# How Did Watermelon Get Associated With African Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419 "2004-11-12T18:45:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/1 "2004-11-12T18:45:19Z")
In old racist cartoons, watermelon was apparently often associated with African Americans. I guess the joke ultimately rested on the fact they kept repetitively saying this, so that’s what made it funny. But how did watermelon ever originally come to be associated with African Americans? I have wondered this for some time now. P.S. I realize even though this is clearly a _factual_ question, some might take slight (and **unnecessary** ) offense to my question. If this is the case, I apologize in advance. BTW, I must also say in advance, please do not provide a link to anything anyone might be offended by. Thank you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/2 "2004-11-12T18:56:12Z")
> [@Jim B.](#): > > In old racist cartoons, watermelon was apparently often associated with African Americans. I guess the joke ultimately rested on the fact they kept repetitively saying this, so that’s what made it funny. But how did watermelon ever originally come to be associated with African Americans? I have wondered this for some time now. > > P.S. I realize even though this is clearly a _factual_ question, some might take slight (and **unnecessary** ) offense to my question. If this is the case, I apologize in advance. BTW, I must also say in advance, please do not provide a link to anything anyone might be offended by. Thank you. 🙂 Watermelons are cheap, sweet, and grow well in the South. Alternatives (other sweets/desserts) were more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/3 "2004-11-12T19:30:23Z")
> [@Random](#): > > Watermelons are cheap, sweet, and grow well in the South. Alternatives (other sweets/desserts) were more expensive. Not only that but watermelon is originally from Africa and was brought over on slave ships with the slaves. It was already a part of many slave’s diets. Many just kept up the dietary tradition through the generations in the American South as well. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/4 "2004-11-12T21:38:01Z")
Aggie Horticulture Network, [Texas A&M University](http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/vegetabletravelers/watermelon.html) > [@](#): > > The plant was doubtless known many hundreds of years ago in all European countries where it could be grown. It was brought to America by some of the earliest European colonists, being common in Massachusetts in 1629. The Florida Indians were said to have been growing watermelons by the mid-1600’s, and Father Marquette, French explorer of the Mississippi, mentioned them in 1673 as being grown in the interior of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/5 "2004-11-12T22:13:07Z")
A friend of mine and I were stopped at an intersection once. A car to the left of us (an old Gremlin) started going through the intersection making a left turn with it’s back bumper almost touching the ground and the back hatch tied down with twine. It was loaded down with a crap load of watermelons. As it cornered the twine broke, hatch went up, and watermelons spilled into the intersection. The Gremilin immediately pulled over and two black men jumped out and scrambled around the intersection to grab up the watermelons. I turned to my friend and said “You know, I really don’t like to attach stereotypes to any race, but these guys are just asking for it.” ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/6 "2004-11-12T22:15:26Z")
Slight hijack… Can somebody explain, then, the whole African-American orange soda thing? I didn’t know a thing about it until the other day, when I was drinking one, and someone pointed it out. Am I just behind the times on my racism? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/7 "2004-11-12T22:25:05Z")
Gary Lucier and Biing-Hwan Lin, [Factors Affecting Watermelon Consumption in the United States](http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/vegetables/vegpdf/WatermelonFactors.pd) in _Vegetables and Specialties Situation Outlook_, November 2001: > [@](#): > > About two-thirds of the category “others” in the race/ethnic origin table consists of Asians. Thus, it is likely Asian consumers were the top consumers (in terms of per capita consumption) of watermelon, with a ratio nearly 3 times as great as their proportion of the population. Asians are also strong consumers of honeydew melon, but are average consumers of cantaloupe. Black consumers represent nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population yet only accounted for 11 percent of watermelon consumption during the 1994-96 survey period. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/8 "2004-11-12T22:58:23Z")
In the most recent _Amazing Race_, the teams went to Tanzania, where they had to deliver pieces of furniture to local residents. One of the families was very pleasant and offered Chip & Kim some watermelon. My jaw went :eek: . > [@Chastain86](#): > > Can somebody explain, then, the whole African-American orange soda thing? Dunno about blacks, but the Waponis sure love 'em. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/9 "2004-11-12T23:55:04Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > Slight hijack… > > Can somebody explain, then, the whole African-American orange soda thing? I didn’t know a thing about it until the other day, when I was drinking one, and someone pointed it out. > > Am I just behind the times on my racism? I used to work at a warehouse and the black guys there loved grape and orange soda. I couldn’t stand the stuff. Years later, I read an article about a guy who was convicted of some minor offense and had to work on cleanup crews as part of his community service, different neighborhoods every week. His trash pickup in black vs. white neighborhoods was interesting: White neighborhoods, Coke and Budweiser cans, Marlboro packages. Black neighborhoods: Orange Nehi and King Cobra cans and Kool Milds packages. The closet racist in me wonders if black folks are somehow attracted to the most lethal crap commercially available. About ten years ago, some activists looked in askance at the malt liquor industry for marketing vile drinks to blacks and they wondered if there was some special lethal chemical ingredient targeted at the black demographic. Some pundit replied “Yes there is; it’s called more alcohol.” ---
