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Ethnic Notions Documentary Analysis

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Ethnic Notions: Divided From The Start The film 'Ethnic Notions ' illustrates various ways in which African Americans were impersonated during the 19th and 20th centuries. It follows and shows the development of the rooted stereotypes which have generated bias towards African Americans. If a film of this kind had such an affectionate influence on me, it is no surprise people adopted these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media practices in those days was more than adequate in selling the black inferiority to the general public. The only purpose of these stereotypes gave a false narrative of black people. They were and are still propaganda to encourage the white society that slavery was "great" and black is inferior. In my essay, I will be talking about the first …show more content…

The other side of the blade, "Zip Coon" was used to finish the job. The Zip Coon was used to defile the names of free black slaves in the north. A Zip Coon was apparently a fortunate northern African American who would "act white." The coon exaggeration was one of the top characters amongst minstrel actors. In these Minstrel shows, "audiences laughed at the slow-talking fool who avoided work and all adult responsibilities"(The Coon Caricature). The minstrel shows also depicted a Zip Coon as a flashily dressed man who puts up an act of being white. Unlike Mammy and Sambo, a Coon did not know his place. The idea was that a Coon, thought he was as smart as white people. Therefore they made him look stupid as he attempts to look respectable. These minstrel shows tried to tell a false lie that even the free slaves were also fools. They taught the white population that, it didn 't matter if a black person is free. Or the fact they might be educated or hardworking. They wanted to dehumanize the black image to a greater extent. So there won 't be any escape for any black person because their pride and spirits were

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