How Did George Jefferson Influence Pop Culture

Released in 2001, Disney Channel’s The Proud Family was a Black cartoon frequently watched by children who grew up during its airplay. Not vulgar or satirical, The Proud Family centered around Penny Proud and her family as she grew up through her years. As a child, I innocently watched this show, but picked up on unintended implications based off of the character’s skin color. The main character Penny was a lighter skinned girl, who appeared to possess “more Eurocentric phenotypic characteristics (Steele),” exhibited more intelligence, wealth, and virtue, as opposed to her darker skinned best friend, Dijonay, who was associated with deviance and sassiness, while speaking with a more Ebonic style of talking and possessed a more “ghetto” name. Although the show attempted to provide an accurate representation of a “traditional African American family,” it still regardlessly instilled these stereotypes of the African American community into my mindset, which were not disproved in my mind until later in my life (Steele).

These stereotypes depicted “drug dealers, prostitutes, single mothers, and complacent drag queens” (Harris, 51). In the 1980s, African American filmmakers began to make a name for themselves. These films are “social commentaries, indictments of racism and depictions of ‘everyday’ American lives” (Harris, 51). Compared to the traditional representations of blacks and blackness, New Black cinema takes on this cultural intervention and the recoding of blackness. Harris describes this as “revising the visual codes surrounding black skin on the screen and in the public

As our nation’s third president, first secretary of state and author Thomas Jefferson has been apprehended as a man that had a major impact on American History. Thomas Jefferson was an influential person that changed America for the best. His actions created a major change in the U.S. and still continue to change America Today. Thomas Jefferson had reasons for what he was trying to accomplish and he knew it would benefit America in the future. I believe Thomas Jefferson had a major impact on American history by purchasing the Louisiana Territory, writing the Declaration Of Independents and Passing the statute of Religious Freedom.

The gunfire of his final duel has the whole nation in a frenzy. Alexander Hamilton has made a new mark on history. The Hamilton: An American Musical craze is spreading like wildfire. This musical takes you through the life of the founding father through a series of pop and rap music. The rap music is what makes this particular music so unique. That is the main appeal of this musical. Not many musicals today take on this musical style. The box offices can not keep tickets in for this masterpiece. It is touring around the country, spreading its seed. But is it too pop culture? Has the rap music drained the story dry? Though this musical’s popularity can not be questioned, can it accuracy be? How much of Hamilton’s actual life went into the storyline

In the book "Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Freedom", Thomas Jefferson was a great leader and did a lot to help America shape to what it is today. Thomas Jefferson is mostly known for being the writer of the Declaration of Independence and being the 3rd president of the United States, but he has also done many other amazing things like being minister of France, and as president of the United States he presided the Louisiana purchase. In the book "Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Freedom", Thomas Jefferson was a great leader and did a lot to help America shape to what it is today. Thomas Jefferson was a great thinker and with his ideas helped shape America in its early years and is even still influencing today. One example of how Thomas Jefferson

The Republican Party (later Democratic-Republican Party), created by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in 1791, challenged the Federalists. While the Federalists favored close ties with the British in foreign affairs, the Republicans wanted to improve relations with France and strengthen the old attachment. Alexander ended up interfering in Jefferson’s domain as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in an attempt to seeing his program come to a completion. This led to a dispute with Jefferson. The two became rivals, always wanting to throw each other out of Washington’s Cabinet.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the best presidents America has ever had. Some people believe he was evil for keeping slaves. But, even though he did that, he did more good than bad. He purchased the Louisiana territory, greatly expanding America. Even before he was president he helped America, he was the main author of the Declaration of Independence. Also after being president he helped by founding the University of Virginia.

In the 18th and 19th century, Thomas Jefferson and James Maddison were very influential in American history. Jefferson was head of the Republican party throughout his presidency, while Maddison was a Federalist. Jefferson opposed large tariffs and believed that large armies, navies, and banks would lead to a Monarchy, so he cut their funding- in other words he was against what Federalists stood for.

Different archetypes have been used to represent black people through television, live performances, and film. These stereotypes consisted of “Coon”, “Mulatto”, “Mammy”, and “Tom” (site—Johnson). Prior to films and television, African American’s were depicted by white actors wearing “blackface” in which white people entertained audiences through plots that portrayed African Americans in stereotypical ways that had prevailed since the time of slavery. “Coon” for instance, was created as a from of comedy and amusement for white individuals, as this image allowed for comic relief through idiocy. “Coons” had, in essence, a low level of intelligence with minimal common sense. Their dull-wittedness advocated the view that African American people were unintelligent beings who were incompetent and unable to formulate intelligible thoughts. This further reinforced the idea that African American people were in need of instruction and guidance from white individuals—just as they did during slavery—in order for African Americans to sustain and remain alive, or else they would be damaged by their own incapabilities. Similar to the “Coon”, Mammy was also a common character who was portrayed as an obese and grumpy woman who also provided comic relief to white folks. Mammy’s creation was

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

According to Tukachinsky, Mastro, and Yarchi, prior to 1930, the role of Blacks on screen were seen involving mostly in criminality and idleness (540). That role still persists until the present, with Blacks usually have to withstand to “longstanding and unfavorable media stereotypes including sexually provocative females and aggressive male thugs” (Tukachinsky 540). 1970’s movies such as The Mack, Black Caesar and Coffy have reinforced this stereotypic image of the black community. The

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

The film focuses on African American historical events, with special concentration on the civil rights era. With the White House segments of the film starting in the oppressive Eisenhower years, it offers a presidential level insight into the historic freedom movements of the 1960’s, all the way through until the day that Barack Obama is elected president in 2008. I am going to argue that Daniels’ representation of history and race are much more than a ‘parody of historical drama’, as he defies the ‘conventional’ stereotypes of Hollywood (Martin 2013) through the focus on individual character depictions and rejection of generalisations seen previously in African American films.

From the very beginning of the early stages in American cinema, African Americans had a presence on the silver screen. The twentieth century created a new era of cinema that consisted of films produced for and targeted to an all-Black audience. “Race films” which existed in the United States for over thirty years (1913-1948), were films produced by African Americans that focused on Black themes and highlighted the talents of African American directors, producers, scriptwriters, and actors.