By: CamKost

CamKost — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 00:35:29 +0000

African Americans are depicted in a variety of ways on television. For a large part of the country, especially in areas like the South where segregation was the norm, television was the only exposure to African-Americans that many white people had. The depictions of African American characters on television shows were oftentimes the only thing white people knew of blacks in America. Hollywood was not helpful in the ways Africans were depicted and many African-Americans attempted to distance themselves from their African Heritage.

It is interesting how you note that the depictions of African-Americans in television have drastically changed over time. Amos ‘n’ Andy was racist in the extremity of the stereotypes it exhibited. Sanford & Son used negative stereotypes as well, but to a lesser extent. Also, as you write, the characters were successful—unlike the “Kingfish” that ran scams in Amos ‘n’ Andy. Even further beyond those negative stereotypes, the television show The Jeffersons in 1975 depicted a black couple in a high-end city apartment.

The U.S. is still not very integrated, especially the more rural areas, so it is easy to imagine how segregated it was during the middle of the 20th century. With such extreme segregation, white people had little understanding of what it meant to be black other than the television shows they would watch. The depictions of blacks on these shows contributed heavily to the ways white people viewed them in society.

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Comments on: Week Four Section Two Amos ‘n’ Andy

By: CamKost