...Shaping the Image of Black America Kathleen Gorman Author Note This paper is being submitted on March 7, 20143, for Kathleen Gorman’s G380 Visions of America Since 1945 course. Shaping the Image of Black America Good Times originally aired on CBS in 1974. It was a black situation comedy focused on the daily lives, struggles, and hardships of a disadvantaged black family living in a Chicago housing project during the peak of the civil rights movement. Esther Rolle was cast as the matriarch, Florida Evans. The character had originated as a maid on the sitcom “Maude”. From analysis of the main characters in Good Times, there emerges a clearly exhibited grouping of a minstrel show ensemble. Every minstrel caricature is represented; the mammy, the brute, the promiscuous, exotic woman, the lazy son, the ‘mulatto’, and the pickaninny. There are no legitimate marked talents portrayed among the characters, except for J.J., whose inability to be taken seriously enough undermines any effort to benefit from his artistic talents. As Bodroghkozy (2012) observes, “Good Times waded into these troubled waters. As a comedy reaching a diverse audience, the show had to negotiate its representations with care in order, on the one hand, to circulate empowering messages about African Americans while, on the other hand, not to unduly discomfort more conservative white viewers, including those who...
Words: 1007 - Pages: 5
...In my talk I will talk about racial inequality and answer some questions on this topic. Questions such as: Why are African-Americans so much less prosperous than whites? Why do so many black children flounder in school? I will start to talk about how it is in America today and the conditions of the African-Americans of today. I explain why their situation is, as it is and talk about family background, education, the labor market, suggests how to narrow the gap between black and white Americans in future and finally I will discuss the importance of role models. My story I had never thought that I would become a Harvard professor, especially if you asked me when I was 15 years old. If you asked me when I was 15 years old what I would be doing when I was 30. I will answer that I would probably be dead. At that time I was hanging out with a gang and selling drugs on the side. My parents split up when I was very young. At one time I had to borrow money to bail my father out of jail. My great-aunt and great-uncle ran a crack business. Several of my relatives went to prison. But I backed away from this life and won a sports scholarship to the University of Texas. Reasons for the current situation: education, family background, labor market Today in America there is no racial equality. The black ghetto and drug dealers and other less well-off are still exist very much and it makes it...
Words: 947 - Pages: 4
...Being Black In America Being black in America differs from each person experience in mainstream America. Booker T. Washington was brought up with a different upbringing then most slaves during the 1800s; as he would describe as “up from slavery”. Even though he was born a slave, he had a better chance of “equal access” and equality in main stream America. He had a chance to gain an education part time during his younger years as well as working. Booker T, believed the best way to ensure progress and peace was,”for the whites to respect the blacks desire for improved economic opportunities and for blacks to respect the whites desire for social separation of the races.” I agree with this ideology because everyone was getting a piece of the cake. Negros was getting the equal opportunities, they were fighting for since day one, and whites were getting the opportunity to be isolated from the black race. But we didn’t get what we where aiming for, because main stream America was afraid, afraid of the challenge, and what we were capability of. After Booker T. graduated with honors from Hampton Institute, he changed his views of progress, to industrial education, accommodation of white supremacy, and self-help. He urged blacks to accept dimcrimination for the time and being concrete on evalating our- selves through hard work. He also believed in working with our hands, and not our brain. He felt this would win the respect of whites and lead blacks to be fully accepted as an equal...
Words: 1202 - Pages: 5
...Throughout American History the black communities across America has endured numerous oppressive ideologies and treatment. These numerous detrimental actions have held back many in black communities from having the same opportunities as other people in America. While many have been held back there are still some black people who have been able to achieve high levels of success. The more privileged of black people who find themselves in the middle and upper economic classes of America often are born and raised in the slums and hoods that many in the black community call home. Through their efforts, opportunities and gifts these more affluent black people often reach levels of success to which they are able to move themselves and their families...
