Franklin 1

Jonathan Franklin
October 27, 2015
English 380
Dr. Hall
Final Project Prcis and Annotated Bibliography
Research Prcis Outline
For my final project in regards to New Media Theory, I will be focusing on the
representation of Black Americans when it comes to mass media and how this comes into
effect for social justice movements specifically looking at the #BlackLivesMatter
movement. Using credible sources such as: Black Digital Intelligentsia, Black Twitter,
and other media outlets, scholarly articles, and books, individuals whom are viewing the
presentation will potentially have a clear understanding as to how much of an effect our
media plays when it comes to race and how has it evolved over time; specifically
focusing on the present state when it comes to race relations in our society. The title for
the presentation is roughly named, Black Lives Continue to Matter: Investigating
Representation in Mass Media seeing that my project focuses on such a powerful
social justice movement while incorporating representation of the Black race in society.
As I am generating more research and coming up with additional subsections and pieces
that will benefit my project, my thesis as of right now is tentative. My thesis at this
point stands, As seen in mass media and other prominent bases of receiving information,
Black Americans and their image within the media are often times negatively portrayed
potentially effecting social justice movements that have taken or are currently taking
place in the United States.
Influence for my project stems from an emerging Black Digital Intelligentsia
(BDI) and how scholars within BDI have made it their mission to influence others not
only within the Black community, but also outside of it to become more aware of issues
and topics that are of importance in the Black communities across our nation. Based off
of research and previous studies presented by scholars on this topic, the perception that
the media portrays in regards to Black Americans in the media stems from what we, as
Black Americans, present to society to those around us; essentially meaning that the way
that we act is the way that others (e.g. media, other racial groups, society) will perceive

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us as. While the media can damage or alter the Black image, the media has the power to
change this image by shifting its focus to prominent Black Americans or even just taking
the attention off of the negative to emphasize the positive. From the research presented
whether they are articles, books, media clips, or doctorial theses there is quite an
overlap or commonality when it comes to representation in the media for Black
Americans.

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Annotated Bibliography
(1) Smith Richardson, Susan. "Making Black Lives Matter." Nieman Reports 69.2
(2015): 26-31. Small Business Reference Center. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Within the article, Smith Richardson elaborately discusses the troubles of African
Americans in the U.S. dating to March 2015. Additionally mentioned in the article are:
the murder of African American Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson,
Missouri, 2011 report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism
on African Americans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lastly the role of beat in changing
the negative portrayal of African Americans in mass media.
Smith Richardson gives specific statistics in relation to minority populations and the
focus of broadcast, print, and radio coverage in terms of media in terms of Black
Americans specifically targeting Black men. Statistics and research presented in the
article also focus on the number of minorities that are within the journalism or media
field and their influence that they play in the media.
(2) Richeson, Jennifer A., and Clemlyn-Ann Pollydore. "Affective Reactions of African
American Students to Stereotypical and Counterstereotypical Images of Blacks in
the Media." Journal Of Black Psychology 28.3 (2002): 261-75. Web.
The study conducted by Richeson examined the reactions of Black students at a
predominantly White college (PWC) to Black television characters within popular
television situational comedies. The Black students within the study were shown short
video clips from popular television programming depicting the Black characters behaving
stereotypically or counterstereotypically in the presence of White characters or also in
the presence of Black characters.
The study makes note of also the target ratings that were measured amongst the
participants in the study in addition to dedicating a section for discussion regarding the
topic of Black students at PWCs and how anxiety and several other factors play a pivotal
role on how Blacks are perceived outside of the media setting.
The study in comparison to my project would be useful in terms of examining the pointsof-view when it comes to students of color on a collegiate level and how exactly the
students who participated in this study reacted to the images and clips that were shown.
(3) Adams, Valerie N. "Messages in the medium: the relationships among Black media
images, racial identity, body image, and the racial socialization of Black youth."
Journal of Pan African Studies 5.1 (2012): 286+. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Oct.
2015.
Adams article mentions how Black youth are often times combating the negative
stereotypes and images of Black people that are broadcasted in the media. Adams also

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makes note of how exactly these images that are produced by mass media are slowly
becoming apart of their racial and social identity based off of these influences. The
dissertation within the journal article examines the relationships among exposure to
Black media images, racial identity, racial socialization, body image, and also self-esteem
for ages 14 to 21-year-old Black youth.
Adams uses the focus group method to help further research on this topic, as data from
over 65 participants and survey data from 113 Black adolescents between the ages of 1421 was collected and analyzed and broken into several phases. The conclusion of the
focus group prior to collecting and analyzing the data presents that although this
generation of youth is living in a more culturally diverse society than previous
generations and has more access to technology and media, that they still perceive the
negative messages about Black people.
This article is useful to my research due to the methods conducted and presented to the
reader regarding the influence media plays on youth between the ages of 14-21. Parts of
this article are also beneficial to use when investigating the cause of the negative image
portrayal and the trend amongst the negative images, whether that may be male or
female.
(4) Adams-Bass, Valerie N., Bentley-Edwards, Keisha L., and Stevenson, Howard C.
"Thats Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth Interpret Media Images
of Black Females." Women, Gender, and Families of Color 2.1 (2014): 79-100.
Project MUSE. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <https://0-muse.jhu.edu.library.wofford.edu/>.
The article presented by authors Adams-Bass, Bentley-Edwards, and Stevenson centers
around how Black youth perceive images of Black women in the media and with
interpreting these messages, how they come into play when it comes into the negative
(and sometimes positive) stereotypes within the Black culture. In comparison to Adams
previous article that was written, the focus group method was conducted in terms of how
both high school and college-aged youth viewed this trending topic.
With the findings presenting that youth, both male and female, readily identified many
images of black women as negative, inaccurate, and offensive, it opens up the topic on
how can we as viewers fight to change this contact epidemic of negative stereotyping for
persons of color. The participants responses also suggest their concern about the impact
of these images on how majority groups may perceive black women and black
communities in general.
(5) Everett, Anna. "Black Film, New Media Industries, and BAMMs (Black American
Media Moguls) in the Digital Media Ecology." Cinema Journal 53.4 (2014): 128133. Project MUSE. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <https://0muse.jhu.edu.library.wofford.edu/>.

