The Destructive Ramifications of Stereotypes as Seen through Janette Faulkner’s Ethnic Notions Sheet Music Collection

“That is the way I now see Jan Faulkner’s collection. I see our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, captured and forced into images they did not devise, doing hard time for all of us.” –Alice Walker

At first sight, Janette Faulkner’s collection of sheet music, each with its own illustrative cover, can be eye-catching and repulsive concomitantly. The colors and art work lure viewers into gawking, but the images, represented by caricatures of African Americans, destroy any attempt to enjoy the collection’s aesthetics. Faulkner at one point felt the same way stating, “Understanding caricature as an art form has enabled me to transcend my early days of anger and revulsion and to reach a level of understanding for the pieces acquired.” Transcending any of the material at first glance might be hard for an individual to do, particularly those whom the stereotypical images target.

The cover of Hogan’s ragtime song “All Coons Look Alike to Me.”

Faulkner’s collection at the Amistad Research Center represents over 500 pieces of sheet music, accompanied by lyrics, which date from 1852 to 1978, and includes music from African American and non-African American composers in the genres of ragtime, jazz, classical, and musical theater. One of the most popular songs from Ernest Hogan, titled “All Coons Look Alike to Me,” is in the collection. Hogan, an African American rag time performer, helped develop and create the ragtime genre. There is evidence that the music was also used in black face minstrelsy. Many of the performers on the music covers were dressed in black face and, without a doubt, sung the songs while performing in minstrel shows. The collection reveals America’s painful history of denigrating black personhood in popular culture. The music cannot simply be identified as a mockery of African American culture, but as a deliberate mechanism to undermine Black citizenship and equality in a post-Civil War era.

An autographed cover of “This Dancing Fool” signed by Stepin-Fetchit.

The sheet music was a part of Faulkner’s larger collection, titled Ethnic Notions, which was developed over many years and included thousands of items, each depicting African American stereotypes. The Ethnic Notions Collection was first exhibited at the Berkeley Art Center in 1982 and again in 2000. Faulkner’s collection was so influential in the public sphere that it inspired Marlon Riggs’ 1986 award-winning documentary called Ethnic Notions. The documentary detailed the evolution of stereotypical African American images and their contributions in fueling anti-black prejudice. The art catalogs from both exhibits and the documentary are also housed at the Amistad Research Center, along with the sheet music collection.

Faulkner was a social worker, educator, activist, and noted collector of black memorabilia. It was as an undergraduate student at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, during the 1950s that Faulkner began amassing her collection. She was encouraged by Mary Turner, an antique dealer, who introduced her to collecting. It was on a buying tour with Mary that she found a picture post card of a black man with a mouth exaggerated in width, depth, and color. Afterwards, she began collecting similar items which expanded to include pencils, silver spoons, tobacco jars, books, games, toys, candy tins and post cards. Faulkner’s collection can serve as a powerful tool in understanding the development and consequences of these negative images in popular music.

Post by Chianta Dorsey.

Images from the Janette Faulkner Ethnic Notions Sheet Music Collection. May not be reproduced without permission.

Challenging Racial Stereotypes in Advertising

As we continue to organize the publications collected by the American Committee on Africa/The Africa Fund, a number of the titles reflect efforts to shed light on corporate involvement in support of apartheid. One such publication was The Corporate Examiner, published by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.  The magazine included articles on many questionable business practices by U.S. corporations around the world, but the lead article for the first issue of volume 18 in 1989 illustrated the continuation of racial stereotypes in the marketing of products worldwide and efforts to stop such practices.

Issue of The Corporate Examiner discussing the re-branding of Darkie Toothpaste.

The article discusses Colgate-Palmolive’s decision to rename one of its products marketed in Asia: Darkie Toothpaste. The toothpaste, with its minstrel in blackface logo, became a Colgate brand when the company acquired 50 percent interest in Hawley & Hazel Chemical Co. Ltd. in 1985. Darkie Toothpaste was originally introduced by Hawley and Hazel in the 1920s, and the article mentions the origin of the name:

“The package design as well as the product name, “Darkie Black and White Toothpaste,” was developed by the Hawley & Hazel Chinese founder himself from an idea conceived during a visit to the United States in Al Jolson’s heyday; marketing the product in this form, therefore, became his compliment to this famous American entertainer, since, according to Chinese custom, imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

The article goes on to quote Colgate Chairman Reuben Mark on the name change and rebranding: “It’s just offensive. The morally right thing dictated that we must change.” However, change did not come easily or quickly. The Corporate Examiner article cites three years of pressure by various organizations and individuals before Colgate changed the name to Darlie Toothpaste and transformed the logo into an image of a man of undefined race wearing a top hat. The toothpaste is still marketed in Asia today, primarily in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. A short description of the toothpaste’s history is found on the Colgate website.