Old Types Flashcards
Tom
BACKGROUND
-originated from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
-The first in a long line of socially acceptable Good Negro characters
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CHARACTERISTICS
1) Obedient and submissive
- willing to defend white supremacy
- non-violent and passive
- –can be controlled
2) Happy go-lucky
- fine with current place in society, even given his challenges
3) Loyal/Self-sacrifice
- always sticks with whomever is controlling him
- willing to self-sacrifice his basic freedoms for the sake of the white man
- –way of proving loyalty and affection for those who control him
4) Desexualized
- another trait that makes him non-threatening to white audience
5) One with Nature
NOTABLE TOMS
- Sam Lucas, first black person to portray
- James B. Low in 1927 version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Bill Bojangles Robinson
- Sidney Poitier (evolved version of Tom, usually involved in self-sacrifice)
Coon
BACKGROUND
- figure that was not taken seriously at all
- dancing, prancing black characters
- –outright caricatures
TWO SUB-TYPES
1) The pickanniny
- first type of coon
- –harmless, little screwball creation whose eyes popped
2) The Uncle Remus
- harmless and congenial
- distinguishes himself by his quaint, naive and comic philosophizing
- –philosophizing shows black man’s satisfaction with the system and his place in it
* *Somewhat of a mix between the pickaninny and Tom
- Appearances: Green Pastures
CHARACTERISTICS
1) ENTERTAINING
- silly, naive, and clown
- –lazy and passive
2) PETTY CRIMES
- a figure of amusement that is in and out of trouble
- –trouble involves petty crimes that can be laughed off
- –non-threatening crimes
3) DESEXUALIZED
- again, another trait that makes character non-threatening
NOTABLE COONS
- Stepin Fetchet (Judge Priest)
- Willie Best
- Mantan Moreland
- Eddie Rochester Anderson (part Tom, part Coon)
Mammy
BACKGROUND
- a cherished type; perhaps most cherished of all types
- the caretaker and bedrock of black culture
- the ideal surrogate mother
CHARACTERISTICS
1) Older, heavier black women
- large enough to take weight of world on shoulders
2) Loyal, self-sacrifice
- Willing to set aside her career and desires for the white characters
3) All-knowing, all-understanding
- not all mammies, but most tend to have the most perspective of all characters
- –she knows things that other characters don’t know
4) Some anger
- Most of the time happy-go-lucky but can sometimes get angry
- –will always ultimately take care of the whites
5) Desexualized
- again, another trait that makes character non-threatening
6) Christian Stoicism: Racial order is divine. God is white, and he has punished those with darker skin. But, God is God, blacks should accept their positions in life (the way things are) and be grateful. Except, maybe, if you’re mulatto
7) Resourceful
Subset: Aunt Jemima
- typically blessed with religion. Generally are sweet, jolly, and good-tempered. A bit more polite than the mammy and never as headstrong
- i..e Mae West Films
NOTABLE MAMMIES
- Ethel Waters
- Louis Beavers (first “Imitation of Life”)
- Hattie McDaniel
- Juanita Moore (remake of “Imitation of Life”)
Mulatto
BACKGROUND
- the threatening female type
- challenging white superiority by passing as white
- one fatal flaw was “neegrablood”
CHARACTERISTICS
1) Sexualized
- desirable figure with sexual power
- often classified as hyper-sexual
2) Threat to white purity
- She can pass as white and infiltrate the dominant culture
- –Black blood is considered to be tainted; a pollutant. Serves as a warning that the races should not mix
- –Can call white superioity into question
3) Threatens white superiority
- showing capability to pass as white
- –Serves as a warning that the races should not mix
4) Selfish, no sense of self-sacrifice
- She is trying to fulfill herself and cross the color line
5) Often punished
- Not a place in white or black world
- Most mulattos left unhappy and unfilled
- –Only heartache and despair come out of white and black couple uniting
Noteable Appearances:
- Birth of a nation
- Showboat
- Imitation of Life (O.G. & remake)
- Pinkie
NOTABLE MULATTOS
- Nina Mae McKinney
- Fredi Washington (Peola in first “Imitation of Life”)
- Lena Horne
- Dorothy Dandridge
Buck
BACKGROUND
- the threatening male type
- challenging white superiority through violence
- First appearance: Birth of a Nation
- in more recent films, young male black audience that wanted to see images connected with what was going on in the streets of America
- –Answers needs for heroic figures but doesn’t necessarily answer those needs fully
CHARACTERISTICS
1) Violent
- he also has the strength and power to be violent
2) Defiant
- not happy with his place in society
3) Sexualized
- Played on the myth of the Negro’s hyper-powered sexuality
- will rape white women/have a lust for white flesh (i.e. Bucks in “Birth of a Nation” played by white actors in blackface)
NOTABLE BUCKS
- Paul Robeson
- James Edwards
- Denzel Washington
