This Racist Caricature Was Used To Sell A Black Delicacy

Characters are nothing new to fast food marketing. We all know Ronald McDonald, but a restaurant with a far more sinister clown as its mascot is shrouded in history.

Searching for his next great business venture, Maxon Graham struck greased gold thanks to a small restaurant south of Salt Lake City he and his wife would visit. Graham figured their delectable fried chicken recipe was easy to copy, but he needed this questionable endorsement to sell it himself.

In 1925, Maxon Graham opened The Coon Chicken Inn, serving its signature “Coon Fried Chicken” stamped with a sinister seal of approval, the Coon head. The Coon was plastered everywhere, on the walls, plates, placemats, and even the menus. But what’s worse is how it made diners feel.

The coon didn’t scare anyone away; in fact, it gave them comfort. Any whites south of the Mason-Dixon line saw coon chicken the same way Southern mammies prepared crispy fried chicken. Their racism validated their tastebuds. The coon wasn’t a warning; it was a welcoming invitation to racist finger-licking goodness.

Racism is much more than laughs and entertainment. For white supremacy, it’s big business, and it pays. There’s value to racist whites in demeaning us but we must fight against it because if no one else does, we must value ourselves as human beings no matter what.