Melissa Oligario-Morandy

Professor Kadiri

ETHS-2410

21 November 2018

Stereotypes the media gives African Americans

Throughout this class I have learned a lot about African American culture and history.

The topic that I chose was, the stereotypes that the media gives African Americans. I got my

information from many different sources and most of them complimented each other very well. I

interviewed Corby Eason who works for the State Board of Education, attended a service at

Calvary Baptist Church for one of my out of class activities and went to Shea Diamond’s

presentation at the University of Utah on healing from the trauma inflicted by the LGBTQ and

Cisgender community for the second. The two scholarly articles that I read were Racism and the

Media: A Textual Analysis by Kassie E. Kulaszewicz from St. Catherine University and The

Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on Television by Narissra M. Puntyanunt-

Carter from Texas Tech University. I also watched two documentaries, The Souls of Black Girls

by filmmaker Daphne Valerius about the way the media portrays or doesn’t show African

American’s and the message that this gives to them. And Color Adjustment by Marlon Riggs

about the changes in the media regarding African Americans. Along with all of that information

we talked extensively in class including guest speakers from Salt Lake Community College and a

Black LDS panel. I was surprised by some of my findings and some were what I expected. In

general, I concluded that the quantity of African Americans in the media has increased over the
years but, the quality of those images has not. Those results could be partially due to the fact that

White people have a history of controlling the media and therefore controlling which images of

Black people to portray. Considering the significant influence that all forms of media have on

our daily lives, it contributes to stereotypes and perpetuate racism within our society.

In one form or another, the media influences the majority of the population in the United

states, it informs, entertains, and influences our purchasing decisions. In our power point

presentation, we chose images that we found that do all of those things.

A major role of the media is to inform and educate the American people with news.

Media educates people with and without credible knowledge. This news can come from

television, the press, and online sources. All of those play a critical role in communicating to the

public what happens in the world. Happer and Philo describe that in those cases in which

audiences do not possess direct knowledge or experiences of what is happening they become

particularly reliant upon the media to inform them. (2013, p.321) This is particularly concerning

when studies have shown that Black men are overwhelmingly targeted in coverage of crime

reporting (Entman, 1990). The same study also showed that news stories of crimes committed by

Black citizens are more comprehensive and in-depth in visual content than stories which depict

white citizens (Entman, 1990). Bias reporting can have serious consequences which include

society associating crime with Black people. It can also create and sustain the stereotype that

Black men are ‘criminals and dangerous’. I was able to find many examples of this while

working on my media journal.

 In the documentary, Color Adjustment they touched on the negative portrayal of African

Americans in the news as well. It described that in the early years of television Black people

were not seen in sitcoms, but they dominated the news. The only images that most American’s

watching television saw was the images of blacks that were getting into trouble and in a negative

light. They did not get to see the images of black families interacting like their “normal” family

did. The media made it hard for people to believe that blacks were anything but what they saw

on the news, they had no other reference point. This could also be true for African Americans, it

must be hard to see so many negative images of people of your own race on the news and not

internalize them somehow.

African Americans have not been portrayed any better in the entertainment industry.

Color Adjustment tells of when the Amos and Andy show was still on the radio, before

television, and Whites were impersonating blacks, trying to sound just like them. When the show

moved to television blacks had to be shown on the screen. Radio shows could hide the

appearance of people and allow anyone to play the part, but television could not. In many films

African Americans were played by White people who painted themselves to look black. The

messages sent by this were that Black people were not even good enough to represent themselves

and did not have the talent to do so. Racism and the Media describes that during the beginning

era of television, in 1939, those working in media were predominantly White and therefore the

perceptions and values held by this majority were reflected in produced media. The opinions of

those involved in the industry influenced heavily how media content was formed, selected, and

presented. In early films African Americans were represented as savages, ignorant, and thieves.

“The harmful depiction of Blacks was problematic because these films were successful and often
portrayed a segregated society, the only glimpse into Black life available to White Americans.”

