German Theater (1935)
(via)
“I was looking at more than 150 prints of Levinthal’s in my living room one day when my 13-year-old son came along and asked what I was doing. I showed him the pictures and explained that white people used to make these images to show that black people were inferior to them and to justify racism and segregation. I introduced him to Aunt Jemima and said that white racists wanted people to believe that all black women were fat and dressed in a white apron and a kerchief as a permanent fixture of white peoples kitchens. Black people were also represented as porters and shoeshine boys at train stations. Those who rebelled against these portrayals of themselves and their race were depicted as Rastus, uppity niggers and called “Zip Coons.” When we got to the image that associated black people with watermelons, he asked, “Oh yeah, why are they always smiling like that, with those big red lips?” I told him that whites used to malign black people as watermelon and chicken thieves. They would say that during the night, when it was pitch dark, black people would go to the masters field to steal watermelons, or, like foxes, to the chicken coop to steal chickens. But supposedly, these black people were always betrayed by their white teeth and white eyes which shone in the dark like lightning. So they could not hide, even in the darkest of nights, even though they were so black. That was why their smiles were cut like slices of watermelon and they were considered, like chickens, to be cowards. My son laughed and remained pensive for a moment before resuming his mundane activities.
Left alone with Levinthal’s pictures, I began to reassess the history lesson I had just given my son, his reaction with laughter, and his subsequent boredom with the meaning I said white people had put behind the blackface stereotypes.”
Notes:
-
reeraw
reblogged this from
thedirtythirties
and added:
Manthia Diawara:
-
thedirtythirties
posted this
