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{{Short description|Statue originally erected in Louisiana}}
{{Under construction}}
⚫ {{Coord|30.41108394382561|1.1142520289777|display=title}}<!--visitor center back lot location as of 2021-->
<!--{{Coord|31.76329595195374|93.085516689915|display=title}} original location (1927-1972)-->
<!--{Coord|30.41187360876083|11571901111199|display=title}} vistor center front (1972-?)-->
⚫ '''The Good Darky''' (also called '''Uncle Jack''') is a controversial<ref name=64Parishes/> 1927 statue of a generic, unnamed, elderly African American man. Originally erected in ], it stood there until 1968, but is now in a back lot off a gravel at the ] in Baton Rouge.


⚫ {{Coord|30.41108394382561|1.1142520289777|display=title}}
⚫ ==Background==
]
⚫ In 1894 '']'', 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:
⚫ '''The Good Darky''' (also called '''Uncle Jack''') is a controversial<ref name="64Parishes" /> 1927 American statue of a generic, unnamed, elderly African American man. Originally erected in ], it stood there until 1968, but is now in a back lot off a gravel road at the ] in ].


⚫ ==Background==
⚫ {{Cquote|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 ']'... 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.}}
In the period 1890–1940, a second wave of Confederate statues was erected, coinciding with and supporting the "]" movement and the triumphal years of the ].<ref name="AtlantaCenter" /> While the first wave of memorialization had been of heroes such as ], the second wave also included memorials to groups – the Confederate soldiers, the homefront woman, and, in a very few cases, the loyal African-Americans.


⚫ In 1894 '']'', 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 supposedly faithful slaves who stayed behind on their enslavers’ properties during the war:<ref name="ExploringThePast" />
The ] 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.<ref name=Atlantic/>
⚫ {{Cquote|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 ']'... 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.<ref name="ExploringThePast" />}}


==Description and history== ==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.<ref name=64Parishes/> The original inscription read 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.<ref name="64Parishes" /> The original inscription read


{{cquote|'''In Grateful Recognition of the Arduous and Faithful Service of the Good Darkies of Louisiana'''<ref name=LSUPlaque2/>}} {{cquote|'''In Grateful Recognition of the Arduous and Faithful Service of the Good Darkies of Louisiana'''<ref name="LSUPlaque2" />}}


The bronze statue was commissioned in 1927 by Jackson Lee "Jack" Bryan, a cotton planter and businessman. It was executed by ] 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).<ref name=WAFB/> '']'' 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",<ref name=Abagond/> while the '']'' 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."<ref name=LiesAcrossAmerica/> In fact, Bryan's sister had warned him that the statue might not be tolerated by some in the local white community. The bronze statue was commissioned in 1927 by Jackson Lee "Jack" Bryan, a cotton planter and businessman. It was executed by ] and installed in a park on the river in downtown Natchitoches. '']'' 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",<ref name="Abagond" /> while the '']'' 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."<ref name="LiesAcrossAmerica" /> 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.)<ref name=YesterdayAndToday/> 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 reinforced the white narrative of African Americans as hapless and superstitious dolts.<ref name="YesterdayAndToday" />


The Natchitoches Black community, however, did not generally like the statue, as it promoted a subservient and menial view of the race;<ref name=Abagond/> andduring the ] the statue came under protest, and in 1968 it was gone, either toppled into the ]<ref name=YesterdayAndToday/> or peacefully removed by the city.<ref name=NineteenthCenturyContexts/> The Natchitoches African-American community, however, did not generally like the statue, as it promoted a subservient and menial view of the race;<ref name="Abagond" /> and during the ] the statue came under protest, and in 1968 it was gone, either toppled into the ]<ref name="YesterdayAndToday" /> or peacefully removed by the city.<ref name="NineteenthCenturyContexts" />


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<ref name=LiesAcrossAmerica/> in 1974,<ref name=LSUPlaque1/> although the ] had also asked for it.<ref name=LSUPlaque1/> Orignally set outside the Museum's main entrance, it has since been moved to an out-of-the-way back lot.<ref name=RoadsideAmerica/> It was retrieved from the river (if indeed it was thrown there) and put into storage, and later donated by Ryan's estate to the Rural Life Museum<ref name="LiesAcrossAmerica" /> in 1974,<ref name="LSUPlaque1" /> although the ] had also asked for it.<ref name="LSUPlaque1" /> Originally set outside the Museum's main entrance, it has since been moved to an out-of-the-way back lot.<ref name="RoadsideAmerica" />


