You can excuse slavery with your argument. The time was different. White people weren't used to working in the sun. Grandma said it was alright. But even slavery was done away with in most nations before Bob Clampett was born.

And my assumptions are borne out by the text that you cite. This was not a person living in the deep pockets of Appalachia. Which is why you research the historical and cultural context of the time and do your best to reconstruct how people lived and what people knew. This period in American history is very, very well-documented. You must look at cultural products within this well-documented context with a critical eye.

Although you may enjoy the aesthetics of the cartoon (hell, I think it is skillfully made and interesting -- ha! i voted for it before I voted against it), to call it a mere cultural 'snapshot' rather than what it is, a rather virulent piece of racist propaganda, illustrates the inherent problem of posting without context.

Again rick you are making a lot of assumptions about things he may have/should have experienced and that should have helped him see the light. He was born and grew up in a time that was very very different and I don't think its fair to say you or me know the facts that surround the making of this video. I can however read and find out as much as I can about the why the episode was created and make a judgement which you may or may not agree with.

A quote from this bob clampett site:

Coal Black is one of the clearest explorations and illustrations of this break with the Disney tradition. Rather than ignore the dominance of Disney's feature production it is a very deft, energetic and controversial parody of Snow White that illustrates the brevity, visual rhythm and rapid-fire pacing of the studio's best work (15). Nevertheless, it is probably more accurately viewed as a riff on rather than a parody of Disney's film. Unlike much of the Disney studio's work, Coal Black is a raunchy, contemporary, extreme and shockingly racist film (the racism of many Disney films is often less up-front and more cloying). It updates the Disney story to a contemporary war-time setting in which Queenie calls in Murder Inc. “to black out So White”, and to stop her from stealing the zoot-suited Prince Chawmin'. This is a cartoon widely regarded as a masterpiece in absentia, a seldom seen product of the sexual mores and ethnic stereotyping of its time. Nevertheless, many writers understandably go out of their way to both underline the ideological problems of the film – especially for contemporary audiences – and its extraordinary energy and vibrant style as a truly animated cartoon. As Terry Lindvall and Ben Fraser suggest:

Coal Black's brazenness earned the film much of its notoriety, but even as shocking as it is for its racial content, the aesthetic and musical brilliance, the unabashed raunchiness, and the pure cartooniness salvage it as a masterpiece for most audiences, even some black audiences (16).

part 2 below