The Giant Negro, Boogeyman of the New York Times

Gather round, dear readers, and you will hear of a time when “giant negroes” roamed the earth. These giants committed shocking crimes. Newspapers from sea to shining sea documented their foul deeds.

Especially the New York Times.

The Times first acknowledged the existence of these fearsome creatures on August 5, 1897. The headline was “Insane Negro Giant in Newark.”

Over the next four decades, the New York Times provided all the news that was fit to print about “giant negroes.”

As a journalist myself, I’m sympathetic: “Giant Chinaman”, “Monstrous Eskimo” and “Colossal Polynesian” just don’t conjure the same mental image.

Attack of the Giant Negroes!!! [Undercover Blackman] : Cynical-C : Metafilter