MediaEssay Preview: MediaReport this essayChapter 2The Literature Review“The American white man today subconsciously still regards the black man as something below himself. And you will never get the American white man to accept the so called Negro as an integrated part of his society until the image of the Negro the white man has changed and until the image the Negro of himself is also changed.”
-Malcolm XIn the service of black morale, symbols are immensely importantÐSymbols can bring change. They have real powers in the world. The symbols used to represent minorities these days are not always symbols that would necessarily uplift them. At times some may even seem degrading or maybe even stereotypical. As the minority crowd yearns to have some kind of fame might not even notice the racial discrimination behind the so-called symbol or object.
The symbols that are spoken of are not just from the present day but really can date all the way back to when minorities first started to appear in national campaigns and television media. Symbols like Aunt Jemima, Rastus (Cream of Wheat Chef) and Uncle Remus have transcended the traditional definitions of symbols and evolved into icons, and in doing so have become integral components of American culture. The icons stated above were not intentionally made to become American figures, even more so popular than the white symbols, but as the time passed they have.
“Icons are powerful because they encapsulate ideas and actions of central importance in human life.”Herbert M. Cole, University of California-Santa BarbaraPerhaps the most interesting black symbol that was used once as a stereotypical object was Rastus, the Cream of Wheat man. Almost a male counterpart of Aunt Jemima, Rastus also represented Southern images in a day when racism was blatant and commonplace. He was depicted as the idealized, dignified black chef, knowledgeable and accomplished in his craft. He was charming and agreeable in a Southern way, and affable with the children who would, after all, be consumers of breakfast cereal. But despite his clear and simple stereotyping, his presentation to the public was far more complex.
His own black traits were far more diverse and he was the first person of his generation to see these things as very important.
Even with today’s “black-to-black” media (which is still prevalent in many places with little or no awareness of other black people), there is little room for imagination. When I met this woman for the first time in 1994, my disbelief and amazement with the color of my skin and the fact that I was not from a minority culture was a clear reminder that I didn’t actually have that much experience with color as a person. She talked about the fact that, back in the mid-20th century, black people were far more “white-oriented” than they were as a race. There was nothing much we could do about it, she said, but by the time my kids were starting college in my mid-30s, I felt that there was nothing to look at in the way of change. This new, more nuanced understanding of black people became a source of more insight for me and the black community, particularly women, who were taught by their mothers that while white women were the focus of their femininity, black women and men were the ones looking at the world in their ways.
Despite making this comment after years of self-displacement, my mind wandered off to what I believed to be a black version of the same picture she said in 1993:
Before I left college, I became very interested in photography. When I went to college in Philadelphia and learned photography was as American as it gets, I immediately began to explore different subjects. I found that the most popular subjects I found in my various fields were photography. At that point, as a college student, I didn’t realize that my interest in photography could truly be compared to that of a white college student. I was in my twenties and couldn’t stop picturing my great-grandfather with those very objects and I always felt that these photos were what I loved the most when I was young. While I still remember what I saw, I never lost the impression that this is as American as the White House or that the president of the United States wears the same clothes every day.
As I graduated from college, I traveled through different countries and met other American families such as my best friend in Italy who wanted to become an actress. I met our mother in New York City who looked as if she had been born in the 1930′s and who wanted to marry me. While I was in New York City, I met my great-grandfather in New York who had traveled as far to Africa, and even had his wife, a black American named Marielole. Both women are now very active in their own community (with a separate magazine being called “Black Americans”). I met all these people while I was going through my early 50
His own black traits were far more diverse and he was the first person of his generation to see these things as very important.
Even with today’s “black-to-black” media (which is still prevalent in many places with little or no awareness of other black people), there is little room for imagination. When I met this woman for the first time in 1994, my disbelief and amazement with the color of my skin and the fact that I was not from a minority culture was a clear reminder that I didn’t actually have that much experience with color as a person. She talked about the fact that, back in the mid-20th century, black people were far more “white-oriented” than they were as a race. There was nothing much we could do about it, she said, but by the time my kids were starting college in my mid-30s, I felt that there was nothing to look at in the way of change. This new, more nuanced understanding of black people became a source of more insight for me and the black community, particularly women, who were taught by their mothers that while white women were the focus of their femininity, black women and men were the ones looking at the world in their ways.
