Between the mid-1890s and 1915 movies became America's most popular form of entertainment as film mythology gradually took shape. Black characters in this early motif were portrayed in Black face. Mammy made her debut around 1914. And American theaters introduced the tragic mulatto to the pantheon of Black mythology. She would become the darling of the dreamweavers: my word for filmmakers. After all what do movie makers do but sell dreams?The stage mulatto served to reinforce popular notions about white superiority.The merest drop of Negro blood was a taint from which there was no redemption:...[Yet] a character's white blood was [also] responsible for any positive features heor she might have. A mulatto in these mixed blood plays avoided a tragic end onlyif, just before the curtain rang down, it became clear that he or she was really all white.Daniel Leab. From Sambo to Superspade,pp.10-11.In these early films the mulatto was likable -- because of her White blood. Thus audiences were sympathetic to the poor creatures plight -- she would have been happy but her cursed Negro blood!Of course the symbolism of the tragic mulatto myth is paper thin. She (most tragic mulatto were women) is a mythic being fight a battle between good and evil with herself. Her "good" side is obviously her White side: the side with Caucasian blood. But look closer: her white persona is also her goddess or virgin persona. In contrast, her Black persona is her "evil" (whore) side. And tragic mulatto were often depicted as promiscuous, cold-hearted creatures.Thus, Black women when not portrayed as Mammies became Jezebels on screen: just as they had been portrayed by the slave master; and just as filmmakers continued to portray them well afterslavery's demise.Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers, 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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