Black Mystery Month

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“Black Mystery Month”
American Dad! episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 36
Written by	Laura McCreary
Directed by	Brent Woods
Production no.	2AJN20
Original airdate	February 18, 2007
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"Black Mystery Month" is a second season episode of the animated series American Dad!.

[edit] Plot summary

While researching a paper about George Washington Carver in celebration of Black History Month, Steve uncovers a conspiracy that's been going on since the Civil War. When the curator of the Smithsonian Peanut Museum reaches out to tell Steve the truth, he's mysteriously murdered, and Steve and Stan are tracked by a secret society (the Illuminutty, an obvious parody of the Illuminati) that will stop at nothing to keep this scandalous secret of American history a secret.

At one point Stan rescues Steve. Stan explains that the true inventor of peanut butter was Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's wife, as a means of keeping away evil spirits. Shortly before the end of the Civil War, when "the North's victory over the South was imminent", Lincoln feared that the South could only be forced into abolishing slavery, and never of their own accord, and this would lead to further conflict. He then realized that the butter would be an ideal method of making the Southerners accept blacks as their equals - by introducing the delicious snack to the South and crediting the invention to a black person. However, before the plan could be put into action, John Wilkes Booth, who "despised racial harmony", shot Lincoln.

31 years later, the plan was revived by President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland heard of a young black botanist, Carver, who had invented over 300 uses for peanuts, but amazingly, "mashing them up and eating them wasn't one of them". Cleveland gave a jar of peanut butter to an unknowing Carver, who received the credit for the invention. Stan further explained that there was a legendary "Jar of Proof" that had evidence proving that Carver had not invented it, but an organization called the Illuminutty was dedicated to finding the Jar and destroy it, fearing that the truth would cause the country to descend back to racism and hatred.

Steve decides that the truth has to be revealed, and Stan agrees. After following several clues, they find a secret passage in Lincoln's statue that leads them underground, where, in the middle of a pit of lava, they discover a small rocky island with the Jar of Proof.

Stan strains to reach the Jar, and as he does, Steve figures out Stan is part of the Illuminutty. President Jimmy Carter shows up. Carter and Stan both explain to Steve that the American people can never know the truth about peanut butter, because it will lead to the end of racial harmony. Steve denies this, convincing Stan, who winks and gives the backpack with the Jar to Carter. Shortly afterwards, Carter is hit by falling debris and falls into the lava pit along with the backpack. Stan and Steve then escape the collapsing temple and then realize that Stan failed to switch the jars.

They don't actually have the Jar of Proof, so Steve decides that there is one place where a person can put out crazy information with no evidence that millions will accept as true, and writes an article called "The Truth About Peanut Butter" on Wikipedia. Stan also agrees to take the Internet blocks off Steve's computer.

A subplot involves Hayley and Roger playing Jenga. Roger takes forever to make a move, thinking, getting an engineer for advice and making a second stack to test his move beforehand; finally he makes a move, and then screams at Hayley as she hesitates a moment before moving herself.

[edit] Notes

• The episode ends dedicated to George Washington Carver, who invented "300 Uses for Peanuts...But Not Peanut Butter." In fact, George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter: it was invented by George A. Bayle Jr. in 1890.
• Francine's wine bottles are labeled "Told Klaus to Shut Up," "Found Out What Chutney Is," "Pet a Goat," "Someone Took My Advice," and "Sold a Pilot to NBC." She takes "Someone took my advice" and "Told Klaus to shut up."
• At the scene in the strip bar you can see the whole A-team as the camera pans view to Stan and Steve.
• Steve incorrectly refers to Io as the "ice-moon of Jupiter". Europa is the moon of Jupiter covered in ice, while Io is covered with volcanoes.

[edit] Cultural references

• The title is a reference to Black History Month.
• The plot parodies The Da Vinci Code (beginning with a museum curator left for dead that manages to write a note in his own blood), The Washingtonians, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, and National Treasure.
• Wikipedia is referenced at the end of the show, where Stan asks "If only there was a place where you could make outrageous claims, without any proof, and millions of people would accept it as fact…", then the scene flips to Steve typing up an article on "Wikipedia" on his home computer. The title of the article is "The Truth about Peanut Butter". All articles on the real Wikipedia related to peanut butter, Mary Todd Lincoln, and the Illuminati were protected before the end of the episode's first broadcast.
• The death of Jimmy Carter is similar to the death of the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Stan breaks the fourth wall by endorsing Burger King, as "the economics of television have changed" and weakly says "Have it your way", referring to a key scene in National Treasure taking place with a Pizza Hut box in view for the duration.
• When Lincoln conspires with his cabinet, one of the men pictured is then Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase. Chase would later serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Also during the conspiracy, Mary Todd Lincoln predicts that Neil Armstrong (misnamed as "Army Neilstrong") will walk on the moon.

[edit] The Illuminutty

The Illuminutty (a play on "Illuminati") are a secret society, a parodic version of the Illuminati, sworn to protect the secret of the true origins of the peanut butter. Their main belief is that modern American society will collapse if the mystery they have been concealing were to surface. Their symbol is a peanut within a triangle (again, a play on the Illuminati's alleged symbol of an unfinished pyramid with all-seeing eye capstone), which is tattooed on the skin of members, and, according to the episode, is found hidden on the labels of popular brands of peanut butter, such as Union Brand Peanut Butter and Jiffy.

Preceded by "A.T. The Abusive Terrestrial"

American Dad! episodes

Followed by "An Apocalypse to Remember"