Racism and Racial Discrimination in the United States

Abstract

During the days of American slavery, many whites held stereotypes of African-Americans as inferior, unevolved, incapable. In societies such as the United States, which are characterized by unequal cultural power, prejudiced ideologies, usually affected by history, there is a solid reason for which dominant groups (e.g. whites) sustain and legitimate their power over other groups (e.g. African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians). The present paper is designed to see whether stereotypes during Jim Crow have persisted after the civil rights movement, event that was meant to bring equality and push the United States into a post-racial era. Moreover, this analysis aims to extend the current research on the portrayal of ethnic minorities in advertising, especially in the case of African-Americans. After establishing an analytical and theoretical framework based on the relationship between racial ideology and stereotypes of African-Americans, this study investigates how African-Americans are represented in American advertising and how racial ideology is embedded within those depictions.