Perception vs. Reality

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Perception v. Reality “The mask which the actor wears is apt to become his face” - Plato When viewing the documentary, Ethnic Notions, one might wonder in what ways the stereotypical images viewed have affected the images of Blacks. Although one could argue that the images seen were only devised to appeal to people of that time, these images seen in the documentary have had a lasting impact on the psyches of Blacks even to this day. As the documentary indicates, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Blacks were perceived by America as contested stereotypical characters such as Uncle Tom, Mammy, Sambo and Zip Coon. Mammy, portrayed as being happy and content with her present condition, was used as a strategic aspiration to other female slaves. She was shown as the caregiver for the master’s kids, loving to the master’s kids, a tyrant to her own children, unattractive and pitch-black. The character, Uncle Tom, is portrayed as the dependent slave, one whose life thrived and functioned off the support of the master-not a threat to whites. Sambo, often used in Black face, also known as minstrelsy, is portrayed as the stupid, lazy and care free slave. Post slavery, Sambo was replaced with a new character, Zip Coon. Zip Coon is portrayed as a buffoon that is in constant violence and one that cannot handle his freedom. Although Blacks looked nothing like the images that were being portrayed through minstrelsy, over a vast period of time, these images appealed to the slave inhabited South, the North and throughout the Mid-West. These images were widely accepted as the Black image by people in the North and Mid-West who had never seen Blacks. As a product of minstrelsy and characters such as Mammy and Uncle Tom many people had the false assumption that Blacks were happy in slavery and in bondage. When examining the images and legacy of minstrelsy in modern
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