YSK: there was a time when pumpkin pie was comparitively niche as fall holiday foods go. People would make sweet potatoe pie. However, it was essentially impossible to source sweet potatoes in the USA that were not made via slave labor, and so abolitionists pushed for an alternative: pumpkin pie. It’s interesting what boycotts and politics are baked into culture (and ovens), and how we forget about their origins.
[off topic]
Someone posted that so many early cartoons [Mickey Mouse in particular] wore white gloves because they were modeled on minstrel show characters. You can’t look at American history for more than a minute before something like this pops up.
The rise in backyard swimming pools in the 50-60s was a backlash to public swimming pools becoming desegregated.
Anyone who tries to tell you America isn’t a racist country is racist.
On that note.
“Black people can’t swim.”
The masters used to beat all the slaves if they saw any of the kids swimming. Going across a river was the best way to throw off the blood hounds, so it was a good idea for the owners to keep the property out of the water.
Diving With a Purpose. Black scuba divers searching sunken slave ships.
https://divingwithapurpose.org/
Wait till you hear where ice cream truck music comes from.
Go on…
Agatha Christie has entered the chat