Rastus is a pejorative term traditionally associated with African Americans in the United States. It is considered highly offensive.[1]
The name is sometimes given as 'Rastus, and it is likely a shortening of Erastus, a disciple of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, and 2 Timothy 4:20. "Rastus" has been used as a generic, often derogatory, name for black men at least since 1880, when Joel Chandler Harris included a Black deacon named "Brer Rastus" in the first Uncle Remus book. However, "Rastus" has never been particularly popular as a Black name. For example, the 1870 census reported only 42 individuals named "Rastus" in the United States, of whom only four were Black or mulatto.[2]
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 and Rastus Comes to the Point: A Negro Farce, in popular songs such as Rastus, Take Me Back and (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown) What You Going to Do When the Rent Comes 'Round, on radio,[3] and in films, most notably the Rastus series of short films, with titles that included How Rastus Got His Chicken[4] and Rastus Runs Amuck.[5]
"Rastus" is also the name of the African-American character that first appeared on packages of Cream of Wheat cereal in 1890 and whose image remains the Cream of Wheat trademark today. The image is believed to be from a photograph of Frank L. White, a Chicago chef who reportedly was paid five dollars to pose in a chef's hat and jacket. His face has been featured on the box with only slight modifications until the present day.[6]