Stereotypes
Stereotypes have been around since the making of America; they have portrayed many groups whether it be a race, ethnicities, or even a gender. Stereotypes are used to degrade and ‘promote’ the many groups negatively which still continues today. It is agreeable that there are many stereotypes whether they were created long ago or now the media takes a big part in presenting about African Americans and how they are shown as predators, criminals, buffoonish and a rebellious race.
Throughout history stereotypes towards African Americans have been supported through the use of the media. In 1914 a movie was released by the name of Uncle Tom’s Cabin which was suppose to be an adaption of the book which showed the bad things about slavery but when they changed it into a movie where the leading character “blackface” would brake out into foolish “slave dances”. The movie portrayed African Americans as buffoons because they were of dark skin. Through the use of media, they also created shows where African Americans could not speak “proper” English in order to entertain the Whites. These acts continued in the media with a few changes as the year progressed.
Going to the time of Martin Luther King Jr. when he was rebelling against the government because of the racial equality through the eyes of many who were present and familiar with his achievements saw him as a hero and a brave man. However, the media portrayed him as a rebel who did not want to follow the rules and it causes everyone else to believe and think that he was a threat and a dangerous criminal. The fact that he was of dark skin causes people to miss judge him because going back into further history where some African Americans, slaves, would rebel the media in those days which was the newspaper would say how they killed in cold blood. It was because of that why people of other races were taught to fear people like MLK JR. and caused them not to notice that MLK JR. never killed in cold blood...