Abigail Newman

African American Literature

Pozel - 3B

4/14/19

African Americans in Animation

Children today are born with technology and sources of media at their fingertips.

Whether one lives in a city or rural areas, has a high or low income, these children of

different racial and ethnic backgrounds share the ability to access many types of media.

Despite a surplus of options, television remains one of the most popular media

platforms for young children. Animated cartoons come in all various art styles, colors,

messages, and voice actors, yet there is still a lack of diversity of characters. The

amount of representation for minority groups is slowly but surely growing, and the

importance of the racial representation in animation increases with the more media

intake our children have.

Many studies have been done to understand children's media intake within

different devices, one study according to an article written by the organization

“Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development”, new technologies

are allowing children to watch television on the internet, on cell phones, and iPod, which

“has led to an increase of television consumption from 3:51 hours to 4:29 hours per day

among children 8-18.” Within these groups of young ones, Black children spend nearly

six hours watching television within their day, Hispanics a bit under five and a half, and
three and a half hours a day for white youth. These statistics show how much media is

consumed within our younger generation, and those different ethnic and racial groups

that are exposed to them. This data furthers the importance of creating cartoons with

diversity in them, seeing that many of those who watch television the most are children

that are not able to be represented in these children’s cartoons.

A ​professor by the name of F. Earle Barcus taught and wrote about the effects of

mass media on society, focusing his studies on things such as U.S. race relations,

inter-cultural perceptions, and children's programming. ​In the 1970s, Barcus released

analysis work he did when studying children's television. His research expressed a

troubling ratio of white and non-white characters. In 1983, Barcus had examined roughly

1,100 characters in 20 children's television shows and found only a mere 42 of these

characters were Black and 47 others that had fit into other groups of color. Seeing the

lack of representation through numbers is eye-opening; this data shows just how many

characters of color there was in the early years of children's television, little to none.

Before looking into present-day television and the progression we’ve made, there

were many racists cartoons that targeted against viewers of color. At the beginning of

animation, between 1930 and 1950, animators such as Warner Brothers, Walt Disney,

Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, and many others, produced cartoons containing racial

stereotypes. One of the most known racist animations is “​Scrub me Mama with a

Boogie Beat​” made in 1941. The NAACP wrote a letter to Universal Studios, explaining

the animation depicts African Americans “as lazy and only activated by swing music.”

The short uses stereotypes of African American people and culture, drawing the
characters with “big lips”, eating watermelon, and being “dirty/unkempt”, and the

stereotypes of one's life in the rural South. Warner Bros. cartoons passed to United

Artists in 1968 and created a "Censored 11" list of cartoons they did not air or make

available for purchase. Since then, many more classic cartoons were heavily edited or

pulled from televisions and shelves. Animations during this time had their characters of

color but were reductive in their portrayal.

Shortly after the “Censored 11” was created, in the 1970s is when African

Americans in animation started to evolve and industries provided the community with

representation through main characters. Representation picked up with The Jackson

Five and The Harlem ​Globetrotters animated outings, and in 1972 is when the first

cartoon series with an all-black cast was produced, Bill Cosby's “​Fat Albert and the

Cosby Kids”​ . This series lasted until 1985 and after that,” black cartoons” were nowhere

to be seen it felt to viewers. It's possible that animation industries moved toward using

animals and racially inconspicuous characters instead. These African American

dominated animations weren’t back around until 1996, showing even more

representation than before with cartoons such as “​Waynehead​”, “​Little Bill​”, and “​The

Proud Family​” which all brought the perfect blend of education, life lessons, and

entertainment. These cartoons expanded to adults as well, with popular shows such as

“​The Boondocks​”, ​“Black Jesus​” and “​The Cleveland Show​”. ​The Boondocks​, created

by Aaron McGruder in 2005, has been one of the most well known black cartoons in the

early 2000s.Based mainly on African American culture and race relations, the show

uses social satires to convey messages bluntly to provide what network shows are
either afraid of or do not care enough to take on. Issues brought up in the show such as

politics, social inequalities, and stereotypes allow viewers to become more aware of the

problems that are in America and how it is run. Between the years of the 1970s and the

early 2000s, animation industries took a huge step into growing representation for

African Americans.

