Racial Stereotypes

[FreeThinker]

The story I am writing takes place in 1970, a time when America was just emerging from the Jim Crow era of legal racial discrimination in the South, when African-Americans had just gained their civil rights and were becoming integrated into American society. I have an African-American character in the story, an elderly housekeeper, who is one of the heroes of the story. She is one of the great positive influences on my protagonist's life. One of the messages of the story is that individuals should be judged by what's in their heart and not by the color of their skin or whom they love. I want to present the housekeeper in a realistic way, however, I am afraid of my description coming across as racist or stereotypical.

How do you handle, for example, a black accent, particularly from an previous era, without it coming off as racist? In writing dialogue for a white southerner, or a German, say, or an English character in the United States, I would have no trouble spelling certain words phonetically to better describe to a middle-American ear what was being said. I wouldn't hesitate to show that the person wasn't speaking Standard Grammatical American English. Yet, I am afraid to do so with an African-American character for fear of it coming across as stereotypical or racist.

And, it's not just accent. There are just certain patterns and ways of thinking that an older black woman in 1970 would exhibit that an older black woman in 2012 would never think of doing or saying. Do I write it straight as it would have been, do I edit it, soften it, make it less than realistic?

One of the points of the story is to fight prejudice. It would be a painful irony if some readers took my efforts to be realistic as evidence of prejudice. Thoughts?

[Chris James]

Any way to let the character voice those doubts? If the character is an elderly black woman then 1970 is a part of her later years. What was she as a young woman? Using her thoughts from that earlier time to reflect on a current situation would be an ideal way to meet the racism head on.

If the setting is in the South then many of the characters will assume similar spoken characteristics. Speech is generally geographic and beyond that the patterns would be broken up into racial and socio-economic groups. Wealth most often meant a higher education and different speech patterns than in the uneducated population. But if your black woman is now 70 years of age then her patterns of speech were formed at the turn of the century when racism was alive and well in the south.

Certain expressions could be used to indicate a level of education, but I would think even a housekeeper had some kind of formal education. Just a few years ago while living in North Carolina I was fascinated by both the black and white persons of local persuasion who didn't say "ask" as in "Can I ask you a question" but the word came out "axe"..."Can I axe you a question." Education had nothing to do with the usage, they all did it which led me to believe it was a geographical expression.

So after all, perhaps your dialogue would serve the character best. "Can I axe you sumpthin?" would show less education but would be more likely from a younger character. An older woman would be more aware of her speech in certain company, especially if she had been a housekeeper for many years. There is no racism in portraying a character properly based upon speech of a certain time and location, but the words you say will matter. And by now I have said too much.

[Cole Parker]

Writing dialog in dialect is really, truly difficult. Good luck if you try it!

I don't think if you attempt this that it will come across as racist if the character is written sympathetically. It you give readers reaons to like her and pull for her, they won't be offended by her speech patterns. If you make her an evil part of the conflict of the story, that's different. But if she's a good person, people will empathisize with her and stereotyping won't be a problem. You read The Help, didn't you? Everyone should have read that! And the maids spoke as maids then would have, and everyone loved them. Maybe there was some stereotyping in that, but not all stereotyping is wrong or bad. Stereotypes come from a place of commonality.

I would suggest something to you before you decide. If you can, befriend a very old black woman of low education, and once she's on your side, read to her the parts that include your woman both speaking and thinking. Then let her put that writing into her own words. If you find such a woman in a nursing home or retirement home, she'd probably love to have a regular visitor, and you'd get the real goods.

Hey, we're writers. We're supposed to do research. And if you can delight an old woman at the same time, you're twice ahead of the game.

C

[Merkin]

In my estimation there is no better example than Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." It is a how-to-do-it manual for a narrative style to suit the situation you are concerned with, FreeThinker.