The purpose and effect of the statue has been criticized: The purpose and effect of the statue has been criticized:


{{Cquote
{{rquote|quote=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|author=], 1997<ref name=LiesAcrossAmerica/>}} | quote = 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
| author = ], 1997<ref name="angelou" />


}}
⚫ {{rquote|quote=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.|author=James W. Loewen, 1999<ref name=LiesAcrossAmerica/>}}

{{Cquote
⚫ | quote = 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.
| author = ], 1999<ref name="LiesAcrossAmerica" />
}}


<!--These notes do not point to any text in the article and there are not any note marker labels located in the main text ==Notes==
==Notes==
{{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha|colwidth=40em}} {{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha|colwidth=40em}}
{{Cnote2|A|white southerners of this time addressed Black men as "uncle" to avoid using "mister".<ref name=Forbes/> {{Cnote2|A|White southerners of this time addressed Black men as "uncle" to avoid using "mister".<ref name="Forbes" />


The ] 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.)<ref name=Atlantic/>}} The ] 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.<ref name="Atlantic" />}}


{{Cnote2|B|Or 1895. Kytle and Roberts give 1896 as the year of dedication, and David Blight gives specifically May 1896,<!--UNDEFINED <ref name=RaceAndReunion/> --> but the monument itself is inscribed "1895", and many sources give this date.}} {{Cnote2|B|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.}}
{{Cnote2 End}} {{Cnote2 End}} -->


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|refs= {{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Abagond">{{cite web |url=https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/uncle-jack-the-good-darky/ |title=Uncle Jack the Good Darky |author=Julian Abagond |date=July 23, 2010 |work=Abagond |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}</ref>


<ref name="64Parishes">{{cite web |url=https://64parishes.org/entry/louisiana-state-university-rural-life-museum |title=Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum |author=Karen Kingsley |date= |work=64 Parishes |publisher=Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}</ref>
<ref name=Abagond>{{cite web |url=https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/uncle-jack-the-good-darky/ |title=Uncle Jack the Good Darky |author=Julian Abagond |date=July 23, 2010 |work=Abagond |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}{{Better ref needed|date=July 2021|Reason=It's just Julian Abagond's blog, and Abagond doesn't seem like anyone special and almost certainly doesn't have a fact checker. In fact, they seem to have gotten some other facts wrong. On the other hand, we get a strong vibe that Abagond is working from the source materials. The source materials ''are'' available, so it's just a matter of accessing them. Let's do that tout de suite.}}</ref>


<ref name=64Parishes>{{cite web |url=https://64parishes.org/entry/louisiana-state-university-rural-life-museum |title=Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum |author=Karen Kingsley |date= |work=64 Parishes |publisher=Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}</ref> <ref name="RoadsideAmerica">{{cite web |url=https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/21928 |title=Uncle Jack |author=<!--"The Team at Roadside America"--> |date= |work=Roadside America |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}</ref>


⚫ <ref name="LiesAcrossAmerica">{{cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |title=Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_xmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |year=1999 |publisher=The New Press |isbn=9780965003179 |pages=220–225}}</ref>
<ref name=RoadsideAmerica>{{cite web |url=https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/21928 |title=Uncle Jack |author=<!--"The Team at Roadside America"--> |date= |work=Roadside America |accessdate=July 6, 2021}} {{better source needed|date=July 2021|reason=We don't know how how reliable Roadside America is, we sort of doubt if they have a rigorous fact-checking department (but they might). This one fact is very likely true tho, and there is a photo backing it up.}}</ref>


⚫ <ref name="LSUPlaque1">{{Cite sign |title=Uncle Jack Comes to LSU Rural Life Museum |year= |type=Plaque outside museum |publisher=LSU Rural Life Museum |location=LSU Rural Life Museum}}, photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb</ref>
<!-- NOT USED <ref name=HMdb>{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=88234 |title=Uncle Jack |author=Bernard Fisher |date= September 6, 2015 |work=HMdb (the Historical Marker Database) |accessdate=July 6, 2021}} {{better ref needed|date=July 2021|reason=This is a wiki run as an amateur thing, so its not OK, this ref is placeholder until we find something better. On the other hand, it's a fairly well staffed site, they might well have some kind of fact-checking operation (post-publishing) and the author of this page is named (Bernard Fisher) and he clearly has a jones for this stuff and his photos (but not his writing that we have found) are used by various other websites.}}</ref> -->


