A consolidated list of racial tropes

The following list was formerly included in Racial injustice in American history part 6 of On microaggressions and racial issues, particularly in the lifestyle: A resource for White people.

The primary focus here is on tropes and stereotypes about Black people.

However, other POC are also the targets of stereotypes and tropes. For more information, see "With regard to other minority groups," here.

What follows here is by no means a complete list. It's based on a series of Wikipedia summaries of some of the better-known tropes — which are nothing more than dismissive, racist generalizations about Black people.

By re-posting them here as a collection, my hope is to make readers more aware of how pervasive they are in our culture.

I hope you'll use this set as a starter kit — an eye-opener that will help you recognize additional tropes in movies, literature, the media, and other aspects of America's social and political life.

The more aware we are of the way our society reduces Black people to walking clichés, the better-equipped we'll be to eliminate these tropes from our own thinking.

• Romantic racism, (Wikipedia entry).

• Magical Negro, (Wikipedia entry).

• The Magical Negroes of Stephen King, uploaded Nov. 30, 2021, to the Princess Weekes channel on YouTube. (The uploader explores the magical Negro trope, as presented in the Tony Curtis/Sidney Poitier classic "The Defiant Ones," as well Stephen King's "The Green Mile," "The Stand," and "The Shining.")

• Uncle Remus, (Wikipedia entry).

• Uncle Tom, (Wikipedia entry).

• Mammy archetype in the United States, (Wikipedia entry).

• From mammy to Ma: Hollywood’s favourite racist stereotype, by Ellen E Jones, BBC, May 31, 2019. (“The history of black women on screen is closely tied up with the mammy figure, a racist caricature divorced from the reality of US race relations during slavery and afterwards. Traditionally depicted as a dark-skinned, overweight woman, wearing a headwrap and shawl, the mammy is employed by a white family to care for their children and is utterly devoted to her charges. … Maybe the most important thing to know about mammy, though, is that she never actually existed.“)

• Jim Crow (character), (Wikipedia entry).

• Who was Jim Crow, by Kat C.

• Angry black woman, (Wikipedia entry).

  See also The Sapphire Caricature, a page from the Jim Crow Museum website, written by Dr. David Pilgrim, Aug. 2008.

• Tragic mulatto, (Wikipedia entry).
  See also The Tragic Mulatto Myth, a page from the Jim Crow Museum website, written by Dr. David Pilgrim, Nov. 2000. (This extended but worthwhile read explores the myth of the tragic mulatto in American history and cinema. It also discusses the impact of America's one-drop rule.)

• Welfare queen, (Wikipedia entry).

• Watermelon stereotype, (Wikipedia entry). (Trigger warning: In its exploration of the watermelon stereotype's history, this entry includes the N-word and other racist language.)

• “Boneless jungle ham.” I’ve never been able to find a written explanation for this one, but if you check this image, the meaning should be very clear.

• Fried chicken stereotype, a Wikipedia entry.

The White Savior trope

• Why Sci-fi & Fantasy Can't Fix Its White Savior Problem, uploaded Apr. 3, 2024 to the Princess Weekes channel, on YouTube. (This video examines the history of the white savior trope, beginning with Rudyard Kipling's introduction of the "white man's burden" as European justifications for colonialism. The uploader explores the role of early white savior-themed literature and its continuing influnce on popular entertainment, as well as the use of the white savior trope — and other racist stereotypes — Dune, Game of Thrones, and other productions. "A white savior is essentially a white character who has privileges and abilities tied to their race or some kind of racial superiority and uses it to uplift a more marginalized community. [The] problematic nature of this trope comes from works in the Western canon, where they were created by white authors who believed in the inherent superiority of white people and the inferiority of nonwhite people. ...most of these characters are men. White female characters can also play into this trope. Their gender is also sometimes used to place them in a similar marginalized sphere to people of color. However, they still have a sense of superiority that is racialized.")
  For contrast, consider the "magical Negro" trope, and the rarity of Black savior heroes like Black Panther. Offhand, I can think of one movie that (more or less) avoids the white savior trope: "Dances With Wolves." Meanwhile, magical Negro characters play a secondary (or even tertiary) role, offering advice, comfort and counsel to a white protagonist. Often, the magical Negro character's counsel is vital to the success of a white savior.
  For an extensive exploration of the white savior and other racist stereotypes in film, see Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, 5th edition, by Donald Bogle, Continuum Publishing Co., NY, 2001. (Reprinted by Bloomsbury Academic, NY, 2015. Be sure you choose the 5th edition.)

• The White Savior Trope, Explained, The Take, posted ca. Jul. 1, 2020. The text was uploaded to YouTube in this video.
  This is a thorough explanation of why the White savior trope is dismissive of Black characters, reducing them to one-dimensional stereotypes while portraying the White savior character as single-handedly overcoming systemic racism. The most critical takeaways can be found in this excerpt:
  "The hyperfocus on racism at the individual level also creates the illusion of good and bad white people who either choose to be racist or choose not to be. This oversimplified framing offers an easy scapegoat for white audiences while handing them an admirable, non-racist white figure they can relate to.
  "Another key feature of the white savior narrative is that it tends to be set in the past. This allows viewers to comfortably look back on how far we’ve come from this period setting when prejudice was more egregious and overt. And it avoids making white viewers feel excessively implicated in the ongoing racism of the society they’re still a part of.
  "Writer Teju Cole, who coined the term “white savior industrial complex” to describe white-centered intervention in the African continent, describes white saviorism as “a big emotional moment that validates privilege.” In other words, the myth of the white savior is that in showing compassion to a non-white person, white people can absolve themselves of their privilege.
  "In the end, while the white savior is positioned as relatively selfless, the resolution almost certainly involves them being rewarded with some sort of personal fulfillment."