Where the Signifying Monkey comes from The Signifying Monkey didn’t start as a joke. He started as a survival figure. He comes out of West and Central African trickster traditions, brought into Black American folklore during enslavement. On plantations and later on porches, he became a way to talk about: • Outsmarting power you can’t confront directly • Using language as a weapon • Saying the truth sideways so you don’t get killed In the classic folktales, the Monkey is small, verbal, sharp, and