The Racist Game That Was Once Popular in America
The target was usually a black man
African dodger, also known as “Hit the Nigger baby” or “Hit the Coon”, was a carnival game that was popular from the 1880s to 1960s. It usually happened in the United States. The game may have seemed like a common carnival target game, but the uncomfortable part of it was that the target was a real human; a black person. During the game, balls were thrown to deliberately hit the head of the target who was then required to dodge so that these objects wouldn’t him.
For this type of game, an African-American man was required to put his head through a curtain and then objects such as baseballs and eggs would be thrown at him.
Background
In 1881, an Indiana carnival promoter introduced the idea of binding a monkey to a table and invited people to pay some money before they could strike the animal with three balls. This new game was not well received and people kicked against it because they considered it barbaric to use an animal as a target for sport.
After enduring much condemnation and criticism, the carnival promoter decided to change his idea and thought it sensible to replace the animal with an unemployed black man. Then, he renamed the game and called it “The African dodger”.The game gained instant recognition and more people engaged in it.
Each player’s sole purpose was to hit the African American target with a ball. The African dodger game was so popular that newspaper bulletins promoted it in upcoming fairs and carnivals. At some point, a reunion for soldiers which held in Brownston, Indiana had advertised: “Make this big week your vacation time — Bring the family — Meet old friends — Hit the Nigger babies — Eat hot dogs — Join the fun”.
Many black men got injured during the game
Most times, the head of the victim wasn’t protected and neither was the person given any opportunity to pull his head out when a ball was about to hit him directly. The best he could do to keep out of harm’s way was attempt to stretch his neck. In severe cases, some targets got injured during the game.
Some players even used stones to hit the target.
The Ameripics website reports that the Dodgers game got more dangerous when professional baseball players showed up to pay a nickel and took their three turns or; when people decided to sneak in professional hardball baseballs as a substitute for the real African Dodger balls.
There were those dodgers that refused to allow carnival organizers to throw baseballs at them while some others watched in pain as their nostrils were being smashed and beaten to the extent of unconsciousness.
According to the Meridien Daily Journal in 1904 in New York, one Albert Johnson was reported to have dodged fifty or sixty cents worth of ball thrown at him. He eventually became unconscious and the Journal had mentioned that “it will probably be necessary to amputate the nose in order to save johnson’s life”.
Dodgers usually made the headlines when they had sustained serious, horrifying injuries. In other instances, they were mostly nameless victims who ended up with internal and fatal injuries.
In 1916 in Pittsburgh, there was also another dodger, John Jones who was hit in the eye while trying to dodge. In Connecticut in 1908, Walter Smith was hit with so much force that several of his teeth were knocked out and had to be cut into pieces before removal.
It also appears that some African Americans may have been killed in the course of the games. One William White, an African dodger, was the regular target for carnival-goers in Hanover, Pennsylvania. On a particular occasion, a squad of baseball players had taken turns in throwing hard balls at his head. The Philadelphia Record reports that William took the punishment “courageously”. The lower part of the record also mentioned that “after a half-dozen pitchers had thrown in rapid succession, the negro was pretty much used up and he was compelled to retire soon afterward with internal injuries which may prove fatal.”
Due to the popularity of the game, it had some form of cultural impact. It was seen in newspaper funny pages, movies and cartoons like Popeye. The Snopes website acknowledges that during the early 20th century, “playing the African Dodger” became an idiomatic expression for “avoiding uncomfortable questions ”. The idiom was mostly used in political debates.
It is hard to imagine that such a barbaric game once existed and people were delighted to partake in inflicting severe injuries on others. People allowing themselves to be used as targets also proved to be part of the problem. Sadly, many scientists, sociologists and politicians justified the continued existence of the game on the basis that blacks didn’t seem to mind such brutality and were known to have massive craniums.
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