Despite making this comment after years of self-displacement, my mind wandered off to what I believed to be a black version of the same picture she said in 1993:
Before I left college, I became very interested in photography. When I went to college in Philadelphia and learned photography was as American as it gets, I immediately began to explore different subjects. I found that the most popular subjects I found in my various fields were photography. At that point, as a college student, I didn’t realize that my interest in photography could truly be compared to that of a white college student. I was in my twenties and couldn’t stop picturing my great-grandfather with those very objects and I always felt that these photos were what I loved the most when I was young. While I still remember what I saw, I never lost the impression that this is as American as the White House or that the president of the United States wears the same clothes every day.
As I graduated from college, I traveled through different countries and met other American families such as my best friend in Italy who wanted to become an actress. I met our mother in New York City who looked as if she had been born in the 1930′s and who wanted to marry me. While I was in New York City, I met my great-grandfather in New York who had traveled as far to Africa, and even had his wife, a black American named Marielole. Both women are now very active in their own community (with a separate magazine being called “Black Americans”). I met all these people while I was going through my early 50
As times changed the face of Cream of Wheat had to change, at first it was a depiction of a southern black male and then times changed so then the image changed to more of a European style black male. The original chef trademark survived until 1925, when it was replaced by the more realistic version we know today.
While dining in a restaurant in Chicago the owner of Cream of Wheat noticed one of his black waiters broad smile and persuaded him to pose in a chefs hat for a minimum of five dollars, and that was the beginning of the Cream of Wheat face we know of today. Little did he know that his face would become as familiar to American families as that of George Washington as it toured the country on bags and boxes of Cream of Wheat.
As stated in the Cream of Wheat story, minorities in this case blacks, they were not treated fairly as far as getting paid for what a person of another ethnicity would have got millions for the minority got merely five dollars. Although his face has adorned Cream Of Wheat boxes for over 70 years neither the waiter who posed or any of his relatives has never received any further remuneration for the picture that many of us have woke up to every morning for breakfast for years.
Cream of Wheat was not the only example of minorities getting mistreated or even under paid if you may, from their services; another prime example is the representation of the ever so popular Gold Dust Twins.
For 50 years women in America relied on the Gold Dust Twins, Goldie and Dustie, to do their cleaning for them. Gold Dust Washing Powder was introduced in the 1880s. In 1902, two Black children, David Henry Snipe and a kid named Thomas, were chosen to pose as the Gold Dust Twins. Snipe was born in 1896 in New York and traveled through the U.S. and Europe with the vaudeville team Harvey and DeVore until 1921. The product of was heavily advertised and originally sold for 25 cents in a four-pound package.
“Our past is not our potential.”UnknownAbove: Ads depicting blacks as nothing but entertainers, in Americas eyes if blacks couldnt do anything else they can entertain you.Women used the powder to wash for years on end and Goldie and Dustie did the cleaning for them. Easily recognized were the small boys with their jet black skin, naked expect for tiny skirts, with their arms wrapped lovingly about each other against a yellowish-backdrop.
The popularity of “The Gold Dust Twins” was such that it inspired the creation of a line of soap powders by the Lever Brothers Company. Collectors of black memorabilia now seek after items featuring the image of the Gold Dust Twins.
The figure of the mammy occupies a central place in the lore of the Old South and has long been used to illustrate distinct social phenomena, including racial oppression and class identity. In the early twentieth century, the mammy became immortalized as Aunt Jemima, the spokesperson for a line of ready-mixed breakfast products. Although Aunt Jemima has undergone many makeovers over the years, she apparently has not lost her commercial appeal; her face graces more than forty food products nationwide and she still resonates in some form for millions of Americans.
Aunt Jemima is best known as a brand of pancake mixes and syrups sold by the Quaker Oats Company since 1889. The image of Aunt Jemima has been controversial for over a hundred years. Based on the preÐ-Civil War (1861Ð-65) stereotype of the fat, jolly, no-nonsense black “mammy,” the character of Aunt Jemima was first introduced in minstrel shows in the late 1800s.
Quaker Oats is thought to have chosen the image of Aunt Jemima to promote the very first packaged pancake mix because the image of the kind and funny black mammy was comforting and safe to many white consumers. From the beginning, many African Americans found the image of the fat, smiling Aunt Jemima with a bandanna on her head to be an insulting glorification of slavery. Some fought to eliminate what they viewed as an offensive trademark. In response, Quaker Oats gave Aunt Jemima a makeover in the 1990s by removing the bandanna and making her fashionably thin. The company also hired famous black