# Hey! Anybody want some racist figurines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425 "2010-07-21T03:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/21 "2010-07-21T09:14:40Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > It’s not so much being taken out of context as being put there by the store owners. I"m sure some people collect this stuff, and the store owners think there is enough market for them to stock and sell them for $20 and up each. But up until I read a few posts in this thread, I didn’t realize how popular this stuff can still be. And I still think it’s in kind of poor taste to display it. Years ago, I saw some figurines in a store that I found offensive (actually, it was one figurine; I’ll get to that in a minute). I didn’t engage the staff, though; I wrote to the manufacturers. The way I saw it, I didn’t know who owned the store or who was really responsible for what they stocked, and in any event, they didn’t make the figurines. I checked the boxes for the manufacturer’s name, then asked the staff for a mailing address. (Never got an answer. Perhaps the address was for the factory and no one was there who could have answered. This was long before I had internet.) As for what offended me, the figurines were portraying various professions: doctor, lawyer, farmer, and so forth. It wasn’t just that they were all men except one. It was what the one woman was. No, not a teacher. Or a nurse. Or even a housewife. (Those wouldn’t have _offended_ me.) Leaning against a lampost, wearing a red dress and spike heels. “The Oldest Profession.” :rolleyes::mad: I still think that’s pretty wrong. Although I can’t remember exactly what I said in the letter. Anyway, if they’re not antiques, I’d address the complaint to the manufacturer. If they are antiques, well, the manufacturers probably kicked off decades ago, so why get bothered now. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/22 "2010-07-21T10:21:00Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Note that these items are considered to be “history” now. Not so sure, note the Obama figurine in the gators mouth. > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/m/search?site=images&source=mog&hl=en&gl=us&client=safari&q=aligator%20hat%20%20black%20GOP%20convention#i=0)** ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/23 "2010-07-21T11:26:06Z")
Har… Be glad you don’t live around several southern flea markets, statsman. Those thingies pop out at you just when you least expect it, on a regular basis… As people above have said it so eloquently, it’s history. And some people like it for whatever reason. Kind of like yellowfin tuna. Let it be. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/24 "2010-07-21T12:33:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Ha, I saw a pair of golliwogs in the window of a local florist the other day and pondered how that would go down in the US. Australians don’t often realise they have a racist heritage, seeing them only as a beloved toy and a relic of a bygone era. The golliwog shows up as a pretty important character at the end of Alan Moore’s _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier_.Moore’s made his position on discrimination pretty clear in his other work, so I find this pretty damned astonishing. I can’t accuse him of being unaware of the implications, so I have to conclude that he’s of that group who fondly recall the image from his childhood and considers it to be outside racist imagery. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/hub/A50831787](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/hub/A50831787) ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/25 "2010-07-21T13:00:49Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Again, something being taken out of context – i.e., the time in which it was produced – and having today’s values applied to it. > > People do collect this kind of stuff. Surprisingly, most of them don’t have any kind of agenda, or harbor any kind of racist beliefs, or are White Supremacists, or anything. > > I guess they may run the risk of being misunderstood by those who are unenlightened, though. This. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/26 "2010-07-21T15:01:45Z")
My ex-husband had a lawn jockey which he displayed in our living room because it was a gift from a friend. The friend had gotten it at a flea market (as Waxwinged mentions). One day when my husband was away the thing got broken. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/27 "2010-07-21T16:01:27Z")
When he discovered this, did he yell out, “Not a finger!”? Did he later bury the shattered remains in the back yard whilst “Taps” was quietly playing in the background? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/28 "2010-07-21T16:09:16Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > When he discovered this, did he yell out, “Not a finger!”? > > Did he later bury the shattered remains in the back yard whilst “Taps” was quietly playing in the background? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/29 "2010-07-21T16:16:02Z")
Up here, there is very little of this Black Americana. In my experience, the farther south you go in the US, the more you see of it. The only exception up here in Canada has been the Lawn Jockey and the Fisherboy, which was usually seen in one’s garden/flowerbed as an accent piece. Note I say “were”, because it’s been at least 30 years since I saw either on display anywhere. The one thing I’ve seen to any degree that are on the same level are figurines of Chinese men and women, which I refer to as “Coolie Figurines”, for want of a better term. These seem to have been popular in Canada from the Art Deco period up to the late 50s. I don’t think they were meant to be a negative thing necessarily; the Orient was once seen as an exotic and mysterious place and I think what the manufacturers were doing is paying homage to China as an idea. Unlike the Black Americana previously mentioned, these figures aren’t stereotypical in nature to the point of obvious exaggeration, though, nor are there any violent implications. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/30 "2010-07-21T16:23:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Huh? [A dramatization of the breaking of the lawn jockey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVOOjV_E3s4) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/31 "2010-07-21T17:17:18Z")
Yes! Just like that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/32 "2010-07-21T17:23:50Z")
Ah, gotcha, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/33 "2010-07-21T17:28:29Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Not so sure, note the Obama figurine in the gators mouth. Looks to me like the guy just added an Obama figurine to an alligator head hat. He looks old enough to remember a time when these figurines were in style. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/34 "2010-07-21T20:10:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > My ex-husband had a lawn jockey which he displayed in our living room because it was a gift from a friend. The friend had gotten it at a flea market (as Waxwinged mentions). > > One day when my husband was away the thing got broken. My mother had one of these on her front porch forever. I think it finally crumbled away. I faithfully repainted it every summer growing up with black face, bright red overall, etc…until I got big enough to know better, then it became a Caucasian. She never said anything, but she is an old school Southerner born in 1912, so I’ve given up trying to educate her much. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/35 "2010-07-21T20:29:32Z")
> [@](#): > > My mother had one of these on her front porch forever. I think it finally crumbled away. I faithfully repainted it every summer growing up with black face, bright red overall, etc…until I got big enough to know better, then it became a Caucasian. She never said anything, but she is an old school Southerner born in 1912, so I’ve given up trying to educate her much. Until I was an adult, i didn’t see any “black” lawn jockeys. I saw lots of lawn jockeys, but they were invariably white – and I don’t mean they were simply painted to be caucasian – they had caucasian features, too. I had no idea that racist lawn jockeys even existed for the longest time. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/36 "2010-07-21T21:54:09Z")
I had always thought that the reason lawn jockeys were presumed to be negroid was because of the Al Jolson-like blackface nature of the paint job. It never occurred to me to look for non-caucasian features exclusive of the paint job. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/37 "2010-07-21T21:56:36Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > When he discovered this, did he yell out, “Not a finger!”? This is something I’ve always wondered about that scene: Does he really yell, ‘Not a finger!’? Or is it the gibberish the filmmakers used to express expletives in a family-friendly way, and he says ‘Nodda finga!’ as a substitute for something more harsh? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/38 "2010-07-21T21:56:59Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Not so sure, note the Obama figurine in the gators mouth. > [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Looks to me like the guy just added an Obama figurine to an alligator head hat. He looks old enough to remember a time when these figurines were in style. Real classy, too… ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/39 "2010-07-21T21:57:50Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Looks to me like the guy just added an Obama figurine to an alligator head hat. He looks old enough to remember a time when these figurines were in style. Which is my point. This was taken during the last election - it’s not “history”, it’s still going on. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425/40 "2010-07-21T22:30:24Z")
It’s isolated, in that there are no products that use the icon anymore. Some individuals may use it but they’re not part of the mainstream (unless everyone down there still likes the idea but is too chickenshit to say so). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-anybody-want-some-racist-figurines/547425.md?page=3)