Modern Digital Media Perpetuates Racism, Gender Bias and Urban-Phobia Stereotypes
For Thandeka Chapman, PhD
In Partial Fulfillment
Of a Doctorate in Philosophy
In Urban Education
UWM fall 2011
Submitted by Kendall J. Barnes
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Introduction to the Problem
As a small child growing up in rural Tennessee, I had one single Black friend growing up in my
town. He was in fact, the youngest member of the only Black family in our town. I was in second grade,
and liked playing with that little kid; he was a good friend, and combined, we were a fearsome duo
during our schoolyard recess periods.
I would have no further contact with Black Americans until I joined the Army at the age of
seventeen. I was lucky, in that my parents were educated professionals and while racist in their own
ways, it was a type of racism born primarily of ignorance and acculturation; a condition that affects most
White Americans. After befriending that little Black boy in second grade, my family moved to another
small Tennessee town, in very rural Scott County, on top of the Cumberland Plateau in the northeastern
part of the state. Up there on the mountain, things were a little bit different thirty years ago.
This little town was in coal country; intensely poor and its population a stubborn, tough and
religious people. Scott County had no Black families that I was aware of, and the last family that lived
there barely made it out alive, from the stories that I heard; that area of the country was intensely, and
overtly racist in many ways, but that was merely SOP (standard operating procedure) in the educational
and social integration of that society. The thin veneer of oppressive Baptist fundamentalism could hide
the rotting core beneath the good people of Scott County, but the macro actualization of that shared
experience is what perpetuates institutional racism.
Just as racism was enshrined in local and regional leadership in the South, mass media in the
late twentieth century was intensely monopolized by a few very powerful broadcast and newspaper
corporations, and as such, popular broadcast events were in fact, national events of some importance.
For example, over fifty million people watched the final episode of Mash, and common national interest
events like championship fights, the Super Bowl, presidential addresses, the Olympics and each
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network’s nightly national newscast was the shared national consciousness for our nation (Arango,
2009). The television shows that served as a schoolchild’s chaperone on weekdays after school were
shows like Gomer Pyle, Gilligan’s Island, the Munsters and Andy Griffith. Some programming by public
television networks had some good offerings for children, with shows like Sesame Street and its sister
show The Electric Company; most Americans can’t sing (or at least hum) along to Malfunction Junction,
or I’m Just a Bill, On Capitol Hill? These shows and songs are still popular today, and have positive
impact on generations of children, but clearly that is offset by the explosion in televised sexuality and
violence over the last few decades.
During a nearly fifty year span, many societal stereotypes were mercilessly perpetuated and
reproduced by mass media, featuring “progressive” programming that purported to represent
“Blackness” to its vast White audience. Shows such as The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times and
other were huge hits for their network masters, but the damage done by the reproduction of negative
stereotypes is incalculable (Acham, 2004; Burroughs, 2005; Heitner, 2006; Yosso, 2005). American media
probably did more to propagate racism and negative stereotypes in the post Civil Rights era than any
other entity in American history, including the Ku Klux Klan.
One company stands out during a thirty year period as one that has been accused of
perpetuating institutionalized racism through an array of broadcasts viewed by millions of
impressionable young children, including me. For children, Sunday night was a great night; the
Wonderful World of Disney was our nighttime television on the weekends. Countless Americans were
saturated with Disney products through the years, and many Americans formed their attitudes towards
Black Americans based primarily on how they were portrayed on television and film; those shaped
perceptions are reproduced today, with plenty of homophobia, sexism, racism, misogyny and distortions
to go around (Cochran, 2004; Giroux, 1993; King, 2010; Robertson, 1998; Terry, 2010; Weinman, 2007).
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Disney as a Primary Source of Cultural Indoctrination for America’s Children
Song of the South®
Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Zip A Dee Eh
My, on my!
What a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way!
Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Zip A Dee Eh
Mister Bluebird on my shoulder
It's the truth
It's actual
Everything is satisfactual
Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Zip A Dee Eh
Wonderful feeling!
