Stereotypes of African Americans: Household Items

Imagery & Stereotyping Explained

Black Caricatures

How some people try to distance themselves from these images

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African American caricatures were commonly distributed through the manufacturing and sale of everyday household items, especially in items made for the kitchen. Most common were the mammy and tom caricatures, whose simple, desexualized appearance suggested trustworthiness in areas of domestic & servant labor. Other items reflected the mainstream acceptance of the derogatory coon caricature. Racist cookie jars, salt & pepper shakers, and many other household items can still be found in many older American households today.

c.1890s Ashtray made in Austria for import to the U.S.	c.1930s Mammy key chain holder	c. 1930s Minstrel Pot	c.1930s Salt and Pepper Shakers	c.1930s Spice Containers
c.1940s Ashtray	c.1940s Coon Bottle Opener	c.1940s Chef Cookie Jar	c.1940s Figurine; boy with pot	c.1940s Figurine: "The Early Bird Gets The Worm"
c.1940s Wooden Grocery Board with Mammy: "Reckon ah needs?"	c.1940s Mammy and Tom salt & pepper shakers	c.1940s Mammy Butter Dish	c.1940s Mammy Cast Iron Bank	c.1940s Chalk Wall Hanging
c.1940s Mammy Cookie Jar	c.1940s Mammy Sugar Shaker	c.1940s Mammy Head Vase	1946 Burnt Corkers Drinking Glass	1949 Diaper Dan Thermometer
c.1950s Mammy Cream & Sugar Dispensers	c.1950s Plastic Mammy and Tom Salt & Pepper Shakers	c.1950s Mammy Bell	c.1960s Wooden Mammy Jump Rope	c.1960s souvenir Mammy and Tom Salt & Pepper Shakers, New Orleans, LA

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