Hollywood stereotypes like Steppin Fetchit had a lasting effect on Black Americans.
Hollywood sought to curve the rise of black nationalism in the 1930s by introducing characters that would depict them as dumb, stupid, lazy and shiftless. Directors gave them roles as comedian so as to get African Americans laughing at the same time subliminal subduction of the obvious. Steppin Fetchit, Amos and Andy are only a few of the characters depicted in Hollywood as examples of the way Black folk should behave in society. Head down, uncertain, unclear and vagrant. This was growing as Marcus Garvey and the Nation of Islam was stirring up the masses with a sense of black pride. For those that wanted nothing to do with the likes of Marcus Garvey and the Nation of Islam,there was the Hollywood characters generating laughter at the same time as implanting the seed of laziness and shiftlessness among African Americans for generations yet to come.
Today, my people's head is not down so much but we see the pants and trousers down.