The Origins Of The Stereotype About Black People And Fried Chicken (featuring two article excerpts and a YouTube video)

MemoryMuseum, July 2, 2020

Ella Fitzgerald in a 1983 commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken -snip- Two commenters wrote in that YouTube video's discussion thread that the girl scatting along with Ella Fitzgerald is the R&B singer Shanice. Some commenters wrote that this ad was racist. I don't believe that every ad or every reference to Black people and fried chicken is in and of itself racist. **** Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents two article excerpts about the history behind the stereotype of  African Americans and fried chicken.

A 1983 Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial of Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald scatting about fried chicken is also showcased in this pancocojams post. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-story-behind-stereotype-of-black.html for the 2013 pancocojams post entitled "The Story Behind The Stereotype Of Black People & Fried Chicken."

Also, read the rhyme entitled "How To Please A Preacher" from Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes, quoted in Part II of the pancocojams series "Food Or Beverages References In Some Examples In The 1922 Book "Negro Folk Rhymes" (Part II). That rhyme (song) is the only example in that collection that refers to eating parts of a chicken (i.e. a chicken wing). In contrast, a number of rhymes in that collection refer to Black people eating chicken pies, a much less time intensive meal.  https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/02/food-or-beverages-references-in-some_21.html. The link to Part I of that series is found in that post. 

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ARTICLE EXCERPTs ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICANS AND FRIED CHICKEN

These excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only.

EXCERPT #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_chicken
"Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior of the chicken while retaining juices in the meat. Broiler chickens are most commonly used.

The first dish known to have been deep fried was fritters, which were popular in the European Middle Ages. However, it was the Scottish who were the first Europeans to deep fry their chicken in fat (though without seasoning). Meanwhile, many West African peoples had traditions of seasoned fried chicken (though battering and cooking the chicken in palm oil). Scottish frying techniques and West African seasoning techniques were combined by enslaved Africans and African-Americans in the American South.

History

The American English expression "fried chicken" is first recorded in the 1830s, and frequently appears in American cookbooks of the 1860s and 1870s.[1] The origin of fried chicken in the southern states of America has been traced to precedents in Scottish[2][3][4] and West African cuisine.[5][6][7][8] Scottish fried chicken was cooked in fat (though unseasoned)[2][4] while West African fried chicken was seasoned[2][3][8] (but battered[6][9] and cooked in palm oil).[5] Scottish frying techniques and African seasoning techniques were used in the American South by African slaves.[2][3][4][8] Fried chicken provided some means of an independent economy for enslaved and segregated African-American women, who became noted sellers of poultry (live or cooked) as early as the 1730s.[10] Because of this and the expensive nature of the ingredients, it was, despite popular belief, a rare dish in the African-American community[5] reserved (as in Africa) for special occasions.[9][7][8]

After the development of larger and faster-growing hogs (due to crosses between European and Asian breeds) in the 18th and 19th century, in the United States, backyard and small-scale hog production provided an inexpensive means of converting waste food, crop waste, and garbage into calories (in a relatively small space and a relatively short period). Many of those calories came in the form of fat and rendered lard.[11] Lard was used for almost all cooking and was a fundamental component in many common homestead foods (many that today are still regarded as holiday and comfort foods) like biscuits and pies.[12] The economic and caloric necessity of consuming lard and other saved fats may have led to the popularity of fried foods, not only in the US, but worldwide.[13][better source needed] In the 19th century cast iron became widely available for use in cooking. The combination of flour, lard, a chicken and a heavy pan placed over a relatively controllable flame became the beginning of today's fried chicken.[citation needed]

When it was introduced to the American South, fried chicken became a common staple. Later, as the slave trade led to Africans being brought to work on southern plantations, the slaves who became cooks incorporated seasonings and spices that were absent in traditional Scottish cuisine, enriching the flavor.[14] Since most slaves were unable to raise expensive meats, but generally allowed to keep chickens, frying chicken on special occasions continued in the African American communities of the South, especially in the periods of segregation that closed off most restaurants to the black population.[citation needed]

American-style fried chicken gradually passed into common use as a general Southern dish, especially after the abolition of slavery, and its popularity spread. Since fried chicken traveled well in hot weather before refrigeration was commonplace, and as the growth of industry reduced its cost, it gained further favor across the South. Fried chicken continues to be among this region's top choices for "Sunday dinner". Holidays such as Independence Day and other gatherings often feature this dish.[15] During the 20th century, chain restaurants focused on fried chicken began among the boom in the fast food industry. Brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Popeyes, and Bojangles expanded in the United States and across the world.”…

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EXCERPT #2
From https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201012-the-surprising-origin-of-fried-chicken

The surprising origin of fried chicken

By Adrian Miller

13th October 2020

Fried chicken is as emblematic of the US South as collard greens and sweet potato pie. But it may be more Scottish than Southern.

…"In the US, African Americans often refer to fried chicken as a “Gospel bird” because of its connection to Sunday church culture, and three of the five fastest-growing restaurant chains in recent years were chicken joints….

Until World War Two, fried chicken in the US was considered a food for special occasions. It later transitioned to something that people ate for breakfast or dinner a couple of times a week, and these days, it’s become so widely available that people eat it whenever the mood strikes. In fact, according to the US’ National Chicken Council, the average American ate 28lb of chicken in 1960. Now, Americans down 99lb of chicken each year – far more than beef (57lb) or pork (53lb)….

Despite the fact that many cultures around the world make distinct varieties of fried chicken, the US South's version is unquestionably the most iconic. But why? What gives people in the Southern US the gumption to claim fried chicken as their birthright, or their “state religion” as Damon Lee Fowler wrote in his 1998 book, Fried Chicken: The World’s Best Recipes from Memphis to Milan, from Buffalo to Bangkok. The simple answer is that fried chicken’s early history is something of a mystery and US Southerners were its loudest and best cheerleaders, helping to spread it across the US, and later, the world….

From the 17th to 19th Centuries, conventional wisdom designated the American South as fried chicken’s native habitat. Southerners made it a centrepiece of their regional cuisine and boasted that only African Americans, mostly enslaved, could make “authentic” fried chicken. Some culinary experts linked such expertise to West Africa where, for several centuries prior to European contact, local populations ate chicken and deep fried their food. However, West Africans didn't make fried chicken the same way many Southerners traditionally did. It was more like a fricassee, where chicken was lightly fried and then braised for a much longer time in a seasoned sauce – similar to Senegalese chicken yassa. Since West African culinary traditions remain a mystery to so many, some saw the building blocks for fried chicken and leapt to the wrong conclusion.

The US’ first widely accepted printed recipe for fried chicken appeared in 1824 in the first regional American cookbook, The Virginia House-Wife, authored by Mary Randolph, a white woman from a slaveholding family and a distant relative of Thomas Jefferson.

“Cut them up as for the fricassée, dredge them well with flour, sprinkle them with salt, put them into a good quantity of boiling lard and fry them a light brown,” she wrote. Of course, the dish’s history starts much earlier, but this recipe set the fried chicken standard for generations of Southern cooks.

For centuries, fried chicken’s pure Southern heritage remained unchallenged until food writer John F Mariani wrote the following in The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, first published in 1983: “Almost every country has its own version [of fried chicken], from Vietnam’s Ga Xao to Italy’s pollo fritto and Austria’s Weiner Backhendl.” But, he continued, “the Scottish, who enjoyed frying their chickens rather than boiling or baking them as the English did, may have brought the method with them when they settled the [American] South.

Though Randolph’s recipe helped popularise fried chicken for Southern white cooks, an even older recipe appearing in a 1747 British cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, may have pioneered it – only it’s not actually called “fried chicken”. Simply titled “to marinate chickens”, the technique is all too familiar to today’s Southern US cooks….

A likely scenario is that, at some point between the 17th and 19th centuries, enslaved African Americans began cooking fried chicken based on the recipes provided by Scottish slaveholders. In time, African American cooks embraced it as part of their own culinary tradition. With years of honed experience, as well as an adeptness at seasoning and frying, African American cooks caused fried chicken to lose its Scottish identity and it became as quintessentially “Southern” as black-eyed peas, cornbread, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and sweet potato pie.

Before the US Civil War (1861-1865), fried chicken was fully immersed in Southern social life for both African Americans and whites, but preparing it was a very labour-intensive process. Someone had to kill a chicken, then pluck, clean, cut, season, flour and cook it. This made it something only eaten on special occasions – typically from spring until autumn – and it was often served at Fourth of July celebrations and Sunday dinners after a church service. Typically, young chickens, around a year old, were preferred for frying. Older chickens were for stewing because the meat was considered less tender. Other than barbecue or a fish fry, few foods were as effective as fried chicken in bringing people together and building community.

Enslaved African Americans also valued chickens in the Southern plantation economy. Many slaveholders allowed enslaved people to raise chickens and sell or barter eggs. Chickens acquired divine significance in West Africa where the animals were used in a number of religious rituals, and enslaved Africans transplanted those spiritual practices to the Americas.

In the Southern US, American Americans made fried chicken their go-to dish for a communal meal after church, or when the church pastor went to a congregant’s home for dinner. As the honoured guest, the pastor was served first and got the best pieces of the bird (usually the breast), which were also called “preacher’s parts” until the 1950s. With fried chicken so imbued with religious connotation, it’s no surprise that its “Gospel Bird” or “Sunday Cluck” nicknames endure in African American culture.

