By Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture For much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, stereotypical images of people of African descent dominated the public media, especially in the United States. Black men, women and children were portrayed as "coons," "mammies," and "pickaninnies" in the press, in children's and comic books, in marketing and advertising promotions, as well as film and television. Many of these mythological images persist today in the public consciousness and public eye. This exhibition uses vintage photographs of black people, as well as representational paintings, sculptures and other artworks to challenge these mythological images and present accurate, humanistic depictions of these maligned black folk. It also poses the question of why certain whites in western culture found it necessary to create such stereotypical images of their human forbearers.