The thesis is going to deal with the portrayal of African American in the US media, respectively on television and on screen. Throughout history, many stereotypes about African American existed, these included stereotypes about their behavior, family organization, or their abilities. Early portrayals of African American on television were influenced by these stereotypes and African Americans have been assigned many stereotypical roles. The goal of this thesis is to examine the history of stereotypical portrayal of African Americans on television and in Hollywood. The main focus is put on the analysis of selected episode from a contemporary comedy television series 30 Rock with the aim to determine in which ways has the portrayal of African Americans changed and how some of the images still remain the same and can be viewed as stereotypical. Bibliography: Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.; Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films. New York: Continuum, 2001. Print.; Entman, Robert M., and Andrew Rojecki. Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.; Ford, Thomas E. “Effects of Stereotypical Television Portrayals of African-Americans on Person Perception.” Social Psychology Quaterly 60.3 (1997): 266-275. JSTOR. Web.15 May 2013.; Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992. Print.; Larson, Stephanie Greco. Media and Minorities: The Politics of Race in News and Entertainment. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.; Punyanunt-Carter, Narissra, M. “The Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on Television.” The Howard Journal of Communications 19.1 (2008): 241-257. Web. 27 May 2013.; Rinehart, James W. “The Meaning of Stereotypes.” Theory into Practice 2.3 (1963): 136-143. JSTOR. Web. 27 May 2013.