The image of blacks in the American media has changed radically over the past two decades or so with the Civil Rights movement, with changes in the attitude taken toward minority groups, and with increased sensitivities on the part of those forming and projecting those images. An examination of the image of blacks in articles and advertisements from Time Magazine will show certain societal attitudes subtly represented, and these attitudes can then be linked to historical and social realities of the period.
The nature of the African-American population before, during, and after World War II is described by Schaller, Scharff, and Schulzinger, who note first that before the war over three-quarters of all African-Americans lived in the South and worked mainly as tenant farmers or domestic help. They held the lowest level of industrial jobs, and they were hurt more than any other group by the Great Depression. New Deal programs never challenged segregation, and politicians did not respond to a population that generally did not vote in an era when southern Democrats--often called Dixiecrats--chaired committees and worked to maintain the status quo. The record would improve as the New Deal progressed, and African-Americans employed at all levels of the federal government would triple between 1933 and 1945. Judicial appointments also contributed to the rate of change. However, the war brought with it increasing dissatisfaction with the pace of change. The U.S. was fighting an enemy that claimed the right to exterminate inferior races, and though Americans were presumed to be united in opposition to this ideology, the reality was that discrimination and abuse still existed in American society. The Fair Employment Practices Committee was created to reduce economic discrimination by race. The shared experience of the war helped reduce ethnic barriers between white groups while not eliminating segregation and racism against blacks. T...