For the mammal, see Blackbuck. For the RAF operation, see Operation Black Buck.
In post-Reconstruction United States, Black Buck was a racial slur used to describe a certain type of African American men. In particular, the caricature was used to describe black men who absolutely refused to bend to the law of white authority and were irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.
According to popular stereotypes during the post-Reconstruction era, "Black Buck" was a black man (usually muscular or tall) who defies white will and is largely destructive to American society. He is usually hot-tempered, excessively violent, unintelligent, and eager to sexually assault young women, especially white virgins. Most often, any attempt to restrain, reprimand, or re-educate the individual will fail, necessitating the individual's immediate execution (usually by lynching).
Read more about Black Buck: Examples of "Black Buck" in Media
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or buck:
“...black women write differently from white women. This is the most marked difference of all those combinations of black and white, male and female. It’s not so much that women write differently from men, but that black women write differently from white women. Black men don’t write very differently from white men.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)
“As a great buck it powerfully appeared,
Pushing the crumpled water up ahead,
And landed pouring like a waterfall,
And stumbled through the rocks with horny tread,
And forced the underbrush—and that was all.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)