Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves is an animated short created in 1943 directed by Bob Clampett of Warner Bros. Studios. This cartoon is a take-off on Snow White, with all African-American characters. One of the twists is that at the end, it is not "Prince Chawmin" who wakes up "So White" with his kiss but it is one of the dwarves. This cartoon was originally (and still is) criticized for its stereotypical nature, and it was never released by Warner Bros. However, it was a very well-made and entertaining cartoon with rich, unique characters and it has thus earned a lot of fame. Although some people think that the cartoon is racist, many others contend that Clampett was simply trying to incorporate African-American culture into mainstream animation. Before the production, Clampett took his animation team to an African-American nightclub to observe dances--they even rotoscoped one dancer doing the jitterbug!