Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd as a populist hero
E774686
Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd as a populist hero refers to the romanticized image of the Depression-era bank robber as a Robin Hood–like figure who symbolically championed poor farmers and working-class people against banks and authorities.
Statements (52)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
American folk hero image
ⓘ
Robin Hood archetype ⓘ cultural depiction ⓘ popular myth ⓘ |
| associatedWithClass |
poor farmers
ⓘ
sharecroppers ⓘ tenant farmers ⓘ working-class people ⓘ |
| basedOn | Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
anti-bank sentiment
ⓘ
class conflict ⓘ resistance to economic injustice ⓘ rural populism ⓘ |
| claims |
he destroyed mortgage records during bank robberies
ⓘ
he helped farmers by erasing their debts ⓘ he shared robbery proceeds with needy families ⓘ |
| contestedBy |
FBI records and reports
ⓘ
historians who question Robin Hood claims ⓘ |
| contrastedWith | official law-enforcement portrayal of Floyd as a violent criminal ⓘ |
| documentedIn |
Woody Guthrie's song "Pretty Boy Floyd"
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
ballads ⓘ folk songs ⓘ newspaper accounts with sympathetic tone ⓘ popular histories ⓘ |
| emphasizedBy |
left-leaning commentators
ⓘ
rural radicals ⓘ some New Deal–era writers ⓘ |
| emphasizedIn | Woody Guthrie's populist lyrics ⓘ |
| hasAspect |
myth-making around outlaws
ⓘ
romanticization of crime ⓘ symbolic rather than literal wealth redistribution ⓘ |
| hasSetting |
American Midwest
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
rural Oklahoma NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasTimePeriod | Great Depression NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| influences | later depictions of Depression-era outlaws ⓘ |
| opposedTo |
banks
ⓘ
federal agents ⓘ financial institutions ⓘ law enforcement authorities ⓘ local sheriffs ⓘ |
| portraysAs |
Robin Hood–like outlaw
ⓘ
champion of common people ⓘ protector of the poor ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
American outlaw folklore
ⓘ
Depression-era populism ⓘ myth of the noble bandit ⓘ |
| supportedBy |
Depression-era storytelling
ⓘ
oral tradition in Oklahoma ⓘ rural folklore ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
anger at economic elites
ⓘ
defiance of foreclosure ⓘ hope for redress among dispossessed farmers ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.