Fried chicken stereotype

Last updated

"Coon card" from 1905 Fried chicken stereotype 1905 cooncard.jpg
"Coon card" from 1905

The fried chicken stereotype is an anti-African American racist trope that has its roots in the American Civil War and traditional slave foods.

Contents

The popularity of fried chicken in the Southern United States and its portrayal in films like The Birth of a Nation contributed to the development of this stereotype. Restaurants such as Sambo's and Coon Chicken Inn further commercialized the stereotype through their mascots. Though fried chicken is now also celebrated as soul food, its association with African American culture is sometimes considered a sensitive issue.

Public figures like Tiger Woods have been targeted with fried chicken-related remarks, and organizations have been criticized for serving it during Black History Month or making racially insensitive references.

History

Since the American Civil War, traditional slave foods like fried chicken, watermelon, and chitterlings have suffered a strong association with stereotypes of African Americans and blackface minstrelsy. [1] The reasons for this are various. Chicken dishes were popular among enslaved people before the American Civil War, as chickens were generally the only animals enslaved people were allowed to own, [2] as well as being cheap and easy to raise. [3] The notion of African Americans having a special affinity for fried chicken has its origins in both the popularity of chicken in the cuisine of the Southern United States as well as the 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation , in which a rowdy African American man is seen eating fried chicken in a legislative hall. [3] [4] [5] The stereotype was commercialized in the 20th century by restaurants like Sambo's and Coon Chicken Inn, which selected exaggerated depictions of Black people 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 by some to be a delicate, often pejorative issue.[ citation needed ]

Uses

On two occasions, the golfer Tiger Woods has been the target of remarks regarding fried chicken. [6] [7] After Woods became the youngest Masters Tournament champion in 1997, golfer Fuzzy Zoeller said Woods should avoid serving fried chicken "or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve" at the Champions' Dinner the following year. [6] [8] Similarly, golfer Sergio García joked in 2013, "we'll have [Woods] 'round for dinner every night. We will serve fried chicken" when asked if he would invite Woods to his house. [9] Woods said Garcia's remark was "wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate". [6] Both Zoeller and García later apologized to Woods. [6]

Various groups and organizations have been criticized for serving fried chicken during Black History Month, [10] [11] making references to "Obama Fried Chicken" [12] [13] and other racial stereotypes associated with the food. [14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ History of Fried Chicken through the Ages Archived November 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine . Southernfriedchickenrecipe.com. Retrieved on January 29, 2012.
  2. ↑ Bering, Jesse (November 1, 2011). "Culinary Racism". Slate. Archived from the original on November 2, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Kingdon, Ashton (2021). "I Predict a Riot: An Analysis of White Supremacist Propaganda in the Wake of the George Floyd Murder". In Leidig, Eviane (ed.). The Radical Right During Crisis. CARR Yearbook 2020/2021. Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag. pp. 160–161. ISBN   978-3-8382-1576-1.
  4. ↑ Demby, Gene (May 22, 2013). "Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From?". Code Switch. NPR. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
  5. ↑ Chaney, Kimberly E.; Sanchez, Diana T.; Remedios, Jessica D. (2022). "Confronting First Impressions: Motivating Self-Regulation of Stereotypes and Prejudice through Prejudice Confrontation". In Balcetis, Emily; Moskowitz, Gordon B. (eds.). The Handbook of Impression Formation: A Social Psychological Approach. New York: Routledge. p. 435. doi:10.4324/9781003045687-24. ISBN   978-1-000-64184-4.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Tiger Woods: Fried chicken jibe by Sergio Garcia 'hurtful'". BBC Sport. May 22, 2013. Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Zoeller: Sergio mess will blow over". ESPN. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
  8. ↑ Richardson, Riché (2007). Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press. p. 229. ISBN   978-0-8203-3667-1.
  9. ↑ Stollznow, Karen (2020). On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN   978-1-108-49627-8.
  10. ↑ Schiavocampo, Mara (February 4, 2010). "Cook defends fried chicken choice for Black History Month menu". The Grio. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  11. ↑ Yuhas, Alan (February 20, 2015). "Black History Month menu at university features fried chicken, collard greens". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Sarah Anne (October 3, 2011). "'Obama Fried Chicken' restaurant spotted in Beijing; KFC considering legal action" . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  13. ↑ Fahim, Kareem (April 3, 2009). "Brooklyn Restaurant's Name Hits a Sour Note" . The New York Times. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  14. ↑ Williams, Trey (February 2, 2019). "Bill Maher Called Out for Making Popeyes Chicken Joke to Black lawmaker". The Wrap. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2010.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.