Ethnic Notions

In his first major work, a brilliant and disturbing deconstruction of the ways in which anti-Black stereotypes have permeated nearly every aspect of popular culture, Marlon Riggs brings viewers face-to-face with the insidious images that have shaped America’s racial mythologies. Through razor-sharp historical analysis and powerfully deployed imagery, Ethnic Notions illuminates, with devastating clarity, how dehumanizing caricatures of Black people—seen everywhere from children’s books to films to household products—have been used to uphold white supremacy and to justify slavery, segregation, and the continuing oppression of African Americans. In its refusal to look away, this Emmy-winning documentary, narrated by actor Esther Rolle, has become an essential text for understanding the origins of American racism.