Throughout its history one of the things that concerned the NAACP was the image of African Americans in popular media.  Over the years race has been a fertile topic for film and popular culture scholars. The race and gender complexities of these images are complicated by the dominant/subordinate social relations and the relations of production in which they occur. Although a full discussion of those images is beyond the scope of this project, this path does look at those times when the NAACP intervened in how African Americans were presented. By focusing on the attempts of a small group of mostly middle class African Americans trying to influence the production of these images over which they had no direct control, we can glimpse those power, gender and racial relationships.

Begin this path

1. Media images of African Americans derive from minstrel shows
2. Birth of a Nation (1915)
3. African American buffoons as comic relief in the movies
4. Gone With the Wind 1939
5. Walter White tries to persuade Hollywood to change its portrayal of African Americans
6. Amos and Andy Brings Stereotypes to Television

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