During the 19th Century, the dish became a route to economic empowerment for many African Americans. In her groundbreaking work, Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food & Power, University of Maryland associate professor Dr Psyche Williams-Forson reveals how the 900-person town of Gordonsville, Virginia, became known as the “Fried Chicken Capital of the World” in the second half of the 1800s.

Gordonsville was a major stop on two Civil War-era railroad lines, but back then, the trains didn’t have dining cars. “When weary train passengers arrived [in Gordonsville], these black women rushed to offer a combination of foods that included fried chicken,” writes Williams-Forson. Because fried chicken travelled well before refrigeration, white passengers would frequently buy the food from African American cooks through open train windows.

Entrepreneurial vendors proliferated in the South and in other parts of the country, and fried chicken singlehandedly helped many African Americans move out of the region and build their own homes – hence, the title of Williams-Forson’s book.

Predictably, however, it was a white entrepreneur who caused fried chicken to really take flight in the US. In the 1950s, “Colonel” Harland Sanders adopted traditional techniques perfected by African Americans in the US South and began franchising his Antebellum-themed Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant after figuring out how to mass produce fried chicken by greatly shortening its cooking time. As a legitimate fast food, Southern-style fried chicken began spreading its wings globally in the 1970s, and KFC’s influence was huge. Wherever the franchise landed, it often gave people in other countries their first taste of Southern-style fried chicken."...

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Comments About Rubert Murdoch's "Real Black President" Tweet

Edited by Azizi Powell

On October 7, 2015 media tycoon Rubert Murdoch's tweeted that Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and Carson's wife are "terrific". In that same tweet Murdoch asked "What about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide? and much else".

This post showcases selected comments from a Huffington Post article about that tweet.

The content of this post is presented for sociological and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to Robert Townsend for his movie "Hollywood Shuffle" and thanks to the YouTube publisher of the video that is embedded in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT RUBERT MURDOCK AND BEN CARSON
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch for information about Rubert Murdock.

Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carson for information about Ben Carson.

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EDITOR'S COMMENTS
These selected comments from that Huffington Post article particularly address the notion that Rupert Murdoch, in particular, or any other non-Black person can define who is or isn't a real Black person-even if that were a legitimate concept, which I don't believe it is.

That said, generally speaking, I don't have any problem with referring to a Black person as an "Uncle Tom" as I believe that people can determine that a Black person is operating against the best interests of Black people as a whole.

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COMMENTS FROM A HUFFINGTON POST ARTICLE ABOUT RUBERT MURDUCK'S "REAL BLACK PRESIDENT" TWEET
Editor's Note: These comments are given in relative order based on their posting date with the oldest comments given first, except for replies. However, these comments may not be in consecutive order. I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rupert-murdoch-black-president_5615c40be4b0fad1591acbb5
Rupert Murdoch Says Ben Carson Would Be A 'Real Black President'
Ed Mazza Posted: 10/07/2015 09:50 PM EDT

1. Kenneth Lee, October 7, 2015
"The fact that rupert murdoch likes ben carson proves to me that carson is not fit to be president."

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2. Susan Hottinger, October 7, 2015
"Rupert could call him Uncle Ben."

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Reply
3. Augie Gallegos. October 7, 2015
"Susan Hottinger you mean Uncle Tom"

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Reply
4. Jim Pyacek, October 8, 2015
"Augie Gallegos / Hey Mr. literal, his name is Ben, like the black guy on the rice box. I think she knows about uncle Tom."
-snip-
Here's information about "Uncle Ben's Rice" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Ben%27s_(rice)
"Uncle Ben's is a brand name for parboiled rice and other related food products. The brand was introduced by Converted Rice Inc., which was later bought by Mars, Inc. It is based in Houston, Texas. Uncle Ben’s rice was first marketed in 1943 and was the top-selling rice in the United States from 1950 until the 1990s.[1]

Marketing origins

Uncle Ben’s products carry the image of an elderly African-American man dressed in a bow tie, said to have been the visage of a Chicago maître d’hôtel named Frank Brown.[11] According to Mars, Uncle Ben was an African-American rice grower known for the quality of his rice. Gordon L. Harwell, an entrepreneur who had supplied rice to the armed forces in World War II, chose the name Uncle Ben’s as a means to expand his marketing efforts to the general public.[12] "Uncle" was a common appellation used in the Southern United States to refer to older male Black slaves or servants.[11]

Uncle Ben's promotion

In March 2007, Uncle Ben's image was "promoted" to the "chairman of the board" by a new advertising campaign.[13]"...

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5. Reply
Ron Ranft, October 8, 2015
"Augie Gallegos Maybe she didn't. The reference is much funnier and subtle when you consider that she refers to the Rice which is refered to a converted rice which also triggers the Uncle Tom image as well. Well played Susan!
-snip-

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6. Brian Amberg, October 7, 2015
"By "address the racial divide" he means, "keep white privilege around longer"."

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7. Jack McCallister, October 7, 2015
"As a black man I don't consider Obama black. He's mixed race. This idea that if someone's got one black parent, they are just categorized as black is offensive to me, they are just as much the other race, as they are black. But society pushes them towards black as if they are tainted and can't embrace the white portion of their background. I can hear it now, "He's not one of us!"..."

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Reply
8. Jeff Mintz, October 7, 2015
"Welcome to America home of the" One drop policy" Since 1607

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Reply
9.Jens Ole Stilling, October 7, 2015
"I for one nver understood how being born by a white woman can make a man black. Oh yes the land of the biggots can make it."

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Reply
10. Marion Brooks, October 8, 2015
"Well the father is black that probably helps..."

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Reply
11. Rita Prangle, October 8, 2015
"Marion Brooks: When Obama eas [was] running for office back in 2008, he said that those who thought he wasn't really black should come & watch him trying to get a cab on the south side of Chicago!"

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12. Donyale Three, October 8, 2015
"Robert Townsend was right! Afros! I wants revenge!"

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Reply
13. Sarah Ann Davies, October8, 2015
"Good one"

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14. Debra King, October 8, 2015
"Rupert means a black man he can tell what to do. He clearly already tells him what to think as Ben pretty much is scripted by Fox."

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15. Patricia Gitsanasopon, October 8, 2015
"By real he means "really easy" to control."

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16. Coventry Kessler. October 8, 2015
"Just what we need--an Australian immigrant's opinion on what it means to be black in America. (face palm)"

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17. Warren Schroeder, October 8, 2015
"So this old rich white guy defines what a "real black President" should be? This is too funny."

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18. Mike Daniels, October 8
"Murdock wants a black puppet."

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19. Jhayson Jones, October 8
"So I guess if one were to extrapolate, then George Washington would have been a "real" white president, huh? If there were 5 more 'handkerchief' heads like Ben Carson, they'd bring back slavery as a way to teach job skills!"
-snip-
"Handkerchief head" is another term for "Uncle Tom", a Black man who acts against the interest of other Black people and demonstrates that he is subservient to White people. Black females who talk or behave this way are sometimes also called "Uncle Toms". They may also be called "Aunt Jemimas", after the Black woman on the pancake syrup and pancake mix products.

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20. Gloria Murphy-Flynn, October 8, 2015
"ahh come on black folks, you know white folks are the ones who decides who's "really black" - and once they do, you're all suppose to run and vote for the real black person carson - LMAO!"

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21. Brian Vinson, October 8, 2015
"I wonder if Rupert checked with Dr. Carson becuase I don't think Dr. Carson thinks he is black.

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22. BJ Gage, October 8, 2015
"Real Black" , read subservient. The term when I was young was, "he is a credit to his race." Meant," he knows his place." This is the sub text of Rupert Murdoch's words. The good old days when " they" said " yas suh" and didn't eat in the same restaurants. What Murdoch really yearns for his a " White " WhiteHouse.

**
22. Kiah J. Gordon, October 8, 2015
"In all seriousness, the fact that “blackness” is something that anyone, especially someone of another race, feels that they can “define” as valid or not is just….I can’t even put what I’m feeling into words right now because I’m filled with pure rage at the audacity of it all. I just can’t do this anymore with certain white people, especially certain white men. Not all…but the ones who in any way feel this way, I’m done with. Donald Trump did the same when he said that there wouldn’t be another “black President” bacause of Obama. To judge a man that is so much more accomplished in every aspect of his life than Trump by the sole factor of his race, not his policies…but the color of his skin again, I have no suitable words. No one ever said there would never be another white President after Bush. It never happens. But we get real vs. fake in the black community.

The reason Rupert Murdoch said what he said publically about Carson is because he has said these very words privately to Carson. Men like Ben Carson are comfortable in allowing white men like Rupert Murdoch to validate their existence and in this case to validate HIS blackness, to authenticate it, because he has worked his entire life on being “an acceptable black man” that makes white people who think like Rupert Murdoch comfortable. It is 2015 and a white man still feels he has the authority to define blackness. For Carson it has worked for him and he has reaped the benefits of his acceptability by saying the things they can’t as a vessel for their hatred.

