LogFAQs > #878572113

The reason the stereotype started is because after black people got freedom they would have farms and easy things to farm was chicken and Watermelon. So the attack came about because black people were bettering themselves..


But the stereotype that African Americans are excessively fond of watermelon emerged for a specific historical reason and served a specific political purpose. The trope came into full force when slaves won their emancipation during the Civil War. Free black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons, and in doing so made the fruit a symbol of their freedom. Southern whites, threatened by blacks%u2019 newfound freedom, responded by making the fruit a symbol of black people%u2019s perceived uncleanliness, laziness, childishness, and unwanted public presence. This racist trope then exploded in American popular culture, becoming so pervasive that its historical origin became obscure. Few Americans in 1900 would%u2019ve guessed the stereotype was less than half a century old.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/how-watermelons-became-a-racist-trope/383529/
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