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30°24′40″N 1°06′51″E / 30.41108394382561°N 1.1142520289777°E / 30.41108394382561; 1.1142520289777 The Good Darky (also called Uncle Jack) is a controversial 1927 statue of a generic, unnamed, elderly African American man. Originally erected in Natchitoches, Louisiana, it stood there until 1968, but is now in a back lot off a gravel at the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge.

Background

In 1894 Confederate Veteran, a magazine edited and published by Confederate veterans of the Civil War, offered an op-ed proposing the erection of new statues throughout the South in honor of the "faithful" slaves who stayed behind on their enslavers’ properties during the war. To wit:

It seems opportune now to erect monuments to the Negro race of the war period... What figure would be looked upon with kindlier memory than old 'Uncle Pete' and 'Black Mammy'... There is not of record in history of subordination and faithful devotion by any race of people comparable to the slaves of the Southern people during our great four years war for independence.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy tried to get one faithful-slave monument put up in every Confederate state but failed, although they nearly succeeded in the District of Columbia when in 1923 the United States Senate voted a grant of land on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington D. C. for a large monument "in memory of the faithful slave mammies of the South", to be erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a gift to the nation, but the House of Representatives allowed the bill to die in committee following some objections.

Description and history

The statue depicts an older African-American man – perhaps a slave, or perhaps a citizen in post-emancipation times – in an obsequious pose, head bowed and hat in hand. The original inscription read

In Grateful Recognition of the Arduous and Faithful Service of the Good Darkies of Louisiana

The bronze statue was commissioned in 1927 by Jackson Lee "Jack" Bryan, a cotton planter and businessman. It was executed by Hans Schuler and installed in a park on the river in downtown Natchitoches. The statue was considered liberal for its time, in that that it at least acknowledged the existence and worth of African American citizens (it was probably the first statue of an African-American in America). Time magazine said " had been lulled to sleep in his babyhood by Negro spirituals, and had played with little slave boys on his father’s old plantation, so he recently felt the urge to do something big for the Negro", while the New York Times said "Many white people in the parish have been nursed or served by the old-time 'uncles' and 'aunties', and a warm regard remains on each side." In fact, Bryan's sister had warned him that the statue might not be tolerated by some in the local white community.

The Good Darky statue did become accepted by the white community, and within a few years, a tale gained popularity with whites that inebriated African Americans heading home after night out would ask Uncle Jack the way home, and the statue would direct them correctly. (This legend of course reinforced a white narrative of African Americans as hapless and superstitious dolts.)

The Natchitoches Black community, however, did not generally like the statue, as it promoted a subservient and menial view of the race; andduring the civil rights era the statue came under protest, and in 1968 it was gone, either toppled into the Cane River or peacefully removed by the city.

It was retrieved from the river (if indeed it was thrown there) nand put into storage, and later donated by Ryan's estate to the Rural Life Museum in 1974, although the Smithsonian Institution had also asked for it. Orignally set outside the Museum's main entrance, it has since been moved to an out-of-the-way back lot.

The purpose and effect of the statue has been criticized:

Uncle Jack is the quintessential obsequious Negro servant. . . . The droop of his shoulders bears witness not only to his years but more specifically to his own understanding of his place as a poor black in a rich white world

— Maya Angelou, 1997

very adult who lived in the segregated South knew the terror on which segregation rested... That is why 'The Good Darky' bows his head; ultimately, he doesn't want to be killed.

— James W. Loewen, 1999

Notes

1. white southerners of this time addressed Black men as "uncle" to avoid using "mister". The United Daughters of the Confederacy tried to get one faithful-slave monument put up in every Confederate state but failed, although they nearly succeeded in the District of Columbia when in 1923 the United States Senate voted a grant of land on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington D. C. for a large monument "in memory of the faithful slave mammies of the South", to be erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a gift to the nation, but the House of Representatives allowed the bill to die in committee following some objections.)
2. Or 1895. Kytle and Roberts give 1896 as the year of dedication, and David Blight gives specifically May 1896, but the monument itself is inscribed "1895", and many sources give this date.

References

1. ^ Karen Kingsley. "Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum". 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
2. ^ Tony Horwitz (May 31, 2013). "The Mammy Washington Almost Had". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
3. Uncle Jack (Plaque outside museum). LSU Rural Life Museum]: LSU Rural Life Museum., photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb
4. Claire Ohlsen (September 30, 2019). "Controversial statue could be moved". Baton Rouge: WAFB Channel 9. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
5. ^ Julian Abagond (July 23, 2010). "Uncle Jack the Good Darky". Abagond. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
6. ^ Loewen, James W. (1999). Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. The New Press. pp. 220–225. ISBN 9780965003179. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
7. ^ Wilds, John; Dufour, Charkes L.; Cowan, Walter G. (1996). Louisiana, Yesterday and Today: A Historical Guide to the State. LSU Press. ISBN 978-0807118931., cited at Loewen, p. 225
8. Daugherty, Ellen (September 25, 2019). "The rise and fall of a racist monument: the Good Darky, National Geographic Magazine, and civil rights activism". Nineteenth-Century Contexts. 41 (5). Taylor & Francis: 631–649. doi:10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
9. ^ Uncle Jack Comes to LSU Rural Life Museum (Plaque outside museum). LSU Rural Life Museum]: LSU Rural Life Museum., photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb
10. "Uncle Jack". Roadside America. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
11. Stuar Elliot (March 30, 2007). "Uncle Ben, Board Chairman". New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2021. via McEvoy, Jemima (September 23, 2020). "Uncle Ben's Changes To Ben's Original Amid Rebrand Of Racist Labeling". Forbes. Retrieved October 20, 2020.

• Statues in Louisiana
• Natchitoches, Louisiana
• 1927 establishments in Louisiana