{"id":3013,"date":"2019-07-28T21:58:22","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T01:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/?p=3013"},"modified":"2019-07-28T21:58:22","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T01:58:22","slug":"reflections-on-race-gender-and-sexuality-in-the-age-of-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/2019\/07\/28\/reflections-on-race-gender-and-sexuality-in-the-age-of-television\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Age of Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexandria Shaw, Film and Africana Studies, Class of 2021<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Professor Mia Mask, Professor of Film on the Mary Riepma Ross ’32 Chair<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This summer, I worked with Professor Mia Mask on analyzing changes in African American representations in popular culture from the 1830s-present day. Our primary focus was on the evolution of Black representation in television from its inception until today. Together we studied and discussed the works of Robin Means Coleman, Bambi Haggins, Yuval Taylor, Christine Acham, Donald Bogle, Tommy Lott, and numerous other scholars who have studied the range of Black performances and stereotypes in American culture (i.e., comedy sketch shows, sitcoms, and dramas).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An exhibit at the Schomburg Center in July 2019.<\/span><\/i><\/h6>\n

We traveled to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem to study one of the most under-acknowledged and under-analyzed sections of media, Black documentary television. Here, at the Schomburg\u2019s Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, we viewed programs such as <\/span>Black Journal<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>SOUL!<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Another Voice<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 All of these programs were Black produced and hosted shows narrating the social and political issues facing Black America in the late 1960s and 70s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexandria taking notes on William Greaves\u2019 Still a Brother in the Moving Image and Recording Sound Division.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/h6>\n

Following our readings and visits to the Schomburg, we compiled our notes of Black television into eight eras:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 The Minstrel Era (1830-Mid 1900s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 The Era of the Servile and Inept (1950s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 The Era of White Normalcy (Mid 1950s – Late 1960s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 Uplift: The Black Documentary Television Era (Mid 1960s-1970s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 The Assimilationist Era (Mid 1960s-1970s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 Family Values (Early 1970s-Late 1990s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 The Double-Voiced Era (1990s -2010s)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2192 Elliptical Blackness (2000s – Present Day)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of these eras is significant in understanding how Blackness, femininity, and sexuality are explored on screens at home. Through every decade, more image-makers working for production studios are diversifying and telling stories that relate to a larger range of the Black experience. We have just begun to evaluate the harmful and demeaning stereotypes embedded within television and have noted how these images have permeated modern day entertainment. With much room for improvement in the entertainment industry, the steps being taken by producers, directors, and screenwriters of color suggests a more promising future for television.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexandria looking at an album display in the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.<\/span><\/i><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexandria Shaw, Film and Africana Studies, Class of 2021 Professor Mia Mask, Professor of Film on the Mary Riepma Ross ’32 Chair This summer, I worked with Professor Mia Mask on analyzing changes in African American representations in popular culture from the 1830s-present day. Our primary focus was on the evolution of Black representation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77493],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ford-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3168,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}