Caricatures: Tools of Stereotyping and Subjugation

Take Home Exam A caricature is a device used in descriptive writing and visual arts where particular aspects of a subject are exaggerated to create to create a silly or comic effect.(Caricature) There were many caricatures made by the whites that are different in looks, style, behavior but at the end of the day these caricatures are made only in an attempt to conform African Americans and make them feel inferior themselves. These different caricatures include; Sambo, Mammy, Pickaninny, Brute, Zip Coon, and Black Rambo. One of the advertiser’s favorites, the mammy caricature, was one of the most well-known caricatures of the time. The Mammy caricature was portrayed as a pitch black skinned, fat, and happy slave who served her master and mistress

She was the first black to win an academy award. Hattie Mcdaniel’s role in Gone With the Wind only confirms the stereotype of the Mammy caricature in film by expressing her character as a big old woman with the small, sharp eyes of an elephant. Her skin assumed her to be pure African and this, in this era, was said to be ugly in the eyes of white society. Her character was devoted to the family that she was enslaved to. She was desexualized in the films as an ugly black woman who was enormously obese. No white man in their right mind would want a woman such as this. This character directly correlates to the Mammy caricatures that were first made in animated format. The Mammy caricature was created by whites to imply that black women were only meant to be domestic servants.(Authentic

These caricatures made it so that African Americans actually began to see themselves as the very caricatures that whites used to make fun and bring them down. The Mammy caricature was used by whites as a way to make it seem as if African American women were happy to be slaves and very loyal to their master and mistress. It also was a way for whites to “lowkey” say that black women were only meant for domestic servitude. Whites used this in the intention of creating a justification for slavery. You can almost compare this to the Hamitic Myth which was another white justification for slavery. The media has the responsibility of portraying every race as equal in their articles, websites, newspapers, etc. What they put out their has a huge impact on the quality and discrimination of the people in this country. Things such as the three black men with mug shots versus the three white men with school yearbook photos when arrested for the same crime serves as a perfect example of discrimination within the media. The media has a way of either bringing a people together or pulling them apart when events such as this happen. The media can be used to support things such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Black History Month”. By showing this and their support of such things, the media can spread their beliefs and support throughout the