African American Stereotypes: History and Sources Essay

Introduction

Stereotypes are considered as the pictures formed in the mind of individuals looking into their social worlds. Individuals hold different views as concerning other people’s way of life and what the society expects of them. They also exist from the point of view of the person who is being stereotyped. The society is made up of different social groups living in diverse geographical area. Each group perceives itself as being superior and all other groups are regarded to be inferior to it. For example the America perceive the black America to be lazy and ignorant thereby denying them employment. The effects of stereotypes are much more than the simple perceptions in people’s minds. Certainly, the discriminating individuals have negative beliefs about the targets of their discrimination. The stereotyped individual’s self esteem and worth are lowered as they struggle to fit in the society (Macrae 3). When stereotypes are consensually shared within a society, their consequences become much more destructive, because they affect entire groups of people in a common way. The individual approach to stereotyping has primarily been associated with the prevailing social cognitive tradition. The basic assumption of this approach is that, over time, people develop beliefs about the characteristics of the important social groups in their environment, and this knowledge influences their responses toward subsequently encountered individual members of those groups. We can therefore say the stereotypes develop as the individual perceives his or her environment. The perceived information about social groups is interpreted, programmed in memory, and then retrieved for use in directing responses (Macrae, p. 369).

African American Stereotypes

Over time I have always held the view that white Americans are superior to the blacks in terms of intelligence and strength. Black Americans are perceived to be weaker beings that have to depend on the whites for their survival. The whites have taken advantage of this perspective and have continually denied the African their rights and freedoms. Few of the black Americans are able to secure jobs in the western countries and if they do, they are poorly paid. The educational attainment and school retention rates of African American children have lagged behind those of whites for as long as records have subsisted. At the college level, only about 40 percent of black Americans graduate after studying for six years as compared to 60% of white Americans who actually graduate. Among the African that graduate, most of them earn grade point averages two-thirds of a letter grade below those of white graduates (Jones, p. 81). These differences in academic performance reflect the impact of stereotypes on black Americans. The problem suggests that, the difference between the black and white performances in college is not completely caused by differences in training. The under performance or achievement among the blacks is a clear indication of the stereotype threat that is a constant feature of the African American education environment.

Sources of African American Stereotypes

The history of the black Americans stereotypes began as early as the 16^th century when Africans arrived in the new world as indentured servants and slaves. African American history and life is well understood in the 17^th century due to the effects that occurred. It was one of the years when Africans went through slavery in the hand of the American which is still remarkable today. Despite the bewilderment, the date is one that bears historical weight. Many have made the fake supposition that, the Africans who were introduced in America represented the start of slavery in what became the United States. It was more likely that the Africans were “remaindered” captives (Jacob and Apple, p. 103).

The slavery work included obeying the master’s orders to gain his trust. However, this trust did not lessen the hard burden required of a slave. For example every slave had to pummel 4 bushels of corn per night in a barrel (for the poultry), failure to which would see him severely punished. Many were the times when they were threatened to be sold down the river. They were pressed with fear, beyond self-defense (Jacob and Apple, p. 67). This had psychological effect on the slaves concerned. Discrimination of African American by the whites is still present today. Most of my white friends in class hold the view that Africans are inferior and incapable of doing the same things as those done by the whites. Most of these Africans have gone to the extent of accepting the stereotype and they believe that they do not have the strength and ability to do the things done by the whites. They still lag behind in terms of performance and have shown no signs of improving.

Conclusion

This has extended to the African countries which depend on American technology. Most of them import American technology which is usually expensive and hard to maintain. I know I have not fully gotten over the stereotype, but I belief that some of these African countries portray themselves as being the weaker characters hence the persistent of the stereotype. I have tried to talk to some of my African class mates who believe that they cannot perform better. During our discussions, they have realized that, they have the same opportunities and ability as those available to the white Americans. Some have actually realized that, they can perform better than the white in both class work and workplace. For a long time, I have perceived the blacks as being lazy and uninformed and wondered why they were not showing any signs of improving little did I know that, they had taken people’s perception about them to be true and lived according to what people perceived them to be. If only the African Americans are helped to realize that these are just stereotypes, then I think they can perform better than the whites. Majority of my white friends and relatives still hold this stereotype and are reluctant to offer any Africans an employment opportunity. They believe that they cannot work on their own and have to be closely monitored.

Works Cited

1. Jacob, Merle. & Apple, Hope. To be continued: an annotated guide to sequels. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000.
2. Jones, Lee. Retaining African Americans in higher education: challenging paradigms for retaining students, faculty, and administrators. Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2001.
3. Macrae, Neil C. Stangor, Charles and Hewstone Miles. Stereotypes and stereotyping. Guilford Press, 1996.