Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,3, Dresden Technical University, language: English, abstract: In this paper, it is my objective to examine the characterization of black Americans in Blaxploitation movies to evaluate its influence on the image of African Americans. Not only the cinematic image is to be questioned in this concern, but also the real impression these movies gave to their viewers which also had an impact on the real life, social experience. Thereby, we can differentiate between the black image it produced for blacks, and the impression it left on the white spectators. For this purpose, I will firstly explain the phenomenon of Blaxploitation, its content and structure and name some examples. After that, the historical and social background of this genre is to be analyzed in order to explain how it could emerge and why it vanished as quickly as it came into existence. The depiction of African Americans in film before the 1970s is as important for further comprehension as is the rising political consciousness in the 1960s United States of America