Racism In The Sambo

Then as time went on slavery was abolished and civil rights moved forward. The popular depictions of African Americans then moved away from the unintelligent, yet happy and joyful African Americans to the depiction of the unintelligent violent African American. This

Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.

It prompted a certain status, prestige, and recognition for the Europeans and white people. Ego’s rose to a high level, even from the ordinary white people of lower class, and advance racism with this nobility thought to distinguish them self even further from the dark-skinned people that everyone associated with as slavery. African Americans and blackness represented slavery, as they were a different kind of people as they were unintelligent, or of lower intelligence, different physical characteristics, therefore not of the same genetic make-up as the white

While coming up with a topic for this paper, one of my questions dealt with war and cultural groups. I will be the first to admit, Racism was the last thing on my mind. The original question being, “How does war affect a Social Culture and how does it stand today?” When I started thinking about Cultures that had been so deeply affected by war, one of the first that came to mind were the Japanese in World War II. Then I recalled what one person had told me of their younger days at college, when they were attending school. Their name will remain anonymous; I do not want to make the victim’s name public as it has a very personal nature.

Black people, even today, are subject to racially motivated violence and discrimination in their everyday lives. In the 20th century this kind of treatment was accepted and even at times prompted by authorities. Back then, brutal murders of black men, women, and children

Whites have always considered themselves superior to blacks, no matter if they were slave owners or not. Blacks were considered lower than humans, making them a main target of oppression of whites. So even when a small group of blacks were given their freedom, they weren’t truly liberated from the chains of slavery and oppression. Blacks were freed in the early 1800s, giving a limited amount of blacks the freedom they deserved. These blacks were usually rural, uneducated, and unskilled domestic servants who had to work hard to survive in the society that shunned them. Free blacks were still given restrictions and laws because of their status in society. In the early 1830s, a law in Virginia was made to prohibit all blacks from getting their education. They even took it to the level where free blacks who went out of state to educate themselves were not able to come back and return to their own state. The worst restriction was that blacks could not testify in court. When a slave owner claimed that a free black was their slave, they could not defend themselves, and would have to conform back to their slavery. Despite the terrible treatment given to blacks, some rose above the oppression and became successful, therefore achieving their goals and potentials of being a free black man, leaving a huge impact on society in the 1800s.

Blacks were treated with tremendous cruelty in many different ways. Black lives before the civil rights movement were treated cruel and unfair. African Americans did not have the same opportunities that they have today. Before the movement they could not get an education, a good job, or a place to live. These men and women who worked for white landowners were pretty much treated like slaves. They were barely paid anything for the work that they did. Many blacks lived in the streets and did not even have a place to get out of the weather. Due to these factors many blacks lived in poverty and were treated very cruel. A staff Writer wrote, “For black Americans, the pre-Civil Rights era was a time of danger and turmoil, as they set out to claim

This was the period of post-slavery, early twentieth century, in southern United States where blacks were still treated by whites inhumanly and cruelly, even after the abolition laws of slavery of 1863. They were still named as ‘color’. Nothing much changed in African-American’s lives, though the laws of abolition of slavery were made, because now the slavery system became a way of life. The system was accepted as destiny. So the whites also got license to take disadvantages and started exploiting them sexually, racially, physically, and economically. During slavery, they were sold in the slave markets to different owners of plantation and were bound to be separated from each other. Thus they lost their nation, their dignity, and were dehumanized and exploited by whites.

