The Legacy of Racism In the Golden Age of Cartoons

The Censored ElevenThe Warner Bros. Cartoons

No Longer In Distribution

Racism• 1. A belief or doctrine that inherent differences

among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

• 2. A policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

• 3. Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Prejudice

1. An unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.

2. Any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.

3. Unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

Parody

• A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.

Caricature

A pictorial, written, or acted representation of a person that exaggerates his characteristic traits for comic effect.

A Thought Experiment

A Thought Experiment

Imagine a change in history. Africans colonize the Americas. They take Europeans as slaves and make them work in the fields of the south. Eventually there is a civil war and the whites are freed. However, they are treated as second class citizens. An animation company staffed by black animators create a character, who is a parody of white males.

Elmer Fudd• A caricature of a certain type of white male.

Is this an offensive character?

Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids(TV series ran from 1972-1985)

Are these offensive characters?

Written and Produced by Bill Cosby

American Music is Shaped by Black Musicians

• Minstrel• Spirituals• Blues• Jazz• Gospel• Rhythm & Blues• Rock & Roll• Rap

Minstrel show performers Rollin Howard and George Griffin, circa 1855.

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface. Minstrel shows lampooned black people.

Minstrel Show

c. 1900

Bert Williams was the only black member of the Ziegfeld Follies when he joined them in 1910. Shown here in blackface, he was the highest-paid African American entertainer of his day

Al Jolson

• In the 1920s and 30s, Al Jolson was America’s most popular and highest paid singer and actor. He appeared in the first sound film The Jazz Singer (1927)

Jazz Singer

• Al Jolson Sings “Mammy” in blackface in The Jazz Singer (1927). This movie is the first “talkie” that ends the silent film era.

Jim Crow Laws

Jim Crow Laws

World War II

Japanese InternmentJapanese American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of about 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. 62% were American citizens.

Propaganda• Information, esp. of a biased or

misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

• The dissemination of such information as a political strategy.

• Propaganda is used to redefine people in strategic ways to support a cause.

• The goal is to demonize the enemy.

Propaganda

American anti-Japanese imagery from World War II

Nazi Propaganda

Left: Nazi propaganda posters against “Degenerate Music” “Settlement of one state.” Center: “The Jew warmongers laughed at prolonged war.” Right: “The Eternal Jew”

A scene that is now edited out of Disney’s Fantasia showing a black centaur as a servant to a white centaur.

Every major animation studio made films that contained imagery that was, at best racially insensitive, and at worst blatantly racist.

Bigoted Stereotypes

Censored ElevenWarner Bros cartoons pulled from distribution in 1968.

Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936) Friz Freleng

All This and Rabbit Stew (1941) Tex Avery featuring a character named Inki. He was a main character in five films from 1939 to 1950.

Angel Puss (1944) Chuck Jones

Censored ElevenTitle Year Director1. Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931) Rudolf Ising2. Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936) Friz Freleng3. Clean Pastures (1937) Friz Freleng4. Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937) Tex Avery5. Jungle Jitters (1938) Friz Freleng6. The Isle of Pingo Pongo 1938, 1944 (reissue) Tex Avery7. All This and Rabbit Stew (1941) Tex Avery8. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943) Robert Clampett9. Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943) Robert Clampett10. Angel Puss (1944) Chuck Jones11. Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears 1944, 1951 (reissue) Friz Freleng

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs

• Clampett was a fan of Jazz.

Tin Pan Alley Cats

• Features a Fats Waller (1904-1943) caricature. Waller was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer.

Movies to watch

• Watch Any Bonds Today (1:32) Designed to promote sales of war bonds. Note Bugs Bunny in Al Jolson blackface at end. • Watch Tin Pan Alley CatsFats Waller parody• Watch Coal Black and de Sebbin DwarfsSnow White parody

• Answer questions on website.• End