white "fear" of african americans.

Negative Stereotypes of African Americans, continuity and change over time:

Post-Civil War:

THE NADIR:

Intellectual inferiority, Black culture as a joke:

Lemons, J., "Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920", American Quarterly 29, (1977): 102, accessed November 27, 2014, doi: 10.2307/2712263

Inherently Criminal:

• WWII 

From a brief period of time, the US government actually attempted to negate some of the stereotypes that it had propagated about African Americans. When blacks refused to support the war effort because of the treatment that blacks civilians received at home and black soldiers received abroad, the US gov't began to create films highlighting black excellence and banned negative portrayal of blacks in the media. (do not be fooled, this was done for the sole purpose of manipulating blacks into supporting the war and no actual legislation was passed to change the way they were treated at home or on the war front)

Read about that here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3092347

• Post-Civil Rights 
• Black Americans owe Ronald Reagan 1,000 thanks for the way that they are portrayed in the media today.

criminalization and de-humanization:

system-riding "welfare queens"

Lastly, here is an article explaining how, in spite the passage of time, the portrayal of blacks in the media has not improved: 

Race and Ideology: African-American Images in Television Advertising