Wonderful day!
So goes the Academy award winning song Zip A Dee Doo Dah from the film Song of the South
(Disney, 1946). This 1946 film was notable for its’ soundtrack and was historical in that it was the the
earliest use of the complex process of blending live action and animation. The story of the Tar-Baby
(Index1), Brer Rabbit and the rest of the tales by “Uncle Remus” (Harris, 1880) are the basis for Song of
the South and many other stereotypical representations of in American media (Cochran, 2004; Harris,
1880). This dialect is certainly alien to most readers, but is representative of language used at the time
of authorship (Troike).
This Disney film was originally released theatrically in 1986, after countless showings on
broadcast television throughout the previous twenty years (Foster, 1986). In the South, it was an annual
broadcast, on par with The Wizard of Oz, another perennial favorite of children.
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For most rural children growing up in the south and deep south, broadcasts like this were all
that many had to go on when it came to deciphering exactly who Black Americans were; millions of
country kids simply had no meaningful contact with other races at all, and the bulk of our understanding
of those different cultures came from television, radio and film. This racialized isolationism, combined
with the reproduction of negative stereotypes on a massive scale doomed the children of the South to
decades of misinformation and vitriol, steadily seeding the already fertile ground with yet more hate.
To ply kids with racist music and cartoons is inherently evil and an example of the worst kind of
propaganda, and serves merely to reify our racist past in America, especially in the South.
What is so amazing is that this particular brand of media paints a softened historical accounting
of slavery, yet the stories, songs and characters are very much alive today in 2011. Need an example?
The Disney Corporation built an attraction at Disneyland in California called Splash Mountain based on
many of the characters from Song of the South; In 2011 Microsoft is releasing a video game based on
Splash Mountain which features the songs and characters from the film. It is rated “G” for all children
(Disney Corporation, 2011).
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Lack of Inclusion in Digital Media Threatens a Bleak Future for Minority Messaging
As noted, in the past twenty years, the digital divide has been responsible for a great deal of the
problem in our urban populations (Adamson, 2008; Thomas, 2008). This segregation, combined with
high poverty, high crime rates, second and third tier education offerings and other issues afflicting these
urban areas, the American Dream is out of reach for many of our citizens today(Lee, 2005; Nolle, 2007).
How did this happen?
As the twentieth century came to a close, it had become clear that computer science and
technology related professional fields were going to become a dominant driver of the world’s economy.
Indeed, technology has become the bridge to the twenty first century and has shrunk our world
considerably already. Consider the world a teenager inherits; it bears little resemblance to the world of
twenty years ago.
It is also clear now that our public education system has failed multiple and ongoing generations
of children, especially in our inner cities, and Americans from all sides of the political spectrum must find
a clear course correction or risk an educational (Ladner 2010; Lips, 2002; Ravitch; USDOE, 2011). Our
education system long ago began its long slide into embarrassing growing irrelevance, and dooming our
most exposed children to a third world education and a “get rich now, or get dead or in jail” approach to
life (Woodland, 2008).
There is plenty of blame to go around when examining the shortcomings of our public education
system. It is a ceaseless waste of time and energy to allay blame and seek some sort of retributive
solution. That approach is fantasy based on political expediency and does not take into account the
primary purpose of education, which is not to serve the grinding crush of the industrial education
complex, but rather to give each person a chance to pursue their passion and dreams.
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“Democracy is a special form of associative living in which
people make the decisions that affect their lives, and teaching in
a democratic society offers teachers unique challenges and
opportunities. Democracy, after all, is built on a particularly
precious and fragile ideal: every human being is of infinite and
incalculable value, each a unique intellectual, emotional,
physical, spiritual, moral, and creative force, each born free and
equal in dignity and rights, endowed with reason and
conscience, and deserving, then, a community of solidarity,
a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, recognition and respect.
