From mammy to Ma: Hollywood's racist stereotypes

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Along with other ‘controlling images’ of African-Americans such as the Sambo, the Jezebel and the Sapphire, the mammy was a creation of white supremacy, intended to bolster and legitimise the status quo. Or, put more simply, the US were so desperate to be absolved of the crimes of slavery, that such an absolver — maternal, asexual, ever-loyal and black — had to be invented.