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Karla

V. Perez

Prof. Atherton English 372 September 25, 2013 Why Are You Laughing: African American Humor During the Civil Rights Era Comedy is a social way to connect with the community and bring forth the truths of suppression and social injustice in an entertaining and fashionable manner. As stated in The Comic Spirit: Trivial, But Dangerous," comedy dealt with controversial and serious matters by exposing to examination and ridicule the social, psychological, and spiritual obstacles frustrating our desire and efforts to live fully. African American humor functions as the perfect example for understanding the practices for comedy and how the comedians used their tools to emphasize social issues. In the documentary Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy, directed by Robert Townsend, Walter E. Fauntroy portrays African American humor as the tools of the spirit, by which we cut our path through the wilderness of our despair. The tools of the spirit refers to the different types of humor African Americans used and the wilderness refers to the struggles faced during a particular time in history. In Mel Watkins chronicle, African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy From Slavery to Today, African American humor is divided in different eras to show that comedy is a reflection of time. Through the use of satire, and standup comedy, African Americans were able to endure the wilderness of segregation laws and social inequality during the 1960s. The tools used during the 1960s were specifically used to unite the community, express politics, and educate the audience. Dick Gregory was able to present racial and social commentary in African American comedy (Watkins 361). Dick Gregory used satire, irony, sarcasm, and quips to motivate people to fight for equality. For instance, in Black Rioters,

Perez 2 Gregory uses the Declaration of Independence to defend the riots occurring on the streets, that all men are created equal and endowed by the creator with certain inalienable rights. That when these rights are destroyed over long periods of time it is your duty to destroy or abolish that government (Watkins 251-252). Gregory was able to unite the community, educate his audience, and appealed to political action and responsibility in a sophisticated way. In Gregorys Nigger: An Autobiography, he writes about a particular event that occurred at a restaurant in the South. When the waitress stated that colored people were not welcomed and that they dont serve colored people, Gregory responded with Thats all right, I dont eat colored people.

Bring me a whole fried chicken (Watkins 217-218). Gregorys quips and literal translations allowed him to fight a peaceful battle against racism, turn the issue back to the offender, and make people laugh in the process. African American comedy had the ability to show the anger of the community in a laughable manner. An example that demonstrate Gregorys anger at social injustice is through a joke about capitalistic America; This is the only country in the world where a man can grow up in the ghetto,be forced to go to the worst schools, then get paid $5000 a week to tell about it (Watkins 213). Gregory was the representation of the African American community and thus his anger mirrored that of his community. Gregory was able to educate white audiences about the grievances of a black populace which was suddenly demanding equality (Watkins xxii).The ability to laugh at Gregorys comedy allowed African Americans to remain united and maintain the strength to fight for equality and the dream of freedom. Regardless of the fact that comedy is relative to time, the spirit of comedy remains constant. According to Robert Townsends documentary, we heal through laughter and we laugh to keep from crying. Humor manifests cultural and personal beliefs into a living vessel

Perez 3 that can communicate to an audience. The same spirit can be seen during different eras, especially during slavery. During slavery, a few comedic tools were animal stories, rhymes, and jokes. An important collection of the first examples of black humor is Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, assembled by Joel Chandler Harris. Uncle Remus is full of stories that depict the slave as mischievous and cunning while the master is gullible and villainous. Humor during slavery was ironic and bitter and confined to slaves only; slave humor served the purpose to amuse and entertain at the expense of the cruel master and to maintain a respectable self-identity (Watkins 2). Laughing at the dimwitted Massa allowed them to push through the struggle and live a life with less sorrow. Slaves believed that A master, unless he was utterly humorless, could not overwork or brutally treat a jolly fellow, one who could make him laugh (Watkins 1). Despite the fact that during slavery comedy was kept within slave quarters and the purpose for the humor differed, the spirit remained the same as in the 1960s. Due to Dick Grerorys success in white clubs, comedians such as Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor were able to take the stage. By the turn of the Millennium, multiethnic nature was more accepted, which gave rise to unrestricted performances (Watkins 214). African American humor became extremely diverse, socially open, and bold. Due to the immense progress of standup comedy, Chris Rock was able to express social issues with freedom. For example, on Rocks ROCK THIS!, Rock writes that new ethnic groups in the United States are often welcomed with prejudices and turmoil, just like a freshman in high school. The fact that Rock was able to talk about a white boxer and other ethnic groups so openly and unrestricted is a result of the struggles African Americans have confronted throughout history. The tools used by comedians to cut through the wilderness of their time were the key to cutting through social

Perez 4 injustice. Laughing at social issues proved to be far more effective than opposing it with violence due to the fact that comedy allowed for logical thought versus instinctive brute strength.