The most painful part though in all of this is waiting. Now we wait. And we’re waiting to see if Ben Carson is the bought and paid for acceptable black man that we believe him to be or is he going to step up and make clear that he is not a black man looking for validation from Rupert Murdoch and that he is in no way any blacker or otherwise than the President. Will he allow himself to be defined by this man’s perception of him or will he stand up for himself as an individual and American that wishes to be judged on his own merits and not played against the man in the White House based solely on the only thing that they have in common. Will he question why no one is comparing and contrasting the whiteness of his opponents? See this is nothing new folks. This is how white people have been playing black people for centuries. You’ll never see Rand Paul or Donald Trump or Jeb Bush being compared and contrasted based on their whiteness. Their policies will never be considered good or bad for the “white community”. Their policies are either good for the middle class or the working class or the poor or for blue collar workers, etc. Their policy positions are American positions good or bad for Americans. Never good or bad for the white community. But Carson is good for the black community and will be a REAL representation of blackness. What will Carson do? What will be his response? I’m waiting."

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UPDATE: Rupert Murdoch apologizes for ‘real black President’ remark: ‘No offence meant’

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Updated: Thursday, October 8, 2015, 9:10 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rupert-murdoch-apologizes-real-black-president-remark-article-1.2389851

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UPDATE #2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-rupert-murdoch-racist_5616acf1e4b0e66ad4c6df15
Ben Carson Says Rupert Murdoch Is No Racist
Carson said Murdoch was "just expressing his opinion" on Twitter.
Posted: 10/08/2015 02:19 PM EDT
..."Carson, who has made a habit of denouncing political correctness on the campaign trail, said he understood the point Murdoch was making.

"I believe what he was making reference to was the fact that here was a man who is a black president that the black community was very excited about, who came in and whose policies have not really elevated the black community," he said.

Asked whether Obama was a "real black president," however, Carson demurred.

"Well, he's the president and he's black," he said, laughing."

Pressed on the matter once more, Carson responded, "We're dealing with semantics. I'm the last person who wants to play around with semantics and political correctness."

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOVIE "HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Shuffle
"Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 satirical comedy film about the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed vignettes and fantasies. Produced, directed, and co-written by Robert Townsend, the film is semi-autobiographical, reflecting Townsend's experiences as a black actor when he was told he was not “black enough” for certain roles.[2]...

Bobby Taylor (Robert Townsend) is a middle class black male aspiring to become an actor. He practices his lines in the bathroom, with his younger brother Stevie (Craigus R. Johnson) watching as he plays a stereotypical “jive” character for the audition for "Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge", a movie about street gangs.
-snip-
In the movie “Jivetime Jimmy’s Revenge”, White writers and White directors instruct Black actors how to act Black and how to speak “jive talk”. In this context, "jive" means "stereotypical African American street lingo." In other contexts, another meaning for the word "jive" can is something that is of poor quality or worthless.
-snip-
Warning- This movie contains profanity and what is commonly known as "the n word".

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A CLIP FROM "HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE"

Afros I Want Revenge!



koolcalscott, Published on Apr 25, 2012

Hilarious scene from Robert Townsend's 1987 Movie " Hollywood Shuffle". This is where Gang Member Johnny shot Afros Gang Member Tommy, then Jimmy comes on the scene.
-snip-
This late 1980s movie depicted all the members of the fictitious "Afros" gang wear their hair in large afros (also known as "naturals" and 'fros). Calling that gang "Afros" and having that gang wear their hair that way was meant to be an example of White people stereotyping urban African Americans.

Although afros were popular in the 1970s among mostly teenage and young adult African Americans, by the 1980s few African Americans wore their hair that way. However, since at least 2010 or so, that natural hair style and other natural hair styles is becoming increasingly popular among all age groups of African Americans.

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Eleven Non-Racist Product Commercials That Include Black People

Edited by Azizi Powell

There are a lot of online articles & YouTube videos about product ads that negatively portray Black people. However, it's far more difficult to find a listing of and information about product commercials that positively portray Black people. This post presents such a list in video form.

Seven of these featured non-racist ads that include Black people are from the 1970s, one is from the 1980s, two are from 2005, and one is from 2013.

That so many of these ads were produced & aired during the 1970s may be explained by the fact that that decade in the United States was one of emerging Black pride & the beginning of a greater acceptance of the concept of multiculturalism. Furthermore, the very popular Black dance program Soul Train provided opportunities to promote various products marketed to African Americans. At least two of these ads from the 1970s - the Afro Sheen commercials - were aired on that series. The Ultra Sheen commercial may also have been aired on Soul Train.

The 2013 Cheerios' commercial is noteworthy not only because it is creative & the little girl in it is adorable, but also because it features an interracial family with a Black father & a White mother. That commercial elicited such a firestorm of hateful comments from White racists that the Cheerios corporation or YouTube blocked the comment feature on that official video.

If you like that ad, and the other ads I showcased, show them your support by "liking" them on YouTube, whether you like or you choose to buy their products or not. (Come to think of it are Afro Sheen & Ultra Sheen still on sale?)

Note: I'm sure that these aren't the only positive television ads that include Black people.

Please help me identify more ads such as these from the United States & elsewhere.

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The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
(These commercials are presented in chronological order based on the decade or year that the ad was first aired on television. These ads are not presented in order of preference, although I'll admit that Example #1 is my favorite among this group.)

Example #1: You're never too old for Kool Aid (1970's)



Uploaded by CineGraphic on Jan 30, 2010

"From the early 70's, a unique commercial for it's time.
Commercials depicting African Americans in suburban settings were ground-breaking at the time."

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Example #2: Afro Sheen Ad 5 (1970s)



randimay21Uploaded on Sep 20, 2010

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Example #3: Afro Sheen Ad 6 (1970s)



randimay21 Uploaded on Oct 22, 2010

"The hawk is out to get you!"

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Example #4: Ultra Sheen TV AD (1970s)



TheThunderSilent, Uploaded on Jan 3, 2012

From the 70s.

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Example #5: Black Tie TV AD (1970s)



TheThunderSilent, Uploaded on Jan 3, 2012

A young Iman in this 1970s commercial advertisement for Black Tie men's cologne.

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Example #6:
[Pancocojams Editor:
The video that was originally presented in this post as #6 was entitled Avon 1970's commercial (1970s), published by skipeastport, Uploaded on Mar 14, 2010. Unfortunately, that link no longer works. Here's the summary that was included with that video:
"A new you" Avon ad from the mid-70's. Dig those flowing fashions on the women. Nice attempt by Avon to appeal to the African American market.

Here's a replacement video for Example #6- a Jax's Beer commercial from the 1930s or 1940s. The title of this film indicates that it is the first Black commercial in America.

First black commercial ever in america



msmedaghri, Published on Apr 28, 2009

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Example #7: Coca-Cola Classic ad: Mean Joe Green [Full Version] (1979)



stiggerpao, Uploaded on Jul 17, 2007

One of the famous Coca-Cola commercial in history featuring Mean Joe Green in 1979.

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Example #8: Vintage 80's McDonald's Double Dutch Ad (1980s)



tracy80sgirl, Uploaded on Jul 29, 2009

Sadly, I can only skip a single rope. But what a feelgood McDonald's commercial!

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Example #9: McDonald's Happy Meal Ad Cha Cha Slide (long version) (2005)



lttsrh, Uploaded on Sep 19, 2007

Hilarious!

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Example #10: XBoX 360 - Jump In (2005)



napalmdest, Uploaded on Apr 23, 2006

Xbox 360 commercial

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Example 11: 'Just Checking': Cheerios' Commercial [HD]



cheerios, Published on May 28, 2013

Share some Cheerios with the person closest to *your* heart.
-snip-
This commercial elicited a firestorm of racist comments because the family was interracial. Despite that hate, Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, issued this statement: "Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all."

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Thanks to the producers of these commercials. Thanks also to those featured in the commercials & their publishers on YouTube.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Deconstructing The Stereotype Of Black People As Apes & Monkeys

Edited by Azizi Powell

I was motivated to publish this post as a result of reading about the Australian football (soccer) player Adam Goodes who was called "monkey" by a 13 year old girl during a game during that nation's week dedicated to honoring indigenous athletes.

Here's a video of an interview of that player in which he talks about that incident:

Adam Goodes response to a racist taunt, unedited.



Published on May 25, 2013

20 years after Nicky Winmar took a historic stand against racist taunts from the crowd, a spectator again hurled racist abuse at AFL star Adam Goodes.

It happened a day after the Australian Football League launched the indigenous round, intended to celebrate the role of aboriginal players.

This was Adam Goodes' response. This video is the unedited news conference.
-snip-
In that interview Adam Goodes talked about how hurtful it was to him, his family, and other Black people to be called ape or monkey. He repeatedly thanked his fellow players and others for the support that he has been given and asked for support for the 13 year old who called him an ape. Goodes indicated that he thought that the girl was repeating what she had heard and didn't understand what such a taunt meant.

Click http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/adam-goodes-full-racism-press-conference-transcript/story-fni5fan7-1226650424034 for a full transcript of that interview.

Click http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211965/-13-yo-Australian-Spectator-Thrown-Out-of-Football-Stadium-For-Racist-Remark for a discussion about that particular incident & about other incidents in which Black or Brown people are called apes or monkeys.

