Effects of Stereotyping on African Americans

Mar 20, 2025
9 min read

By: Shan'Tiera Clark Written in 2017

As an African American, often African American people are stereotyped. African Americans are categorized as being on welfare, crackheads, angry black women, and drug dealers. Society have also stereotyped black people as the magical negro. Magical negro characters have played roles in films and television programs. African American men play the role of having special powers who help white characters out of jams, seemingly unconcerned about their own lives (Nittle, 2017). The term stereotype was coined by journalist Walter Lippman whom referred to stereotypes at “the little pictures we have in our head.” People have always generalized about African Americans regardless of within groups variations. Society is the main component of the negative attitude toward African Americans. African American stereotypes is a cognitive belief that African American are not smart and can’t compare to other races when that is not true; this is the social psychological concepts of a stereotype. Ultimately, these stereotypes effect African Americans drastically emotionally and cause stereotype threats.

African Americans are extremely intelligent and that’s what scares other races. Black people don’t have an issue with gaining knowledge, however; if black people know too much then they will become independent and self-sufficient people. What is also very interesting is how most of the people that have written Black History books are not black people, they are white. Therefore, how can we expect these same people to educate us on our roots? The reality is that we can’t, because then we will become competition to white people. We can’t expect our former enslavers to give us the resources to be successful. This is why Carter G. Woodson wrote the book, “The Miseducation of a Negro” and started Negro History Week. He also explains to us how the government intentionally want to miseducation African people so that we would never know who we are and never access the power that we really have as African Americans. The classical conditioning learning style process is associated between a previously neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally evokes a response. Carter G. Woodson says that we have been conditioned, and we have to be reconditioned in order to change that (Woodson, 1933). Since people already believe that African Americans are dumb and can’t do anything but to sing and dance, they try to teach us to work for other people and not be the boss. Due to the lack of black studies black people began to have a void from having insecurities, intra-racial cleavages, and interracial antagonisms (Woodson, 1933).

Comedic performances of “blackness” by whites have exaggerated costumes and make-up cannot be separated fully from the racial derision and [exemplifies] stereotyping at its core (Smithsonian, 2017). By distorting the features and culture of African Americans including the way African Americans look, their language, dance, deportment, and character (Smithsonian, 2017). In the “Out of Darkness” documentary, Dr. Joy DeGruy believed that black people try to distant themselves and avoid black history because they have been taught that they are not worthy, and neither is the black culture (Christ, 2015). Dr. Welsing, who wrote “The Isis Paper,” said that from birth people have been conditioned to think negatively of black people. She informs us that Norm Stamper who also wrote a book called, “Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing”; which revealed how police are afraid of black men (Welsing, 1982). Ultimately, black men were incarcerated and taken out of the household so that they’re not able to function as a husband and father. This also meant taking away jobs since they could not get a job after getting out of prison plus, they were killing our black men (Welsing, 1982). All these factors take a huge toll on the African American community simply because of stereotypes.

In the Anderson Cooper Doll Test experiment several children were asked questions solely on the appearance of the way a child look. Children identified African American children or dark colored children as the child that was more likely to be dumb, mean, bad, and even disliked by adults simply because of their skin tone. African American college students tend to obtain lower grades than their White counterparts, even when they enter college with equivalent test scores (Aronson, 2000). Past research suggests that negative stereotypes impugning Black students' intellectual abilities play a role in this underperformance. Awareness of these stereotypes can psychologically threaten African Americans, a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995), which can in turn provoke responses that impair both academic performance and psychological engagement with academics (Aronson, 2000). Often, African American students experience stereotype threats in school because they worry about committing errors around other races, especially around white people.

In the article “When the Media Misrepresents Black Men, the Effects Are Felt in The Real World,” Leigh Donaldson explains similar views to Dr. Welsing. Donaldson states that the lives of black men in the United States have long been adversely affected by negative public perceptions. Black men are turned away from jobs because they are not the “right fit” (Donaldson, 2015). While on the streets, we are regularly treated by police as dangerous suspects. Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, described their alleged tussle by testifying: “when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” even though the two men had the same height (Donaldson, 2015).

In 2011 a study was conducted by The Opportunity Agenda on negative mass media portrayals, which were strongly linked with lower life expectations among black men (Donaldson, 2015). These portrayals were consistently reinforced in print media, on television, the internet, fiction shows, print advertising and video games, to shape the public views and attitudes towards African American men (Donaldson, 2015). They specifically wanted to create barriers for African Americans. According to the Opportunity Agenda study, the media tend to have the greatest impact on the perceptions of people with less real-world experience (Donaldson, 2015). People who have never interacted with a black families in their communities are easily convinced to embrace what the media tells them and the most negative impact is upon black individuals themselves (Donaldson, 2015).

