ABSTRACT
In the third chapter, “Horrifying Goons and Minstrel Coons: 1940s,” I examine the transition horror films make from marking Black people as a deadly symbol of evil (e.g., wicked Voodoo practitioners) to adopting a stance of Black people as not only afraid of their own folkways but also to be dismissively laughed at and ridiculed as they stand in that fear. Exploring the presence and use of Blacks as comic relief in horror, this chapter focuses on the contributions of character actors such as Willie “Sleep ‘n’ Eat” Best and Mantan Moreland and their minstrelsy-informed performances (e.g., King of the Zombies [1941]). Next, the chapter attends to the quantitatively growing, qualitatively powerful presence of “Black horror” films. These early Black horror films reveal a reliance on cautionary morality tales that define sin as a gateway to evil and, subsequently, otherworldly punishment. The films of, for example, Spencer Williams (e.g., The Blood of Jesus [1941]) are used to illustrate how the monstrous is defined when (race-conscious) image-makers are at the creative helm.
