A Brief History of Black Santa

By Logan Langlois NASHVILLE, TN — Black Santa has always been a hotly debated holiday figure in the American consciousness. Many of his critics often forget, or maybe never learned, that the image of Black Santa was originally meant to mock the Black community until he was reclaimed as an inspirational figure. In the 1950s and 60s, the image of Black Santa evolved to become a civil rights figure. Today Black Santa continues to inspire hope, joy, merriment, and anger in the hearts of many, though the image of Santa himself was originally brought to America to help businesses pursue their true meaning of Christmas, profit.& The legend of Santa begins in the fourth century with a monk who lived in modern-day Turkey named Saint Nicholas. Today’s modern interpretation was shaped in the late 19th century by a series of cartoons that premiered in Harper’s Weekly magazine illustrated by Thomas Nast. During this time, evidence of the first American interpretations of a Black Santa can be found mostly as an example of minstrels playing along to a vaudeville tradition to depict Black people as inferior to whites. Timely accounts tell of Christmas parties coming alive at the sight of “black...