Word: jemimaism
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...reason to be disturbed. Why are there no strong, intelligent black father figures on TV? Why do the mothers (in Good Times and the defunct That's My Mama, for example) always seem to be fat? (The famous black matriarchy? Some residual white image of Mammy? Of Aunt Jemima?) Why are black families so often shown to be in screaming turmoil, the air bruised with insults? Why are there not black images of success through education and accomplishment, instead of the old Amos 'n' Andy routines of chicanery or the newer, grittier pimp-flash and hustle...
THIS YEAR'S installment of America's oldest ongoing response to Kabuki featured the usual raft of pretty boys in leotards, tennis-ball halves and wigs, playing pretty girls with puns instead of names ("Jemima Fysmoke," "Cybil Service"), whose stock-in-trade is the Big Pun ("You made an asteroid out of yourself!"). Or, alternately, the Silly Joke ("Don't Be a Dope Head, Buy a Moped"). Or, alternately, the Cliche ("Let's Do It"); it's 2078, after all. As far as I could discern from the production notes, the main plot-line consists of a mad grab...
...hopped to life in the pages of a cautionary tale. His name was Peter, and he was to become the most celebrated rabbit since the Easter Bunny. Now, upon his 75th birthday, the little creature betrays no signs of age-or, for that matter, maturity. Nor do Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Tom Kitten or any of the other animals in the watercolor menagerie of Beatrix Potter. The writer was a victim of Victorian repression -she did not leave home until the age of 47-and her prose is marked with arch names and marred with punishments for the nonconformist...
Sambo, Aunt Jemima, Amos and Andy--historically, blacks have been conscious of public images of themselves because these images have had a tendency to harden into stereotypes. It's difficult to gauge the importance of an image, because its effects are intangible and hard to measure. But in racial issues, image is as important as reality, because what often underlies people's actions are certain preconceptions that are too ingrained to be recognized. And in recent years black students and administrators have grown concerned about their image here...
...more than a little surprised to read that you found Congresswoman Barbara Jordan's "cultivated accent and erudition surprising." She is a lawyer and a member of Congress. Did you expect maybe Aunt Jemima...