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Vintage Racist Advertising
Top left LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 1: Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav present onstage at the VH1 - Big in '04 on December 1, 2004 at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Top right: 1899 -- Uncle Tom's Cabin: Topsy Illustration --- Image by © CORBIS; Bottom right: 1930s AC spark plugs ad in The Saturday Evening Post -- Photo by The Authentic History Center; Bottom left: This cartoon image provided by the New York Post appeared in the Post's Page Six Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. The cartoon, which refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn. on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner, drew criticism Wednesday on media Web sites and from civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton. (AP Photo/New York Post) ** NO SALES ** Credit: Getty Images / Corbis / Authentic History Center / AP
Getty Images / Corbis / Authentic History Center / AP
Advertisement for an African-American slave sale.
Although the enslavement of mankind in general has been recorded as early as 1200 BC; the first African slaves were reportedly transported to the 'New World' in 1517. This is 76 years after the first black slaves were captured and taken to Portugal.
Bettmann / Corbis
African American Stereotypes: Products and Advertising c.1880s Tin of Nigger Hair Tobacco
For decades this product was sold in stores as chewing tobacco or for smoking. It was advertised as 'pure, unadulterated, fine old burley leaf.'
Photo Source: The Authentic History Center
The Authentic History Center
1888 -- Seal of North Carolina Tobacco - The Darktown Bowling Club Poster -- Image by © Swim Ink 2, LLC/CORBIS Seal of North Carolina Tobacco - The Darktown Bowling Club Poster
Swim Ink 2, LLC / Corbis
ca. 1890 -- Zoulou Powder Poster (French advertisement)
Because offensive advertising was permeated throughout the world for many years, (and still is, as you will see in a few upcoming slides) it should come as no surprise that in more modern times 'racism has become the scourge of European soccer stadiums.'
Swim Ink 2, LLC / Corbis
ca. 1899 --- Uncle Tom's Cabin: Topsy Illustration --- Image by © CORBIS Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Topsy was a stereotypical pickaninny character in the book, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Uncle Tom was a slave in the book. The term 'Uncle Tom' is recognized to be offensive and a derogatory name for a black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to whites.
Corbis
ca. 1899 --- George Thatcher's Greatest Minstrels Poster --- Image by © CORBIS George Thatcher's Greatest Minstrels Poster
Early definition of minstrel: a medieval poet and musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour.
The black-face minstrel act was a very popular form of entertainment in 19th-century America. White audiences were receptive to the portrayals of Blacks as singing, dancing, grinning fools. T.D. 'Daddy' Rice, the original Jim Crow, became rich and famous because of his skills as a minstrel. Interestingly though, when he died in New York on September 19, 1860, he was broke.
Corbis
African American Stereotypes: Products and Advertising 1899 Durkee's Salad Dressing advertisement, Harpers Magazine
Notice the broken English purportedly spoken by black Americans, 'We're gwine ter live high ter-night ...'
Photo Source: The Authentic History Centerr
The Authentic History Center
Advertisement for Clarence Brooks and Co.'s Fine Coach Varnishes uses racist stereotypes to depict a group of African-American adults and children as they cheer and watch two shirtless boxers, one of whom appears unconscious, accompanied by the text "the Championship Fight, Sullivan Wins," late 1800s. The Sullivan in the text is a reference to boxer John L. Sullivan, who fought bare-knuckled in several famous bouts.
Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images
Advertisement for the St. Louis Beef Canning Company features an illustration of a stereotyped African-American character sitting on a can of beef, accompanied by phonetically rendered, stereotypical dialect-style text that reads: 'No Sah! dont jine no Exodus so as dis Beef lasts,' late 1800s.
Showing blacks to massacre the English language, further perpetuated the false idea that African Americans were somehow ineducable.
Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images
These days, the practice is largely seen as taboo and racist in the U.S. In other countries, however, blackface is still used as a form of comedy. An Australian variety show host was recently forced to apologize to guest judge Harry Connick, Jr. after the American musician objected to a blackface performance on the show.
One would think we would have passed the point of having to explain why blackface is wrong and offensive, but recent events show that we're not.
The mere act of painting one's skin to resemble another race is unquestionably contentious and divisive. It begs the question: Why did French Vogue do it?
What do you think?
Source : Jezebel
Comments: (500)
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By: Babami on 10/24/2009 4:16PM
Look up the history of Liberia after some freed slaves went back to live in Liberia .
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By: wave on 10/20/2009 2:26PM
We as blacks always have to go out of our way to make white white folk feel comfortable about 300 years of slavery and 100 years of seperate but unequal.
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By: Janet Leland on 10/21/2009 6:38PM
I agree with you completely. I would just like to say that there are those who feel that they have the right to tell us, the once oppressed and abused, that it is okay in the year 2009 for Black face to become commonplace. To those, I say how dare you!!! Your family was not made fun of, denied its rightful place in this world, mocked, abused, families split apart, women raped, men women and children sold and treated as though they were not human. Even after slavery was over, your families gave yourselves priviledges and denied others the same rights. You stole from every race on the planet and somehow have convinced yourselves that you are superior and that you determine how and what other people should think, and feel. How dare you want to trivilize what happened to the families of millions.
Just because some of you want to erase the ugly stain on your race and the ignorance that your people perpetrated upon an entire race of black people that still have generational fallout, does not make it okay with the rest of us. Our people were sold into slavery, mocked, seperated, for a time denied an education or the rights that everyone else had. So we decide if it is offensive to us or not. Not you! And just because you say to get over it is just like asking a rape victim, a holocost victim or the families of the murdered to get over it!!! We get over it when we want to get over it not because you say so. After all we did not even have civil rights until 1964. What was that . . .only 45 years ago.
