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“Black Mystery Month”
American Dad! episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 13
Written by	Laura McCreary
Directed by	Brent Woods
Production no.	2AJN20
Original airdate	February 18, 2007
Newspaper Headline	Iran changes flag to middle finger
Season 2 episodes
American Dad - Season 2 September 10, 2006 – May 20, 2007
Camp Refoogee The American Dad After School Special Failure Is not a Factory-Installed Option Lincoln Lover Dungeons and Wagons Iced, Iced Babies Of Ice and Men Irregarding Steve The Best Christmas Story Never Told Bush Comes to Dinner American Dream Factory A.T. the Abusive Terrestrial Black Mystery Month An Apocalypse to Remember Four Little Words When a Stan Loves a Woman I Can't Stan You The Magnificent Steven Joint Custody
← Season 1	Season 3 →
List of American Dad! episodes

"Black Mystery Month" is a second season episode of the animated series American Dad!.

Plot

While researching a paper about George Washington Carver, in celebration of Black History Month, Steve uncovers a conspiracy that's been going on since the Civil War. When the curator of the Smithsonian Peanut Museum reaches out to tell Steve the truth, he's mysteriously murdered, and Steve and Stan are tracked by a secret society (the Illuminutty, an obvious parody of the Illuminati) that will stop at nothing to keep this scandalous secret of American history a secret.

At one point Stan rescues Steve. Stan explains that the true inventor of peanut butter was Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's wife, as a means of keeping away evil spirits. Shortly before the end of the Civil War, when "the North's victory over the South was imminent", Lincoln feared that the South could only be forced into abolishing slavery, and never of their own accord, and this would lead to further conflict. He then realized that the butter would be an ideal method of making the Southerners accept blacks as their equals - by introducing the delicious snack to the South and crediting the invention to a black person. However, before the plan could be put into action, John Wilkes Booth, who "despised legume based racial harmony", shot Lincoln.

In 1896, 31 years later, the plan was revived by President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland heard of a young black botanist, Carver, who had invented over 300 uses for peanuts, but amazingly, "mashing them up and eating them wasn't one of them". Cleveland gave a jar of peanut butter to an unknowing Carver, who received the credit for the invention. Stan further explained that there was a legendary "Jar of Proof" that had evidence proving that Carver had not invented it, but an organization called the Illuminutti was dedicated to finding the Jar and destroying it, fearing that the truth would cause the country to descend back to racism and hatred.

Steve decides that the truth has to be revealed, and Stan agrees. After following several clues, they find a monocle, a pole from a strip club and an oddly shaped flower pot. Steve figures out the puzzle and they go to Lincoln's statue where they put the "pole" (Lincoln's cane), the monocle, and the flower pot (Lincoln's hat) on the statue. The statue's legs lift up revealing an underground tunnel; after some exploring (also a cloud of green gas, which was started by a huge fart) they find a pit of lava, with a small rocky island in the middle, with the Jar of Proof on top.

Stan strains to reach the Jar, and as he does, Steve sees the Illuminutti symbol tattooed on Stan's back, making him one of them. President Jimmy Carter shows up. Carter and Stan both explain to Steve that the American people can never know the truth about peanut butter, because it will lead to the end of racial harmony. Steve denies this, convincing Stan that America is grown up and can handle the truth; Stan winks and gives the backpack with the Jar to Carter. Shortly afterwards, Carter is hit by falling debris and falls into the lava pit along with the backpack. Stan and Steve then escape the collapsing temple and then realize that Stan failed to switch the jars (as he believed that it was a magic backpack that automatically switched the jars).

They don't actually have the Jar of Proof, so Steve decides that there is one place where a person can put out crazy information with no evidence and millions will accept it as true, and writes an article called "The Truth About Peanut Butter" on Wikipedia. Stan also agrees to take the Internet blocks off Steve's computer.

A subplot involves Hayley and Roger playing Jenga. Roger takes forever to make a move, thinking, getting an engineer for advice and making a second stack to test his move beforehand (the company said it violated the "spirit" of the game but not the actual rules); finally he makes a move, and then screams at Hayley as she hesitates a moment before moving herself.

Trivia

• The episode is dedicated to George Washington Carver, who invented "300 Uses for Peanuts...But Not Peanut Butter." In fact, while George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter, neither did Mary Todd Lincoln: it was patented by Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Montreal in 1884 and was used by the Aztecs hundreds of years before that.
• Francine's wine bottles are labeled "Told Klaus to Shut Up", "Found Out What Chutney Is", "Pet a Goat", "Someone Took My Advice", and "Sold a Pilot to NBC". She takes "Someone took my Advice" and "Told Klaus to Shut Up". In a deleted scene, she takes "Found Out What Chutney Is", after Hayley tells her it is "some kind of fruity sauce".
• Steve incorrectly refers to Io as the "ice-moon of Jupiter". Europa is the moon of Jupiter covered in ice, while Io is covered with volcanoes.
• In the beginning of the episode, Steve seems to have websites like Wikipedia blocked, but in an earlier episode, Irregarding Steve, he could access every site, even porn.
• Despite being an ultra-conservative Republican, Stan mentions Grover Cleveland as being "the greatest President our country has ever known" even though Cleveland was a Democrat. He also teams up with Jimmy Carter, another Democratic President. But at the end of the episode he kills Carter.
• The theme of the episode, which appears to advocate common sense honesty over elaborate paternalism, is more commonly associated with South Park. This is one of several episodes of American Dad that depart from the strict liberalism of MacFarlane's other show Family Guy. Although many critics mentioned that the episode was not so funny as typical South Park episode, mentioning that the episode was monotone and uninteresting, unlike South Park.
• The second tagline was not ended.
• In the wikipedia the article The truth about peanut butter automaticaly redirects to George Washington Carver.

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to Black History Month.
• The plot parodies The Da Vinci Code (beginning with a museum curator left for dead that manages to write a note in his own blood), Angels & Demons, "The Washingtonians," Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, and National Treasure.
• Wikipedia is referenced at the end of the show, where Stan asks "If only there was a place where you could make outrageous claims, without any proof, and millions of people would accept it as fact…", then the scene flips to Steve typing up an article on "Wikipedia" on his home computer. The title of the article is "The Truth about Peanut Butter". All articles on the real Wikipedia related to peanut butter, Mary Todd Lincoln, and the Illuminati including The truth about peanut butter, were protected before the end of the episode's first broadcast.
• The death of Jimmy Carter is similar to the death of the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Thrax from Osmosis Jones, and Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• There is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark when Steve hangs the monocle from the pole for the rising sun to shine though.
• Stan breaks the fourth wall by endorsing Burger King, as "the economics of television have changed" and weakly says "Have it your way."
• In the strip-club scene, the members of the A-Team are all present. In the establishing shot; Hannibal is front left, Faceman is front right, and B.A. (wearing a grey baseball cap) is back left, Murdoch is back right (wearing his brown leather jacket and blue baseball cap).