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Stereotypes of African Americans: Essays & Images
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Imagery & Stereotyping Explained

Black Caricatures
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How some people try to distance themselves from these images
African American Stereotypes:
Engraving, Prints, & Cartoons
Engraving & Prints
Most of the well-established caricatures of African Americans in popular culture have their origins in the days of American slavery. One of the early trends in stereotyping was the tendency to recreate history through romanticized imagery of Blacks in contented slave roles. These were most common in engravings, which were used for publishing prints in newspapers and books. Most useful in this goal was the image of the Tom; the aged, loyal, darkie who was content to toil in the cotton fields by day, and play banjo or tell stories to the younger slaves by night. Images of sleepy-eyed pickaninnies lounging on piles of cotton while dreaming of chickens and watermelons also contributed to the notion that the slave days had been an ideal time in American history. The suggestion was that Yankee interference had ruined the pure, paternal environment of the Southern plantation. Songs published after the Civil War also reinforce this point. Co-existing with these romantic images are ones that dehumanize Blacks by equating them with animals. These images were used to perpetuate such caricatures as the coon, the brute, and the pickaninniny as a way of justifying Jim Crow segregation.
1888 engraving of a singing female slave
1888 engraving of a singing female slave
1890s engraving, "A Butting Match"
1890s engraving, "A Butting Match"
1890s engraving of an angry mammy
1890s engraving of an angry mammy
1890s engraving of slaves playing music
1890s engraving of slaves playing music
1890s engraving of romanticized Southern wedding
1890s engraving of romanticized Southern wedding
1890s engraving of a Tom telling stories
1890s engraving of a Tom telling stories
1878 engraving about Darwin's theory of evolution
1878 engraving about Darwin's theory of evolution
1890s print: "Blackbirds"
1890s print: "Blackbirds"
1890s print: "Last One In's a Nigger"
1890s print: "Last One In's a Nigger"
 
 
Cartoons
Perhaps the first every Black title character in newspaper comics was "Pore Lil Mose," created in 1900 by The New York Herald cartoonist Richard F. Outcault, the creator of the more popularly known Yellow Kid strip. He appeared only for two years and was dropped when Outcault went on to greater fame with his Buster Brown strip. Though Mose was basically good, morally upright child, he was heavily caricatured as a pickaninny. Several strips are presented below. Unfortunately, these are the largest images currently available. Other cartoons are also presented below. In the future the AHC will provide a more thorough essay on African Americans in comic strips.
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose at Central Park
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose at Central Park
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose Buys His Mammy a Hat
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose Buys His Mammy a Hat
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Builds an Airship
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Builds an Airship
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Gets Mixed Up With a Painter
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Gets Mixed Up With a Painter
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Visits Baxter Street
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose; He Visits Baxter Street
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose On the Seven Ages
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose On the Seven Ages
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose Talks To The Animals
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose Talks To The Animals
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose: A True Ghost Story
1900s Cartoon: Pore Lil Mose: A True Ghost Story
Harper's Weekly Cartoon, January 1, 1904
Harper's Weekly Cartoon, January 1, 1904
Harper's Weekly Cartoon, January 1, 1904
Harper's Weekly Cartoon, January 1, 1904
1902 Cartoon with Coon Servant
1902 Cartoon with Coon Servant
1916 Cartoon about colored porters
1916 Cartoon about colored porters
October 11, 1924 Newspaper with World Series cartoon
October 11, 1924 Newspaper with World Series cartoon
c.1940s Hobo Cartoon
c.1940s Hobo Cartoon
 
         
 
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Last modified October 26, 2008
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