# kentucky fried chicken **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657 "2003-05-26T23:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![maj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@maj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maj)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/1 "2003-05-26T23:21:38Z")
i watched a two documentary on american fast food this past sunday night (yay history channel!) and my boyfriend and i got into an argument over cornel sanders, the founder of kentucky fried chicken. was he ‘white’ or ‘black’? i’ve been looking him up on the net for a while now and i hoping perhaps someone here could answer my question. ---
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/2 "2003-05-26T23:23:24Z")
It appears he was white,from the pics of him i have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Affe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Affe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Affe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/3 "2003-05-26T23:24:01Z")
He was about as white as white can get. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/4 "2003-05-26T23:26:53Z")
[White](http://planetlouisville.com/famous.htm), although not as pale of skin as Michael Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/5 "2003-05-26T23:26:55Z")
[Looks white to me.](http://www.botzilla.com/photo/sanders.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/6 "2003-05-26T23:38:33Z")
Incidentally, Harlan Sanders was considered as a potential Vice-Presidental candidate on the ticket of one-time rabid segregationist George Wallace in 1968. (The slot eventually went to Gen. Curt “Bombs Away” LeMay.) Although Wallace later repudiated his segregationist past, I doubt very much Sanders would have been considered for the 1968 ticket if there had been any hint that he had any African ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/7 "2003-05-27T00:05:25Z")
Somebody on this board actually sat on the Colonel’s knee. He should be here to testify that the Col. was white. Is this a foreboding of the generations old UL about Alva Roebuck (as in Sears and Roebuck) being black? He wasn’t, either. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-fried-chicken/177657/8 "2003-05-27T00:46:14Z")
As a kid I saw Harlan Sanders in a parade in St. Louis. He was “white”. Plus, My Goodness Gracious, haven’t you seen the pictures in the restaurants? At least you’ve seen the cartoon depiction of him as a dancing southern dandy with white hair and a white goatee?