Breaking Down The Stereotype: Why Are Black People So Lazy?

Source: Library of Congress / Getty As Black people in America, stereotypes have been baked into our existence. One of the stereotypes that has been the most damaging to Black culture is the stereotype of Black people as lazy. So how did people who were made slaves and forced into manual labor end up being considered lazy?  MORE: Breaking Down The Stereotype: Colored People’s Time Or CP Time On this edition of Breaking Down the Stereotype, NewsOne dives into the history of this pervasive and damaging notion as we try to unpack and debunk the lazy stereotype.  Racial stereotypes are defined as constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative (Jewell, 1993). Rooted in America’s history of discrimination and prejudice, the idea of Black people being lazy was a way to discredit the contributions of Black people throughout history.  For whites in early America to view themselves as hard-working, educated, and moral, they needed a counter-narrative. So, they stereotyped Blacks as lazy, ignorant, and uncivilized to create an inverse image of who Americans should be and how they should act.  After the Civil War, during the Jim Crow era, White...