American humor, red, white, and black

[public domain]

American Humor: A Study of the National Character
Constance Rourke

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/rourke/cover.html

On the Real Side, a history of African-American humor,
Mel Watkins 

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/african_american_literature_ret/34989

Laughter has historically been a way of retaining some
dignity in the face of oppression. Most humor, Freud
maintained, is mental release from suffering. Laughter
is a kind of therapy. Both African-American and Indian
writers remark on the importance of humor in the
survival of both peoples during their painful history
of oppression. "Humor is the best and sharpest weapon
we've always had against the ravages of conquest and
assimilation," says Paula Gunn Allen, Indian critic
and poet (qtd. in Lincoln 7). A black counterpart
writes: "In the grim and harsh reality of Black life
in America the black man has been able to laugh as he
probes his bleeding wound--to laugh instead of
succumb to utter despair and defeat" (Dance 125). 

In the 1960's, these native traditions of humor began
to assert themselves during the period of the Civil
Rights movement, when what we now call
multiculturalism started to take legal shape. After
being objects of ridicule, black and Indian figures
began to turn the subversive elements in their humor
publicly against the establishment. Dick Gregory was
one of the first black comedians to direct this kind
of humor against the status quo, to use humor as a
weapon in the campaign for civil rights and racial
justice. Here's a sample of Dick Gregory's ironic
black humor, quite new in the 60's: "Isn't this the
most fascinating country in the world? Where else
would I have to ride in the back of the bus, have a
choice of going to the worst schools, eating in the
worst restaurants, living in the worst
neighborhoods--and make $5000 a week just talking
about it?" (Hughes 9). 

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~jast/Number2/Espey.html



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