**Author:** ![SmHodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SmHodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmHodge)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/10 "2004-11-13T02:00:53Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] I used to work at a warehouse and the black guys there loved grape and orange soda. I couldn’t stand the stuff. QUOTE] I like orange soda. (Hey, I was also wondering how African-Americans became associated with fried chicken) ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/11 "2004-11-13T04:37:52Z")
Fried chicken (especially dark meat chicken and wings) is associated with soul food. Experts on soul food usually say that the dishes developed out of the desire to do something tasty with cheap cuts of meat and other toss-offs that were available to early African Americans. I don’t know about the orange soda thing – and I’m afraid where this thread is going – but I think it may just be a southern thing, similar to the southern preference for sweet tea. I used to work at a historically black college, and I found it nearly impossible to find an unsweetened beverage (even bottled water) at lunchtime. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/12 "2004-11-13T08:31:27Z")
This is something I wouldn’t have believed myself if I hadn’t seen it–and I took a picture of it, which I still have. Years ago I was in a line at Magic Mountain, and ahead of me in the line was a black girl wearing a print skirt–with a sliced-watermelon print pattern! I never made any orange-soda connection… Our Dad (Caucasian), born in Arkansas, sometimes cooked dinner for us–he’d been a Navy cook. He treated us to pork hocks, collard greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread; Apple Betty; Eggs Alabam; and other stuff which I guess can be classified as “soul food.” Yes, he fried chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/13 "2004-11-13T10:07:07Z")
Watermelon has traditionally been considered a simple, mindless pleasure. So, the depiction of an African American with a huge smile, seemingly nothing on his mind but enjoying the simple pleasures of a sweet piece of watermelon became a staple in racially derogatory cartoons. This was exacerbated in the postbellum South, when plantation owners leased black farmers small plots of land, who would sometimes use the land to plant watermelon. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/14 "2004-11-13T10:45:56Z")
On the grape/orange soda; a few years ago, when Magic Johnson was opening his line of “Magic Theaters” in the inner city, he made a big deal out of the fact that the concession stands would have grape and orange sodas, which are “usually unavailable to black people” at mainstream chains. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/15 "2004-11-13T13:12:58Z")
Watermelon and “soul food” both are the foods of the poor, rural south, black and white. When waves of African-Americans fled the south post-reconstruction and settled in the big urban cities of the north and especially of the mid-west–Detroit, Chicago, etc–they did what every group does when they move to someplace with a signifigantly different cuisine–they missed the foods they grew up with and began to import them. White people in the north saw this food as being “black” and the stereotype entered mainstream culture, but I never saw that particular stereotype in the rural South, where everyone poor ate fried chicken, collard greens, pig’s feet, and yes, watermelon. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/16 "2004-11-13T15:18:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Years ago I was in a line at Magic Mountain, and ahead of me in the line was a black girl wearing a print skirt–with a sliced-watermelon print pattern! And this is the problem with stereotypes. If she had been of any other race, you wouldn’t have thought twice about what she was wearing. Watermelon prints are pretty common in women’s wear. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/17 "2004-11-13T16:12:21Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I used to work at a warehouse and the black guys there loved grape and orange soda. I couldn’t stand the stuff. Man, there’s nothing like an ice-cold grape soda to help with a hangover. I used to keep them stocked in my reefer when I was younger. Don’t know what it is, but it seemed to help. Orange soda gives me heartburn. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/18 "2004-11-13T17:40:10Z")
Yep, nothing like a well-packed reefer to help with hangovers. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/19 "2004-11-14T10:42:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > And this is the problem with stereotypes. If she had been of any other race, you wouldn’t have thought twice about what she was wearing. Watermelon prints are pretty common in women’s wear. You’re probably right. I noticed it and considered it ironic. And, for the record, it’s the one and only time in my life I ever saw a watermelon print pattern on a garment. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419/20 "2004-11-14T20:44:30Z")
I figured it was southern. Blacks migrated out of the south, carrying with them southern (not specifically black, just southern) food preferences, and people from urban northern areas first became exposed to these things by seeing black folks consuming them. Northern urban folks are the ones who generally produced the media from which stereotypes and whatnot were disseminated. White southerners eat watermelon, turnip greens, collards, cornbread, and fried chicken too, you know. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-watermelon-get-associated-with-african-americans/274419.md?page=2)