Words: 1696 - Pages: 7
...Running Head: BLACK AND WHITE PRIVILEGE IN AMERICA 1 Black and White Privilege in America Jacki Barnes Davenport University Diversity in Society – SOSC201 Professor Narketta Sparkman October 21, 2012 Black and White Privilege in America There are many definitions of “white Privilege” in text books, media, and on the internet, but all of those definitions include one common thread: It allows white persons advantages over non-whites and it is a form of social privilege. According to Akbar (Koppelman, 2011, p. 44), white privilege originated with the arrival of the white man in America. He states that, “They began to effectively eliminate any contradiction to the imposed redefinition of reality that they dictated.” White privilege has been referred to as rightness of white, meaning that white is normal and any deviation from that is abnormal (Koppelman & Goodhart, 2011, p. 189). It offers economic benefits as well as cultural benefits. Being white means you will most likely be paid a higher salary, receive promotions, and have loans approved. In classrooms, anything that happened prior to white people arriving in America is referred to as prehistory (2011, p. 191). Because of white privilege, there are many things that white people take for granted that people of color have no access to. For example, whites can choose to purchase a home in an area they can afford and want to live in. Researchers at Dartmouth, the University of Georgia...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...Running head: PORTRAYAL OF BLACK WOMEN ON TELEVISION 1 Black Women on Television : The Blaxploitation Endured in America Breanna Robinson St. John’s University BLACK WOMEN ON TELEVISION 2 The Portrayal of Black Women on Television Shows: Blaxploitation in America From the commencement of time, black women were subjugated to ridicule and stereotyping within their character. However, especially through texts and...
Words: 3105 - Pages: 13
...Kieran Leen/ word count 490 Professor Martinez Culture and society 2/29/16 Paper 2: Racism in America It seems like we cannot go anywhere or watch anything today that does not have some sort of influence or advertising to or for the topic of racism. Recently, society’s spot light has been on “Black Lives Matter” this is a movement that emphasizes police brutality against black individuals and having equal options for blacks. The movement has been presented largely through the use of social media and recently has escalated to the big stage on national TV during the super bowl. What is interesting about all of these racism topics is how it has become a one way street. The media only focuses on when black individuals are upset with the white race, or how they only air news stories about injustices happening to black people when there is problems happening to all cultures in our country and around the world....
Words: 495 - Pages: 2
...Black Odyssey: The Ordeal of Slavery in America: Review In this short work Professor Huggins explores the position and achievement of black slaves in American society, with its dream of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', from which they were excluded, except as necessary instruments. Wisely, instead of cramming a narrative of 250 years of complex social and economic history into 242 pages of text, he uses his talents as an established historian of black American culture to offer the general, rather than the academic, reader an admirable blend of the higher generalization and the higher popularization. Professor Huggins draws on recent work on the slave family and on black initiatives within the structure of slave society, as well as on the black American historiographical tradition of examining and celebrating what, in the title of a famous work, W. E. B. Du Bois called 'The Souls of Black Folk'. There are also echoes in this journal of a concept that stretches back into the nineteenth century, and whose most distinguished advocate was the great Liberian scholar and proto-Pan-Africanist E. W. Blyden. This is the belief that black people have unique spiritual and artistic talents, through which they can redeem not only themselves, but also the materialistically successful but spiritually deprived white peoples. While avoiding the racial basis of Blyden's thought, Professor Huggins seems to incline to this view. He portrays a world of black slaves who were not merely...
Words: 777 - Pages: 4
...resonate through reading the work of Mr. Coates. Between the world and me depicted what it is like to be a black person in America through the personal accounts of Mr. Coates in the form a letter written in Bembo. In America, black people have been lured into a false sense of security, fighting for a place in society rather than to be of it; however, America does not care about the black body. In fact, black men are constantly protecting themselves, which leaves them no room to provide. We are conditioned to accept half as much while working twice as hard. After reading this text, I gathered that love is not always hard or tough, but rather soft. The black body has been used and abused by Americans for the past 200+ years. The most upsetting fact is that there is no evidence of stopping soon. Black bodies have been enslaved, beaten, and physically murdered by the country that was built upon the ideals of freedom, life, and liberty. Police officers have unjustly murdered numerous of blacks including Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner with no penalty behind their actions. Such acts have become so common recently that it has almost...
Words: 635 - Pages: 3
...African American Struggle for Equality 1865 Black in America HIS204: American History Since 1865 (BUH1131B) African American Struggle for Equality 1865 Black in America Even though he African American from 1865 to today there will still be some out there that will say that there have been advances in a positive way for African Americans but there is still more to be done. Some will say that there are more African Americans in jail, poverty, and low wage jobs than any other American. Being an African American from 1865 to current date and time seems to have been a great sacrifice by many in American history for many living in this current time because today we have African Americans in important positions in all walks of life in Politics and Business. African Americans went from Slavery to fighting in wars from Civil war all the way up to the Afghanistan War and are now fighting side by side with people of all colors, ethnicity, gender and origin, and From Slavery to equality to the first Black President in American History. First, Being an African American from 1865 to current date and time seems to have been a great sacrifice by many in American history for many living in this current time because today we have African Americans in important positions in all walks of life in Politics and Business. Additionally, African Americans went from Slavery to fighting in wars from Civil war all the way up to the Afghanistan War and are now fighting side by...