Children and their families are the central and natural concern of
teachers, but any honest and moral accounting of the lives of
students sweeps us immediately into the wider world, and opens
our eyes to the grinding effects of poverty, the widening gap
between the haves and the have-nots both here and around the
globe, the horrors of war, and the gaping abyss of
environmental catastrophe. We cannot pretend to be childcentered, after all, and at the same time ignore the concentric
circles of context that both shape our students' lives here and
now, and illuminate the possibilities and perils they will face in
the future. “
(Ayers, 2002)
The Disney Corporation has been singled out here for a deserved flogging, that company is just
one on many Eurocentric villains in the macro view of the American media landscape. Most every media
outlet has put out racist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti Semitic, anti-Christian rhetoric and very real
sense hate spews from every conceivable political leaning and media outlet.
From Newt Gingrich:
“"I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and
talk about why the African American community should demand
paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps."
(Madison, 2011)
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To President Obama:
“The first appearance by a sitting president on "The Tonight
Show" may well end up being the last.
President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday
afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended
up insulting the disabled.
Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance,
the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and
has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.”
“He bowled a 129, the president said.”
“"That’s very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.
It’s "like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.”
(James, 2009)
Clearly the effects of decades of unintended social engineering have been detrimental to our
civil society (Foundation, 2005). Not all those effectors are benign of course, but failing some conspiracy
of monumental proportions one might conclude it is merely negativity reproducing negativity. In that
formulation, then is the rate of spawn increasing or decreasing? Hard to tell; my own decidedly
unscientific, yet amazingly prescient observation is that yes, the rate of the reproduction of negative
stereotypes and imposed ignorance is increasing, and as the delivery of information continues to
fragment, this trend will continue to grow unabated.
How Stereotypes Are Reproduced
In our previous example of Uncle Remus Tales and the pervasiveness of Disney, it was clear the
impact that programming aimed at children has on the reproduction of racism, negative stereotypes and
hate. Here is a partial list of music icons and international media releases for Song of the South:
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A Canção do Sul Brazil / Portugal
Canción del sur Argentina / Spain
Melodie van het zuiden Belgium (Flemish title) / Netherlands
Etelän laulu Finland
Farbror Remus berättar Sweden
I racconti dello zio Tom Italy
Mélodie du sud France
Nanbu no uta Japan
Onkel Remus' Wunderland Germany
Rémusz bácsi meséi Hungary
Sången om södern Sweden
To tragoudi tou Notou Greece
Uncle Remus USA (working title)
Recording artists that have recorded Zip A Dee Doo Dah:
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The Kingsmen
Johnny Mercer
Guy Mitchell
Connie Francis
Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans
The Hollies
The Dave Clark Five
Doris Day
Louis Armstrong
The Gaylettes
The Jackson 5
The Muppets
Chevy Chase
Ric Ocasek
Paula Abdul
Mannheim Steamroller.
Miley Cyrus
Ami Suzuki
John Tartaglia
The Mummies
Is it evil that causes this trend? Pure zealots bent on some sort of racial war? Then obviously it
is an Infiltration of our media by neo Nazis? Highly doubtful; more likely simply an unconscious
reproduction of those negative stereotypes based on a lack of contact with other races and cultures and
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the lack of credible information to draw on when constructing their narratives. That would be very
similar to the upbringing I had in the South, and the impact of that shared mass media experience can
be felt by tens of millions of adults. If you are a White liberal, who went to the most prestigious
universities, and represent the highest order of corporate control in messaging control centers like New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago, you may still consider yourself somehow enlightened and above it all; no,
in fact, you are responsible.
It is the mostly unconscious reproduction that is responsible, not focused . One clear way to
stop this is to have more diversity in our universities and businesses in creative and leadership positions.
Some more input as to what is offensive and not offensive. This is actually common in large
corporations as they often have to contend with the problems of language and cultural differences and
strive to expand markets. That said the cultural gaps are often revealed in odd ways:
In a previous life as a digital animation professional, I once attended a meeting between very
highly placed officials from a huge global Italian corporation. In this meeting business leaders unveiled a
plan that would have a young, tiny deer on a rope (wearing the competitors’ apparel, no less), led into a
large, swanky conference room in a luxury hotel in Chicago, whereby a company official would calmly
approach the deer and shoot in it the head with pistol!