[FreeThinker]

Of course! I'm surprised I didn't think of these examples. Cole and Merkin have two perfect examples of this. The Help is a book Cole gave me about "colored" housekeepers in Jackson, Mississippi during the sixties with flashbacks to earlier times. Exactly what my character is. And, To Kill A Mockingbird,even though it takes place forty years before my story does, is really the textbook on integrity and character, as well as on the ignorance of racists. Thank you both. And, thanks Chris for your advice. I hadn't considered the education level of my character and in 1970 that would have affected the way she spoke. My English teachers in 7th and 8th grades, from 1970 to 1972 were both black and both spoke perfect English and were the best English teachers I had (except for one in high school who seriously opened my eyes to many aspects of life). Thank you everyone. Insight from others is still welcome, though, if anyone else has a comment or suggestion.

[The Pecman]

I think it's a mistake to go too far with accents. After a certain point, it gets to be too much of an effort for the reader to wade through all the weird wording and spelling. "Ah don' blieve there ain't no way, Mas' Free. Dat's what I's thinkin'." At some point, I think erring on the conservative side is better.

On the other hand, you can look at the dialect in Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and see what passed for black dialect 160 years ago. But that was another time. I re-read both before I started writing Pieces of Destiny, but decided to be very cautious in how I depicted the black people of 1864. I did name one character Rufus, after an old black man I knew in the 1960s, who was very much a racial stereotype. But he was someone I knew and got to know -- literally, a shoe shine man at a barber shop -- and I always remember him with kindness. Despite growing up in the south, I've never in my life used the 'N word,' at least not unless I was quoting a Chris Rock comedy routine. "Books is kryptonite to N******s! You wanna make sure your money don't get stolen? Hide it in a book!"

There's a key plot point in my story that will involve racism and the Underground Railroad, but... that's all coming up in the chapter I've stuck on for a year or two... *sigh*

[colinian]

I like ZZ Packer's short story collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere for an exploration into dialect, written by a black woman. This is one of my favorite books, given to me by the instructor of the Short Story Writing class I took at our community college the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. (High school students from sophomore up were allowed to take community college summer session classes for college and high school credit.)

About "ask" and "aks". I took a linguistics class, An Introduction to the Linguistics of the English Language. Our textbook was How English Works, a Linguistic Introduction by Anne Curzan and Michael Adams. Chapter 1 includes "The Story of Aks." It's too long to quote in full here, but to summarize:

This one word [aks] alone... seems to be enough for many Americans to judge a speaker as ignorant, unintelligent, uneducated.... The pronunciation of ask as aks is an example of metathesis, a systematic process of sound change that... involves the reversal, or switching places, of two sounds. For example, the Modern English word bird used to be brid. The Modern English verb ask can be traced back to the Old English verb acsian, the form used throughout England through the eighth century.

So ask used to be pronounced aks. Today it's pronounced aks by some African Americans and other Americans. In the not to distant future we may discover that the pronounciation of ask has undergone a metathesis to aks — once again!

I find the English language fascinating. Unfortunately for many language critics, it's the most active living language on the planet. The spelling, grammar, punctuation, word order, word usage, and pronunciation are constantly changing. It's interesting, and it's fun. Grasp its uniqueness and revel in the fact that the way we say something today may well be different next year.

Colin

[FreeThinker]

I can't imagine how difficult it must be for non-English speakers to learn the language, with all the contradictions and exceptions, the attempts to conform to Latin grammar in some situations, the influences of Old English and Anglo-Saxon in others, the rapid changes of slang, the Americanization of British English, and the fact that English spoken around the world is evolving into what may soon be a dozen or so different languages.

This is off topic, but I remember an episode of The West Wing in which the subject of English as the Official Language came up and one of the characters said she hardly believed the language of Shakespeare needed legal protections. I thought that was cool.

[colinian]

Don't forget the Britishization of American English! And the Australianizing of both!

Colin

[FreeThinker]

Don't forget the Britishization of American English! And the Australianizing of both!

Colin

That's true! Before the Internet, I had never heard of "wanking!" In fact, "wanker" is now favorite insult.

[Cole Parker]

After watching Doc Martin -- a wonderful TV show -- I think 'wanker' has been replaced by 'tosser'. I must admit, I'm not sure exactly what it means, but it's certainly an insult.

[JamesSavik]

Oh lawsey mercy Mr. Freethinker! You ahh givin' me the vapors. I'm absolutely pixelated that you have decided to write about mah part of the country and am looking forward to readin' it.

(written in Mississippian, circa 1970)

[Cole Parker]

Pixelated.

