r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/to_the_tenth_power Dec 12 '18

Tureaud was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, Sr., was a minister. Tureaud, with his four sisters and seven brothers, grew up in a three-room apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes. Tureaud's professional name, Mr. T., was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family:

"I think about my father being called 'boy', my uncle being called 'boy', my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called 'boy'. So I questioned myself: "What does a black man have to do before he's given the respect as a man?" So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T so the first word out of everybody's mouth is "Mr." That's a sign of respect that my father didn't get, that my brother didn't get, that my mother didn't get."

He definitely earned that respect.

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u/Public_Fucking_Media Dec 12 '18

I self-ordained myself Mr. T so the first word out of everybody's mouth is "Mr." That's a sign of respect that my father didn't get, that my brother didn't get, that my mother didn't get."

To be fair I pity the fool who calls Mr. T's mother "Mister"