****
That incident motivated me to surf the internet to find information about the history of the stereotypess of Black peopel as apes & monkeys. Here's an excerpt of one article that I found:
From http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/african/3-coon/6-monkey/
"A hateful association of Blacks with apes and monkeys was yet another way that the antebellum South justified slavery. Blacks were considered by some to be more simian than human, and therefore had no self-evident rights including freedom…The general acceptance of the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin were easily twisted into a means of identifying further “evidence” of the primitive status of Blacks...

The depiction of Blacks as apes and monkeys found expression in mainstream popular culture around the turn of the century*, especially in post cards. Often it was the zip or urban coon that was being caricatured, for the amusement of white consumers. Note the simian appearance of Black Americans in each of the postcards to the left, and how they have been dandified. These images are intended to be ironic, and to cater to the notion that Black coons are too stupid to understand that their efforts to assimilate into white culture only emphasize their inherent inferiority."
-snip-
No century was specified in that paragraph, but given the references to the late 1800s, I think that that sentence refers to the 20th century.

****
There are numerous online documentation in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere of Black people being depicted as apes or monkeys, beng called apes or monkeys, and/or having banana peels thrown at them, alluded to this ape/monkey stereotype. Here's an excerpt from one website:
http://blackathlete.net/2012/11/king-kong-nuthin-me-monkey-business-sports-politcs/
"...this type of blatant in your face racism, especially coming from England, where the 2012 Olympic games were held, is almost the norm.

Just consider the racist history of how Black athletes are mocked, especially Black soccer players during soccer matches in England,Italy and Spain, when they are insulted by fans, who make monkey chants while they play.

Matter of fact, just last year, the Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos walked off the field when a banana was thrown toward him at a league match in Russia.

This is racism in its purest and rawest form.

Unfortunately, however, this evil practice and behavior of throwing bananas at Black athletes has even occurred during a NHL (National Hockey League)game as well.

For instance, a spectator threw a banana at Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds during an overtime shootout attempt during a the Flyers’ preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario.

This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident.

Why? Because former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes had a banana thrown at him during a 2002 playoff series with the Montreal Canadians in Montreal as well.

Yeah, the more things change; the more they stay the same.

Because, unbelievably, just this year, during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, it showed up again, when Patricia Carroll, a Black camerawoman who works for CNN had peanuts thrown at her by two Caucasian males, who shouted at her “this is what we feed animals.”...

the real source of this fear of the Planet of Apes, is Barack Hussein Obama, who has had to experience the same type of racist name-calling that Black athletes like Jackie Robinson had to endured when he integrated Major League in April 15, 1947.

Obama, in fact, was called Curious George, who is cartoon monkey by South Carolina political consultant, Sen. Diane Black on Twitter the day after the election in 2008.

Plus, he was portrayed as a gorilla by NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas who depicted two policemen, one with smoking gun, standing over a dead chimpanzee with the words, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

****
COMMENTS ABOUT ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY INC AND THEIR UNOFFICIAL "APE" ICON
Given the history of Black people (and Brown people) being called apes and monkeys as a short-hand way of saying that we are more simian that human, it's surprising that the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has adopted apes as its unofficial mascot.

It's clear from watching videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (A Phi A; Alphas) step shows & strolls that persons associated with that fraternity consider apes as their unofficial mascot, symbol, or icon. That this symbolism is unofficial is underscored by the fact that there's no mention of apes being a symbol of A Phi A on that organization's website http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com or on the Wikipedia page about that organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha.

Note this overview from that Wikipedia page:
"Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that soon followed in its footsteps. It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza as its symbol, and its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."...
-snip-
Yet, the the fact that a number of Alphas associate "apes" with their fraternity is clear in a number of the Alpha Phi Alpha step show/stroll videos as well as in a number of comments in those video's discussion threads. Here's one video example:

Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic step show



Atlanta Greek Picnic, Published on Jun 17, 2012

Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show
-snip-
In a portion of that video (around 1:42 to around 2:10) & in some other A Phi A step routines, Alphas act mimic apes. They crouch down and jump up & down like apes. They hold their arms to the side like apes, hit their chest & hit the ground in front of where they are standing. And they make ape sounds while looking menacing. In some videos of Alpha strolls [party walks] one or more members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity wear a gorilla mask.

Here are two comments from viewers of the step show video that is featured above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjy2gHKIaqk
"MY BLACK MY BLACK MY BBBBBBBBBLACK!
A Phi to the Apes! Congrats bruhs!"
-Santwon Hines, 2012
**
"thats how APES do it . great performance PHRAT . you APES did your thing ."
PHROZEN spr' 12
Gamma Kappa
Miles College
-tri66z, 2012

Revision February 17, 2019:
Several commenters in discussion threads of videos of the Alpha's Ape Walk wrote that unless you are a member of this organization, you wouldn't understand what "ape" means to them. Consequently, I chose to delete my guesses as to why members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chose the ape as their fraternity's [unofficial] icon.

That said, even though the reason/s for this choice are a secret, what is done in secret can impact people outside an organization and because historically and in this present time apes, gorillas, and monkeys have very negative connotations for Black people, I continue to look side eye at Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity's choice of an ape for their icon, even though that icon is unofficial.

****
UPDATE September 2, 2016:
A passage from Elizabeth C. Fine's book Soulstepping: African American Step Shows quotes a passage in Howard University's 1988 Bison yearbook mentions apes in reference to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
P.40
..."One of the few descriptions of a different type of step show-the probate show-appears in the 1988 Bison. In “Probation prior to Vacation: Karen Samuels provides colorful details about the performances of five pledge clubs, demonstrating the importance of movement, song, and symbolic costumes....
There are also photographs of the AKA pledge club, the Delta pledges performing their ritual duck walk; and the “Nubian Apes of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc.” who “let out whoops and snatched members of the audience into their arms as they prepare to cross the burning sands into Alpha land.” [Samuel, Bison, “Probation Prior to Vacation” 14-15
-snip-
In a comment on a 2000 Greekchat.com discussion about pledging*, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. writes "Yes I know the secret of the ape and what the colors mean.".
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=2770
-end of quote-
I've read in a 2009 Geocities anti-greek forum that in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity pledge process, "a.p.e" means "almost pledged* entirely". http://www.oocities.org/glos_havebeenexposed/sin_and_shame.html don’tgogreek.com
-end of quote-

That may or may not be true.

*"Pledging" may not be always be the same thing as hazing". But it should be noted that hazing has been prohibited by members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council since 1990. And that greekchat.com discussion talks about "underground pledging" (as a way of getting around that hazing prohibition- although that process may still be quite common, it's definitely not legal.)
-snip-
Added to my guesses (shared above) as to what "ape" might mean to members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., I also posit that the word "ape" is spelled almost the same as "A Phi". And I wonder if Alphas promoted/promote the image of the huge, strong, burly ape as a means of counteracting the negative stereotypes of that fraternity's members being "less manly" than the brothers of certain other historically Black Greek lettered fraternities. Maybe that's just an ancillary benefit of that mascot/slogan or maybe that has nothing what so ever to do with "ape" and Alphamen, although the 1988 Howard University description of the Alphas whooping like apes and snatching women from the audience suggests that that action is modeled after the movie King Kong.

I understand that an organization's choice of its mascot/symbol is their members' choice alone. Still, even more so that what I wrote in 2013), I strongly question the efficacy and wisdom of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. choosing the ape as their mascot and I abhor that choice.

****
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The Story Behind The Stereotype Of Black People & Fried Chicken

Shawn Rossell, July 9, 2020

IN 1997, Tiger Woods won his 1st Masters tournament becoming the first golfer to win a Masters. But that wasnt the history that many remember. The history itself involved Fuzzy Zoeller, a golfer who had won the Masters in previous years, his first being the first tournament he ever did.  Zoeller did have to say a racial slur or say much of anything in this interview. However, the stereotype that he placed in the interview sent shockwaves throughout the world.  This was a hard one to trace down and understand how fried chicken, America’s favorite food, was seen as a stereotype directed solely at African Americans. To understand a bit deeper, we have to go back to the most problematic movie to ever exist, D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. In the scene were congress is led by mostly African Americans, there are scenes where blacks are unruly, drinking, taking off there shoes and in a very telling instance, eating fried chicken while presumably talking to the members of congress.  Many credit this movie to create many stereotypes, some that we will discuss much later in this series.  ****

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision- Feb. 26, 2022

This pancocojams post provides information about the stereotype of Black people (African Americans) and fried chicken.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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BACKGROUND: 2013 INCIDENT ABOUT FRIED CHICKEN AND GOLFER TIGER WOODS
From http://news.yahoo.com/woods-garcia-hurtful-time-move-131208768.html
The verbal sparring between golfers Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods became more ostensibly racial on May 21, 2013 when Garcia "joked" that he would invite golfer Tiger Woods over his house for fried chicken. Tiger Wood's response was that the comment was "wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate." According to a news article about this comment (which Garcia quickly apologized for) that remark was "reminiscent of when Fuzzy Zoeller made a similar comment about Woods after he won the 1997 Masters, becoming the first player of black heritage to win a major."

This news items begs the questions "Why is fried chicken associated with African Americans and why is that association considered to be negative?"