Yeah, right.

I do think that work was used in The Help.

C

[JamesSavik]

Never read it or saw the movie.

It's part of the culture down here.

[Cole Parker]

The movie was good. The book was excellent. Do yourself a favor, James, and read it!

C

[FreeThinker]

Yes, the book is superior to the movie, which itself was great. The book is even better.

[The Pecman]

If you guys ever want to read a book that goes way over the cliff on Black American dialects, read Alice Walker's The Color Purple -- which won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize! To me, it's almost unreadable, because it's supposed to be written by a borderline-illiterate black woman in the 1930s. Strange book, and Spielberg's movie version is even stranger (and kind of Disney-fied). I'm also kind of appalled that Walker is so anti-Israel, she won't allow the book to be published there.

And yet, it's a compelling story if only because the woman triumphs in the face of incredible adversity, and it's an interesting story that takes place over decades. And the dialect changes as the lead character (Celie) becomes more educated over time, so I can see where this was a deliberate literary effect to show her growth during those years. Still, I can remember a lot of complaints and criticism about the book during the 1980s, particularly from black critics.

[FreeThinker]

I've not read the The Color Purple, but the movie with Whoopi and Oprah was one of the best I've ever seen. It is wonderful and inspirational. The scene when she gets to see her children at the end is very moving. Its one of my favorite movies.

[DesDownunder]

Oh lawsey mercy Mr. Freethinker! You ahh givin' me the vapors. I'm absolutely pixelated that you have decided to write about mah part of the country and am looking forward to readin' it.

(written in Mississippian, circa 1970)

Comment of the month award goes to Jamessavik.

[Chris James]

The Color Purple, a great book, but...after the first long bout with the dialect I kept thinking "Okay, I get it." The speech patterns were difficult to absorb.

I think if you are trying to tell a story with a setting where local speech patterns suggest the Deep South it behooves the author to make sure readers understand what the characters are saying. Nothing wrong with being accurate, just don't obscure the intent of the dialogue. If you have to stop and explain what a character just said then you have lost the train of thought for the reader.

I pondered just such a problem when I wrote Trogdon Way. (Okay, a blatant plug for my story, but...) Mixing black and white characters in a rural Georgia setting was the perfect setup for loads of southern drawl but I didn't use it. I think the readers got the point through the description of the characters lifestyle. I did clip words and use a few expressions found in that area, but my characters were all educated persons. In a modern setting I don't think the author needs to revive the old stereotypes too much when the story will support the characters.

The Help was a good film and a better book, but neither of them went overboard with the dialect. Live speech has the added benifit of geographically placing the character. A Southern speaker would be known even if they were reading Shakespeare. "To be or not to be...Y'all get it?"

[DesDownunder]

[...] A Southern speaker would be known even if they were reading Shakespeare. "To be or not to be...Y'all get it?"

Oh, I understand all too well. Ever since it became fashionable to drop 'English' delivery in Australian drama courses, we have had to suffer from having to listen to,

"Neow is the winta, of ower discontent, mate."

preferably spoken with a nasal twang.

It's supposed to make the Bard more accessible to the uneducated, which is cheaper than actually teaching English.

[The Pecman]

I think if you are trying to tell a story with a setting where local speech patterns suggest the Deep South it behooves the author to make sure readers understand what the characters are saying. Nothing wrong with being accurate, just don't obscure the intent of the dialogue. If you have to stop and explain what a character just said then you have lost the train of thought for the reader.

Perfectly said, Chris. I think just dropping in some "y'all's", "ain'ts," and "I reckon's" every so often is probably enough. Once it descends to, "I's be walkin' down de street to see Mas' Robert down at de sto'," then it's too much. I grew up in the South myself, and while I didn't think at the time that I had a southern accent, I've heard recordings of myself at 16 and was surprised to hear I did have a slight drawl. My mother and father were both born in the North but grew up in the South, so they, too, had kind of a hybrid accent. And throughout my youth, we made fun of people who had strong Southern accents, and usually regarded them as nincompoops. It wasn't until college that I realized there were some brilliant people -- including some of my college professors -- who had very highly-educated Southern accents. (This was several years before Jimmy Carter was president.)

