A History of African American Media (Re-)Presentation

In 1915 David W. Griffith published the film Birth of a Nation. As a post-reconstruction justification for political developments in the South, its infamously racist depictions of African Americans would give rise to the Ku Klux Klan. Griffith’s portrayal of Black Americans was rooted in a history and culture of derogatory media representations spanning both art and literature. This one-sided depiction did not disappear anytime soon, but mainstream media representation was diversified and expanded once African Americans were allowed to partake in mainstream cultural productions. This class will take a look at the development of African American (self-)portrayals across different (audio-)visual mediums (film, tv, photography, comics) from minstrel shows of the mid 19th century to the modern day gangster aesthetic.

In this Blockseminar, students will work with scholarship on media representation and analyze various primary sources, including movies, tv-shows, comics, etc. To this end, we’ll be watching 3-4 movies during our scheduled meetings.

Students are expected to develop a research proposal based on a topic related to the overall topic of this class. In between sessions, they will be working on three minor writing assignments to further sharpen their academic writing skills.