Dictionary

Rastus en · NOUN

Etymology

Thought to be derived from Erastus. Despite paucity of actual usage, the name became associated with African-American men because of a character in the first Uncle Remus book by Joel Chandler Harris.

Meanings

1. (historical, offensive) A stereotypical African American man, often a cheerful character in minstrel shows.
   • But neither did it turn them into Rastuses and Sambos; nor deprive their behaviour of logical and recognisable roots in the conditions of a regional culture whose impact had been distilled into Negro spirituals or the blues. 2016, Eva Lennox Birch, Black American Women's Writings, page 59:
   • From the end of slavery to the period of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, ads in the U.S. continued to show blacks as Aunt Jemimas, Uncle Bens and Rastuses—individuals subservient to whites. 2019, Patricia H. Hoffman-Miller, Marlon James, Douglas Hermond, African American Suburbanization and the Consequential Loss of Identity, page 21:

Forms

Rastus en · PROPN

Etymology

Thought to be derived from Erastus. Despite paucity of actual usage, the name became associated with African-American men because of a character in the first Uncle Remus book by Joel Chandler Harris.

Meanings

1. A male given name of American usage.