What Is Racism
Tanzania Walker
HIST 276
03/14/2013
MIDTERM EXAM ESSAY
Racism is said to be a display of one race being superior to others. Although racism was said to be over once the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1,1863, but this does not hold true. Racism still exist decades later. Throughout history racism was displayed throughout the media in form of caricatures, because of this it has affected African Americans’ life chances and quality of life in areas such as income, wealth, education, and health. The U.S. Society may have dumbed down racism but it still exist in milder forms. The reason for continuation of racism is because America has instilled in everyones mind that racism and slavery was years ago and it does not exist. Racial stereotypes are still instilled in the heads of many and is also displayed in the media. I believe the only way to prevent future presentations of racist imagery is to educate the minds of those who are brainwashed by society. One of the reasons racism still occurs is because the stereotypes and images of African Americans have followed African Americans even today. In class we watched a video by the name of “Ethic Notions”. This movie discussed how caricatures were used pre-civil war to depict African Americans as something they really weren’t. Some of the caricatures were the Mammy, Pickaninny, Coon, Sambo, and the Uncle. These caricatures were used in movies, books, plays, and for advertisement. The Mammy was depicted as a docile woman who was happy to take care of the slave owners household. She was also seen as fat and always had her hair covered. This image displays how the black woman was seen as unattractive. In the movie a man stated, “If you look at it enough the Black people began to look like that even though they don’t”. This shows how these caricatures made it into mainstream media and was how African Americans were depicted.. This is the opposite of how women were depicted in U.S. Society. Women were
HIST 276
03/14/2013
MIDTERM EXAM ESSAY
Racism is said to be a display of one race being superior to others. Although racism was said to be over once the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1,1863, but this does not hold true. Racism still exist decades later. Throughout history racism was displayed throughout the media in form of caricatures, because of this it has affected African Americans’ life chances and quality of life in areas such as income, wealth, education, and health. The U.S. Society may have dumbed down racism but it still exist in milder forms. The reason for continuation of racism is because America has instilled in everyones mind that racism and slavery was years ago and it does not exist. Racial stereotypes are still instilled in the heads of many and is also displayed in the media. I believe the only way to prevent future presentations of racist imagery is to educate the minds of those who are brainwashed by society. One of the reasons racism still occurs is because the stereotypes and images of African Americans have followed African Americans even today. In class we watched a video by the name of “Ethic Notions”. This movie discussed how caricatures were used pre-civil war to depict African Americans as something they really weren’t. Some of the caricatures were the Mammy, Pickaninny, Coon, Sambo, and the Uncle. These caricatures were used in movies, books, plays, and for advertisement. The Mammy was depicted as a docile woman who was happy to take care of the slave owners household. She was also seen as fat and always had her hair covered. This image displays how the black woman was seen as unattractive. In the movie a man stated, “If you look at it enough the Black people began to look like that even though they don’t”. This shows how these caricatures made it into mainstream media and was how African Americans were depicted.. This is the opposite of how women were depicted in U.S. Society. Women were