With the introduction of films in America African-Americans were stereotyped. The Flights of Nation (1907) showed a lopsided and demented black culture. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) chronicled the story of the free south in the Civil War that depicted the revenge of the Klu Klux Klan on Blacks for the attempted rape of two White women. This movie that was considered a masterpiece set the precedence of portraying Blacks as idlers, brutish, vagabonds, and outcasts.
Other films showed the grizzled tramp in Jim Tully's tale of the lowly Beggars of Life (1928), the seaman played by George Godfrey in James Cruz's Old Insides (1926), the faithful renderings of Blacks in Showboat (1927), Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), and those that were in the early sound films like Dudley Murphy's St. Louis Blues (1929). Generally Blacks played out some conventional roles as chorus girls, convicts, boxing trainers, ill-mannered servants, and persons of disrepute.
In the 1940s and 1950s White actors Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll were the talent behind the popular radio show Amos "n" Andy. These two actors were masters in their imitation of the degrading dialogue that most Americans associated with Blacks. Their condescending techniques made for the popularity of this program. With the era of TV, these White actors were replaced with Blacks and the show's popularity and stereotypes continued. Eventually, the NAACP was able to convince Hollywood to abandon the negative stereotypes of African-Americans in their films. Such a decision did not produce changes overnight but some progress was made.
Beginnings of Change
In the 1960s the Civil Rights Acts and the Voting Rights Acts passed by the American Congress made it possible for some notable changes that were to follow regarding minorities in American society for they had far reaching implications. They made possible the following:
- The inspection of voter registration rolls
- Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin
- Ensured that there was no discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing
These issues affected Blacks in many ways and now they had legal recourse. In short, they were protected by federal laws.
The African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) was in full swing and aimed at abolishing racial discrimination. Much of its success came about because of the sights and sounds of the medium of TV. Many White viewers were able to witness the brutality against the demonstrations of civil rights workers, sit-ins, freedom riders, marches, and clashes with the national guards. These incidents impacted the national conscience positively.
The Black Power Movement (1966-1975) that followed endeavored to counter stereotypes about Blacks by trying to instill dignity in the Black race and by pushing for economic and political parity.
During this era of the late 1960s came an eleven-man Kerner Commission appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in response to the riots in American cities during the summer of 1967. The United States Riot Commission Report (1968), a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders attempted to find out what happened, why the riots resulted and what could be done to prevent future occurrences. With such an exploration the role of the mass media was examined in American society and how it could alleviate these pressing social problems. As one of its major objectives there was an attempt to determine how well the media served Blacks.
It was the Kerner Commission's conclusion that the mass media had failed in its mission to the Black community. “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, one White - separate and unequal.” The media did not report the underlying problems that led to the riots. It revealed that it presented a predominantly White perspective to the detriment of its minority population. It neglected to report on the culture, history and activities of minorities. It considered as “shockingly backward” the White media executives' attempts to seek out and hire minorities. At the time of the report the media employed fewer than 5% of Black U.S. journalists and they were in no decision-making positions.
Other studies showed that Blacks were not very visible and had little voice especially when it came to government, business, world and national affairs. The Commission pointed out that that they were twice as likely to be shown as the perpetrators in drug and criminal offenses, more likely to have their mug shots on TV, and have prejudicial information concerning their trial broadcast.
Black leaders were generally shown criticizing the government and pointing out police brutality. There was a lack of proportional representation of blacks in law enforcement and those on TV were portrayed in blue color roles.
A report by the United States Commission for the Study of Civil Rights (1977) referred to the “window dressing on the set” with regard to the hiring of women and minorities noting that there was a poor record of research concerning people of color in the media.
The Commission also found that stories and programs that depict African- Americans tended to show them as inferior, lazy, dishonest, comical, unethical and crooked. Some news stories went to great extremes to associate African-Americans with a wide range of other disparaging remarks. It was during 1977 that a twelve-hour mini series dramatization of Roots became a landmark about a slave, his descendants and liberation that were aired on ABC. This series shed light on the evils of slavery.
The Emergence of Some Representation
D.O. Sears (1988) in Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy described the phenomenon of “symbolic racism.” He described it with these identifiable characteristics:
- Antagonism towards African-Americans for “pushing too hard” and “moving too fast” to achieve equal rights
- There was the notion that African-Americans used violence as a means of “pushing too hard” and “moving too fast.”.
- Some Whites tended to deny “symbolic racism” and the existence of discrimination
Today, some White Americans hold the view that African-Americans have arrived. According to media researchers and critics, such views are expressed in the mass media. This is congruent with the theory of “symbolic racism” that R.M. Entman (1990) in Modern Racism and the Images of Blacks in Local Television News, saw as White Americans continuing to deny the existence of racism.
With the preceding analysis there appears to be subtle changes of attitudes concerning the stereotyping of African Americans. Some American scholars have noted changes of racism from the overt to the covert. Although there are presently some notable black media personalities e.g., Oprah Winfrey, Gwen Ifill, Travis Smiley, integrated TV programming, and half-a-percent black websites, some scholars still continue to argue that some Whites presently deny that there is a problem and prefer to sweep the issue of race under the rug.
It would appear that for some measure of authentic change to occur, Americans would have to be prepared to confront these issues honestly. These would always be challenges for media executives, the creators of programs, producers, directors, and the public alike.
