Chuck Clayton is an African-American teenage fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 published by Archie Comics

Archie Comics

Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...

. Chuck lives in the fictional town of Riverdale

Riverdale (Archie Comics)

Riverdale is a fictional town somewhere in the United States that is the setting for most of the various characters that appear in Archie Comics...

, and is the friend of Archie Andrews

Archie Andrews (comics)

Archie Andrews, created in 1941 by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana, is a fictional character in an American comic book series published by Archie Comics, as well as the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, and Archie's Weird Mysteries.-Character and...

, Betty Cooper

Betty Cooper

Betty Cooper is a fictional character of Archie Comics, the blonde-haired daughter of Hal and Alice Cooper. Betty likes sports, and is also a cheerleader. Betty was created in December 1941. Her older brother Chic Cooper and older sister Polly Cooper have both moved out of Riverdale, their hometown...

, Jughead Jones

Jughead Jones

Jughead Jones is a fictional character in Archie Comics who first appeared in the comic in December 1941. He is the son of Forsythe II; although in one of the early Archie newspaper comic strips, he himself is identified as Forsythe Van Jones II...

, and other students at Riverdale High School.

History

Chuck is African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 and the son of Floyd Clayton

Coach Clayton

Coach Clayton is a fictional character, an African American coach of the Archie Comics universe. He is Chuck Clayton's father. He first appeared in Archie at Riverdale High #14....

, who works at Riverdale High School as the school's coach and Alice Clayton, a housewife. Chuck grew up a shy loner but, after being unhesitatingly accepted as an equal by Archie and his friends, he grew up to become a confident, mature teenager.

Chuck was created for the Archie comics in the early 1970s, as a means of adding diversity to the (up until then, all-Caucasian

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

) cast of characters. In his earliest appearances, he was fairly stereotypical for an African-American, often using hipster slang and being portrayed as athletic and philosophical. However, only his athletic abilities lasted. In his first few years in the comics, Chuck was often a sidekick to Archie as the two of them solved a mystery. By the early 1990s, his interest in cartooning was added to round out his character, and also serves to promote the comics he appears in.

He was originally intended to replace the minor, but commonly recurring character of "Frankie Valdez." However, Frankie later resurfaced as his own character. Chuck is seen as a "token

Tokenism

In the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...

" black character, and was called such in an episode of Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...

. In stories where he plays sports, Chuck is usually seen with an afro

Afro

Afro, sometimes shortened to fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair...

, while in stories where he is focused on drawing he sports a flat top.

Interests

Chuck is first and foremost an artist; a cartoonist whose greatest ambition is to someday become a professional comic book and comic strip illustrator. Despite the long hours he spends practicing his craft, he still finds time to participate in all Riverdale high’s varsity sports, study his own African-American heritage, and spend time with his girlfriend, Nancy Woods

Nancy Woods

Nancy Woods is a fictional character, an African American, who appears in the Archie Comic books. A friend of the whole gang, Woods dates Chuck Clayton, a football player at Riverdale High.-History:...

.