ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by stereotypes,

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the wide array of audio equipment available at Radioshack.

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Yeah, that kind.

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All right, check out the picture.

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See the stereotypes there? Hmm?

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Okay, well, in general, racial stereotyping,

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like the minstrel show advertised above,

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affected the national debate about

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race by doing what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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Okay, well minstrel shows, which sometimes incorporated

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blackface, were unfortunately all the rage in the early 19th century.

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The show's simple language and crass humor

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may have appealed to a wide swath of American society,

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but they had a largely negative impact on

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the national race conversation.

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Let's see which answer best describes what happened.

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Did racial stereotyping and minstrel shows

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affect the national race debate

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by A - portraying the atrocities of slavery

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for New England audiences?

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Hmm. Well, actually, minstrel songs and shows

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ignored the realities of slavery,

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favoring slapstick comedy and punchlines over anything

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approaching realism.

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Did minstrel shows impact the race conversation by

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B - demonstrating how Whites and Blacks could coexist

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peacefully?

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Well, it was the opposite, in fact.

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These shows made a point of demeaning black culture,

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which reinforced the racial hierarchy and cemented the social status quo.

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So that eliminates B and C.

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Which means that these minstrel shows

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affected the national race debate by

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D - legitimizing racism by casting Blacks

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as cheerful and lazy.

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While minstrel shows claimed to show

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authentic Black culture,

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they actually relied on racist and pejorative stereotypes

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that portrayed Blacks as, well,

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cheerful, lazy slaves.

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So the correct answer is D,

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as in "damaging to everyone involved."

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[ applause ]

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