This podcast is about Nat and Sambo in the 1800s. Nat (a real person) was the white man’s greatest fear: an intelligent, self-sufficient, and rebellious black individual. He contradicted the socially constructed idea of blacks as unintelligent, irresponsible, and incompetent slaves—personified by Sambo (a fictional character). So basically, Sambo was created to legitimize the farce of “black dependence” on the paternalistic slavemaster. Moreover, white people justified slavery by perceiving it as caring for the incompetent and unintelligent slave. This fictional character Sambo was incarnated through minstrelsy, where audiences could actively engage with the dehumanization of black folks.