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Black Male Frames charts the development and shifting popularity of
two stereotypes of black masculinity in popular American film:
“the shaman” and “thescoundrel.” Starting with colonial
times, Williams identifies the origins of these roles in an America
where black men were forced either to defy or to defer to their
white masters. These figures recur in the stories America tells
about its black men, from the fictional Jim Crow and Zip Coon to
historical figures such as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du
Bois. Williams argues that these two extremes persist today in
modern Hollywood, where actors such as Sam Lucas, Paul Robeson,
Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman, among
others, must cope with and work around such limited options.
Williams situates these actors’ performances of one or the other
stereotype within each man’s personal history and within the
country’s historical moment, ultimately to argue that these men
are rewarded for their portrayal of the stereotypes most needed to
put America’s ongoing racial anxieties at ease. Reinvigorating
the discussion that began with Donald Bogle’s seminal work, Toms,
Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, Black Male Frames illuminates
the ways in which individuals and the media respond to the changing
racial politics in America.
Black Male Frames charts the development and shifting popularity of
two stereotypes of black masculinity in popular American film:
""the shaman"" or ""the scoundrel."" Starting with colonial times,
Williams identifies the origins of these roles in an America where
black men were forced either to defy or to defer to their white
masters. These figures recur in the stories America tells about its
black men, from the fictional Jim Crow and Zip Coon to historical
figures such as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois. Williams
argues that these two extremes persist today in modern Hollywood,
where actors such as Sam Lucas, Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier,
Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman, among others, must cope with
and work around such limited options. Williams situates these
actors' performances of one or the other stereotype within each
man's personal history and within the country's historical moment,
ultimately to argue that these men are rewarded for their portrayal
of the stereotypes most needed to put America's ongoing racial
anxieties at ease. Reinvigorating the discussion that began with
Donald Bogle's seminal work, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and
Bucks, Black Male Frames illuminates the ways in which individuals
and the media respond to the changing racial politics in America.
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