⚫ <ref name="LSUPlaque2">{{Cite sign |title=Uncle Jack |year= |type=Plaque outside museum |publisher=LSU Rural Life Museum |location=LSU Rural Life Museum}}, photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb</ref>
⚫ <ref name=LiesAcrossAmerica>{{cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |title=Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lies_Across_America/A_xmDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA225 |accessdate=July 6, 2021 |year=1999 |publisher=The New Press |isbn=9780965003179 |pages=220-225}}</ref>


⚫ <!-- <ref name="Forbes">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/business/media/30adco.html?ex=1176782400&en=fac51117ccc2daa5&ei=5070 |url-access=subscription |title=Uncle Ben, Board Chairman |author=Stuar Elliot |date=March 30, 2007 |work=New York Times |accessdate=June 16, 2021}} via {{cite journal| last=McEvoy| first=Jemima| title=Uncle Ben's Changes To Ben's Original Amid Rebrand Of Racist Labeling| url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/09/23/uncle-bens-changes-to-bens-original-amid-rebrand-of-racist-labeling/| access-date=October 20, 2020| date=September 23, 2020| journal=]| language=en}}</ref> -->
⚫ <ref name=LSUPlaque1>{{Cite sign |title=Uncle Jack Comes to LSU Rural Life Museum |year= |type=Plaque outside museum |publisher=LSU Rural Life Museum |location=LSU Rural Life Museum]}}, photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb</ref>


⚫ <ref name="YesterdayAndToday">{{cite book |last1=Wilds |first1=John |last2=Dufour |first2=Charkes L. |last3=Cowan |first3=Walter G. |title=Louisiana, Yesterday and Today: A Historical Guide to the State |url= |year=1996 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0807118931}}, cited at Loewen, p. 225</ref>
⚫ <ref name=LSUPlaque2>{{Cite sign |title=Uncle Jack |year= |type=Plaque outside museum |publisher=LSU Rural Life Museum |location=LSU Rural Life Museum]}}, photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb</ref>


<!-- <ref name=LSUPlaque3>{{Cite sign |title= |year= |type=Plaque on Good Darky sculpture |publisher=LSU Rural Life Museum |location=LSU Rural Life Museum (now removed}}, from {{cite web |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm7Z78_Good_Darky_Baton_Rouge_LA |title=Good Darky - Baton Rouge, LA |author=Scrambler930 |date=December 27, 2009 |work=Waymarking |accessdate=July 6, 2021}}</ref> --> <!-- <ref name="Atlantic">{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/the-mammy-washington-almost-had/276431/ |title=The Mammy Washington Almost Had |author=Tony Horwitz |date=May 31, 2013 |work=The Atlantic |accessdate=June 15, 2021}}</ref> -->


⚫ <ref name="NineteenthCenturyContexts">{{cite journal |last1=Daugherty |first1=Ellen |title=The rise and fall of a racist monument: the Good Darky, National Geographic Magazine, and civil rights activism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369?journalCode=gncc20 |journal=Nineteenth-Century Contexts |volume=41 |issue=5 |date=September 25, 2019 |pages=631–649 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |doi=10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369 |s2cid=204722860 |access-date=November 6, 2021}}</ref>
<!-- NOT USED <ref name=Klobucar>{{cite thesis |last=Klobucar |first=Gretchen Victoria |date=May 2011 |title=TThinking outside the (wooden) box: a rhetorical analysis of the ethical complexity of the Uncle Jack statue |type=MA |chapter= |publisher University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |doi= |url=https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/bn999725p |access-date=July 7, 2021}}</ref><!--https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/bn999725p for official page with abstract and download option -->
⚫ <ref name=Forbes>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/business/media/30adco.html?ex=1176782400&en=fac51117ccc2daa5&ei=5070 |url-access=subscription |title=Uncle Ben, Board Chairman |author=Stuar Elliot |date=March 30, 2007 |work=New York Times |accessdate=June 16, 2021}} via {{cite web| last=McEvoy| first=Jemima| title=Uncle Ben's Changes To Ben's Original Amid Rebrand Of Racist Labeling| url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/09/23/uncle-bens-changes-to-bens-original-amid-rebrand-of-racist-labeling/| access-date=October 20, 2020| date=September 23, 2020| journal=]| language=en}}</ref>