Derogatory portrayals can demoralize and reduce self-esteem causing black men and boys to internalize biases and stereotype (Donaldson, 2015). [This is typically showed] through their behavior [which] reinforce[s] and [confirm] the misrepresentations; they become victims of perception (Donaldson, 2015). Not only does the media’s reluctance to [stereotypes] provide more balanced perspectives of our African American male population, but it worsens cultural division among all people (Donaldson, 2015). It also enables judges to hand out harsher sentences, companies to deny jobs, banks to decline loans and the police to shoot indiscriminately (Donaldson, 2015). These negative stereotypes have damaged our African American men causing them to have to fight just to be able to live. This is why it is hard for other cultures to understand African American men, knowing that the study of black men is still new to the generation. There is still a lack of information for our black people about our black people. This is why black people need to study ourselves, because nobody else cares to inform us; therefore, we must inform ourselves. We get an education not to run away but to go back and educate our people.

African Americans must first be aware of these issues and try their best to understand the situation and the odds that are against them. African Americans have to be able to say that they didn’t understand what was happening but now that they have more clarity now, they can dissect what is really happening. Black people have to be able to take it all the way back to slavery where we had our own black people enslaving other black people all because they were getting paid. Although, at the time many didn’t understand exactly what was happening. We as black people thought we was free though emancipation, then white created laws that held African Americans back, then African Americans thought that just changing the law would fix things and even allowing black people to vote; eventually it reached a point of the nullification of laws. Even the religion of Christianity was given to black people. They gave us a picture of the son of God to give us the “image” that God’s son was a white man which ultimately gave African Americans the “image” that God looked like the people who was enslaving African Americans. White people’s goal was to dominate and kill; they wanted to condition and program African Americans to hate black people (Welsing, 1982). They want us to hate our own people because they hate black people, but hate is only fear disguised, which is why we must educate ourselves. Being black is the parent of all races. We just have to force people to notice and recognize that white supremacy is real just as much as anything else.

Racial stereotypes have a damaging influence on the development of African American women that follow them throughout life. A study was created to evaluate the influence of how white and black women value and perceive their own gender (Lack, 2015). Research suggests that African American women and white women view womanhood as comprising many of the same components: gender-based mistreatment and perceived advantages (Lack, 2015). Inner strength emerged only for the African American woman. Both groups of women felt that they were vulnerable to being mistreated in most areas of their lives; personally, academically and professionally, which likely intensifies the negative impact of such experiences (Lack, 2015). The psychological impact of this mistreatment included feelings of fear, mistrust, and anger.

They described characteristics of participants in the study, they discussed the idea of inner strength in terms of the image of the “Strong Black Woman”, therefore linking this concept to their gender and racial status (Lack, 2015). Consistent with the stereotype image, being a strong Black woman confirming behaviors such as caring for their family while working and supporting the family economically (Lack, 2015). Also, some personality traits such as resolve, self-reliance, and persistence. Some participants believed that racism directed toward African American men made it more likely for them to be absent from the household, furthering the need for African American women to be strong and self-reliant (Lack, 2015). These women also noted the emotional burden of having to be strong. The idea of the strong black woman or called the “Superwoman” stereotype is associated with emotional and psychological costs. It has been linked to unhealthy overeating and lower self-esteem (Lack, 2015). Stereotypes have labeled African American men as unreliable and lazy and African American women as too domineering for the good of her man and she is viewed as the central figure in his emasculation (Lack, 2015). The African American woman can face sometimes double or triple the oppressions of other ethnicities (Lack, 2015). Nevertheless, these stereotypes impact their sexuality, relationships, educational and employment opportunities (Lack, 2015). Stereotypes influence every aspect of the African American woman’s life and create a significant amount of damage that can be transferred through generations (Lack, 2015).

In the future social media should choose words, images and news angles that give a fuller and more accurate perception of African Americans. African Americans are individuals and should not be stereotyped. Growing up I never really understood history or even cared to know more about my culture because in school I always heard the same things repeatedly. Nevertheless, after taking African American History at Florida Memorial University, I gained a new appreciation for my culture. The fact that it took 20+ years to personally understand that I was being misinformed and mis-educated myself. I was set up for failure, but once I gained clarity, I began to understand my worth. Stereotyping jeopardized me not reaching my fullest potential. Now I know that all the stereotypes’ people put forth on African Americans is just a way of distraction so that they can get ahead. Therefore, going forward I will instill worth into my children. Although, I am aware that this would be an extremely hard task with so much negativity towards African Americans. I will teach my family to embrace their melanin. Overall, the scientific evidence of melanin threatens the ideology of white supremacy which is why other cultures fear genetic annihilation. The effects of stereotyping on African Americans is not something that can change overnight. However, the stereotypes African Americans endure have a substantial impact of who they are in the future, but we have to beat the odds and prove the stereotypes inaccurate.