its the "black people like fried chicken" stereotype

Yeah in the United States once slaves were rightfully granted freedom, first thing the former slaves did was try to get a good job in society. Typically, this came to farming. Cattle is very expensive to get into for farming as well as pigs. Chickens though? Those bitches eat and grow up in like 2 months depending on breed. Easy livestock to grow and sell and make a living off of. Simular with watermelon. However, watermelon is often seen at the time as poor food, dirty food, and nasty because of the wateryness and the melon rinds. Which btw was also how watermelons were seen in the eyes of the native land watermelons are from: The middle east, and northwest africa. As such, the pissed off salty southern racists decided it was a lovely idea to associate blacks with these things to degrade them, and make them seen as something lesser than such good natured beef eatin' bread growin' iron hearted 'mericans yeeehaaaaw.