Wikipedia page - [CW: racism]

Dunk tank

Origin

The African dodger, also known as Hit the Coon, was a popular American carnival game from the late 19th century up to the mid-1940s. It involved an African-American man sticking his head out through a hole in a curtain and trying to dodge balls thrown at him. Hits were rewarded with prizes. People were seriously injured or reportedly even killed after being struck. In response to attempts to ban it, a less dangerous game was invented called the African dip, in which a person was dropped into a tank of water if a target was hit by a ball. Popular Mechanics noted in 1910 that African dodger had become "too old and commonplace" and was being replaced with dunk tanks, in which an African American would fall into a tank of water when a target was hit with a ball. The illustration accompanying the article shows a game labelled "Drop the Chocolate Drop" and is captioned "Amusing to All but the Victim".

Generally, the African Dip is recognized as overtly racist. One variant, at Chicago's Riverview amusement park, was named "Dunk the removed" until the early 1950s when it was renamed "African Dip". It was successfully shut down by the NAACP in the mid-1950s.

  • refolde [she/her, any]
    ·
    22 days ago

    At this point anything that originates from the U.S. or Europe, up to and including every single word in the dictionary, has a 99% chance of having incredibly racist origins in some way.

    • hotcouchguy [he/him]
      ·
      22 days ago

      And when you find that 1% that originated with communists or abolitionists or something, it's even more shocking

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    hexagon
    ·
    22 days ago

    One of the best parts of being American is doing research for a book, and going “maybe I’ll put a dunk tank in this scene,” and then discovering that even dunk tanks are racist.

    https://subium.com/profile/kashana.bsky.social/post/3l7r5r3koj42x

  • Infamousblt [any]
    ·
    22 days ago

    Dredge tanks aren't though so now we should put the dunk tank in the dredge tank where it belongs

  • BeamBrain [he/him]
    ·
    22 days ago

    It involved an African-American man sticking his head out through a hole in a curtain and trying to dodge balls thrown at him. Hits were rewarded with prizes.

    jesus-christ

    • TomBombadil [he/him, she/her]
      ·
      22 days ago

      It's worse if you follow the link for "African dodger". In that article it specifies it was "an African American child" who usually did the dodging.

    • culpritus [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      22 days ago

      make a game about throwing balls at a target, and it just happens to be deeply racist

      amerikkka

    • Angel [any]
      ·
      22 days ago

      AmeriKKKa*

      Definitely need the good ol' MSE in this case

  • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]
    ·
    22 days ago

    Oh yeah, African Dodger. So common it was referenced in a few Popeye cartoons.

    A lot of things originating in the US have racist origins. This of course doesn’t mean that dunk tanks should be banned. Nobody doing them at a local fair is even aware of its origins. It’s a shame that these things aren’t discussed more so people know just how normalized overt racism was.

  • Angel [any]
    ·
    22 days ago

    Gonna be me every time I go on this community now: malcolm-checks

  • Water Bowl Slime@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    22 days ago

    Cucking stool, sometimes known as a "ducking stool" is a medieval form of punishment involving submerging the victim in water.

    I petition to rename this community

    • glans [it/its]
      ·
      edit-2
      22 days ago

      I don't know what this emoji is supposed to be abou but it seems appropriate banana-duck-peeled

  • UlyssesT
    ·
    edit-2
    15 days ago

    deleted by creator

      • UlyssesT
        ·
        edit-2
        15 days ago

        deleted by creator

      • Luna [she/her, love/loves]
        ·
        22 days ago

        ShitReactionariesSay (SRS) could also work well, and lemmygrad uses it as well. Idk if that's a positive or a negative, sharing a comm name with a similar comm on a federated instance...

  • varmint [he/him]
    ·
    22 days ago

    named "Dunk the removed" until the early 1950s when it was renamed "African Dip".

    Smh had to change the name because of woke