering representations. In the absence of truth and reality, images of blacks conformed to meet the social concerns of a hostile and segregated society, and manifested themselves as: mammies, jezebels, toms, sambos, coons, pickaninnies, and other derogatory characterizations. These characters were found on trading cards, packaging, advertisements, toys, games, everyday household items, and other commercial art forms. A content analysis approach is used to analyze and interpret key themes and discuss racist ideologies, myths and stereotypes that helped to influence Americas representations of African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This research will establish the basis and conceptions of these mythical stereotypes; determine whether the stereotypes were subjective or objective; and determine the prevalence of these stereotypical memorabilia in the United States.
School:
Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis
Department:
Liberal Arts English
Research Advisor:
William Berry
Department of Research Advisor:
Institute of Communication Research
Year of Publication:
2002