Amos 'n' Andy Post

I had never heard of this cartoon before, and was a little surprised after I watched it. This cartoon was created by two white actors, and their intended audience was white viewers. This show made a mockery of African Americans, and the way that Amos and Andy are portrayed is ridiculous. These two characters are shown as unintelligent and animal like. When Andy is about to wrestle Amos shows him a wreath that he’s supposed to put around Andy’s neck after he wins, which makes him look like a race horse. After the wrestling match begins, Andy’s opponent shows animal like behaviors and at one point takes on the image of a moose. At a first glance this may seem like a harmless and funny cartoon, but it is really a cartoon created in a racial period to portray African Americans in an unintelligent and silly manner.

In this week’s discussion, we talked a lot about the color line and I believe that this cartoon may have been created to strengthen the color line in America during this time. The cartoons popularity probably grew out of the fact that white Americans enjoyed the public humiliation of African-Americans. The cartoon was such a success that it was used as a promotional vehicle. Some primary sponsors included Pepsodent toothpaste, Campbell’s Soup, and Rinso detergent. This cartoon was also deeply offensive to civil rights groups, which helped to fuel the civil rights movement. Amos and Andy added to the prejudice of the time and was used as a tool to portray African American as stupid, lazy, and silly.