Wow, racist Black Americana and a sex joke.

Hubby and I went to an auction, and won a box full of old postcards and photos. He pulls out this first one and says, "Wow, racist Black Americana and a sex joke."

I look at the card and am puzzled... "Sex joke? He's just feeling like the black sheep..."

"Look at the sheep's mouth!" he insists (his tone a mix of impatience and disbelief at my stupidity).


Oh

My

Gawd.

The black sheep is in the same blackface as the man.



"He's been screwing the sheep and this is proof," he exclaims triumphantly. (Not pleased at the imagery, is he, but rather he's glad my light-bulb finally went on.)

So much for me being the 'sex collector' with sex on my mind all the time, huh.

Well, it is my virgin experience with such an item.

Sure, I've seen variations on the old sex with sheep joke, but it's always been the Greeks who sheepishly become the butt of the joke. Not that I'm saying it's better to make jokes about the Greeks than it is the black people, but then blackface takes things to a whole other level. Just talking about this makes me uncomfortable...

Not sure I should even own it. Not sure who should. But for now, I do.

This card, published by Central Minnesota Novelty Co. (St. Cloud, Minn), number 190, also shocks me because is it postmarked 1954. The freakin' 50s?! If this had been from say the 30's, I wouldn't have been quite so shocked. Repulsed, yeah; but less shocked.

But wait, there's more!

We also found another vintage racist postcard in the box. This one depicts a little black boy behind a fence with a goose pecking at his, err, pecker. The text reads, "Early bird catches the worm."



A bit less shocking to me -- maybe because it's after seeing the other one?

...Then again, when's the last time you heard a black man's genitalia referred to as a small worm?

Published by Noble (how ironic is that?), of Colorado Springs, "A Genuine KromeKolor Comic Card" (I'm surprised they didn't make one more "c" a "k" to get the three K's), this one is postmarked 1951. It bears a copyright symbol and is card number 217.