The Impact of the African-American on Contemporary Media

AbstractSarah F. Matthews: The Impact of the African-American Caricature on Contemporary MediaIt has been acceptable in today’s media to portray African-Americans as violent, uneducated, or lazy. This view mostly stems from how African-Americans were depicted in minstrel shows and advertisements during the Jim Crow era. The caricatures of Mammy, Tom, Jezebel, and Brute have been assimilated into American culture and have evolved over time, and are not easily recognizable in contemporary media.This paper will argue that components of the U.S. media outlets that spread racist imagery, originated from caricatures of the Jim Crow era. Mammy, Tom, Jezebel, and Brute caricatures will are evaluated from a historical perspective, including when and how they were created and how they were used in the media in the past while making comparisons to how these caricatures are utilized in today’s film, advertising, and social media.

Author

• Matthews, Sarah Faith

Language

• en

Keyword

• Artist's Books
• Jim Crow
• Book Arts
• Caricature
• African-American

Date created

• 2016

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Corcoran School of Arts and Design

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• McAleer-Keeler, Kerry

Committee Member(s)

• Deal, Georgia

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/4f16c2938