Amos and Andy

The characters of Amos and Andy are supposed to be African American men that live in a big city. This cartoon became popular in a time period where African American's began to migrate from southern towns to major cities in the north. So more so than their race they represent the African American experience in the north.
Just from this clip of the show you can tell how the creators of Amos and Andy wanted to depict African American men. First of all the apperance of the black characters were exaggerated and full of racial sterotypes. The black characters lips were huge and protruding. Also for the most part the characters seen were over-weight except for Amos. Another important characteristic was the fact that all of the African American characters were all the same shade of black/brown. The artist did not recognize th difference in skin tone between many African Americans.
The chatractures of African American in media were very important in the Cartooning the Color Line lecture. The featured illustrator from lecture named Leslie Roger's really changed how African Americans were depicted in cartoons. He made variations of African American skin color and of physical features. This was a very important in the fight to change and cross the colorline. In earlier lectures we were shown pictures of African Americans as barbaric, pitch black, with huge lips, hips, and eyes. Mr. Roger's helped to eliminate that image of African Americans.
The targeted audience for this cartoon are the white population. The Amos and Andy show was a large success on the radio and the main audience that listened to this show were white families. Many African American households did not contain a radio or television, so this was a big indicator to know who this show was marketed towards.