African-Americans in Media

There are many shows on T.V. today that shows African-Americans in a negative light. There is more representation of people color in the media than in past times, the quality of the product is more important than quantity. Fun has been poked fun at the African-American throughout the years, by presenting a character of buffoon or childlike quality. The reproduction of stereotypes of African- Americans in film has existed since the day of slavery. Early in the 20th century the coon character was developed. The representation of the coon was of lazy, non- accountable, watermelon eating, and using improper English type person. This was a popular from of entertainment for many people, and even in today’s society this is still a form of popular entertainment.

Throughout American history many enertainment forms have protrayed African-Americans in negative degrading forms, such as minstreal shows and early television. Movies such as Birth of a Nation”questioned whether or not black people were fit to run for governmental offices or vote or to even live an productive, independent life. In the 1930's, studies found a high level of consistency among adjectives used to describe black people. Furthermore, most of these adjectives were negative, and included terms such as superstitious, lazy, and ignorant. Today’s stereotypes are not much different, Depictions of African-Americans include unintelligent, loud, poor, unable to swim, and criminal. Stereotypes can also be "positive" terms, although this does not make them less damaging to their targets. This paper's focus is the linkage between social perceptions of minorities and their TV roles. Research on the relationship between mass media and ethnic perceptions suggests that the media shape knowledge and beliefs of the majority about minoritygroups and, in turn, influence minority responses to the majority (Faber, O'Guinn, 1987) .Exposure to stereotypes produced unfavorable effects on the viewers. When the target