Free Ham's List: Black Women: Issues

• The largest numbers of African American women on television are featured on situation comedies.
• reflected biased, stereotypical images and controversial characters.
• A stereotype is defined as an idea or character that is standardized in a conventional form without individuality.
• One of the oldest and most common stereotypical images is that of the Matriarch, also referred to as Mammy. This stereotype is the evolution of the female slave chosen to live in the "big house" with the master and his family
• Mammy is the antithesis of the American standard of beauty.
• The Sapphire image combined the independence of mammy with an argumentative spirit of rebellion. Sapphire is characterized by her sassiness and opinionated nature.
• Known as the, jezebel or loose woman
• characterized as promiscuous, a bad girl or a vamp.
• Hattie McDaniels, Louise Beavers, Thelma "Butterfly" Mc Queen and Fredi Washington rose to fame playing limited, supportive roles in feature films
• When Imitation of Life was released in 1934, Beavers was given equal billing; however, she still played the part of a servant.
• The Beulah Show" focused on an African American woman who worked as a maid for a middle class white family. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson depended on Beulah to maintain the domestic issues in the home and to provide tender loving care to their young son, Donnie
• Shayon, a reviewer for Saturday Review. On at least three separate occasions during the first season, Shayon expressed his concerns about the show in his column. His first review appeared on April 20, 1968, months before the show actually aired. He stated that Julia was "a far cry from the bitter realities of Negro life in the urban ghetto."

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