Today's cartoons have expanded dramatically to include more identities for

viewers to connect and relate to. There will always be more room for improvement, but

children's animated television shows such as ​“Doc Mcstuffins​”, and “​Craig of the Creek​”,

as well as new animated movies like “​The Princess and the Frog​”​ a
​ nd “​Spider-Man: Into

the Spider-Verse​” have given the African American community a chance to see

themselves in a character within these cartoons. The popular Disney show ​“Doc

Mcstuffins”​ is about a young girl who hopes to be a doctor like her mother and practices

on her stuffed animals. The show breaks down stereotypes and traditional narratives

drastically, episodes show her mother’s private practice and her leaderism in this, with

other black women involved. Doc Mcstuffins father is seen always at home, which is

perceived by viewers that he is a stay-at-home father. Today's cartoons have been able

to include many different identities that the African American community can connect

with. These new animations allow viewers the opportunity to find a character they can

best relate to. The “jock”, a leader, a problem solver, a “geek”, a “cool guy”, and even

ones who live in the suburbs, cartoons are evolving to include different personalities and

life situations that African Americans are able to see themselves through a character in

the animation industry.

 There is a high amount of media consumption in young children and teens, and it

will only go up while technology is evolving and changing. An article written by

professors from Tufts University explains the importance of children seeing diversity on

television and movies, explain that there is a relationship between low-self esteem and

negative media portrayals of racial groups, and the scarcity of them. Media

misrepresentations of ethnic groups can cause confusion about aspects of the child's

identity, as well as viewers who assume the stereotypes in media are true. Julie Dobrow

writes in a similar article that children are able to perceive race, ethnicity, and gender

from about age three and onward, assessing “who looks and sounds like me, and who

doesn’t.” Some directors of children's animated shows believe that “what has worked

before, tends to be used again”, even if that is what has been stereotyped. Directors

have asked voice actors to sound more “urban”, to fit the more stereotyped African

American dialect. These animated cartoons are key to a child's development whether

one realizes or not, these animations allow a child to understand more about

themselves as well as others. Being able to see diversity between characters teaches

children other cultures, dialects, and that other ethnicities and races live and act just like

them.

African American representation in animated cartoons can continue to grow and

develop. The future for black cartoons is important in allowing that every day African

American to be able to connect with a character they see on screen. To further this

process, cartoons should be able to have African American characters to be without any

political statements. Just as in the real world, American is a melting pot and we have to
include that in these animations. Everyday people, for the everyday character. Allowing

Black writers to be included more into the process of making these animations is

important to have experienced the elements of having brown skin for behind these

characters. A White animator can make these characters, but having the background

and culture to fit that character is important to give the viewer an accurate

representation of the character. It’s important for children who are viewing these

animated cartoons to be able to identify themselves and have an understanding of

those around them.

African American representation in animated cartoons has progressed

dramatically and continues to develop over time. Children have been able to consume

media more and more every day in different ways, and so it’s important for animations

to be able to create relateable identities through different races, ethnicities, and

characteristics. Providing children with diversity in characters gives them an

understanding of their own self, as well as other people they will come across in the

world. The real world has a variety of races; white should not be the default in these

animations and rather should reflect the diversity of our world in these characters.
 Citations:

Dobrow, Julie, et al. “Why It's so Important for Kids to See Diverse TV and Movie

Characters.” The Conversation, 20 Sept. 2018,

theconversation.com/why-its-so-important-for-kids-to-see-diverse-tv-and-movie-charact

ers-92576.

“Diversity in Kid's Cartoons.” Novella, 15 Oct. 2017,

novellamag.com/diversity-in-kids-cartoons/.

Dobrow, Julie. “Oscars May Be So White, but So Are Kids' Cartoons.” The Huffington

Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Mar. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-dobrow/oscars-may-be-so-white-bu_b_9375072.html.

“Children's Television (CTV) Project.” Childrens Television CTV Project,

sites.tufts.edu/ctvresearch/about/.

Scott, Laura. “The Importance of Representation in Kids' Cartoons.” Affinity Magazine,

31 Jan. 2017,

affinitymagazine.us/2017/01/28/the-importance-of-representation-in-kids-cartoons/.