KILLING “DIXIE”: THE NAACP, THE BLACK PRESS AND THE BATTLE TO END BLACK CARICATURE CULTURE IN HOLLYWOOD, 1950-1968

ABSTRACT: During the early twentieth century, Hollywood‟s television and film industries created itsdepictions of African Americans. Many of the images were derived from “Dixie,” a term used to reference theantebellum American South, during a time when African Americans were enslaved. This article examines theaccount, given by the African American Press, of the ongoing dispute over black imagery between Hollywoodand the NAACP. The heightened voice of the African American Press ultimately helped to push for the infusingof black presence in popular culture with the goal of depicting the possibilities of an integrated Americansociety. The NAACP and the African American Press emerged as the leading voices in challengingHollywood‟s black caricature culture, after recognizing that harmful black representation was injurious to theburgeoning civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.

KEYWORDS: Black Caricatures, Black Press, Hollywood, NAACP, and Walter White