A short answer would be that Southern fried chicken is by its very name associated with the Southern region of the United States. And for many Americans the Southern region of the United States is closely associated with Black Americans and Black people are associated with slavery and Black Americans are also associated with black-faced minstrelsy. All of these associations-including the word "Southern"- have negative connotations to many Americans. There's a reason why the fast food franchise "Kentucky Fried Chicken" changed its name to "KFC". And it wasn't just because some people consider fried foods to be unhealthy. Southern living not only evokes negative memories of slavery. It also carries negative connotations of what some Americans call "rednecks" and "hillbillies".

Here's an American history 101 explanation from a political blog post about the problem with Sergio Garcia's comment:
From http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/22/1210971/-Sergio-Garcia-is-a-Racist-and-Adidas-TaylorMade-Should-Drop-Him by Gizzard
"Just why is the fried chicken stereotype racist? There are a number of reasons, some of them old and some of them current. Fried chicken was a dish commonly made by slaves, and it persisted among free blacks who were, at the time, too poor to afford more expensive meats. During prolonged American apartheid, fried chicken played well in black communities, as it was easy to make and even easier to refrigerate. Black people then had to worry about those things, as a meal at most restaurants was outside their reach.

Fried chicken references were often a part of racist blackface productions and other hideous minstrel shows. Later, many fast-food chicken restaurants used caricatures of black people as mascots for their restaurants. To say that fried chicken has persisted as a racist meme is an understatement, and this is nothing new."
-end of quote-

The negative association of Black people and Southern fried chicken is further compounded because of the reference in late 19th century & early 20th century songs to Black people stealing chickens.

For instance, African American professor & folklorist Thomas W. Talley's now classic 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise includes several songs about Black folks stealing chickens and watermelons. It's possible that those songs could have been originally composed by White people as part of black faced minstrelsy. However, their inclusion in Talley's collection & other collections of early 20th century Black American secular music, means that those songs were sung by Black Americans. Those songs helped create and reinforce White Americans' stereotypes of Black people as lazy, childish, foolish, comical, self-indulgent, thieving coons.

However, it's important to note that stealing chickens and taking watermelons were survival strategies that were used to help supplement the insufficient food rations that were allotted to enslaved African Americans or to help supplement the insufficient food budgets of poor and working class post slavery African Americans.

Also, it's important to add that's there's only one rhyme/song in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhyme that alludes to fried chicken and no other collection of Black American secular songs from the late 19th century or early 20th century directly mentions fried chicken. The example from Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes that alludes to fried chicken is "How To Please A Preacher. (page 117 in https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm .  That example which mentions chicken parts (such as the thigh or the wing) may be post-United States slavery.

It appears from Talley's collection that chicken was usually served in the form of a pie. This makes sense because not only was it quicker to cook chicken pies than to fry chicken, but serving that poultry in the form of a pie helped stretch the chicken and vegetables that were used to make that meal.

It seems to me that it makes sense that people with little time and resources would prepare chicken in a pie rather than fry pieces of chicken. Making chicken pies is less time consuming than frying chicken. Also, more people could be fed with chicken served in a "pot pie" (as we refer to it today), then as individual pieces of chicken.

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MORE HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK AMERICANS AND SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN
The Wikipedia article about fried chicken http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_chicken provides more historical information about the connection between "Southern fried chicken" and Black people.* Here are some excerpts from that article:
"A number of West African cuisines featured dishes where chicken was fried, typically in palm oil, sometimes having been battered before. These would be served on special occasions in some areas, or sometimes sold in the streets as snacks in others.[6][7][8] This provided some means of independent economy for enslaved and segregated African American women, who became noted sellers of poultry (live or cooked) as early as the 1730s. Because of this and the expensive nature of the ingredients, it was, despite popular perception, a rare and special dish in the African-American community.**

Since most slaves were unable to raise expensive meats, but generally allowed to keep chickens, frying chicken on special occasions continued in the African American communities of the South. It endured the fall of slavery and gradually passed into common use as a general Southern dish. Since fried chicken traveled well in hot weather before refrigeration was commonplace, it gained further favor in the periods of American history when segregation closed off most restaurants to the black population. Fried chicken continues to be among this region's top choices for "Sunday dinner" among both blacks and whites.*** Holidays such as Independence Day and other gatherings often feature this dish.[11]

...Since the American Civil War, traditional slave foods like fried chicken, watermelon, and chitterlings have suffered a strong association with African American stereotypes and blackface minstrelsy.[10] This was commercialized for the first half of the 20th century by restaurants like Sambo's and Coon Chicken Inn, which selected exaggerated depictions of blacks as mascots, implying quality by their association with the stereotype. Although also being acknowledged positively as "soul food" today, the affinity that African American culture has for fried chicken has been considered a delicate, often pejorative issue. While the perception of fried chicken as an ethnic dish has been fading for several decades, with the ubiquity of fried chicken dishes in the United States, it persists as a racial stereotype."
-snip-
*Notice that although this stereotype about Black people and fried chicken originated regarding African Americans, it has been extended to other Black people world wide. One excample of this is said to be the Australian KFC ad which is reposted below as video example #2.

**Italics were added by me to highlight the point that historical documents of enslaved African Americans including recollections, songs, and rhymes indicate or suggest that fried chicken and chicken pies were special treats, and not common dishes among those enslaved African Americans.

***However, even when Black people were able to fully use those restaurants, it was -and still is- commonplace for some African Americans (and some other Americans) to cook fried chicken at home prior to going on a trip and eat that home cooked chicken while traveling rather than purchase much more expensive meals for sale at stores or restaurants.

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RELATED LINKS
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/stereotype-of-african-americans-kool.html

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/deconstructing-caricature-of-zip-coon.html

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/ten-non-racist-product-commercials-that.html

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Comments From The Viewers Of The Video "T-Paining Too Much: The Meme-ification of Charles Ramsey"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post features 26 selected comments from the video comment thread of Jay Smooth's [illdoctrine] video blog "T-Paining Too Much: The Meme-ification of Charles Ramsey".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/transcript-of-vblog-t-paining-too-much.html for that video, for my transcription of that video, and for related links.

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural reasons.

****
SELECTED COMMENTS
(These comments were posted on that video's viewer comment thread from the date of the video's posting May 8, 2013 to May 13, 2013. The comments are presented in chronological order with the oldest comments posted first. The numbers are given for referencing purposes only and the commenter's screen name is given after that assigned number. To date [May 14, 2013 at 9 PM EST] there are 145 comments to that video).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id8Vj2sUXDQ&list=UUjj9EnVJUY7pTkP5MX8F9gQ&index=1

