Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Birth of An Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation

Nicholas Sammond, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Labor, Page 109

Walter Lantz’s Voodoo In Harlem (1938) is an excellent example of the fantastic geography of some early sound cartoons. This geography imagined Africa, the Deep South, and the urban ghettoes of the northern United States (typified by Harlem) as one continuous space unified by black bodies. In this clip, stereotypical natives sing about Haitian voodoo practices taking place in the jazz clubs of Harlem.

Also, the inkwell was a powerful trope which was celebrated by animators in their works - the source material from which life sprang, where an ideal, fantastic blackness materialized into being.  Here, savage characters emerge from ink spilled on the floor and at the end of the cartoon return to the inkwell from which they sprang.

Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Labor, Page 109"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Labor, page 8 of 21 Next page on path

Related:  Race, Page 251Race, Page 258Performance, Page 72Space, Page 146Race, Page 254Labor, Page 119Performance, Page 60Space, Page 189Space, Page 197Introduction, Page 2Space, Page 193Space, Page 172Performance, Page 46Labor, Page 110Space, Page 178Space, Page 194Performance, Page 74Space, Page 184Race, Page 247Race, Page 224Labor, Page 122Space, Page 187Labor, Page 88Performance, Page 84Space, Page 141Space, Page 152Race, Page 248Conclusion, Page 296Performance, Page 42Performance, Page 47Space, Page 175Race, Page 232Conclusion, Page 290Labor, Page 101Performance, Page 50Race, Page 261Conclusion, Page 300Introduction, Page 6Race, Page 220Labor, Page 123Performance, Page 41Labor, Page 132Race, Page 231Race, Page 230Race, Page 206Labor, Page 129Race, Page 204Conclusion, Page 278Labor, Page 113Conclusion, Page 298Conclusion, Page 289Performance, Page 54Space, Page 148Performance, Page 35Performance, Page 77Race, Page 229Space, Page 150Introduction, Page 29Race, Page 235Performance, Page 82Space, Page 162Performance, Page 52Race, Page 225Space, Page 163Performance, Page 70Conclusion, Page 275Conclusion, Page 291Space, Page 190Conclusion, Page 286Space, Page 181Labor, Page 112Race, Page 252Space, Page 177Space, Page 182Labor, Page 128Race, Page 253Space, Page 171Race, Page 221Labor, Page 98Space, Page 170Race, Page 239Introduction, Page 1Space, Page 188Space, Page 191Performance, Page 44Conclusion, Page 304Conclusion, Page 292Performance, Page 45Conclusion, Page 303Space, Page 183Labor, Page 133Space, Page 155Introduction, Page 21Race, Page 213Space, Page 195Space, Page 138Space, Page 165Performance, Page 34Introduction, Page 30Introduction, Page 14Conclusion, Page 302Space, Page 143Space, Page 137Race, Page 219Introduction, Page 23Introduction, Page 4Conclusion, Page 284Labor, Page 131Performance, Page 43Conclusion, Page 273