Where Da White Women At originated as a justification for white supremacy and slave ownership in the Thirteen Colonies and later Antebellum America, and these stereotypes were copied in other Anglosphere countries (like South Africa and the Caribbean) with a similar racial dynamic. Under the racial norms of American slavery, white slaveowners non-consensually fathering children with their enslaved black women was tolerated and even tacitly encouraged, as there was plausible deniability about who the father was and these children became the property of their fathers. Relationships between white women and black men, on the other hand, presented a threat to the supremacy and power of white men, as the children of these relationships made clear that white men's control over their women's sexuality had been compromised.
In order to suppress these "dangerous" relationships, stereotypes emerged that painted black men as insatiably, inhumanly sexual, and obsessed with white women in particular. According to pro-slavery propaganda, black men posed an existential threat to the virtue of white women, whom they would rape with delight if given the opportunity. This threat then justified the continued brutal subjugation of black people by slaveholders. These stereotypes became particularly pronounced in the wake of slave rebellions like Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion
, which led Southerners to believe black people posed an existential threat if not contained and controlled.
The stereotype of the rapacious black man coming for the white womenfolk continued to be perpetuated, through popular media and social norms, in the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow era, despite the end of slavery. Interracial relationships were outlawed with stiff penalties, and brief, innocent interactions between black men and white women often tragically led to false rape accusations and the lynching death of the black man. Negative racial stereotypes formed part of a larger system of power that politically and economically disenfranchised black people, supported by the violence of lynchers and The Klan. This tragic state of things persisted in the South through the 1950's, as can be seen with the case of Emmet Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman in 1955. The Civil Rights Movement finally put an end to this sorry state of affairs, as interracial marriage was legalized and lynching curtailed.
Starting in the early 20th century, terrible conditions in the Jim Crow South and new economic opportunities brought large numbers of black people into Northern cities for the first time, a phenomenon known as the Great Migration. The North had racial prejudice but lacked the South's strict caste system, and the new racial order gave "Where Da White Women At?" a different undertone. Taboo but no longer forbidden by death, relationships between black men and white women took on a Forbidden Fruit aspect in the popular mindset. For black men, relationships with white women symbolized opportunity that had been previously denied to them. And for white women, after being told all their lives that black men are hypermasucline sex fiends with large penises, why wouldn't they be interested in sleeping with them? Thus, the stereotype that black men all want to sleep with white women took root outside the South with slightly different connotations.
After the Civil Rights Movement increased social equality for African-Americans, black comedians and genres like Blaxploitation and Hip-Hop reclaimed, spoofed, and exaggerated racial tropes like this one for their own purposes. The supposed universal desire of black men for white woman now symbolized black men's desire for power and status— The Casanova Afro Asskicker's acquisition of white female partners was proof of his badassitude. Note these genres' "reclamation" of negative racial stereotypes has always been far from universally accepted — for decades these genres have simultaneously been acclaimed for creating cool, larger-than-life visions of blackness and derided as Modern Minstrelsy that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
Where Da White Women At? can't be discussed without leaving out beauty standards. In a society where black physical features like curly hair were considered ugly for a long time and white women have been the standard of beauty until quite recently, people seeking out a "beautiful woman" may instead end up unconsciously seeking a white woman. Thus, proponents of the ideas of black beauty and black pride tend to be highly critical of this trope.
Due to the racist origins of the trope, it is seldom used straight anymore, and most uses involve some sort of tongue-in-cheek commentary on racial stereotypes. Because of all this history, black man/white woman relationships tend to be criticized, with both parties accused of fetishizing each other and the man typically accused of hating black women or being an Uncle Tom. As such, Where Da White Woman At? is closely intertwined with the Maligned Mixed Marriage trope.