After it was calmly explained to the Italian corporate baron through the interpreters that, in fact
that would most likely not only be a bad idea, but might be illegal, and almost certainly would be
impossible to get a permit for deer hunting in a Chicago hotel, they reluctantly backed down from their
plan. But this story demonstrates the huge impact of having culturally relevant people in informed
places. Someone was there to stop that dumb idea, but how many more make it through?
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I believe that story plays out daily in America; there is simply no input from disparaged groups to
halt the uninformed reproduction of those negative social stereotypes in the creation and production
phases.
How Can Educators Address This Issue?
The most obvious answer is to increase dramatically the numbers of minorities, females, and
cloistered urbanites that choose to become involved in the creation and production of digital media.
The presumed pathway to this correction has been outlined in countless research documents; more
money, more teachers and more focus on math and science (Ferguson, 2008; Louis F. Mir n,
; Ross
et al., 2004).
While all of presumed paths are correct, none of this are specifically aimed at core issues in our
urban schools. In fact, these approaches are merely part of a larger cycle that has become so
bureaucratic and politicized that is has become impossible to counter the sheer volume of negativity
that has become ascribed to large, urban school districts (Horowitz & Bowen, 2006; Lips, 2002; ouis .
Mir n,
). While there are certainly many successes, these are not the norm and are dwarfed by the
failure of countless urban school systems and the publicity that each failure generates. Each failure
further cements the existing stereotypes provided by our ever helpful industrial media complex,
perpetuating yet more negativity and stereotyping of minorities and the “other” (Giroux, 1993).
We have entered now (
1 ) the end of our first decade with President Bush’s vaunted “No
Child Left Behind” (NCLB), which coincidentally ends a decade of war, where plenty of kids got left
behind in foreign deserts, but I digress. There is no evidence that the sweeping federal mandates of
NCLB have improved education, in fact by the very measures that NCLB supporters’ trumpet, our
nation’s students have not gotten smarter, have not become better learners, have not improved in
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math, or reading, or science or technology (Adam, 2006; Gay, 2007; Hamilton, 2004; Neill, 2005). I think
the verdict is in, and NCLB needs to be repealed by Congress as soon as possible, and in fact, the federal
government should leave education to the states and localities (Hess, 2009). There is simply no
Constitutional justification for the federal government to intrude on the states endeavors in this area
(U.S., 2002). If Congress must become involved, then do so through simple block grants to the states,
based on population.
By restoring power to local entities, education will become more competitive and improve
based on that very old notion of state to state competition breeding more success and allowing good
schools to excel. In this scenario, it is likely that education will improve on a macro scale based on the
fact that states and local entities will be far better determiners of how to spend their education dollars.
By removing the inefficiencies and bureaucratic molasses that gum the works of our educational
machinery, schools can spend more money per pupil and less for federal red tape and testing. Testing is
not the answer to our nations’ educational problems, and never was (Darling-Hammond & Friedlaender,
2008; Neill, 2005; Shippen, Houchins, Calhoon, Furlow, & Sartor, 2006).
The answer to the presented question: “What to do” is not present in our current educational
system, and that is entirely appropriate and normal, considering the current state of education in
America. Mandates on high from governmental bureaucracies carry only penalty and the force of law,
but do nothing to enlist the support of the populace, or the affected workers and students. Another
critical missing component in our current formula is the lack of involvement by the business community
and its invaluable input into the curriculum and training of the next generation of American worker.
Why has the labor market been able to receive the benefits of a well educated population
without investing in the outcomes? The truth is that for many years in American education, business
was heavily involved in education, but as the politicization of our education system became complete,
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business interests found it more expedient to negotiate with the government entity alone, rather than
the affected school district; this shift of foci had the net effect of reducing those affected and interested
populations into mere voting blocks of one stripe or another; the political takeover of education was
complete.
