Dreaming of Dixie

On Thursday we viewed a special presentation at the University about the South and how it was create in the romanticized way we often see it portrayed. Over time we have all have seen people, movies, TV, radio and other forms of mass media portray the south as good, enduring, romantic and hospitable. Often it seems as though the atrocities committed by the south such as slavery and racism were ignore or understated.

In the period after slavery and before the Civil Rights Movement the advertising and popular Culture in general served as a way to still execute racism by showing the stereotypical AAfrican Americans in the worst positions in life. Many of these stories were created, marketed, and used by northerners who dreamed of the old south that they had never known. One example of a product that followed this mold was aunt Jamama. Aunt Jamama flour, pancakes and syrup were sold by using the mammy. The mammy is a woman who is older, unattractive who is often very domestic and takes care of whites in many instances. The appeal of Aunt Jamama was that she was a old south supposedly from a plantation in Louisiana. She was a fabrication of marketers but yet she still is the marketing face of Aunt Jamama today. Popular music and radio also were a big part of these stereotypes. Many songs were published but "coons" and going back to Dixie. Mostly written by Jewish northerners. Blacks also continued to play the stereotypical roles in films and radio. Examples of Amos and Andy support that plays are to be laughed at purely for entertainment.

As expected the South capitalized on this drive towards the old south or slavery and romance. With the spead of cars into our homes many people were not only about the buy Southern items but go see the old South for themselves.This may have been positive for many but very negitive for African Americans. The negitive imagery of them in popular culture helped fuse and continue to propertusate a racist society. It is not until after the civil rights movement that you see a difference in the way African Americans are portrayed or get you just don't see them at all.

Overall I thought that the converstation on Thurday was a good one but I would have liked to have a more detailed acount of some of the instances although I know they are numerous. I am really interested in how popular culture seemed to have formed some type of slavery onto African Americans even after slavery. The level of control that popular culture exicuted onto African Americans in this time was so controlled and calulated becuase in my mind its the bigger picture. If you paint African American people as negitive, stupid, unattractive and primitive that is what people will continue to believe they are and that stategy worked at  times still works today.