The film, "Ethnic Notions," shown on Sunday, Feb. 10 in the Lindsey Young Auditorium, depicted the historical injustices performed against black Americans through the use of caricatures and popular media.

Directed and produced by Marlon Riggs, the film tracked media discrimination against black Americans from the early 1900s to the present.  It showed the appalling ideas and thoughts that whites disseminated through the media about black people in America.

The film emphasized that during slavery whites strove to disseminate the idea that blacks were happy and content to serve and be controlled by their masters.  This was done by the popularization of two caricatures, the "sambo" and the "mammy."  The sambo was the term that whites used to spread the idea of a happy and content male slave. 

Pictures covered newspapers and flyers which showed drawings of slaves serving their masters with gigantic unreal smiles.  During one poignant section of the film, an audio clip of the description of a "happy sambo" played while images of whipped and beaten slaves appeared onscreen.

Concerning the damage done by these images in the past, the film said "black caricatures did as much harm as any lynch mob."

The mammy was a caricature that whites used to spread the idea of a happy woman slave.  The mammy possessed all the qualities that made her ideal for serving her master and keeping the home clean.  However, she possessed no qualities that made her of any value to society beyond this.  She was motherly and subservient, yet fat, unattractive and manly.

According to the film, media depictions of blacks changed dramatically after the Emancipation. 

"Emancipation was viewed as a tragic mistake," the film said in reference to the popular opinion of whites. 

As a result, blacks were depicted in the media as frightening savages.  A Broadway play was introduced in which black males tried to attack young white virgins.

Even black children were depicted as unruly savages.  Whites created degrading nursery rhymes in which the children played violent games and accidentally killed each other.  Such images were put forth to suggest that blacks needed to be controlled and that America should return to the "good old times" with slavery and the "sambo."

In the 1920s, blacks began to gain control of their depiction in the media, the film said.  The self-created "New Negro" emerged in which blacks asserted their independence and their manhood.  Though many whites still clung to the false idea that blacks obtained the greatest joy from serving superior whites, it was clear that the image of black Americans was making a positive change.

"Ethnic Notions" closed by saying that all obvious caricatures and media defacement of blacks has ended.  However, they still exist through popular images such as greeting cards with a large black "mammy" on the front and the tough white male with his black sidekick who is savagely beating up everyone around him. 

Concerning the damage done by these images in the past, the film said "black caricatures did as much harm as any lynch mob."

The film "Ethnic Notions" was shown as a part of Intercultural Intersections.  This University of Tennessee organization is designed to give students the ethnical and cultural knowledge that will best prepare them to succeed in today's diverse world and workplace.  Events are held every Sunday at 2 p.m. and include films, forums and speakers.