The Cleveland Gazette, an African-American weekly newspaper, once wrote “A class of colored people, the “New Negro”… have arisen since the War, with education, refinement, and money.” In other words, after the Civil War and the nine years of reconstruction, African-Americans immediately began the game of ketchup and began to establish themselves as American citizens. Before the Civil war, black people didn’t even have the title of African-American because they weren’t seen as people. In America, before the war enslaved Africans had no control over their daily schedule much less their image, so it makes sense that as soon black people received their freedom, they felt motivated to take control of their image. Although White supremacy and social Darwinism aimed to belittle and degrade African Americans even after they were free, black intellectuals of the early 1900s worked tirelessly to establish “the New Negro”, a completely different character from the one Sambo Art and one that was authentically created by black people themselves.

To understand the sense of urgency African Americans felt towards improving their image, we must first understand the effect Sambo’s artwork and the coon caricature had on the image of blacks at the time. Both forms of propaganda aimed to portray African-Americans as a lazy degenerate group of people who needed a “white savior” to guide them. It is also important to note these both the Sambo, who represented black people who accepted Jim Crow, and the Coon, who represented urban blacks who disrespected whites, were as a defense for slavery and segregation. After reconstruction, Blacks began writing their own history and the Harlem Renaissance Era gave black artists and photographers a platform to “reconstruct” their image.

W.E.B Du Bois’, The Crisis, which was the house magazine for the NAACP is a great example of African Americans taking ownership of not only their image but their history. The Crisis magazine served as a formal editorial for all intellectuals on matters concerning racial injustice and every other part of the black experience, which included but was not limited to, education, homes, and war. After reviewing the magazine covers from 1910 to 1922, I gathered that this magazine was not an educational and informative media tool for African Americans but also a Professional portrayal of having Black excellence that had to be taken seriously. I believe the cover alone depicted an intelligent perspective of African-Americans of the time which was a huge contrast to the message of the Sambo man or the urban “uppity” coon. I believe the covers explored the trope of the “new” negro because it depicted a professional, intellectual who was no longer seeking to fit into society but rather as contributing to society and their own community. This is imagery is important because it sends the message that African- Americans are independent and capable individuals who just want the violence against their race to end. It was writing pieces like the Crisis that made not only white America, but the entire world free world had to take African Americans seriously and begin breaking the chains of stereotypes that once kept the community down. Lastly, I believe the Crisis served as a visual affirmation that the “new negro” a being of freedom, creativity, and intellect was here to stay.