The Impacts Of Black Stereotypes In The Media

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Dating back to the 1800 's, blacks in entertainment have been portrayed very negatively for decades in the media. Blackface was a form of theatrical makeup used by actors to represent a black person. Stereotypes imbued in the characters who practiced blackface also popularized black culture, although in a negative manner however. This practice was very popular in the 1800 's and early 1900 's, contributing to the proliferation of the stereotypes that black people are subhuman. By the mid 1900 's, attitudes about race and racism were changing, which effectively ended the prevalent use of blackface and other negative black stereotypes portrayed in the media. From there until the 1970 's, blacks were not shown much on television at all, since the vibe was that the media did not want to portray blacks negatively nor positively on television. If blacks were portrayed negatively on the media, it would cause an outrage from the black community. If blacks were portrayed positively on the media, television executives feared that their ratings would plummet from their white audience being offended. It was until 1975 that African American leaders went to the offices of ABC-TV to express their dissatisfaction that blacks were rarely show on television at all, and had no main roles. Many other African American leaders, the NAACP, and the black community overall felt the same way. This protest soon set the backdrop for blacks to be portrayed prominently on television. ABC-TV executives