THENEGROES

Carl Barks made numerous stories, in which both real and invented people from highly different cultures and races were mentioned in writing and portrayed in graphics. One of these races were the Negroes*. Anthropologically, this racial classification is traditionally distinguished physically by the dark brown or black pigmentation of their skin as well as often tightly curled hair and full lips, and this was also the way Barks would usually depict them in his stories. Below you will find some graphic examples with a few comments attached.

* The term Negro refers to black-skinned people of African descent and dates back to the middle of the 16th century. Since the late 1960s the term has been ousted and is often substituted for the term Black (Person). This website has no intention whatsoever to offend this vast group of people by using the term Negro in this page, although it may nowadays be conceived as somewhat derogatory. The sole reason for its use here is that the term was common at the time when Barks made his stories.

In WDCS034 'Good Deeds' Donald tries to do good deeds which eventually brings him into a close encounter with a hostile African duck-negro-tribe. The editor saw this combination as discriminating and said he would not in the future accept black ducks as that might seem racist in the duck universe.
Barks did indeed refrain from drawing African ducks with black skin, which seems rather odd and misplaced when white-skinned African ducks (sometimes with black, curly hair!) emerged from time to time. You can see examples in U$53 The Great Wig Mystery and U$61 So Far and No Safari.

WDCS074

LCB

In WDCS074 'Bill Collecting' Donald acts as a successful bill collector, and one of his tasks is to visit a circus' so-called Wild Woman of Borneo - who is clearly an American negro judged by her Southern dialect. She owes a dental bill for having her teeth sharpened.
Later, Barks drew 48 new illustrations for a children's book, LCB Donald Duck and the Boys, which was based on the same story. However, in the book Barks altered the teeth of the Wild Woman from Borneo from being pointed to being nonexistent! This is quite bewildering because the text clearly states that Donald comes to collect for a dentist bill on which she owes money for having had her teeth sharpened. When he changed the appearance of the lady Barks obviously forgot his own story in the comic.
In another circus-related story, FC0300 Big-top Bedlam, Barks drew one panel showing Donald being kicked out by another female negro. This time, though, there can be little doubt that she was from Africa, because she displayed a number of characteristics: Full lips (of the special stretched kind), curly hair, brass rings, grass skirt, and bare feet. This was Barks' most stereotypical rendering of an African negro in the stories...
It is interesting to notice that, although Duckburg seems to be a multi-ethnic society judged by its many different types of humanlike animal characters, no genuine negroes seem to live there. The examples mentioned above are the only ones, and they are just passing. This was also true for Bombie in FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo.

In MOC20 Darkest Africa we are presented to relatively few negroes despite the obvious possibilities considering the place of events. Furthermore, they merely act as background material in short sequences beating their drums and serving the white man. They all carry loincloths and live in grass huts (two more stereotypical traits).

FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo is filled with negroes from Africa and they are all presented in the usual stereotypical way as described previously. Barks even added a layer that serves as a 'strengthener' for our misconception of the African negroes' limited language abilities and certain words' similarities; take story titles built on rhymes such as Voodoo Hoodoo, Bongo on the Congo, and Jungle Bungle, or pseudo-geographical names such as Whambo Jambo, Mumbo Jumbo, and Kooko Koko.
After the first issue all further issues were censored in several ways; Barks' negroes had their faces changed and their sharpened teeth removed, and instead of speaking in a pseudo-native dialect all tribe members now spoke perfect and rather advanced English!!! Even the lovable Bombie received a censoring makeover; his eyes and nose were changed and the nose ring was removed...
Only once more did Barks 'dare' to portray African bearers. This happened in SF Jungle Hi-Jinks, in which he showed a grand total of 4 bearers (as silhouettes!) - just to be on the safe side...

In U$33 Bongo on the Congo Barks presents us to more stereotypes; the negroes carry war paint and tattoos, and they wear grass skirts. Furthermore, the witch doctor wears a somewhat misplaced straw hat from the 'civilisation', which was also the case in FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo, where one of the natives wore a Scroogean style top hat. But in this one story Barks deviated from his negro stereotypes by furnishing all the natives with, presumably, rather uncomfortable shoes! In all other stories Barks' negroes were barefooted.
As it was the case with some story titles and geographical locations Barks tended to give rhyming names to the negroes. In this story the witch doctor's name is Booger Booboo, and in two other stories the witch doctors were called Foola Zoola (FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo) and Witchie Britchie (U$52 The Great Wig Mystery).

PS.: It is difficult to look at an African duck with white skin and imagine him as being a negro, which is probably why the colouring in several countries is different. In this case the tribesmen panel is American, while the witch doctor panel is Danish. You can be the judge as to which solution comes through the best...

Barks left an unfinished painting - later known as #8-96 Queen of Sheba - behind, in which it is plain to see that he clung to a stereotypical portraying of African negroes. The queen's black servants carry almost all of the traits that one had come to connect with graphical rendering of African negroes half a century ago...