After almost 35 years of living in California (which I think qualifies me as a native), I've lost about 99% of any southern accent I ever had. I'm sensitive to how it's portrayed on TV and in film; they do it very well on True Blood -- the centuries-old vampires living in rural Louisiana -- and it's particularly impressive when you consider the number of Brits and Aussies on the show. In fact, I think not a single actor in the show is actually from the South.

[FreeThinker]

I remember a bio of Eudora Welty on PBS a number of years ago describing the struggle she had to be taken seriously when she went to college in the North because of her Southern accent-- and she became one of the greatest of Southern writers.

I grew up in Oklahoma with brief stints in Texas and Kansas, with a mother from Georgia and a father whose family was from northern California and New England, so my speech patterns were interesting. I never thought I had a strong Okie accent as most people in our social level in Tulsa had moved here from the northeast during the oil boom of the twenties. However, when I went away to college at a rather nice Midwestern liberal arts school, I was mercilessly teased for saying "y'all" when I wasn't paying attention. I rationalized it by explaining that English doesn't have a good plural pronoun, (you and you) like better organized languages with rules the speakers actually follow. It didn't help. My nickname was still "Tom Joad."

I also want to compliment the many British and Australian actors who appear on American TV or in American movies and speak American English so well (my hero Hugh Laurie comes to mind or the hot and sexy Jessie Spencer!- though Jessie's character on House is Aussie). They do so much better than the typical American actor trying to sound British or Aussie.

[The Pecman]

Yeah, I still occasionally will use y'all, when I want to make a point.

BTW, the black dialect in some current American TV shows is "off the hook." Check out an episode of a show like The Wire if you want to try to wade through some real hard-to-decipher idioms. (My current favorite is "one o' them damn off-brand [N-words]," which was in the second season. Rough show.

One of the lead actors in The Wire, Dominic West, is a Brit, and they did a hilarious episode awhile back where he has to pose as an out-of-town Brit in Baltimore who's looking for a prostitute. So the actor was faced with the role of being a British actor, playing a tough American cop, who has to do a (very bad) fake Cockney accent with a hooker. It was absolutely hilarious when you know the inside story. The guy's American accent is flawless.

The Black dialects in this show go all over the map, all the way from drugged-out addicts to angry drug dealers to upper-echelon criminals to hardened cops to very well-educated, erudite Black men. I've been on sets like this before -- like the first couple of seasons of the black sitcom Moesha-- and was startled to discover that all the ghetto accents on the show were fake. In rehearsals, there'd be lines like, "yo, homie, what be happenin'? Ain't no reason to be 'illin', aight?" And then the director would cut, and the guy would say, "excuse me for a moment, sir, but I need to call my agent about an important meeting I need to have tomorrow." No street in these homeboys.

[EleCivil]

One of the lead actors in The Wire, Dominic West, is a Brit, and they did a hilarious episode awhile back where he has to pose as an out-of-town Brit in Baltimore who's looking for a prostitute. So the actor was faced with the role of being a British actor, playing a tough American cop, who has to do a (very bad) fake Cockney accent with a hooker. It was absolutely hilarious when you know the inside story. The guy's American accent is flawless.

Jimmy NcNulty is a brit? Wow. Like you said, flawless.

I can't speak to the show's realism when it comes to the police/drug dealing plotlines, but in season 4 they start to show what it's like in an inner-city public school, and it's dead on. You know all those "teacher movies" like Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, etc. that show an upper-middle class white lady going into an urban school? None of them really captured it the way The Wire did. That sense of isolation, frustration, seeking and clinging to small victories, sudden explosive violence - it got it all right. If you want to know what modern public education REALLY looks like, watch The Wire season 4.

I'd also recommend it from a writer's standpoint - a lot of us write about school-aged characters, and The Wire is very realistic in depicting what it's like to be a child in poverty being raised in and around gangs. Having worked with a lot of kids in that situation, I'm glad this show had the guts to show what's really going on.

Also from a writing standpoint, check out this scene (Warning: Profanity and some nudity, not safe for work):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sNZ7ulO1RQ

This one short scene reveals the characters' relationship in a way that you couldn't do with a paragraph of exposition. "Show, Don't Tell" at its finest.