Difference between revisions of "Black Buck"

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In post-[[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] [[United States]], '''Black Buck''' was a [[racial slur]] used to describe a certain type of [[African American]] men. In particular, the [[caricature]] was used to describe [[Black people|black men]] who absolutely refused to bend to the law of [[White Americans|white]] authority and were seen as irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.
 
 
 
==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. One would usually be hot-tempered, excessively violent, unintelligent, and sexually attracted to white women.<ref name="Laufs2013">{{cite book|last=Laufs|first=Stefanie|title=Fighting a Movie with Lightning : "The Birth of a Nation" and the Black Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SwKnAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|date=October 2013|publisher=Diplomica Verlag|isbn=978-3-95489-151-1|page=56}}</ref> This stereotype was used as a pretext for [[lynching]] and other forms of violence against black men.
 
 
 
==Examples in media==
 
[[D.W. Griffith]]'s motion picture ''[[Birth of a Nation]]'' (1915) is perhaps one of the best known examples of the use of the "Black Buck" stereotype in the media.<ref name="Bogle2001">{{cite book|last=Bogle|first=Donald|title=Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, Fourth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sz7K1c9QSoMC&pg=PA10|date=24 October 2001|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-1267-6|pages=10–16}}</ref> In the film, a former [[slave]] named Gus (described by the filmmaker as "a renegade, a product of the vicious doctrines spread by the [[carpetbagger]]s") attempts to chase down (and, apparently, [[rape]]) a white woman named Flora.
 
 
 
Rather than allow herself to be assaulted by Gus, she throws herself to her death. A spiral of events occurs which then culminates with a state militia (led by the [[mulatto]] protégé of a local Congressman) clashes with the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (portrayed by the film as heroic figures), with the Klan being ultimately victorious.
 
 
 
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.<ref name="Bogle2001"/> The film was largely responsible for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the early 20th century.<ref name="Bogle2001"/>
 
 
 
In the movie [[Silverado (film)|''Silverado'']] (1985), [[Danny Glover]]'s character is called "Buck" by the racist saloon owner when he spots him in his establishment.
 
 
 
==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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/David-Duke-long-article.pdf|title=David Duke: In His Own Words|work=Anti-Defamation League|date=2012|access-date=April 24, 2020}}</ref>
 
 
 
==See also==
 
{{Portal|United States|History}}
 
* [[Angry black woman]]
 
* [[African-American representation in Hollywood]]
 
* [[Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia]]
 
* [[Racial profiling]]
 
* [[Scientific racism]]
 
* [[Stereotypes of African Americans]]
 
* [[Stereotypes of groups within the United States]]
 
 
 
==Further reading==
 
* {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Carlyle Van|title=The Tragic Black Buck: Racial Masquerading in the American Literary Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E52oyPa2VYYC|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-6206-6}}
 
* Patricia A. Turner, ''Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture'' (Anchor Books, 1994).
 
* Donald Bogle, ''Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films'' (Continuum International, 2001)
 
 
 
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
 
 
{{African American caricatures and stereotypes}}
 
{{Jim Crow Era|state=collapsed}}
 
{{ethnic stereotypes USA}}
 
{{ethnic slurs}}
 
 
 
[[Category:Stereotypes of African Americans]]
 
[[Category:Pejorative terms for men]]
 

Latest revision as of 05:28, 8 October 2020