Black Buck - Examples of "Black Buck" in Media

Examples of "Black Buck" in Media

D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation is perhaps one of the most well-known examples of the use of the "Black Buck" stereotype in the media. In the film, a former slave named Gus (described by the filmmaker as "a renegade, a product of the vicious doctrines spread by the carpetbaggers") attempts to chase down (and, apparently, rape) a white woman named Flora.

Rather than allow herself to be assaulted by Gus, she throws herself to her death. A spiral of events occurs which then culminates with a state militia (led by the mulatto protégé of a local Congressman) clashes with the Ku Klux Klan (portrayed by the film as heroic figures), with the Klan being ultimately victorious.

The film sparked a national uproar, from whites who feared the film's events to be prophetic truth, and from blacks who were horrified by the portrayal of their race. The film was largely responsible for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the early 20th century.

Read more about this topic:  Black Buck

Famous quotes containing the words examples of, examples, black, buck and/or media:

    It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people’s attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do the often ill-applied examples of his wrath.
    —G.C. (Georg Christoph)

    Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
    Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

    This is the black sea-brute bulling through wave-wrack,
    William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927)

    How strange a thing is death, bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers/The buck in the snow.
    Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)

    The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message.
    Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)