Racial Ridicule

Elena Ariola
To Kill a Mockingbird- 1962
● Takes place during the Great Depression
● A black resident is falsely accused of raping a white woman
● The falsely accused black man is later killed

This story shows racism because they assumed that a

black guy raped the white woman which was not the
case. This shows racism because the black man was
falsely accused and we can assume it was because of
his skin color. Studies show that the majority of accused
criminals are black and only a small percent of those are
guilty.
Censoring Racial Ridicule~ 1890-1930
This book discusses many different cultures and the way society treats them. In
addition to different cultures and ethnicities, it discusses a variety of religions. In
this book certain religions are frowned upon and discriminated showing that
society was very exclusive and prejudice.
Sports and Games
Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)

● Broke the “color barrier” in baseball

● First African American to play in the major leagues

When Robinson finally made it into the major league, he received “racial taunts,
discrimination, and even death threats from hostile fans opposed to integration.”
(Schnakenberg 646)
Sports and Games
Chinese Checkers (1892)

● Made to capitalize on Americans thinking Asians were weird

● American checkers has one hole and is occupied by the richest player

Many people do not realize how socially unjust the simple game of chinese
checkers is. Through the years there have been several different versions of
Chinese Checkers adding another social issue. The first version consisted of a
game made to capitalize on Americans were several years later another version
was created to express social class and represent the different classes of society.
Film and Theatre
Minstrel Show ( Early 1900s)

● American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century

● A form of variety show in which “the performers often presented stereotypical
and racist impressionists of African Americans” (Edelman 34)

Many white actors performed

“blackface” by applying makeup
to look black.
Film and Theatre
The Cheat (1915)

● The cheat is a long and expensive movie that

contains evidence of America’s racist past

● Involves not only African Americans but other

cultures like Japanese.
 Fashion
Flappers (1920s)

● The ideal look for young women in the 1920s

● Flappers had short hair and wore simple straight dresses and brightly colored
lipstick

● Flappers indirectly helped “pave the way for women’s advances in other
aspects of life, including education and careers.” (Routledge 281)

This shows the discrimination women faced in the early 1900s. Society told them how to dress and what
to do with their lives. At the time they were not allowed to get an education or job outside of the
Music
Ragtime (Early 1900s)

● Scott Joplin was an African American

● African Americans “fared better in the field of music than they did elsewhere
in American popular culture during the decade.” (Berg 71)

Some of the earliest and greatest practitioners were

African Americans
Music
Jazz (Early 1900s)

● African Americans were better practitioners in jazz music

● In the 1930s and 1940s jazz turned into a “swing era”

The song “Black, Brown, and Beige” by Duke Ellington is “a musical history of
African Americans” (Berg 73)
Klu Klux Klan
Klu Klux Klan (Late 1800s - Early 1900s)

● America’s oldest white supremacist organization

● The Klan resisted the federal government with “beatings, murder, and
terrorism” (Gustainis 234)
● They relieved boredom by dressing up in white sheets and playing pranks on
their neighbors at night.
Movies
The Wizard of Oz

● Can be seen as a religious movie as many believed the yellow brick road was
“the path of enlightenment” and the water used to kill the witch was baptising
against sin.
● The characters in the Wizard of Oz hold American values
Movies
Cowboy (1958)

● Stereotypical movie showing how cowboys dressed and acted

● This movie came out during one of the big Cowboy Eras
Dress Code
Luisa Capetillo is sent to jail for wearing trousers

● She was a writer and activist who argued that women should have the same
rights as men.
● She wore a man suit in public and was put in jail
Dress Code
Iran bans the Hijab (1936)

● Reza Shah made it illegal for all girls and women to wear the hijab in public.
● Law was met with resistance from the religious minority
● Many husbands and fathers began to forbid their daughters and wives from
leaving the house so that they would not have to remove their headscarves.
Works Cited
Arts, "The 1900s, and Entertainment: Topics in the News.". “The 1900s Arts and Entertainment: Topics in the News.” The Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th Ed, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/culture-magazines/1900s-arts-and-
entertainment-topics-news.

“Censoring Racial Ridicule.” Google Books,

books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BeG3BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=racial%2Bridicule&ots=Ohp7C8UZdc&sig=wVUrmYP
wq5t4DKczYbHEtg4KYb4#v=onepage&q=racial%20ridicule&f=false.

Eugene-Volokh. “‘Racial Ridicule’ Is a Crime in Connecticut -- and People Are Being Prosecuted.” Reason.com, Reason, 6 Aug. 2018,
reason.com/volokh/2018/08/06/racial-ridicule-is-a-crime-in-connecticu.

“Professionalizing and Masculinizing a Female Occupation: The Reconceptualization of Hospital Administration in the Early 1900s.”
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.2.233.

Tikhonov, Vladimir. “Masculinizing the Nation: Gender Ideologies in Traditional Korea and in the 1890s–1900s Korean Enlightenment
Discourse | The Journal of Asian Studies.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 29 Oct. 2007,
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/masculinizing-the-nation-gender-ideologies-in-traditional-korea-and-
in-the-1890s1900s-korean-enlightenment-discourse/0484D3A7A0FF31BF857D5DB8A5A6C8BA.