Comment #1: bbbnnnlll
"To me, the autotuning is just a part of the larger trend of exploitation, mockery, and caricaturizing of black people like Antoine Dodson, Sweet Brown, and now Charles Ramsey."
**
Comment #2: [Reply] craigslist176
"If you have watched the popular autotune videos you would know that it extends beyond the African American community, as illdoc1 also acknowledged in this video."
**
Comment #3: DUGMAC1973
"It was only a matter of time. Every sensational news story, especially those that feature such interesting characters, tend to gravitate towards focusing specifically upon the cast, as opposed to the story. The fact that this guy is not particularly articulate, not aesthetically pleasing to the eye and non-white automatically makes him a target for all kinds of crude stereotypes and generalisations. This seems to be the norm for the way the media operates in the States. I fear it will get worse
**
Comment #4: nibunni
"it doesn't have to be "focused" on them for it to be problematic. that anyone is tying to make commodity and make jokes at the expense of someone else for something like being uneducated or "unekmpt" is inherently manipulative and there's really zero way around that whatsoever. It's not about "what else is autotuned," it's the racism/classism involved in why the seemingly uneducated are specifically targeted for humor - especially when they are black."
**
Comment #5: facephoenix
"It did bother me because if he was a well kept blue collar Caucasian I think they would be handing him a medal and talking about how great he was but with a ton more respect. Maybe we [society] are too ravenous for a quick laugh to notice that a man stepped out of the "Mind your own Business - Isolationist" Mind State we have as Americans and helped a person in need. Would they have done this if an EMT in Boston had his same personality during the bombing? I doubt it."
**
Comment #6: homosaur
"Preach it Jay, I don't understand why the sh&t on its own wasn't enough, why does it have to become a ridiculous character thing? Charles Ramsey doesn't deserve a meme just because he had a great one-liner. And let's be clear, that was a massively amazing one-liner."
-snip-
That "s" word was fully spelled out in that comment.
**
Comment #7: Sumkilla
..."Some problems are perceived, and some problems are actual. This strikes me as a "perceived" problem. I'm a little more concerned about the self righteous ppl who are calling this guy a minstrel & these videos racist b/c there's a working class black man being made fun of. There are assumptions being made about why ppl find him funny (even in this video's comments). To me those assumptions are more racist than any meme I've seen so far. That strikes me as more of an "actual" problem."
**
Comment #8: Jake Stephens
"I've never been one to like the auto-tuning of people to poke fun at them, when really there should be more dialog about what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. Also, not a fan of "Auto-tune The News". I just don't care for it. News is meant to be news. But that's just me."
**
Comment #9: MouseAria
"Thank you so much for saying so eloquently what I wanted to. I think this trend is specifically problematic when you think about how race factors in, and how a lot of memes surrounding black people are in a sense laughing at them, in a 'oh those crazy black people' kind of way, which is entirely and completely f***ed up. Instead of appreciating Ramsey's courage, people are laughing at his elocution, or the lack there of, which is anything but endearing and is just plain racist."
-snip-
The asterisks are used because this pancocojams blog is supposed to be profanity free.
**
Comment #10: Roxie21
"I don't know if the meme is taking us to weird places or just truly revealing how weird/classist/racist it's been this entire time."
**
Comments #11: Lovelyn Bettison
"Glad you're back. I've missed your videos. I think the whole autotune thing is tired. I feel like it's usually used to make a joke out of poor, black people and makes light of the real issue"
**
Comment #12: Carlyle V.Smith
"Well said. I agree dude is funny but shouldn't be objectified like he, and others, have."
**
Comment #13: xXMissFoxyXx
"Completely agree. It gives me a slight chill to see how completely detached from the reality of the situation so many people are. It's not a movie and Charles Ramsey isn't some comic relief character to leaven the mood for the audience. Those women were raped and tortured for a DECADE."
**
Comment #14: iomegapencils
"While I agree with your points on the whole youtube-meme-machine-dickridin­g phenomenon, I feel like the gregory brothers version wasn't in such bad taste. What happened in Cleveland was horrifying, to the level of being literally dumbfounding. Sometimes humor can be a tool to pull that kind of stuff down to a level where we as humans can actually look at it and deal with it. In my case, I watched that video and was laughing WITH Charles, not AT him, which to me is what makes it non-Chappelle."
**
Comment #15: silvike
"It's interesting that you bring this up. Being from Sweden, we don't get the same news coverage about what happened as you do (obviously) so after hearing you out, I went to check out the interview with Charles Ramsey and what hit me was that I saw a man who was tired (probably because everyone wanted to talk to him right away), still very perplexed over what had happened and what had been going on right infront of him without him knowing and dealing with being on national tv."
**
Comment #16: silvike
"Cont.
I didn't really see the funny part in this and I think it's because in my country, but I think in general for all of Europe, making fun of people on the news has not become a part of our culture (yet), not even on the internet, in fact, it would be frowned upon. I loved the Martin Luther King tune by the Gregory Brothers, and Antoine dodson was borderline not ok (but sounded great) but after that, I stopped listening. I do think that if we start making fun of everything, we'll end up"
**
Comment #17: silvike
"Cont.
not feeling anything about anything in the end, some news aren't meant to be laughed off so we can feel better, some news are meant to shake us up so we'll take action for things to get better. We just had a father forgetting his child the car for 8 hours while working (he forgot to drop him off att the kindergarten) and he died from heat stroke. This has launched a debate about parents being over stressed, schools not warn when kids don't show up. News help us evolve."
**
Comment #18: Anne Shelly
"I don't see a problem with it if the person gets something out of it. They are real. There is nothing ghetto or stereotypical about them."
**
Comment #19: Anne Shelly
"The thing about it is that they pay these ppl for memeing them and I'm not going to knock anyone's money.

Moreover, black ppl need to think about what offends us and what doesn't. Ppl find these ppl embarrassing or perhaps stereotypical when they are real ppl commenting on something real that happened. There's nothing stereotypical about that. We'll support terrible black movies and agree to be stereotypical black characters on shows and support those shows. But these REAL ppl are embarrassing?"
**
Comment #20: WernerVonWallenrod
"I was blissfully unaware of any autotuning of this guy. I knew of the news story, heard the 911 call (which, seriously... why are 911 calls being released as public entertainment? How is that okay?), and thought he was charming and funny like everybody else. But somehow I missed the following stuff that you're responding to. Maybe you're just on the wrong internet. ;)"
**
Comment #21: Big Bambu
"The reason people become memes is because they have qualities that are laughable. The point of a meme is to laugh at a person's looks or behaviour."
**
Comment #22: Leslie T
"Given that the minstrel show and laughing at black people was one of the first forms of entertainment in America, it almost kind of makes sense that people have made a meme of Charles Ramsey. You ever been around someone who laughs a LITTLE too long at a joke? After a while, they're laughing at something else.
These people are laughing at their stereotypical view of BP and how they perceive/want us to be. Who knows, I can't really get in their head. But this isnt just surface humor. FACT."
**
Comment #23: Heather McManus
"Great to have a new post form you, especially one focused on a topic that I have had a hard time articulating my discomfort about to other people in my life. Very well said! Do you happen to have a transcript you could easily post in the comments that I could quote from?"
**
Comment #24:ktownshutdown21
"The biggest difference to me is that people GENUINELY respect Ramsey. With folks like Antoine Dotson or Sweet Brown, you could argue that it was a case "LOL look at these craaaazy black people!" But Ramsey...that was a MAJOR thing he was able to do and people GET that, 100%. Go through any comments section of any interview or article of the guy; there's nothing but straight up admiration for him.

The "white girl" line was MEANT to be a joke/quip by him instead of unintentionally becoming one."
**
Comment #25: Bob Urell
"Oh, thank God. I thought I was just being a fogey when I couldn't find the funny in the million versions of Mr. Ramsey singing an interview. The man did something when confronted with another human being in need. A lot of people wouldn't have. He deserves our respect."
**
Comment #26: Alanna Frank
"I honestly was so uncomfortable about the whole thing. I got Antoine Dodson...it made sense...but this Charles Ramsey thing wasn't even funny to me. It kinda just broke my heart instead...He saved lives and he put himself in danger...real danger to save people he didn't even know. I'd say that should be applauded and not made fun of. I'm tired of my people getting shot down"

****
ADDENDUM
This excerpt is presented for background about what some are referring to as Charles Ramsey's "meme-ification" and the "trope of the hilarious Black neighbor":
From http://news.yahoo.com/internets-instant-meme-ification-charles-ramsey-backlash-170500138.html

The internet's instant meme-ification of Charles Ramsey: The backlash By Lauren Hansen | The Week – Wed, May 8, 2013

"Does a Cleveland man's dizzying ascent to viral stardom expose America's racist underbelly?

No sooner did America hear about the miraculous story of three long-missing women being freed from captivity in a Cleveland home did Charles Ramsey, the neighbor.

Ramsey was one of the first to provide reporters with an eyewitness account of the rescue of Amanda Berry who, along with Georgina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, had been missing for a decade. (Read more about their rescue here.) Ramsey offered America a candid, self-effacing report that immediately caught the eye of thousands upon thousands of people all over the world. Like any good story, Ramsey peppered his tale with details ("I was eaten' my McDonald's") and offered a humorous analysis of an otherwise unbelievable situation: "Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms. Something's wrong here. Dead giveaway." ...

"What's really getting everyone's attention isn't his intervention in saving the women's lives," says Roger Ratchet at Gossip On This, "it's his wide-eyed, tactless, and ebonics-peppered speech that has everyone in stitches."

Ramsey is not the first black American to be thrust suddenly into the spotlight this way. Remember Antoine Dodson of "Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife" or Sweet Brown of "Aint Nobody Got Time for That"? They also gave equally frank local TV interviews that were manipulated, memed, catch-phrased, and forwarded around for entertainment...

In the eyes of many critics of these memes, the common denominator among Ramsey, Dodson, and Sweet Brown is that they are poor and black. And to some, this kind of meme-ification reveals America's racist underbelly. "Laughter directed at Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the "ghetto," says Aisha Harris at Slate. The root of such jokes are "disrespectful at best." Harris continues:
It's difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. [Slate]

Indeed, Ramsey's race and class are central to his temporary celebrity, says Gene Demby at NPR. And these memes are patronizing. Demby continues:
"Amid the hood backdrop — the gnarled teeth, the dirty white tee, the slang, the shout-out to McDonald's — we miss the fact that Charles Ramsey is perfectly lucid and intelligent"..."

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RELATED LINK & EDITORIAL COMMENT
Click http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sweet-brown-aint-nobody-got-time-for-that for a post about Sweet Brown.

I believe that it's significant that some people who have been "memed" such as Antoine Dodson & Sweet Brown, although it appears not Charles Ramsey, actively participate in their meme-ification, after the fact by encouraging the public to remember their one liners that made them famous.

However, notice how in subsequent television appearances Sweet Brown and Antoine Dodson don't show up with their hair covered by a scarf (which is a typical bedtime night hair care custom for African Americans.) Instead, their hair is worn in appropriate going outdoor styles and their clothing is also appropriate for television show appearances. In his subsequent interviews, Charles Ramsey, also "upgraded" his physical appearance by wearing suitable outdoor clothing and not a white t-shirt, and covering his hair with a baseball cap.

My point is that if any of these persons who became internet sensations because of their unexpected interviews were truly wanting to be stereotyped as ghetto clowns, they would have continued to wear their hair covered with a scarf or their hair out (unbraided?)* as was the case with Charles Ramsey. And they would have continued to wear the types of clothing that they wore when they were unexpectedly caught up in that crisis which resulted in them being interviewed. In other words, the way they were dressed-including their hair- would have become a costume.

