Black Stereotypes in
th
19 Century America
ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Thomas Carlyle
•English poet and philosopher
•Criticized England’s emancipation of West
Indian slaves
•Pamphlets and cartoons picked up and widely
circulated by proslavery forces in America
•Reiterating popular myths
•Ideas persisted during and after Civil War
Common Stereotypes
•Unmotivated
•Unintelligent
•Uncivilized
•Not equipped for independence
Quashee’s Dream of Emancipation
•Uses stereotypes as source of “humor”
•Can be used to understand racist stereotypes of
era
•“Quashee” among most popular West Indian
names
•Name came to represent popular racist
stereotypes
Political Cartoons
•Emancipation Proclamation and Northern
attitudes
•Subjects drawn from writings of
•Thomas Carlyle
•Thomas Jefferson
•Southern slavery advocates
Quashee’s Dream of Emancipation
Clockwise, from top left:
•Panel 1: He dreams that massa and he
exchange positions, as above.
•Panel 2: He dreams that he is feted at
Washington, and solicited to stand for
Congress.
•Panel 3: He dreams that the young missis
humbly waits upon him while he reads the
Tribune.
•Panel 4: He imagines himself a BrigadierGeneral seated in a stagebox at Wallack’s
Theatre.
•Panel 5: He dreams that all the light and easy
employments at the North and elsewhere fall
into his mouth.
Quashee and Huck Finn
CHARACTERS
•What stereotypes are •What characters in the
represented in the
novel display these
Quashee panels?
characteristics?
•How are these
•What might have been
depicted?
Twain’s point?
STEREOTYPES
Minstrel Shows
•White man’s characterization of plantation
slave and free blacks
•Caricatures took hold of American imagination
•Audiences expected dark skinned people to
conform to one or more stereotypes
Minstrel Shows
•Dim-witted
•Lazy
•Buffoonish
•Superstitious
•Happy-go-lucky
•Musical
Minstrel Shows
•Height of popularity 1830-1890
•Remained popular into 1920s
•Staple of talent shows until 1960s
Jim Crow
The term Jim Crow originated in 1830 when a White minstrel
show performer, Thomas "Daddy" Rice, blackened his face
with burnt cork and danced a jig while singing the lyrics to the
song, "Jump Jim Crow."
Zip Coon
First performed by George Dixon in 1834, Zip Coon made a
mockery of free blacks. An arrogant, ostentatious figure, he
dressed in high style and spoke in a series of malaprops and
puns that undermined his attempts to appear dignified.
Mammy
Mammy is a source of earthy wisdom who is fiercely
independent and brooks no backtalk. Although her image has
changed a little over the years, the stereotype lives on. Her
face can still be found on pancake boxes today.
Uncle Tom
Toms are typically good, gentle, religious, and sober. Images
of Uncle Toms were another favorite of advertisers, and
"Uncle Ben" is still being used to sell rice.
Buck
The Buck is a large Black man who is proud, sometimes
menacing, and always interested in White women.
Wench/Jezebel
The temptress. During the minstrel era, wenches were
typically a male in female garb. In film, wenches were usually
female mulattos.
Mulatto
A mixed-blood male or female. In film, often portrayed as a
tragic figure who either intentionally or unintentionally
passes for White until they discover they have Negro blood or
are discovered by another character to be Black.
Pickaninny
Picaninnies have bulging eyes, unkempt hair, red lips, and
wide mouths into which they stuff huge slices of watermelon.
Mr. T. Rice as The Original Jim Crow, ca. 1832 sheet music cover
“History ob de World” (Boston, 1847)
Plantation scenarios were common in minstrelsy, as shown in this post-1875 poster for Callender's Colored Minstrels.
Commercial Club Minstrels, Belvidere, Ohio, 1910.
Minstrel Man
by Langston Hughes
2 minutes
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?
How many stereotypes
does Hughes manage to
pack into only 16 lines?
You have 2 minutes with
your group to identify as
many as possible.