# It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand-- origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804 "2015-06-06T18:19:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/1 "2015-06-06T18:19:13Z")
If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said “It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand” originated with Richard Pryor. I remember a routine he did where he talked about the difference between dating a white woman and a black woman and one of the benefits of dating a white woman was that he could use that line on them. But a search for this routine shows that the line has been around forever. Does anyone know where it originated? P.S., just to head off any sidetracks-- all the black people I know (and believe me, I know a lot of 'em) only use this line ironically. Can we stick with the origin of the phrase and not how racist it is or isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/2 "2015-06-06T18:36:24Z")
I don’t know, but it seems to me that it became a “thing” in the early 90s, when Afrocentricism was in and folks were walking around with Africa medallions around their necks. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/3 "2015-06-06T21:14:20Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t know, but it seems to me that it became a “thing” in the early 90s, when Afrocentricism was in and folks were walking around with Africa medallions around their necks. That’s also when I first encountered it. I’m actually surprised to find out it goes as far back as Pryor. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/4 "2015-06-06T22:12:49Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t know, but it seems to me that it became a “thing” in the early 90s, when Afrocentricism was in and folks were walking around with Africa medallions around their necks. A quick Google Books search turns up a number of reference to “It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand” as a t-shirt slogan in the late '80s/early '90s. The phrase was presumably around before anyone thought to put it on a t-shirt and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did originate with Pryor, but the t-shirts seem to have done a lot to popularize it. The earliest usage I could find on Google Books was from 1981, in a book titled _[The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution](https://books.google.com/books?id=rYZjjzVloIAC&lpg=PR19&dq=%22it's%20a%20black%20thing%22&pg=PR19#v=onepage&q=%22it's%20a%20black%20thing%22&f=false)_, but it’s just mentioned as something that black people sometimes say to white people. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/5 "2015-06-06T22:58:37Z")
Someone must have said it first. I’d like to know the context, the whole nine yards. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/6 "2015-06-07T00:09:52Z")
That’s the beauty of it, it doesn’t MEAN anything! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/7 "2015-06-07T01:17:42Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > That’s also when I first encountered it. I’m actually surprised to find out it goes as far back as Pryor. So, it was pryor to that. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/8 "2015-06-07T02:35:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So, it was pryor to that. Badaboom TISH! ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-black-thing-you-wouldnt-understand-origin/721804/9 "2015-06-07T03:52:02Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Can we stick with the origin of the phrase and not how racist it is or isn’t? Sorry, nope. It’s an SDMB thing-you oughta understand.