Watermelon stereotype

The watermelon stereotype is an anti-Black, racist trope originating in the Southern United States. It first arose as a backlash against African American emancipation and economic self-sufficiency in the late 1860s. After the American Civil War, in several areas of the South, formerly enslaved individuals grew watermelon on their own land as a cash crop to sell. Thus, for African Americans, watermelons were a symbol of liberation and self-reliance. However, for many in the majority white culture, watermelons embodied and threatened a loss of dominance. Southern White resentment against African Americans led to a politically potent cultural caricature, using the watermelon to disparage African Americans as childish and unclean, among other negative attributes. For several decades in the late 19th century through to the mid 20th century, the stereotype was promoted through caricatures in print, film, sculpture and music, and was a common decorative theme on household goods.