Words: 406 - Pages: 2
...Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America Trask, Kerry. Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America. Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2006. Kerry Trask, the author of Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America uses many different sources in his telling of the history of an Indian warrior named Black Hawk. He quotes several other authors from different historians, books, articles, and letters. For example, he uses the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to tell the story of the war between the Sauk tribe and American people over land the Sauk tribe once lived on. Trask goes on to talk about where the Sauk tribe originally started and how their “Indian town” was discovered. He uses the source Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America in the...
Words: 494 - Pages: 2
...Black Experience in America: Slavery to Emancipation AAAS 106 Professor Shawn Alexander KU 2011 Final Exam Study Guide Some important dates and events - Remember that this guide only gives you a chronology of important events. It is not sufficient for the exam - you must fill in the details from your lecture notes and readings. All the reading is compulsory, do not leave out any portion of the texts or articles. Slavery and the Slave Trade African Slave Trade: Conventional Dates – 1450 – 1867 Early controllers of the Trade: 1494 the Spanish turned to the Portuguese to supply slaves for their colonies. By the 17th C Northern European countries began to dominate the trade. 1621 Dutch West Indies Trading Company 1672 British Royal African Company (by the end of the 17th England dominated the trade.) The Scale of the Trade: Between 1492 and the end of the trade in 1867 Europeans transported a minimum of 10 million people in some 27,000 slaving expeditions – or some 170 slave ships per year. 50% mortality rate (rough estimate) About 95% of the captives were sent to the brutal tropical sugar growing regions of Brazil and the Caribbean. 40% Brazil 5-6% North America Before the trade picked up (1700) 2.2 million Africans had already been shipped to the Americas. The trade climaxed in the 1780s, when 80,000 Africans were shipped a year. 5/4 of all those shipped came in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three major areas in Africa supplied...
Words: 2352 - Pages: 10
...Black in Latin America: Haiti and the dominican Republic 1) How did Haiti and the Dominican Republic begin? What European countries influenced the development of these nations? - Haiti and the Dominican Republic is an island with two countries of Hispaniola. Haiti makes up 1/3 of the island while the Dominican Republic makes up the rest of the 2/3 of the island. The Dominican Republic contains a mix blood of Afro-European population with the history of Spanish colonialism, while Haiti has African-caribbean population with the background of french colonialism. 2) What role did colonization have in the development of the concept of race in the Dominican Republic? What are the differences between the concept of race in Haiti and the Domincan Republic? What is the meaning of the term "Indio" in the Domincan Republic? How do Indios see the Haitians? - In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a huge influence in the colonization of the Dominican Republic. The hispaniola island originally had the majority of the population of african americans. The colonization had a diversity of european and african mix. The Dominican Republic has more of a lighter skinned population whereas Haiti has more of a darker skinned population. People in the Dominican Republic describe individual races by blanco which means white and indio which means darker skinned. Indios reject Haiti and are in denial of african ancestry. 3) What is the role of the sugar cane industry in both countries? How did...
Words: 688 - Pages: 3
...Introduction The Growth of Hip Hop in America As hip hop continues to grow into a major aspect of the modern African American culture, the studies intend to distinguish the mass outlook of black people in America. It is incredible that this single genre of music has transformed into a vital communication mechanism for an entire race and may even become larger in future generations of African American people. The other races, in America, have gotten an idea of African Americans through the controversial rap music in which black people use to communicate with each other, and outsiders; the non-blacks. The study revolves mainly around the attitudes which have deemed as common in the black culture; rap music has always been open for interpretation which can lead to danger. The music has become so popular and influential to the youth that many crimes have been linked to the music which fuels an efficient form controversy in America. Do people receive the negative aspects of rap more than the positive aspects? If so, then why? Also, why are the positive approaches of hip hop not made commercial rather than the sex, drugs, and violence? There is belief that the music has a great influence on how the other races in America view the black culture. It is not certain whether rap music is more negative than positive, but it is obviously a notorious topic for many reasons, no matter the race. The studies propose that the behavior of blacks in America is greatly influenced by hip hop music...
Words: 4412 - Pages: 18
...In this essay, I will go over the time period of American history infamously known as the Great depression. The Great Depression was the longest-lasting economic failure in the industrialized western world. The Great Depression started on October 29, 1929, this day known to many as “Black Tuesday,” this economic downturn would last for ten years within the American nation. Ultimately, it would bring the country to its knees as many of the nation’s banks closed, millions of individuals lost their money in the banks, people lost their jobs, agriculture began to see the worsening effects of the depression, and individuals began to abandon their land and move to the city. Although the American people were suffering the president at the...
Words: 1329 - Pages: 6
