Black Buck

Last updated

Black Buck was a racial slur used to describe a certain type of African American man in the post-Reconstruction United States. In particular, the caricature was used to describe black men who absolutely refused to bend to the law of white authority and were seen as irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.

Contents

Background

According to popular stereotypes during the post-Reconstruction era, "Black Buck" was a black man (usually muscular or tall) who defies white will and is largely destructive to American society. He would usually be hot-tempered, excessively violent, unintelligent, and sexually attracted to white women. [1]

Examples in media

D.W. Griffith's motion picture The Birth of a Nation (1915) is perhaps one of the best known examples of the use of the "Black Buck" stereotype in the media. [2]

The film sparked a national uproar, from white people who feared the film's events to be prophetic truth, and from black people who were horrified by the portrayal of their race. The film was largely responsible for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the early 20th century. [2]

Use by white supremacists

David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was quoted in The Sun newspaper of Wichita, Kansas (23 April 1975) as saying, "White people don't need a law against rape, but if you fill this room up with your normal black bucks, you would, because niggers are basically primitive animals." [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Birth of a Nation</i> 1915 film by D. W. Griffith

The Birth of a Nation, originally called The Clansman, is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play The Clansman. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the film with Harry Aitken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku Klux Klan</span> American white supremacist terrorist hate group

The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. The Klan was "the first organized terror movement in American history." Their primary targets at various times have been African Americans, as well as Jews and Catholics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammy stereotype</span> U.S. historical stereotype

A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting black women, usually enslaved, who did domestic work, including nursing children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality. The origin of the mammy figure stereotype is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States, as slave women were often tasked with domestic and childcare work in American slave-holding households. The mammy caricature was used to create a narrative of black women being happy within slavery or within a role of servitude. The mammy stereotype associates black women with domestic roles and it has been argued that it, combined with segregation and discrimination, limited job opportunities for black women during the Jim Crow era, approximately 1877 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rex Ingram (actor)</span> American actor (1895–1969)

Rex Ingram was an American stage, film, and television actor.

<i>The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan</i> Book by Thomas Dixon

The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan is a novel published in 1905, the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas Dixon Jr.. Chronicling the American Civil War and Reconstruction era from a pro-Confederate perspective, it presents the Ku Klux Klan heroically. The novel was adapted first by the author as a highly successful play entitled The Clansman (1905), and a decade later by D. W. Griffith in the 1915 movie The Birth of a Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Mae McKinney</span> American actress (1912–1967)

Nina Mae McKinney was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed "The Black Garbo" in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

<i>Hallelujah</i> (film) 1929 film by King Vidor

Hallelujah is a 1929 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical directed by King Vidor, and starring Daniel L. Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotypes of African Americans</span> Generalizations and stereotypes linked to racism against African Americans

Stereotypes of African Americans are misleading beliefs about the culture of people with partial or total ancestry from any black racial groups of Africa whose ancestors resided in the United States since before 1865, largely connected to the racism and the discrimination to which African Americans are subjected. These beliefs date back to the slavery of black people during the colonial era and they have evolved within American society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women of the Ku Klux Klan</span> Branch of the US Ku Klux Klan

Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK), also known as Women's Ku Klux Klan, and Ladies of the Invisible Empire, held to many of the same political and social ideas of the KKK but functioned as a separate branch of the national organization with their own actions and ideas. While most women focused on the moral, civic, and educational agendas of the Klan, they also had considerable involvement in issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and religion. The women of the WKKK fought for educational and social reforms like other Progressive reformers but with extreme racism and intolerance.

This is a list of topics related to racism:

<i>Edge of the City</i> 1957 film by Martin Ritt

Edge of the City is a 1957 American film-noir drama film directed by Martin Ritt in his directorial debut, and starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. Robert Alan Aurthur's screenplay was expanded from his original script, staged as the final episode of Philco Television Playhouse, A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955), also featuring Poitier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Cooper</span> Actor (1908-1992)

Ralph Cooper, was an American actor, screenwriter, dancer and choreographer. Cooper is best known as the original master of ceremonies and founder of amateur night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City, in 1935. He wrote, produced, directed and acted in ten motion pictures. Titles include, The Duke Is Tops, Dark Manhattan, Gangsters on the Loose and Gang War. Because of his debonair good looks, he was known as "dark Gable" in the 1930s.

Donald Bogle is an American film historian and author of six books concerning black history in film and on television. He is an instructor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the University of Pennsylvania.

<i>Intruder in the Dust</i> (film) 1949 film by Clarence Brown

Intruder in the Dust is a 1949 crime drama film produced and directed by Clarence Brown and starring David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr. and Juano Hernandez. The film is based on the 1948 novel Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner, and was filmed in Faulkner's hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

Crime rates in Alabama overall have declined by 17% since 2005. Trends in crime within Alabama have largely been driven by a reduction in property crime by 25%. There has been a small increase in the number of violent crimes since 2005, which has seen an increase of 9% In 2020, there were 511 violent crime offenses per 100,000 population. Alabama was ranked 44th in violent crime out of a total 50 states in the United States.

Deceit is a 1923 American silent black-and-white film. It is a conventional melodrama directed by Oscar Micheaux. Like many of Micheaux's films, Deceit casts clerics in a negative light. Although the film was shot in 1921, it was not released until 1923. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.

<i>Drop Squad</i> 1994 American film

Drop Squad is a 1994 American drama film directed by David C. Johnson and executive produced by Spike Lee via his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The plot depicts a team of African Americans who kidnap fellow black people who they feel have betrayed their community and seek to "deprogram" them so that they will change their ways. The acronym DROP stands for "Deprogramming and Restoration of Pride". The film has been described as "[p]art thriller, part social satire".

<i>The Traitor</i> (Dixon novel) 1907 novel by Thomas Dixon Jr

The Traitor: A Story of the Fall of the Invisible Empire is a 1907 novel by Thomas Dixon Jr. It is the third part in a trilogy about the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction. The two previous installments were The Leopard's Spots, published in 1902, and The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, published in 1905.

<i>Book of Numbers</i> (film) 1973 film by Raymond St. Jacques

Book of Numbers is a 1973 American crime film directed by and starring Raymond St. Jacques. It was produced by AVCO Embassy Pictures, and is the story of two black waiters who team up in El Dorado, Arkansas to run a numbers racket among the poor and working class black community in the 1930s. Meanwhile, they evade and outsmart the KKK, corrupt white police officers, and deflect a hostile take-over from a nearby mafia gang. The movie is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Robert Deane Pharr, and is the only film directed by actor Raymond St. Jacques. It was filmed in Texas and received critical praise upon release for its stylish depiction of the South in the 1930s.

Sonya Wilde is an American former actress, best known for her starring role in the 1960 film I Passed for White. She started her career as Maria on Broadway with the original cast of West Side Story.

References

  1. Laufs, Stefanie (October 2013). Fighting a Movie with Lightning : "The Birth of a Nation" and the Black Community. Diplomica Verlag. p. 56. ISBN   978-3-95489-151-1.
  2. 1 2 Bogle, Donald (24 October 2001). Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, Fourth Edition. Continuum. pp. 10–16. ISBN   978-0-8264-1267-6.
  3. "David Duke: In His Own Words" (PDF). Anti-Defamation League. 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2020.

Further reading