The Preservation of Minstrel Ideas
Despite the many contributions to society that black men and women have made, the portrayal of African-Americans in the media has rarely been a positive one. Drug dealers, abusers, and criminals are some of the common roles that the media associates them with. This leads others, specifically white people, to disassociate themselves from African-Americans. Black culture has not always been represented in the media, and when their culture was finally represented it was not at all flattering. Racist cartoons and minstrel shows portrayed African-Americans as ignorant, lazy and unintelligent fools, causing those who had never come in contact with an African-American to develop negative prejudgments against them. January 31st, 1843, when a group of white men painted their faces black and proceeded to imitate African-Americans and their culture, planted a ever-growing racist seed. The images portrayed in minstrel performances were considered comedic by the white people that they were performed in front of, despite the obvious racism that was showcased. Negative images were acted out for the purposes of entertainment, to maintain a feeling of white superiority, as a justification for slavery and an exploitation of black people. These images helped white people, both in the North and the South, create negative ideas about blacks, while convincing themselves that this proved their superiority over African-Americans. Minstrel images gave white people a way to demean the African-American culture and a reason to justify their exploitation of black people. The Minstrel Theater movement represented Black America a group of unsuited individuals in who were inferior to Whites, and maintained the social rules that the exploitation of Black people is justified. Combining negative preconceived notions with outrageous live portrayals, The