(Luther et al, 20012, p.59)

In the early 1970’s, African Americans starred in “Blaxploitation” films. These films

tried to depict African Americans as the main characters and show that they could tell and

portray their own story. Although these films were generally directed by African American men,

the contracts for the films were held by corporations that were founded and regulated by white

men. “Blaxploitation” films were not embraced by the White population and therefore did not

make a profit and the films stopped being created. African Americans are shown more evenly in

entertainment now, but I still found many shows, while doing my media journal, that portray

blacks in their stereotypical roles. The television show Empire was stereotypical of a fictional

hip-hop music and entertainment company that was started and run by a former drug dealer. The

majority of the cast is black and that fits with the stereotype that hip-hop moguls are African

American males. The African American women in Orange is the New Black are stereotypical of

criminal, mean women.

Sports are a big form of entertainment in the media in our country. While looking through

images and stories in the media I found an abundance of them portraying African Americans, as

a good part of successful athletes are African American, that alone is not a bad thing, but it can

fit in with the stereotype that African American males are better at sports and are in some way

invincible and superheroes on the field. This can lead to the people thinking that sports are all

they are good at. While interviewing Corby he touched on sports. Sports became Corby’s escape

from the problems he was going through in his life. Baseball was the first sport he played as a

child, but football became his favorite. His desire to escape reality and his love of football led
him to the opportunity to get a scholarship and play for BYU. Sports were his way out of poverty

and something he could look forward to. He expressed that this was common for many of the

Black friends that he grew up with.

Advertisements are another big industry in the media. In advertising, people of color used

to only be used for products marketed for African Americans while other products marketed to

the American people as whole would depict White people. In the Souls of Black Girls

documentary, it describes the brown paper bag test. I have never heard of this before. The idea

that black people compare their skin color to a brown paper bag, in hopes that it is lighter than

that bag, shows the racial bias that still exists in the media. Although I was able to find many

advertisements depicting Black people it was harder to find women in advertisements selling

beauty products. There were very few ads and commercials that included and were focused

directly on African Americans. In the ads that did include African American women their hair

usually straightened or with extensions, presumably to look more “white”. Shea Diamond, in her

presentation, touched on the way that African Americans were often pressured to conform to the

standard of beauty that the media set for them.

Racism is one of the most complicated and profoundly important issues in the Nation’s

history (Racism in America, n.d.,p,2) Racism is also not always a conscious effort or act. But

with all my research I have concluded that the media reinforces racism. The bias’s and racism

that we see in the media is a reflection of the marks left on society from historical traumas, it is

anchored in history. There are hundreds of years of political, social, and cultural movements that

can help account for today’s social climate. Corby also feels that half of his cultural is lost

because of slavery.
 In the beginning of this class I was uncomfortable with the group discussions and

activities that we had to do on a regular basis. It was not may favorite part of the class and I felt

that others felt the same way. Some of the discussions were about some serious topics like,

racism and slavery. After, continued discussions with different students in the class it became

easier and more comfortable. Working on the final presentation project gave me more of an

opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and work collaboratively with others. Through

these experiences I have developed the knowledge and skills to work with others in a

professional and constructive manner.

The weekly RICE reflections on the readings and class discussions provided me with the

chance to think critically and creatively. I had to think and look objectively at different ideas and

subjects. I did a lot of research, reading and discussing and analyzed and evaluated all the

information. I then put all the information that I collected into a final research paper and

presentation.

Professor Kadiri wanted everyone in the class to have the opportunity to express

themselves and answer questions, she actually required it. She made sure that the space was

open for everyone to communicate freely. This gave me the opportunity to communicate

effectively with the Professor, students, and others in the community that I interacted with for

this class.
 Bibliography

Kulaszewicz, Kassie E.. (2015). Racism and the Media: A Textual Analysis. Retrieved from
Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository websight;//Sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/477
Punyanunt-Carter, Narissra M. “The Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on
Television.” Howard Journal of Communications, vol. 19, no. 3, 2008, pp. 241–257.,
doi:10.1080/10646170802218263.
Riggs, Marlon T., and Marlon T. Riggs. Color Adjustment.

Valerius, Daphne, director. The Souls of Black Girls . Femme Noire Productions, 0AD.