Digital Commons Network^™

Hanging From The Poplar Tree: Kanye West And Racism In Internet Folklore, Magen Olsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Folk ideas regarding African-Americans in nineteenth century America fueled racially charged stereotypes that served to promote segregation into the 1960s. Despite the belief of many Americans that the Civil Rights movement has ushered in an era of “postracism,” artifacts of digital culture prove that racism is still prevalent in American culture. Members of online social groups spread rumors and memes of popular African-American figures to propagate old racist stereotypes and spread conspiracy rumors among younger audiences.

Folklorists Bill Ellis, Gary Fine, Véronique Campion-Vincente, and Patricia Turner provided foundational scholarship on rumors, conspiracy theories, and how they divide ethnic groups in …