Topic Summary
My topic came up a lot during the Gilded Age. I used 4 stereotypes for this project. My first stereotype was the Irish stereotype, and this came up during the Gilded Age because of all of the immigration that started presenting itself during the Gilded Age. The Irish would come here for a new life, and people would push them away. The Irish were known as angry drunks. There were many political cartoons and terrible words put out to out the country against them. The next stereotype that I did was the brute stereotype. Once the civil war was over and African Americans were freed, there were a lot of disrespectful ways the world would look at them. The brute stereotype is portraying an African American man as angry, and violent. Especially to white woman. The third stereotype I looked at was the Jezebel stereotype. This stereotype was a degrading way that people would look at African American women during the Gilded Age. They were looked at as prostitutes. Woman with no sense of self worth. The last stereotype I looked at was the stereotypes that were put out against women in general. Once the civil war had begun, women started to gain a type of independence that they never had before, but even then, they were still expected to have the children, stay home and take care of them. They weren't able to vote or have high paying jobs, even if they had an education.
Mark Twain used the topic of stereotypes to describe the gilded age in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a lot of ways. The way that Huck though of Jim showed that the stereotypes of an African American had gotten to him. Since that was probably all he knew when it came to the African American race. Jim also played a stereotypical African American in the book. He portrayed what everyone thought an African American would act like in a situation like that. Twain also broke boundaries when he did what no one though would happen in the book, he made a white boy and a black man have a bond stronger then a stereotype. That book opened the gate for the Gilded Age. It showed people that there was a world outside of slavery, the country just had to want it.
Mark Twain used the topic of stereotypes to describe the gilded age in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a lot of ways. The way that Huck though of Jim showed that the stereotypes of an African American had gotten to him. Since that was probably all he knew when it came to the African American race. Jim also played a stereotypical African American in the book. He portrayed what everyone thought an African American would act like in a situation like that. Twain also broke boundaries when he did what no one though would happen in the book, he made a white boy and a black man have a bond stronger then a stereotype. That book opened the gate for the Gilded Age. It showed people that there was a world outside of slavery, the country just had to want it.
Primary Sources
The Aunt Jemima pancakes seem like just any other type of marketing food that is on the shelves. We don't really think about it, we just buy the mix because it makes great pancakes. The face of Aunt Jemima, on the other hand, is a stereotypical portal of a mammy caricature from the old south. A mother like figure on the slave plantations.
Women during the Gilded Age were thought less of what they actually were. People men were more superior to women and that women weren't able to do half of the task men would do on a daily basis. Society viewed women as the care taker of the children and the home, nothing more.
During the Gilded Age, African American children were stereotyped under the picaninny caricature. The picaninny caricature shows African American children as neglected, poorly taken care of children. Also shows African American children as uncivilized children and that they have a poor speech.
During the Gilded Age, lazy, miserable servants that were African Americans were considered coons. A coon was never happy with their status in life, but never did anything about it because that's how society would view them. They were usually portrayed as immature adults that would never be able to reach success. They usually walked around slowly and talked slowly.
The Sambo was alike the Coon stereotype in many ways. The Sambo stereotype is viewing an African American man was immature, lazy, simple minded, obedient, and uneducated. Unlike the coon, they were more happy about their status in the world. The didn't mind being considered as such a demeaning thing in America.