Thank goodness, it seems that none of those persons who have been "memed" have gone that far, and it seems from the linked article's update that Sweet Brown (and presumably the other persons who have been memed) have lawyers to protect their public images from being abused by those who would make money off of them. Good for them.

*I wonder if Charles Ramsey's hair was that long because he wears his hair in cornbraids and the braids were taken out in preparation for rebraiding.on interviews, he covered his hair with a baseball cap.



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ACKNOWLEDGEMNT AND THANKS
Thanks to Charles Ramsey for his heroic actions. Thanks to all those whose comments I quoted in this blog post. Thanks also to Jay Smooth for his insightful and thought provoking video.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

A White & A Black Version of The Song "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part II of a two part series on two versions of song that are known as "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown". Part II features the lyrics of and sound files of these two songs.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-textual-analysis-of-two-versions-of.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents my textual analysis of the original 1905 lyrics of "What You Goin' Do When the Rent Comes 'Round?" (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown) and the 1969 Rufus Thomas version of "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown".

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and sociological purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

FEATURED SOUND FILE AND LYRICS
"Rufus Rastas Johnson Brown" (Von Tilzer) Ragtime song by Arthur Collins Victor 4432 C 1905



EMGColone, Published on Jun 3, 2012

"What you going to do when the Rent comes 'Round " Ragtime Song sung by Arthur Collins Victor 4432 [song starts at .31]
-snip-
LYRICS:

What You Goin' To Do When the Rent Comes 'Round? (Rufus Rastas Johnson Brown)
music by Harry von Tilzer; words by Andrew B. Sterling

First verse:
Who dat a knockin' at the door below,
Who dat a shivrin' in the hail and snow,
I can hear you grumblin' Mister Rufus Brown,
Just keep on a knockin' babe, I won't come down,
I wants to tell you that you can't get in,
Have you been a gamblin'
Honey, did you win?
what's that you tell me,
coon you lost your breath?
I hopes you freezes to death

(Chorus)

Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent comes ‘round,
What you goin' to say,
how you goin' to pay,
You'll never have a bit of sense till judgement day;
You know, I know, rent means dough,
Landlord's goin' to put us out in the snow,
Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent comes ‘round.

Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent comes ‘round,
What you goin' to say,
how you goin' to pay,
You'll never have a bit of sense till judgement day;
You know, I know, rent means dough,
Landlord's goin' to put us out in the snow,
Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin’ to do when the rent comes ‘round.

Second verse:
Keep on a bangin’ on the old front door,
In just a minute babe you’ll hear me snore,
If I goes to bed without a bite or sup,
You will be an icicle when I wakes up,
Where’s all the money that you said you’d bring,
Melted all away just like the snow last Spring,
Rufus I loves you, but this serves you right,
Guess that’s sufficient, “goodnight.”

(Chorus)

Disclaimer:
The derogatory terms, images, and ideas that appear in some of this sheet music are not condoned by the University of Mississippi. They do represent the attitudes of a number of Americans at the times the songs were published. As such, it is hoped that the sheet music in this collection can aid students of music, history, and other disciplines to better understand popular American music and racial stereotypes from the 19th- and early 20th-centuries.
http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sharris/id/1645/rec/6
item date 1905
-snip-
Click http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/levy-cgi/display.cgi?id=150a.018.000;pages=4;range=0-3 for a larger image of this song's cover. The cover shows a drawing of an urban, middle age Black couple standing outside a house. The couple are wearing what I would call "dress up" clothes. Both the man & the woman are drawn with large, red lips, and the man has a cigar in his mouth.

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Rufus Thomas -- Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown



HoYeahcorp, Published on Oct 13, 2012

"Do The Funky Chicken"Album.
1969.
-snip-
LYRICS: RUFUS RASTUS JOHNSON BROWN
(Rufus Thomas)

Background singers -Oh! Rastas! [with additional words ???]
Lead Singer: Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent come around,
Second Male voice: “I don’t know. I don’t know”.
Ain’t got no money, you can’t pay.
Ain’t gonna have no money till judgement day.
Second male voice: I’m broke. I’m broke.
Lead:Way down yonder about a mile and a half
I can see ole Rastus comin down the path.
He’s runnin, and skippin, and a-jumpin, and a yellin.
He got a pot full of chitlins and they are smellin.
Background singers – Pot!

Lead: Oh, Rufus!
What you been doin ole Rufus
Oh, Rufus,
What in the world do you want from me.

Lead Singer & background singers
Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent come around,
Ain’t got no money, you can’t pay.
Ain’t gonna have no money till judgment day.

Lead: Oh, Rufus!
Oh, Rufus!
Oh, Rufus,
What in the world do you want from me?

Lead Singer & background singers
Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
what you goin' to do when the rent come around,
Ain’t got no money, you can’t pay.
Ain’t gonna have no money till judgment day.

Lead singer,
Oh, baby!
I gotta get a movin
Oh, baby!
I gotta get a movin

Rufus Rastus
Johnson Brown,
Rufus Rastus
Johnson Brown

[The Lead singer begins to scat while the background singers continue to sing the words “Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown”]
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file. The words in brackets with question marks mean that I was unable to decipher what was sung. The words in italics mean that I'm not sure about what I transcribed. Additions & corrections are very welcome.

ADDENDUM
I want to be clear that these two versions of "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown" aren't the only two versions of that song that exists. Some people are very familiar with versions of "Rufus Rastus etc" that ends with a portion of a song called "C. H. I. C. K. E. N." Here's a comment from the Mudcat Cafe discussion thread on "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown" about those versions:

In case anyone is still confused about why some versions of RUFUS RASTUS… have verses about chickens and some don't—it's because two different Tin-Pan-Alley songs somehow got blended together by the folk process. The songs are:

DAT'S DE WAY TO SPELL CHICKEN by Sidney L. Perrin and Bob Slater, 1902;

and

WHAT YOU GOIN' TO DO WHEN THE RENT COMES 'ROUND? by Andrew B. Sterling and Harry Von Tilzer, 1905

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=50037#1451385 Origins: C-H-I-C-K-E-N. [Mudcat: Rufus Rastus; Jim Dixon, Date: 04 Apr 05 - 12:15 AM]

-snip-
That comment & both the Mudcat threads cited contain examples of the 1902 song "C-H-I-C-K-E-N".

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the transcriber who is quoted in this post. Thanks also to the uploaders of these sound files.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

A Textual Analysis Of Two Versions Of "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part I of a two part series on two versions of the song that are known as "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown".

Part II features lyrics and sound files of the original 1905 version of this song and of Rufus Thomas' 1969 version of this song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-white-black-version-of-song-rufus.html for Part II of this series.

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PART I
I first heard about the 1905 Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown in 2007 when I read about him on this Mudcat Cafe discussion thread: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=37834 "What You Goin' Do When the Rent Comes 'Round?" [hereafter given as Mudcat: Rufus Rastus].

I confess that I really don't like the image of Rufus Rastus that was drawn by Andrew B. Sterling, that song's lyricist. Sterling's description of Rufus Rastus fits the stereotype of a Negro coon, only he-Von Tilzer-following the customs of his time-would have written "Negro" with a small "n". Sterling's caricature of Rufus Rastus was that of a good for nothing man who stayed out late, and didn't have the sense to not gamble away his rent money. Von Tilzer's Rufus Rastus also fit the stereotype of a coon in that he was dominated by his wife - or at least his woman- who is actually the one who speaks in that 1905 song. The reason why I'm not sure if that was his wife or not was that Rufus Rastus didn't have a key to his own home. But maybe in the beginning 20th century USA folks, or just struggling poor folks didn't have keys to their homes. Maybe they secured the door with some kind of latch, and that is why that 1905 Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown couldn't get in to his house unless someone from the inside let him in.

And it seems to me that Rufus Rastus must have stayed out late more than just that one time that is recorded in that song. And it seems to me that he must have done some other real triflin things for his wife -or his woman- to have such a strong reaction to him staying out late that time. Maybe Rufus Rastus had a habit of gamblin away his money, even down to the rent money. Otherwise why did she jump to that conclusion that Rufus had been gambling just because he stayed out real late that night? But am I right in detecting some acceptance of Rufus Rastus gambling since she asked him "Did you win?" and "Where’s all the money that you said you’d bring"? Isn't that enabling Rufus Rastus' gambling habit? Hmmm.

Yet, according to how Andrew B. Sterling tells it, even before she asked if Rufus Rastus had won any money from his gamblin, his wife or woman- who was given no name in that song- was clearly not happy with Rufus Rastus. She called him out of his name (by calling him a coon), and she said that he didn't have any sense, and he wouldn't have sense to judgment day-which after all, is probably still a long time coming. And Rufus Rastus' wife (I'll give her that benefit of the doubt) called her husband "Honey" and "babe" and said she loved him. But she also said that she wished that he would freeze out in the snow. That was some strange kinda love...

While Andrew B. Sterling's depicted the silent Rufus Rastus as a coon, and even has Rufus Rastus' wife referring to him as such, Sterling's characterization of Rufus Rastus also has elements of the pretentious, living above his means, urban Zip Coon. It seems to me that the main thing in the song that implies that Sterling pictured Rufus Rastus as a Zip Coon was the fact that he gave that character four names instead of a total of three names that most Americans have. Three names - regular. Four names - pretentious. Not only that, I'm sure that it was no accident that Andrew B. Sterling gave that character the names "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown".

