The film industry has played a crucial role in America’s perception of African-Americans since Lincoln Perry portrayed a shiftless bumbler in the 1927 silent movie, “In Old Kentucky” (Hurst). Recognized as the first black actor, the character of Stepin Fetchit began the racial stereotype of a race of people inferior to white characters that has perpetuated into current theatres. Black actors and directors have fought for years to overcome the images of drugs use, low income, poorly educated, and gang violence attached to the race for decades (Balkaran). The politics of the image using the stereotype of black Continue reading...