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Everett asserts that black film in terms of the twenty-first century is thriving and
successful, based off of the critical acclaim, box-office success, and ratings gold for the
black films listed in the article. According to Everett, technological innovation and social
change power most of the cyclical changes in black films. By easily tracing the cultural
and technological shifts back to the silent-era of the black independents. Everett
incorporates and mentions the wildly successful crop, then, is long overdue, anticipated,
and expected when contextualized within this remarkable and persistent history of
twentieth-century black film productions against difficult obstacles presented.
(6) Havens, Timothy. Black Television Travels: African American Media Around The
Globe. New York: NYU Press, 2013. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).
Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Havens introduces us to an array of insights and views of the roots and directions within
television representations of Black Americans, dating as early as the 1970s. Haven
explores the globalization of Black television in addition to the way in which foreign
markets, programming strategies, and the viewer preferences have influenced portrayals
of Black Americans on television. Haven conducts interviews with television executives
and programmers from around the world, as well as producers in the United States, while
tracing the shift from the era when national television networks often blocked or refused
to show Black television. His overall argument examines the importance of Black
television programming and how much of an importance race plays into it.
(7) Dyson, Michael Eric. "Think Out Loud." The New Republic. The New Republic, 9
Sept. 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Dyson proclaims within the article that the emerging Black Digital Intelligentsia is
embracing social media and technology to shape thought of Americans. Dyson compares
Black scholars from the past and their resources (e.g. education, time period, and
environment) to the Black scholars in the present and what they bring to the table in
terms of digital intelligentsia (e.g. education and experience). Additionally, Dyson notes
the impact that the Black Digital Intelligentsia has had on social justice movements
specifically mentioning and referring to the Black Lives Matter movement. His argument
pinpoints to the virtues of the digital era for black thinkers, listed accordingly in the
article.
(8) Rome, Dennis. Black Demons: The Media's Depiction Of The African American Male
Criminal Stereotype. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. eBook
Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Rome indicates that the stereotype of Black men has always been an obstacle when it
comes to criminal justice and the evolution of the Black male image that feeds into the
elimination of discrimination and racism on all levels in within the United States. Rome
asserts that this image given to Black male youth is internalized by Black youth, alluding
to the fact that they are made to feel as though delinquent behavior is expected from them
with many of them living up to this stereotype. With television, cinema, music, and other

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forms of mass media constantly feeding Americans this stereotype of Black male youth
running from the law, committing crimes or other acts of violence, it feeds into the
continuous cycle of negative stereotyping towards the Black culture. Rome also discusses
how the impact of mass media in terms of formulating these stereotypes should be
discontinued if racism or other acts of discrimination were to be abolished in the United
States. His central argument successfully hits all the points in regards to how Black youth
are targeted when it comes to negative exploitation.
(9) Elliott, Michael T. "Differences In The Portrayal Of Blacks: A Content Analysis Of
General Media Versus Culturally-Targeted Commercials." Journal Of Current
Issues & Research In Advertising (CTC Press) 17.1 (1995): 75. Business Source
Premier. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
In Elliots article, he discusses a study that examines the portrayal of Black culture and
identity in television commercials through a comparative content analysis of the general
media and a culturally specific medium; using Black Entertainment Television (BET) as
an example of such. According to Elliots research, Black individuals who were
appearing in the culturally specific medium were shown in more entertainment-oriented
product commercials and less business product commercials, but were found to be
present in more major roles and were shown in more social/leisure situations. Elliot
incorporates scholarly research from other authors in addition to other useful information
to help support his thesis presented to readers.
(10) Hazell, Vanessa and Clarke, Juanne "Race and Gender in the Media: A Content
Analysis of Advertisements in Two Mainstream Black Magazines." Journal of
Black Studies 39.1 (2008): 5-21. JSTOR.org. Sage Publications, Inc., Sept. 2008.
Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40282545>.
The article written by Hazell and Clarke investigates the portrayal of Black men and
women in terms of advertisements and articles in the form of Black-oriented magazines;
drawing attention to Essence and Jet magazines as examples. Clarke and Hazell use not
only qualitative research and data, but also incorporate quantitative research and data that
reveal that Black people are portrayed both positively and negatively despite the fact that
racism and acts of White supremacy continue to dominate advertisements featured in
both Black magazines and regular mainstream (White) magazines. Both authors suggest
that that the negative portrayals must also decrease to eventually be eliminated all
together from mass media.