The history of culture and image

The conversation around culture and image in Black America is not new. Circumstances and inciting incidents have changed, but Black America's internal struggles for self-definition and outward fights for respect have clashed often. For generations, expressions of the culture from poetry, slang music, dance, theater, advertising, fashion and general decorum have all sparked conflicts about race, class, skin tone, body image and the way African-Americans are percieved others and ourselves. Here are some defining moments:

1810: Saartjie Baartman, known as the "Hottentot Venus," was taken to London and exhibited like a freak at circuses, museums and universities because of her large buttocks and other sexual organs.

1850: Blackface minstrel shows reached their peak in American entertainment; the shows were often performed by White men who blackened their faces with burnt cork.

1861: Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first autobiography by a formerly enslaved African-American woman. She described the sexual abuse and exploitation of enslaved Black women.

1890: The "cakewalk," a dance originated by American slaves to satirically mimic Whites, gains national popularity.

1895: The Golliwog, a racist Black character in an obscure British children's book, became hugely popular as a doll and set off widespread international use of racist, minstrel-like images of Blacks in popular advertising.

1900: Rep. Benjamin R. (Pitchfork Ben) Tillman of South Carolina delivered speech to Congress justifying Southern actions toward Blacks: "We have never believed him to be equal to the white man ... "

1910: Ragtime music reached its peak in popularity. It was celebrated for its innovation and decried for being Negro music and "too exciting."

1915: B.W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation was released, depicting Reconstruction-era Blacks as thieves, rapists and drunkards, and the KKK as heroes, The Black community criticized the film, which was banned in eight Northern and Midwestern states.

1920: Harlem Renaissance literary lions criticized by community elders for use of Negro dialect in their work. Writers said "owning" the words takes away their negative power.

1926: White Harlem Renaissance writer and arts patron Carl Van Vechten has "Imus moment" and publishes book Nigger Heaven, He was reviled for his choice of title by Black literati.

1930: Black actors gain Hollywood work largely as "sassy and incompetent mammies, foolish coons and frightened Toms." They were among the highest-paid Black entertainers.

1947: Post WW II rise of bebop was associated with heroin and drug culture among musicians and young White followers of jazz. Bebop was decried as negative cultural influence.

1953: Recording of "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton heats up the issue of "race music" on White radio. Elvis Presley later sang her song, making it popular among White audiences. Popular tunes morphed into broad rock 'n roll era.

1960: Blue Note Records began to use images of actual Black artists on album covers. Prior to that, White women, landscapes and other "acceptable" images were used to sell Black music.

1963: Civil rights marchers were encouraged to wear suits and finery to emphasize image of law-abiding, respectful Blacks being demeaned by White policemen.

1965:The Supremes record At the Copa, an aggressive attempt by Berry Gordy to make Black music and artists palatable to conservative White nightclub audiences.

1966: Decrying the "language of yesterday" as "irrelevant," Stokely Carmichael advocated and popularized the use of the term "Black Power" to much criticism from establishment civil rights leaders.

1971: Release of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaftusher in blaxploitation film era. It launched a huge shift in fashion, street culture, lingo and glorification of "pimp" imagery.

1978: Black disco dance "The Freak" comes and goes until the next dance craze. Twenty years later, offensive new "freak dancing" was banned at proms by school administrators.

1979: With "Rapper's Delight," the Sugarhill Gang introduced the rap and hip-hop culture to a broader public.

1980: BET launched, showing a mix of sports, gospel and old movies.

1982: With "The Message," Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five present image of rap as a necessary voice of the street.

1983: BET gained broader distribution. Popular music video show Video Sour is a response to lack of Black artists on MTV. BET gradually moved to a 70 percent video format.

1988: With Straight Outta Compton, rap group N.W.A ushered in an era of gangsta rap. Popularity caused marketing dollars to shift from "conscious" rap to more incendiary lyrics and images.

1989: 2 Live Crew and Miami bass music movement gained popularity. Booty-shake video era officially begins.