<ref name="AtlantaCenter">{{cite web |url=https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/learning-and-research/projects-initiatives/confederate-monument-interpretation-guide/historical-introduction-confederate-monuments/ |title=Confederate Monuments. And Symbolism. |publisher=Atlanta History Center |accessdate=December 15, 2021}}</ref>
⚫ <ref name=YesterdayAndToday>{{cite book |last1=Wilds |first1=John |last2=Dufour |first2=Charkes L. |last3=Cowan |first3=Walter G. |title=Louisiana, Yesterday and Today: A Historical Guide to the State |url= |accessdate= |year=1996 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0807118931}}, cited at Loewen, p. 225</ref>


<ref name=Atlantic>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/the-mammy-washington-almost-had/276431/ |title=The Mammy Washington Almost Had |author=Tony Horwitz |date=May 31, 2013 |work=The Atlantic |accessdate=June 15, 2021}}</ref> <ref name="ExploringThePast">''Confederate Veteran'', 1894, cited at {{cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369?journalCode=gncc20 |title=Louisiana's 'Uncle Jack' Statue and the Problem of Interpreting Iconography in History Museums |author=Nick Sacco |date=October 1, 2015 |journal=Exploring the Past |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=631–649 |doi=10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369 |s2cid=204722860 |accessdate=December 15, 2021}}</ref>

<!-- NEED TO FIND <ref name=ExploringThePast>{{cite journal |last1= |first1= |date=1984 |title= |url= |journal=Confederate Veteran |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi= |access-date=}}</ref> -->

⚫ <ref name=NineteenthCenturyContexts>{{cite journal |last1=Daugherty |first1=Ellen |date=1984 |title=The rise and fall of a racist monument: the Good Darky, National Geographic Magazine, and civil rights activism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369?journalCode=gncc20 |journal=Nineteenth-Century Contexts |volume=41 |issue=5 |date=September 25, 2019 |pages=631-649 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |doi=10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369 |access-date=November 6, 2021}}</ref>

<ref name=WAFB>{{cite web |url=https://www.wafb.com/story/11234831/controversial-statue-could-be-moved/ |title=Controversial statue could be moved |author=Claire Ohlsen |date=September 30, 2019 |location=Baton Rouge |publisher=WAFB Channel 9 |accessdate=November 6, 2021}}</ref>


<ref name="angelou">{{Cite book |last=Angelou |first=Maya |title=Even the Stars Look Lonesome |title-link=Even the Stars Look Lonesome |publisher=] |year=1997 |isbn=0553379720}}</ref>
}} }}


<!--{Cite sign |title=The Underwater Archaeology Centre |year=2006 |type=Plaque outside museum |publisher=The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology |location=]}}-->






{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Darky, The}}
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Latest revision as of 02:24, 5 January 2025

Statue originally erected in Louisiana

30°24′40″N 1°06′51″E / 30.41108394382561°N 1.1142520289777°E / 30.41108394382561; 1.1142520289777

The subservient Good Darky, head bowed and hat removed as a symbol of submission, greeted citizens in downtown Natchitoches for forty years. 1927 photo.

The Good Darky (also called Uncle Jack) is a controversial 1927 American 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 road at the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge.

Background

In the period 1890–1940, a second wave of Confederate statues was erected, coinciding with and supporting the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" movement and the triumphal years of the Jim Crow laws. While the first wave of memorialization had been of heroes such as Robert E. Lee, the second wave also included memorials to groups – the Confederate soldiers, the homefront woman, and, in a very few cases, the loyal African-Americans.

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 supposedly faithful slaves who stayed behind on their enslavers’ properties during the war:

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.

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. 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 reinforced the white narrative of African Americans as hapless and superstitious dolts.

The Natchitoches African-American community, however, did not generally like the statue, as it promoted a subservient and menial view of the race; and during 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) and 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. Originally 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


References

  1. ^ Karen Kingsley. "Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum". 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  2. "Confederate Monuments. And Symbolism". Atlanta History Center. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Confederate Veteran, 1894, cited at Nick Sacco (October 1, 2015). "Louisiana's 'Uncle Jack' Statue and the Problem of Interpreting Iconography in History Museums". Exploring the Past. 41 (5): 631–649. doi:10.1080/08905495.2019.1669369. S2CID 204722860. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  4. Uncle Jack (Plaque outside museum). LSU Rural Life Museum: LSU Rural Life Museum., photo by Bernard Fisher, IMdb
  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.
  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. S2CID 204722860. 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. Angelou, Maya (1997). Even the Stars Look Lonesome. Random House. ISBN 0553379720.
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