Rastus

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Rastus appearing in an advertisement for Cream of Wheat

Rastus is a given name associated with African Americans in the United States. During the period of American slavery, it was common practice for owners to give their slaves historical, and particularly Biblical, names. (Rastus appears to be a shortening of Erastus, a disciple of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, and 2 Timothy 4:20.) After the end of American slavery, 'Rastus' was used by whites as a generic, often derogatory, name for black men. It became synonymous with the stereotype of the happy, carefree Southern black created by Southern whites to justify continued racial repression. Rastus—as any happy black man, not as a particular person—became a familiar character in minstrel shows (see, for example, Every Time I Turn Around: Rite, Reversal, and the End of Blackface Minstrelsy, retrieved May 3, 2006, and Racism and Poverty in Ford City, PA, 1959: Minstrel Show, retrieved May 3, 2006), in books such as Adventures of Rufus Rastus Brown in Darktown [1] and Rastus Comes to the Point: A Negro Farce [2], in popular songs such as Rastus, Take Me Back [3] and [Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown] What You Going to Do When the Rent Comes 'Round [4], on radio [5], and in films, most notably the Rastus series of short films, with titles that included How Rastus Got His Chicken^[1] and Rastus Runs Amuck^[2].

Today, Rastus is considered a strong ethnic slur.

Rastus is also the name of the African American character who first appeared on packages of Cream of Wheat cereal in 1890, and is still the Cream of Wheat trademark today.