It's possible that in 1905 the name "Rufus" didn't bring to mind a picture of a poor, country Black man. However, although I only have anecdotal proof to back up this assertion, I believe that the name "Rufus" has carried those connotations for some time. My claim that the name "Rufus" is largely associated with Black males is supported by this comment by a blogger on that Mudcat Folk & Blues discussion thread that I referred to earlier:
"In _A Death in the Family_ by James Agee, a little white boy whose name happens to be Rufus is taunted by the neighborhood bullies for having a "n****r name"*, and they use that song. That would have been about 1915.

Then there was

"What does you lahk bestes', Rastus?"
"Ah lahks asbestos, Rufus."

So, yes, the names carry some baggage. Maybe they will manage to shed it by & by." "[Mudcat: Rufus Rastus; Joe_F, Date: 11 Sep 07 - 09:21 PM]
-snip-
* The "n word" is fully spelled out in this comment.

The name "Rastus" has a long tradition of being associated with Black males. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastus:
" "Rastus" has been used as a generic, often derogatory, name for black men at least since 1880, when Joel Chandler Harris included a Black deacon named "Brer Rastus" in the first Uncle Remus book. However, "Rastus" has never been particularly popular as a Black name. For example, the 1870 census reported only 42 individuals named "Rastus" in the United States, of whom only four were Black or mulatto.[2]

Rastus—as a stereotypically happy black man, not as a particular person—became a familiar character in minstrel shows. This is documented in Every Time I Turn Around: Rite, Reversal, and the End of Blackface Minstrelsy,[3] and Racism and Poverty in Ford City, PA, 1959: Minstrel Show,[4] and in fiction such as Adventures of Rufus Rastus Brown in Darktown (1906)[5] and Rastus Comes to the Point: A Negro Farce,[6] and in popular songs such as Rastus, Take Me Back (1909)[7] and (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown) What You Going to Do When the Rent Comes 'Round (1905),[8] on radio,[9] and in films, most notably the Rastus series of short films,[10] with titles that included How Rastus Got His Chicken[11] and Rastus Runs Amuck.[12]"

I'm not sure whether in the late 19th century and the early 20th century the surnames "Johnson" and "Brown" were associated with Black Americans more than with Americans of any other race or ethnicity. However, if people make that connection now they might be surprised to know that, according to the 1990 United States census, "Johnson" is the second most common last name, and "Brown" is the fifth most common last name in that nation ("Smith" is the #2 most common last name in the USA).
http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm. Yet, however many White "Browns" there are, I've no doubt that Sterling selected the last name "Brown" for Rufus Rastus as a reference to that character's race. The name "Rufus Rastus Johnson Smith" doesn't have the same connotations as "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown".

By the way, in one line of that song, another way that Rufus Rastus' wife showed her disrespect for her man was by sneeringly referring to him as "Mister Rufus Brown", and not by his full name. I read the use of the title "Mister" as a taunt, as if Rufus Rastus' wife was implying that he really wasn't man enough to use the title "Mister". And, indeed, the use of "titles" for Black Americans was a new custom, particularly in the South, where before the end of slavery, the only "honorific" that could be used for a Black adult was "auntie" or "uncle".

Before I turn to Rufus Thomas' 1969 version of "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown", I feel compelled to note the 19th century, early 20th century stereotypical "Negro" dialect that Andrew B. Sterling used in his lyrics to that song. Sure, some poor Black folks then said "dat" instead of "that". And some Black folks - then and now-incorrectly use incorrect grammar such as "I hopes you freezes to death", "If I goes to bed without a bite or sup", and what you goin' to do when the rent comes ‘round". But non-Black Americans also use such incorrect standard Emglish grammar. Nevertheless, that dialect is associated with negative stereotypes of Black folks. And because of the negative stereotypes associated with the depiction of Rufus Rastas & his wife, including the dialectic English, I believe that it would be very problematic if this 1905 version of "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown" were to be sung to the general public nowadays in any way except a part of an educational historical presentation.

Also, before turning to my briefer analysis of Rufus Thomas' Rufus Rastus song, here's an interesting comment from another Mudcat blogger which provides some background about how Harry Von Tilzer came up with the idea for this song:
"This rent lament is a classic from the late 19th century minstrel song school, and is also known by the compound name of its protagonist, Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown. Music historian Sigmund Spaeth describes how the author became inspired to write this song:

Harry Von Tilzer was standing on the platform of the railway station at Miami listening to the conversation of two negroes. The woman was berating the man, and after using every possible adjective to describe his low-down shiftlessness, she worked up to a climax with the question, "What you goin' to do when de rent comes 'round?" The rest was easy."" [Mudcat: Rufus Rastus; Charley Noble, Date: 01 Sep 01 - 03:25 PM]

In contrast to that 1905 depiction of Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown, Rufus Thomas' 1969 character of the same name is much more sympathetically drawn. In that 1969 song there is no mention of Rufus Rastus gambling, nor is there any wife taunting him- callin him out of his name- and refusing to let him in out of the cold. Unlike that earlier song, in Rufus Thomas' record, Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown actually says something. He says "I'm broke. I'm broke". And as any American of any race or ethnicity could tell you, there's more ways of being broke in the US of A then gambling. However, I get the impression from that R&B song that Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown must have been broke quite often, and that the lead singer is used to him coming to him to give him some money to help him pay his rent and his other bills. Yet, the picture I get from this song is that the lead singer is shaking his head and saying to himself or to Rufus Rastus "What am I going to do with you". He's not taunting Rufus Rastus, refusing to help him, or wishing that Rufus Rastus were dead.

Rufus Thomas' song is written in a form of African American vernacular English, for example the lines "Ain’t got no money, you can’t pay/Ain’t gonna have no money till judgment day." Then again, the Rufus Rastus character in that 1969 song says "I'm broke" and not "I'se broke". And the lead singer says "what you goin' to do when the rent come around" and not "what youse gwine do when the rent come 'round". As a 20th/21st century African American, that latter pronuciation and the rest of that 19th century/early 20th century "Negro dialect" associated with that 1905 "Rufus Rastas" song isn't at all funny to me.

I don't think that Rufus Thomas' depiction of Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown has any elements of Zip Coon. Those four names & some of the lyrics are lifted from that earlier song, and those names don't appear to be meant to convey pretentiousness as I believe they are meant to convey in that 1905 song. But, while I wouldn't say that Rufus Thomas' depiction of Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown is that of a coon, I believe that that 1969 depiction definitely has some coonish elements. Notice that the 1969 Rufus Rastus isn't described as a hard-working man or a man who has tried to find work and for some reason is down on his luck. Instead, Rufus Thomas says that "I can see ole Rastus comin down the path/He’s runnin, and skippin, and a-jumpin, and a yellin/He got a pot full of chitlins and they are smellin." That description fits the happy-go-lucky, irresponsible coon stereotype. However, when Rufus Thomas refers to Rufus Rastus as "ole Rufus", I think that word "ole" softens that description, and shows that singer has some affection for that man. (Of course, that may be an incorrect transcription of that word, and Rufus Thomas may have said "old" instead of "ole". Even so, I think that word also conveys some affection toward Rufus Rastus".)

I wonder whether the lead voice in that 1969 song was supposed to be a friend of Rufus Rastus or if he was supposed to be kin to Rufus Rastus. If that lead voice and Rufus Rastus were related, then the implication that Rufus Rastus hoped to get help from that lead voice fits the findings in one recent study that one reason why the household wealth of middle class Black American families is so much lower than the household wealth of middle class White American families is that Black American families give more money to assist their poor relatives. [http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/02/18/family-members-in-need/ Family Members in Need: Why Some Middle Class Blacks Can’t Get Ahead, Lisa Wade, Feb 18, 2013, at 12:00 pm]

There are many causes for poverty besides people gambling their money and otherwise being irresponsible. That brings me to my first reaction to the 1905 song "What You Goin' To Do When the Rent Comes 'Round? (Rufus Rastas Johnson Brown)" when I first read about it on that Mudcat Cafe discussion thread that I've previously cited:
..."Fwiw, I've never heard this song or the chicken song. And I doubt very much that many contemporary African Americans sing this song as the name "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown" is quite stereotypical and the names "Rufus" and "Rastus" in particular remind folks of what weren't good ole days for many people. Maybe Rufus Rastus would have been able to pay his rent if there wasn't so much institutional and personal racism around.

And yes, I know this song is to be sung just for fun. But still."...
[Mudcat: Rufus Rastus; Azizi, Date: 11 Sep 07 - 02:39 PM]

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RELATED LINKS
Information about the coon and Zip Coon stereotypes are given in these articles http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/coon/ and http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/deconstructing-caricature-of-zip-coon.html "Deconstructing The Caricature of Zip Coon & Other Minstrel Black Dandies"

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ACKNOWLEGEMENT AND THANKS
I can't bring myself to thank the composer & lyricists of that 1905 song. Yet, I recognize that in the early 20th century, the characterizations of Black people found in that song may have even been thought to be progressive. At least, the n word wasn't used in that Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown song.

I do acknowlege Rufus Thomas' writing and performance & I thank him for his musical legacy. I also thank each of the commenters and authors who are quoted in this post.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.