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