Bogle discusses many servant types in his book and two actors humanized these roles. Clarence Muse brought dignity and self pride to his demeaning roles in feature films. He was a companion to whites in his popular films and even though his role called for a lot of tommery he still managed to reach out to the hearts of the audience. He walked upright with his head lifted and eyes forward indicating a self respect that he had as a black man. He went on to expand his accomplishments and star i many more roles and even write a script.
Louis Beavers also humanized her role as servant to the white household by being a woman of god. She was your typical civil rights activist as in wait for your pie in the sky, show nothing but love and god will lead the way. She was loyal to her white "friends" or employers or masters and in one film, her character stated that she wished the civil war would have never happened and that she were still a slave. However, her portrayal of her characters helped people sympathize with something that is very demeaning.
Due to Robesons political affiliation and comments on life in america, he was silenced. People began to look at blacks as communist and that obviously led to in increase in hardships for blacks so they shunned Robeson as well. Along with the great depression, there was a lot of tension towards blacks.
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