Sapphire and Mammy
Sapphire is an African American caricature that was made to portray the "angry black woman". This black woman is angry at her won race and society and a drawing of her even go as far as to show her beating up her husband. It is a stereotype that was and still held today in mainstream media where African American women are always angry and never contented with their place in society that is, scraping away at society’s leftovers. Sapphire embodies the character black women have been trying to cast off their whole lives which are that they are "domineering, aggressive, and emasculating shrews" (Ferris State University, 2016). More often than not, her character is rather unattractive and considered asexual as referenced in the popular television show Sanford and Son. Another example of Sapphire is Julia in Daddy’s Little Girls where the female character Julia is strong and independent. However, the black media has worked hard to dispel this stereotype and made the sapphire character less emasculating but still controlling. (Dionne, 2015).
Mammy, on the other hand, was a caricature representative of the oppressive Jim Crow era where she was a jolly, fat woman contented with only serving her white family. Rather than being angry as Sapphire was, she was a woman who offered love and guidance to her white family while being neglectful and oppressive towards her Aown family. Just as Sapphire, she was fat, which was considered not ideal as far as beauty standards go. They were both considered asexual and their only purpose was to fulfill the work their masters set out for them. The Madea character in today's television and film serves as the mammy where the role depicts a fat black woman who cares about her family, an exit from serving her white family. She is viewed as the matriarch of the clan but is not representative of the sexuality of black women.
References
Dionne, E. (2015). Six annoying women characters tropes in black romantic comedies. Bitch Media. Retrieved from <bitchmedia.org>
Ferris State University. (2016). The sapphire caricature
– The mammy caricature The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Retrieved from www.ferris.edu