You don't want to hear it? What? How ignorant your race is. And by the way, Holland, England, France and others had slaves so what in the hell is so chic about black face. Maybe we, black people, should all don white faces and right the word ignorant on it and see how you feel about being reminded about the evil perpetrated upon another race and how ignorant and low-lifed some of your decendents were!
This will only go away for all, when the insensitivy is stopped!
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By: marie on 10/21/2009 8:16PM
I would hope it was done for artistic reasons but i try not to read into it to much i can understand how it could be seen as offensive who paints their face a different color like that. why couldnt they just use a black woman it seemed alittle odd to me.
people who are not of african american descent would not get as offended because its not them. ive heard comments about well what about black people painting themselves white
lets get one thing straight whites were not the ones dragged into another country or beaten or killed like african americans there is a history behind IT, people. and though people think racism doesnt exist any more there are still underlined things being done that you cant out right say its racism because there not saying IT with words but its by peoples action. i think the whole thing is being taken out of context if it was done for artistic purposes lets just believe it was done for that STOP TRYING TO READ INTO THINGS THATS NOT THERE. LETS STOP PLAYING THE RACE CARD ITS GETTING OLD. NOW WHEN THERES A SERIOUS ISSUE WHO GOING TO TAKE IT SERIOSULY WHEN PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS PLAYING THAT CARD!!!!
im not saying racism doesnt exist but man come on this is getting ridiculous.
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By: Janet Leland on 10/21/2009 6:51PM
Every race has standards of respect that the masses adhere to. For instance in some countries to show the bottom of your shoe is a form of disrespect. Any untoword references to an era filled with generational pain is offensive and is not "playing the race card." The world needs to begin to respect blacks and realize that there was nothing cute about that. There is absolutely no need for anyone to dress in blackface, ever!
Just as it is offensive to even dress as Hitler because of the mass murders he committed, those black faces for some of us are a stark reminder that millions of our relatives were shackled, sold, raped and murdered. I say that we should not stop pointing up that these sorts of things are offensive to us because racism is alive and flourishing today throughout the world. After all didn't a cartoonist in the New York Post refer to the President as a Monkey!
You know some racist white people want to claim in one breath that man evolves from apes, but it appears that the truth of the matter is that they only refer to us as monkeys. Why is that?
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By: Babami on 10/24/2009 3:48PM
I'm 55 yrs. old , I,ve seen & heard alot . Somethings I dislike , this is not one of them . looked at all your comments and this is how I feel about what FV did was not offensive to me or my 5 girls (children ) . Who ages fr. 30 yrs to 20 yrs. we all saw the photos . Some of us take a lot of things the wronger way . just look and think before you talk. I dislike BLACKFACE that put us down and make us look other than what we truly look like . Lets not things like this pull us back to the past. We worked hard to show others who we are not .
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By: classact2111 on 10/26/2009 5:26AM
I think blackface looks great. The clothes look amazing in the pictures.
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By: nieda on 10/28/2009 1:23PM
As a black female the photos don't bother me i find them to be actually quite unique and artistic coming from the fashion side of me and being familiar to magazines such as vogue....but i do believe overall we as people need to stop finding flaw in every little thing and turning everything into a race issue a white woman posed as a black woman who is bucked tooth eating watermelon is racist what we need to be asking is why dont these magazines hire more or any black people at all to pose in these pictures now thats a race issue....if we dont want stuff more stuff like this happening then some one needs to push for more black models and both sides needs to stop portraying eachother because we all know black people wear "white face" just like they wear "black face"
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By: berlinqueenb on 10/29/2009 7:21PM
Its not what you do, its how you do it. I don't feel offended at all. Its better subjects to be upset about.
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By: Anon31452 on 11/06/2009 12:04AM
Wow. I've been poking around on the internet, and I honestly can't believe the backlash against French Vogue on this one. Yes, historically, blackface has been used as a derogatory way to depict individuals of color, however, I don't feel any sort of derogatory subtext coming from these photos.
Yes, yes... they could have used a model of colour. But I believe that it was 100% within their intention to invoke strong emotions with this photoshoot. If they had used an African American woman, it would just be another photo spread. (For lack of a better word, it would probably not be as 'special' of a shoot)I think it takes a hell of a lot of balls for Laura Stone, and everyone else involved in this spread to do what they did, and I have to applaud them for their artistic integrity.
Honestly, the reaction more than the photoshoot itself shows that racism is still rampant in the world... This reaction of "Why else would they paint a white woman black?" I think perception is everything, and I think to a certain extent, people WANT to believe that this spread had racist intentions. It has to, right? .... Right? Why else would a white woman WANT to be black?
This has been blown out of proportion.
Laura Stone is not depicting people of color in a derogatory way. Look at her. Look at how powerful she looks. If the photographer was trying to invoke the sentiment of the era of blackface comedians, they could have tried to obtain more... aloof photos of her. They could have brought in another model and shown her in a position of lesser power. They didn't.
Unlike the Jackson 5 incident on that tv show (what was it called? Mad Men?), she is not in a position where she is subservient and attempting to entertain. She just is. She is there and just maybe... she's judging you.
Maybe instead of interpreting it as the fashion industry saying "we don't have black models and we don't need them", we should take a step back and appreciate the pictures for what they are. Pictures.
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