Some Ideas Aimed at Improving Education
There are many solutions to what ails education, and some of those solutions are already in play
in various locales, generally receiving little or no acclaim, except by the students and parents of those
successful schools (Carter, 2000; Darling-Hammond & Friedlaender, 2008; Watts & Peretti, 2007). The
push to community based education is a step in the right direction, as is the child centered approaches
championed by some, but these solutions are not razor-edged and clean, and will take many years to
implement and make determinations on effectiveness and corrections. What urban communities need
is success now, not in another decade, and then another beyond that and so on. What is missing from
the equation are the unique qualities of urban America that can be tapped into immediately and used to
counter the aforementioned negative stereotyping which only serves to perpetuate further lost input
from this population.
One way to begin to counter decades of waste is to focus on the innate talents and skills of the
population of interest and construct systems to maximize those qualities. While it is true that public
education squandered the chance to use technology to propel students to success in the twenty first
century, luckily it is also true that we are still at the leading edge of the technology revolution and there
is still time to make the necessary course corrections (Barab, 2009; Van Horn, 2001; Viadero, 2009).
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The world is growing ever smaller, more competitive and more specialized. If our kids are to be
successful in the future, they must be able to compete with the world, not just the kid next door or
across the state or country (JTTE, 2010). The explosion of technology in previously underserved
countries like India and China have served to steepen the slope of technology advance to
unprecedented levels, and the resulting competition breeds yet more innovation and competition. Our
students are simply not keeping pace (Prensky, 2008; Viadero, 2009).
Our schools must become more focused on providing graduates with actual skills that will aid
them in the competitive atmosphere that is the standard today. It is a shame that most kids possess
superior technologies at home, or worse, in their pocket, than our schools generally offer (Sajda
Qureshi, 2008). While I do not expect public education to keep pace with each week’s newest
technological marvels, I do expect them to be able to offer concrete skillsets that they will find useful as
they pursue life after high school.
One way to do this is to have focused schools that offer unique training and opportunities in
more specific areas, especially in science and technology. Every urban center has tens of thousands of
children who are not pursuing their dreams, are not happy and face a bleak future because they will
simply lack the skills necessary to be self sufficient and productive, doomed to a life of poverty and
despair (Carter, 2000; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Hamilton, 2004; Sarmiento-Brooks, 2008). Yet this
population of students possesses artists, musicians, scientists, attorneys, doctors and every other kind of
professional, unfortunately however, undeveloped and as such will simply be another statistic in the
failure of urban America, unless action is taken to prevent it (Goyette, 2008).
What kind of action? Going back to the notion that American industry has largely gotten a free
ride, I propose the formation of specialized charter schools that are each focused on various areas of
specialization, funded by the industries that would benefit from that type of focused education. Each
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school would be partnered with several universities who offer programs that cater to the specialized
training and education. Each of the specialized charter schools might be thought of as one tiny engine of
change, steadily moving urban kids to bright futures, and quietly becoming part of the educational fabric
of America.
One example might be a charter school for digital media and visualization. This specialized
school would have income and residency restrictions and be located in the urban area it represents. The
school would have several options to pursue based on every student’s individual passions. Animation,
ilm, Engineering, Interactive and other specializations would fit exactly with the partnered university’s
programs, thus insuring more success at the post secondary level.
That success is absolutely critical going forward; in tomorrow’s world (in fact, in today’s world!),
a high school diploma is not enough education to be a successful citizen (Valadez & Duran, 2007).
Technology and global competition have moved most of the low education level jobs overseas, and
frankly, those jobs are never coming back. In the future, those without some form of specialized
education will be completely marginalized and often existing at the fringes of society, mired in
inescapable poverty (Woodland, 2008; Yelland, 2006).
This is where the business component rears its head. While every entity in a successful
educational journey is improved, it could be argued that business gains more for less than any other
player here. Business gains millions of trained adults that enter the workforce every year, through the
university degree process. While it is certainly true that many businesses do already partner with
universities on various projects and research, it is more common that these associations are advertising
based, not in educational focused partnerships at all.
