# Black Presidents in fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341 "2008-11-05T20:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/1 "2008-11-05T20:30:18Z")
Do we have an astroid headed our way now? Can we expect crazy hijincks based in racial stereotypes? Where have black presidents appeared in fiction? Deep Impact (Morgan Freeman) - Asteroid headed for earth. I’m pretty sure there was a movie with Chris Rock in it or something like that. I knoe there are a ton of them, but I’m drawing a blank. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/2 "2008-11-05T20:33:28Z")
In _The 5th Element_, the president of Earth was black. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/3 "2008-11-05T20:39:01Z")
[The Man (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068912/). James Earl Jones is “Da Man!” Hasn’t aged particularly well. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/4 "2008-11-05T20:40:41Z")
Gary Coleman in “Buck Rogers in the 25[sup]th[/sup] Century”? ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/5 "2008-11-05T20:44:45Z")
The movie you’re thinking of with Chris Rock is _Head of State_. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/6 "2008-11-05T20:47:58Z")
The two President Palmers in “24.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/7 "2008-11-05T20:49:27Z")
Idiocracy. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/8 "2008-11-05T21:27:02Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [The Man (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068912/). James Earl Jones is “Da Man!” Hasn’t aged particularly well. Based on Irving Wallace’s 1964 novel of that title. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/9 "2008-11-06T04:19:10Z")
[George W. Bush](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-DbFttBKKk) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/10 "2008-11-06T04:26:08Z")
Didn’t a deleted scene from **Star Trek V** have a deleted scene with an black woman’s face on Mount Rushmore? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/11 "2008-11-06T04:26:25Z")
Robby Jackson eventually becomes President in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, but it doesn’t end well for him. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/12 "2008-11-06T04:32:32Z")
I could have sworn that [Cosmic Slop (1994)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0109487/) had a Black president, but none of the characters are listed as such. If it did, it was almost certainly Jason Bernard. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/13 "2008-11-06T04:34:25Z")
In Arthur Clarke’s novel _Imperial Earth_, the president of the United States is black. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/14 "2008-11-06T05:46:58Z")
This is a major major spoiler for this novel, but in the novel _Interface_ (my copy says it is by pseudonym Stephen Bury, but it’s actually by Neal Stephenson and his uncle, I believe, and the most recent copies on the shelf say that), a black woman ends up being President of the United States. By the by, that is the best election novel I have ever read (I would have put it in the political fiction thread, but one of the requirements is that it be ‘realistic’-- while I think the stuff in that book is more real than anything else, a couple sci-fi and other developments make it certainly not naturalistic), and I always re-read it when elections come around to see how accurate his potrayal of elections really is (the scene where a bunch of seasoned political analysts are sitting around critiquing a televised event with the sound turned all the way down but still coming up with amazingly accurate predictions is one of the sections I re-read every so often for its sheer genius). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/15 "2008-11-06T13:35:07Z")
As I noted in another thread (and as I’ve pointed out on this Board several times in the past), the Catholic comic book **Treasure Chest (of Fun and Fact)** had a serialized story back in 1964 called “Pettigrew for President”, about a couple of kids heling a candidate run for presdident. There were evil individuals working against Pettigrew, but it wasn’t clear why. You didn’t realize until the very end, because in the last three panels of the story Pettigrew – who you never got a good look at before – is revealed to be black. It used to be that you couldn’t find anything about this on the internet – heck, it was almost impossible to find anything about Treasure Chest on the 'net. But since the Obama candidacy you can easily find Pettigrew. Or at least the last fgew panels of it. I think Joe Sinnott inked it. I have one or two of the six issues this story ran in.: > **[Tim Pettigrew for President](http://notlivinguptomypotential.blogspot.com/2008/01/tim-pettigrew-for-president.html)** > > When I was in 4th grade, in 1963, our next door neighbor, gave me her children's old issues of Treasure Chest magazine, a Catholic comic boo... [http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/02/gov\_tim\_pettigrew\_the\_first\_bl.html](http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/02/gov_tim_pettigrew_the_first_bl.html) > **[AOL Video - Serving the best video content from AOL and around the web](https://www.aol.com/video/)** > > The AOL.com video experience serves up the best video content from AOL and around the web, curating informative and entertaining snackable videos. [http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2141](http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2141) > **[Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star](https://www.thestar.com/)** > > thestar.com is Canada’s largest online news site. Live news, investigations, politics, sports and the heartbeat of Toronto, Canada's largest city. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/16 "2008-11-06T14:01:15Z")
A few years back there was a storyline in New X-Men where David Alleyne was President in the future (OK, it didn’t actually happen, but was kind of a ‘what-if’ type story). (David is black though) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/17 "2008-11-06T15:13:25Z")
Not an American president, but the movie [Airbag](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115487/) features a black Lehendakari: president of Euskadi, one of Spain’s regions, whose biggest political forces are notoriously racist - not even in the “people of a different color are bad,” these guys are severely divided between wanting to kick back out anybody who has immigrated from a different Spanish region (or who has any ancestors who did) and wanting to have as many votes as possible. It’s one of those jokes that you only get if you know the background, but one that had Spanish audiences in tears. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/18 "2008-11-06T15:49:55Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Didn’t… **Star Trek V** have a deleted scene with an black woman’s face on Mount Rushmore? Yes. She was to the left of Washington’s head as you face the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-presidents-in-fiction/471341/19 "2008-11-06T17:40:20Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Didn’t a deleted scene from **Star Trek V** have a deleted scene with an black woman’s face on Mount Rushmore? That was Oprah’s face. 😃