Fear Of The Color Black

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Recommended: Racial stereotypes on black people

How would you describe African American men? Stereotyping is a way of placing general characteristics on a certain group of people. Racial stereotypes of African Americans were prevalent in the United States during the nineteenth century. Whites became associated with positive meanings such as superiority, safety, and cleanness while African Americans became associated with negative meanings such as sexual monsters, dangerous, and deviance. For example, The Scottsboro trial was about nine black youths charged with raping two white women in the state of Alabama. In a series of trials the youths were found guilty and sentenced to death. In addition, Candyman, directed by Bernard Rose, is about a son of a former slave who fell in love with a white woman for his crime the father set a lynch mob upon Candyman and they cut off his hand and replaced it with a hook, smeared with honey stolen from an apiary, prompting the locals to chant 'Candyman', and the bees stung him to death. Lastly, King Kong, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, is about a documentary filmmaker who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Kong is eventually captured and taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night. Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building with Ann Darrow, facing off fleet of World War I fighter planes. All three characters are connected to one another because they are all feared by the white culture. African American men reinforced the stereotype of being seen as sexual predators because they pose as a threat to the white community.
The Scottsboro boys are s...

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...or Film.” London: Anthem Press (2012): 140-141 EBSCOhost. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Kydd, Elspeth. "Guess Who is Coming to Dinner: Racial/Sexual Hysteria in Candyman." Cineaction. 36 (1995) 63-72, 10. EBSCOhost Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Perry, Barbara, and Michael Sutton. "Seeing Red Over Black And White: Popular And Media Representations Of Inter-Racial Relationships As Precursors To Racial Violence." Canadian Journal Of Criminology & Criminal Justice 48.6 (2006): 887-904. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
Rivers, Patrick Lynn. "Race, Sex, Violence, And The Problem Of Agency In North Carolina, 1889-1903." Australasian Journal Of American Studies 28.1 (2009): 34-49. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.
Rose, Bernard, dir. Candyman. Perf. Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, Kasi Lemmons, Xander Berkeley, Vanessa Williams, Ted Raimi, and Ria Pavia. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 1992. DVD.

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