After watching the movie, the one thing that left a vivid picture in my mind was the way African American children were perceived and advertised. In the footage we saw today, the children were placed near rivers and on the ground to convey that they were savages and animals. There was one clip where an African American child was hanging above an alligator’s mouth that was wide-open ready to eat him/her. This shows the mistreatment that innocent children faced. They were perceived to be animals that other animals, in this case an alligator would eat. It was not right for anyone to receive treatment like this, but for a young child to be looked at like this is extremely sad.
The other thing I found interesting in this video was how mammy was represented. The only mammy I knew of was the one from Gone With the Wind. When I saw how mammy’s “figure” was changed I was shocked. I was surprised to hear that mammy’s role according to “society” was not womanly. The video stated how mammy had a lack of sexuality, but was strong, and controlled. You think of women as having a sense of sexuality, which was taken away from mammy’s so that they weren’t a threat to there mistress’.
The video revealed many things that I was unaware. I was unaware how the African American “figure” was transformed during the minstrel era and how African Americans were looked upon as something to laugh at and make fun of. Its surprising to see what occurred so many years ago, but to see that things still occur during recent times, like the Black Rambo and how African American are perceived as violent and brutal cops and detectives.
7 comments:
I couldn’t believe how children were depicted: naked, dirty, and with animal characteristics. It’s sad to think that whites were so racist that they had to attack little children with these ethnic caricatures. What took me by surprise were the greeting cards. I can’t believe that people actually bought and sent them. They are incredible degrading to blacks. I'm curious to know how long those greeting cards were around for.
The depiction of the children really shows how low the society reached. Is this how one cleanses the soul? At the expense of others? I couldn’t help but think that, using children to show each other killing one another off? To me this was the white adult telling the white children that daddy going out in a white hood at night is a good thing. Why not kill them; they are killing themselves anyway. I can’t believe that someone produced this, that so many people accepted this way of thinking. It is really sickening and almost embarrassing to know that as a race this is what we have done to others.
As an expected educator I look at the misconception portrayed by these images. I find the graphic images and the relationship between the children and their inattachment from family to be disturbing. This portrayal shows two things. One bieng that the children are not worth bieng cared for by their family. Second, that these children are not worth saving, due to their innate genetic flaw.
The thing that bothered me the most was the way the children were depicted in the sterotypesof the cartoons and the rhyme of the children getting killed. The white chidren and african american children saw the way they were protrayed in these cartoons. For children be mistreated back then and that it was looked at from the white society as being ok was extremely wrong i think.
I agree. I kind of think even today African American women who are ‘bigger’ or ‘older’ are portrayed as mammy figures. In that, they are there to answer the questions of other people on the show, they may have children but they are usually not married, and they portray the really strong sometimes stubborn personality.
Also, the story of ‘ Aunt Jemmiah’ is ….. interesting.
http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1287/Nancy_Green_the_original_Aunt_Jemima
I, too, felt really shocked at the depiction of children in this film. Obviously, the creators of the film very strongly affected several of us with the way they showed stereotypes, but I agree that one of the most disturbing one was the pickaninnies. I had honestly never seen little children of ANY race portrayed in that degrading manner. I would personally like to hear from both black and white persons who grew up with those images in their heads. I wonder how it affected small children...if they actually came to view all black children as pickaninny figures, etc?
I found the Mammy figure to be very interesting as well. I also remember that character from Gone With Wind. In fact, I think its a perfect example of the complex role that racial images have played in our history. Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an oscar and therefore open up doors, but she won for this role which originated from racial stereotypes.
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