Black Stereotypes in Popular Series Fiction, 1851-1955

Even well-meaning fiction writers of the late Jim Crow era (1900-1955) perpetuated racial stereotypes in their depiction of black characters. The best known white writers of black characters included Booth Tarkington, Irvin S. Cobb, Roark Bradford, Hugh Wiley and Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden. These writers declined in the civil rights era, but left a legacy that deserves examination.