The Southern Sambo was made in the early 1900s with a purpose, appearance, and engaging actions all used to negatively depict African American males in popular culture. The sole purpose of this character was to defend the enslavement of Black males by emasculating them, ridding them of their dignity, and by making them seem powerless in comparison to Whites. These wrong doings were accomplished by altering the physical appearance of the Sambo character in the American theater and literature. He was always seen dressed in gaudy clothing and was either constantly smiling or laughing like a child. Sambo’s actions consisted of singing nonsense songs, dancing foolishly around the stage, or delighting in the simple pleasures of food. He was also portrayed as a lazy person who avoided working and spoke in an uneducated slang. This character was a

Explanations that justify the use of racism directly relates to differential treatment of minority groups and contributes to racism’s existence as an unstoppable social problem. The foundations of these explanations are based on the common misunderstanding of the definition of race. Thus, problems that tend to concentrate in one race are mistakenly judged as “race problems”. This judgement leads to the establishment of a system of inequality between a superior race and inferior races. However, the logic behind these explanations don’t account for the true reasoning behind minority individuals value status. In fact, these explanations contribute to minority individuals’ further struggle in life.

Back then, not all blacks had the same privileges and racism wasn’t just about black and white people. This is an example of colourism. Colourism can be “defined as a conscious or unconscious state of prejudice that may be experienced by both blacks and whites so that they label as less attractive and intelligent individuals of a darker complexion, particularly, when it comes to black women” (“Demystifying”). Among the black community, there is racism between it as well. Back then, white slave owners “allowed those of a lighter complexion certain privileges and denied those of a darker complexion those privileges and created in the minds of blacks that “light” is better. In addition, the selling of lighter-skinned women into prostitution or to salve masters to become their mistresses helped to concretize the idea that light skin is better” (“Demystifying”). But racism is not just about blacks and whites. It can be between any races. With the internet and the power of social networking these days, it is even easier to repudiate and excoriate people. People can criticize you secretly and not include you in certain events without your knowing. You can express racism even behind a computer screen on a website plus make it private so it can’t be seen by the public.

Sambo is one of the most common enduring stereotypes of the African American culture which even today could be evident in some of the common entertainments that we see in the media (Boskin 67). Sambo refers to the pervasive image of a docile, simple minded black man which dates back at least to the period of colonization. The stereotype particularly flourished during the period of colonization in the U.S and this could be associated with the fact that both the whites and the blacks in the community played a role in perpetuating it. The core of the Sambo caricature was the idea of the “happy slave” irrespective of the fact that there was nothing particularly appealing about the lives that most of these slaves had been subjected to as a result of colonization in the community (Johnson 89).

Throughout history, blacks have been treated the poorest out of all races. Although everyone under God is to be treated equal, whites thought of themselves as being the superior race. In 1619 a Dutch ship brought 20 slaves to America and it took nearly 240 years for slavery to end in 1865(Ronald, , para. 3).These helpless slaves were taken to America and put to work growing anything from cotton to tobacco. Slaves had absolutely no rights. They were simply property of their “Massa’.” Being disrespectful to a white man could get a Negro killed and they just accepted the facts of the matter. The south was the most notorious in its treatment of slaves and slaves would run away. It was a big risk, but a slave that made it to a

Food is a strong unifier amongst the nation because regardless of one’s class, race, or gender, everybody eats and everybody needs food to survive. However intersecting factors such as geography, economic class and most importantly race are causing fundamental structures of inequality within our food system. The United State’s global structure of white privilege and supremacy has led to the marginalization of African-Americans and people of color. Race and racism continues to have a major impact on every institution in American society and all of its systems including the food system. The impact of white supremacy and racism on the food system has led to health discrepancies impacting marginalized groups. Marginalized groups have been defined as “groups that have been peripheralized from the center of society”. The fundamental racism within society has caused these groups to be faced with higher rates of diabetes, worst diabetes control, and greater rates of complications.

Bent on emphasizing American Exceptionalism, history textbooks tend to portray the history of African Americans as if not much happened during the Nadir of Race relations events. Nor do the history textbooks tell of the actual “evil” bestowed upon these African Americans in full effect. Evil is defined by Phillip Zimbardo in the video The Lucifer Effect and The Psychology of Evil is the exercise of power. “Power to intentionally harm people psychologically, to hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas, and to commit crimes against humanity”. Good ordinary people committed heinous acts of evil against these African Americans. African Americans