A Comic in Controversy “Stepin’ Fetchit”

“Stepin Fetchit” – Was an actor-comedian whom not only did he laugh at himself, but Stepin acted out a twisted mockery of what other nationalities may have considered to be the behaviors and personality of Blacks. BFBAPK’D!

Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black actor to have a successful film career. His highest profile was during the 1930s in films and on stage, when his persona of Stepin Fetchit was billed as “the Laziest Man in the World”.

In his teens, Perry became a comic character actor. By the age of twenty, Perry had become a vaudeville artist and the manager of a traveling carnival show. His stage name was a contraction of “step and fetch it”. His accounts of how he adopted the name varied, but generally he claimed that it originated when he performed a vaudeville act with a partner. Perry won money betting on a racehorse named “Step and Fetch It”, and he and his partner decided to adopt the names “Step” and “Fetchit” for their act. When Perry became a solo act he combined the two names, which later became his professional name. imdb

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