Kingfish was married to Sapphire Stevens who regularly berated him as Lazy, easily confused, chronically unemployed, financially inept buffoon given to Took financial advantage of the ignorance and naivete of Andy and others (see, forĮxample, the episode Kingfish Sells a Lot). Kingfish, a get-rich-quick schemer and a con artist who avoided work, and, when possible, George "Kingfish" Stevens, the leader of the lodge. Starring in a nontitle lead role was the character The lead characters were Amos Jones, a Harlem taxi driverĪnd his gullible friend, Andy Brown. Americans learned that blacks were comical,Īmos 'n Andytold stories about the everyday foibles of the members of the Mystic Knights of the Popularized racial caricatures of blacks. Both as a radio show3Īnd television show, Amos 'n' Andy was extremely popular, and this was unfortunate for African Americans because it The Advancement of Colored People and the civil rights movement. It was removed, in large part, through the efforts of the National Association for
The television version of the show, with network television's firstĪll-black cast, aired on CBS from 1951-53, with syndicated reruns from 1954 to 1966. 2 The show, with a mostly-white cast, aired on the radio from 1928 to 1960, with intermittent
At its best, Amos 'n' Andy was a situational comedy at its worse, it was an auditory minstrel show. The characters Amos Jones and Andy Brown by mimicking and mocking black behavior andĭialect. Was conceived by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, two white actors who portrayed It was not until the Amos 'n' Andy radio show that the characterization of African American women as domineering, aggressive,Īnd emasculating shrews became popularly associated with the name Sapphire. She was not a threat to the existing social order.
In these roles she was sassy (borderline impertinent)īut always loyal. Many movies, including Judge Priest (Wurtzel & Ford, 1934), Music is Magic (Stone & Marshall, 1935), The Little Colonel (DeSylva & Butler, 1935), Alice Adams (Berman & Stevens, 1935), Saratoga (Hyman & Conway, 1937), The Mad Miss Manton (Wolfson & Jason, 1938), and Gone With the Wind (Selznick & Fleming, 1939). Was Hattie McDaniel, a black actress who played feisty, quick-tempered mammies in Their sassiness was supposed to indicate that they were acceptedĪs members of the white family, and acceptance of that sassiness implied that slaveryĪnd segregation were not overly oppressive. Jailed, or killed for arguing with whites, fictional Mammies were allowed to pretend-chastise During the Jim Crow period, when real blacks were often beaten, These women were allowed, at least symbolically, to defy
Sapphire Stevensįrom the 1800s through the mid-1900s, black women were often portrayed in popularĬulture as "Sassy Mammies" who ran their own homes with iron fists, including beratingīlack husbands and children. Norms that encourage them to be passive, servile, non-threatening, and unseen. The Sapphire Caricature isĪ harsh portrayal of African American women, but it is more than that it is a socialĬontrol mechanism that is employed to punish black women who violate the societal Unendingly bitter and wishes that unhappiness on others. To dominate and her hyper-sensitivity to injustices make her a perpetual complainer,īut she does not criticize to improve things rather, she criticizes because she is Targets, she has venom for anyone who insults or disrespects her. Although African American men are her primary She is a shrill nagger with irrational states of anger and indignation and Jabbing (or arms akimbo), violently and rhythmically rocking her head, mocking AfricanĪmerican men for offenses ranging from being unemployed to sexually pursuing white She is tart-tongued and emasculating, one hand on a hip and the other pointing and 1 This is the Angry Black Woman (ABW) popularized in the cinema and on television. The Sapphire Caricature portrays black women as rude, loud, malicious, stubborn, and
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