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Some Final Observations
It is imperative that business get in the game on a larger scale if education is to be successful.
What do I mean by “getting in the game”? I do not mean holding a fistful of dollars in one hand and a
corporate handbook in the other while making dictatorial curriculum decisions based on profit rather
than well rounded education. No, the involvement would be more along the lines of sharing culture and
knowledge, and being able to have input in the educational and training processes at the university
level. What exactly is a person pursuing a nursing degree looking for upon graduation? A job of course.
In order to provide the best possible preparatory environment for students, universities need
that input and should rally for it. Think internship, but on a six way level, k12 to university, university to
k12; university to business, business to university; K12 to business and business to K12. These three
institutions feed each other cyclically and have constant input and feedback, and in theory and
continuous improvement loop can be created within this model.
While this sort of educational model may well work from a static viewpoint of skills, curricular
needs and definable outcomes, it can only be successful if the whole array of countermeasures can be
brought to bear on the problem. There must be a considerable focus on purely qualitative research,
dealing with a myriad of issues such as racism, poverty, cultural differentiation, ESL and immigrant
households, special needs children and the wide array of socioeconomic and cultural concerns that are
ever present in modern urban American. The success of the whole depends as much on this component
as the frameworks and curriculum that are put in place. A child that has become marginalized or made
into an “other” or made to feel somehow “less than” another child may never blossom into a full
human. This loss is unacceptable, yet we have made that loss merely another statistic that further
cements our existing negative stereotype. When will it stop?
“ ind something you love to do, and you'll never work a day in your life” (Mackay, 2010, 1991)
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Index 1
THE WONDERFUL TAR BABY STORY
"Didn't the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy the next evening.
"He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you born--Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool
'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some
turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he
sot 'er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be.
En he didn't hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de road-lippity-clippity, clippity -lippity--dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit
come prancin' 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz
'stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"`Mawnin'!' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee - `nice wedder dis mawnin',' sezee.
"Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox he lay low.
"`How duz yo' sym'tums seem ter segashuate?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee.
"Brer Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'.
"'How you come on, den? Is you deaf?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Kaze if you is, I kin holler
louder,' sezee.
"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"'You er stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en I;m gwine ter kyore you, dat's
w'at I'm a gwine ter do,' sezee.
"Brer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummick, he did, but Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nothin'.
"'I'm gwine ter larn you how ter talk ter 'spectubble folks ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit,
sezee. 'Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm gwine ter bus' you wide open,'
sezee.
"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer
Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he
broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she
stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
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"`Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er
a wie wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain'y sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay
low.
"`Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin' outen you,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby,
she ain't sayin' nuthin'. She des hilt on, en de Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same
way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he
butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort',
lookin' dez ez innercent ez wunner yo' mammy's mockin'-birds.
"`Howdy, Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. `You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin',' sezee, en
den he rolled on de groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff no mo'. `I speck you'll take
dinner wid me dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain't gwineter take
no skuse,' sez Brer Fox, sezee."
Here Uncle Remus paused, and drew a two-pound yam out of the ashes.
"Did the fox eat the rabbit?" asked the little boy to whom the story had been told.
"Dat's all de fur de tale goes," replied the old man. "He mout, an den agin he moutent. Some
say Judge B'ar come 'long en loosed 'im - some say he didn't. I hear Miss Sally callin'. You
better run 'long." (Harris, 1880)
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Endnotes
Acham, C. (2004). Revolution televised : prime time and the struggle for Black power. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
Adam, M. (2006). Faking Minority Progress for NCLB. [Feature ABI: Y FTI: Y; P]. The Education Digest,
71(5), 18-23.
Adamson, A. (2008). HOW TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL GAP AND KEEP AHEAD. Advertising Age, 79(30), 1616.
Arango, T. (2009, February 27). Broadcast TV Faces Struggle to Stay Viable, Media and Advertisng, New
York Times, p. 3. Retrieved from
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