174 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Presentin the case of South Carolina, where the Igbo and others
from the Bight of Biafra represented just 11 percent of all
enslaved African imports during the last century of the At-
lantic slave trade. Yet, it was in South Carolina that “buckra”
became one of the most widely used African words.
Th e most likely etymology of “buckra” would be that
it derives from the Ibibio term mbakara. Among the Ibibio
and the Igbo of the Bight of Biafra, the term specifi cally
denotes a human with the power to command others or a
demon capable of wielding supernatural forces. In the as-
sessment of historian Monica Schuler, the Igbo of Jamaica
who frequently used “buckra” as a term encompassing all
whites may have viewed Europeans as evil sorcerers.
Th is concept of understanding enslavement in spiritual
terms and viewing Europeans as evil spirits or demons
resonates in the narratives of a number of enslaved Igbos,
including Olaudah Equiano and John Jea. Th us, the Ibibio
and Igbo who fi rst used this word may have adopted it as
a term of choice because of a shared belief that Europeans
were essentially malevolent spirits.
In addition to its use in South Carolina and other parts
of British North America, it appears that “buckra” was
adopted throughout the Anglophone Americas. Specifi c
references to the term appear in 18th-century Philadel-
phia, the Chesapeake, Jamaica, Barbados, and the Leeward
Caribbean Islands. As Douglas Chambers contends, its
widespread use throughout the Anglophone Americas rep-
resents a signifi cant degree of Igboization among non-Igbo
enslaved Africans. In addition to the use of “buckra,” other
signifi cant Igboisms include the use of other Igbo-derived
terms (e.g., Obeah, okra, jonkonu), the perseverance of dis-
crete Igbo religious customs and beliefs (e.g., Obeah con-
juration, Igbo funerary customs, the Christmas-time John
Konnu masquerade), and elements of Igbo cuisine (e.g.,
yams, black-eyed peas, watermelon, eggplant).
See also: Igbo; Slave CultureWalter C. RuckerBibliography
Chambers, Douglas. “ ‘My Own Nation’: Igbo Exiles in the
Diaspora.” Slavery & Abolition 18 (1997):72–97.
Doyle, Bertram W. “Th e Etiquette of Race Relations—Past,
Present, and Future.” Th e Journal of Negro Education 5
(1936):191–208.
Puckett, Newbell Nile. Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1926.In December 1988, Brown received a six-year prison
sentence for illegal drug use in South Carolina; he was
released in February 1991. He died of pneumonia and
congestive heart failure in Atlanta on Christmas Day in
- Several funerals for the 20th century’s greatest per-
former—culminating in the horse-drawn procession to
Harlem’s Apollo Th eater—were orchestrated like Brown’s
stage shows, with frequent wardrobe changes and much
fl amboyance.
See also: Black Folk Culture
Fred J. HayBibliography
Brown, Geoff. James Brown: Doin’ It to Death. London: Omnibus
Press, 1996.
Brown, James, with Marc Eliot. I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of
Soul. New York: New American Library, 2005.
Brown, James, with Bruce Tucker. James Brown, the Godfather of
Soul. New York: Th under’s Mouth Press, 1990.
Danielsen, Anne. Presence and Pleasure: Th e Funk Grooves of
James Brown and Parliament. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan
University Press, 2006.
Hay, Fred J. “Music Box Meets the Toccoa Band: Th e Godfather
of Soul in Appalachia.” Black Music Research Journal 23, no.
1/2 (2003):103–33.
Rose, Cynthia. Living in America: Th e Soul Saga of James Brown.
London: Serpent’s Tail, 1990.
Buckra
Of Igbo and Ibibio derivation, “buckra” and “buckraman”
were terms employed by slaves to denote poor or non-
slaveholding whites. Used as an expression of derision,
“buckra” appears to be the only anti-white epithet created
originally by enslaved Africans. Others, specifi cally “cracker”
and “redneck,” were created by the white elite to deride and
ridicule poor whites. What makes the widespread adop-
tion of “buckra” quite odd is that, given the limited number
of Igbo and others from the Bight of Biafra imported into
mainland North America, it would seem that other terms of
derision would have been preferred. Parallel terms among
numerically signifi cant and widely distributed import
groups, such as the Akan (obruni), the Mande (toubab), and
the Western Bantu (mundele), were not adopted by African
Americans in the United States. Th is is especially curious