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.

all 11 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 50 points 11 months ago

Thanks for sharing, find it funny especially being a southern man born and raised in Texas. Had no clue that at one time my ancestors would of hated us celebrating Thanksgiving.

Makes me want to celebrate it harder.

  • source
  • [–] 43 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    [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.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] 12 points 11 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 13 points 11 months ago

    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/

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
    [–] 20 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Dang, turns out my hatred of sweet potato was actually a hatred of colonialism lol

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Thanks for sharing. I had never even heard of sweet potato pie and just assumed pumpkin pie was a Thanksgiving tradition all over the US

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment