Happy National Black Cat Appreciation Day!
A few years after the death of his 33-year-old sister, June, Wayne Morris wanted to do something in her honor. June adored her black cat, Sinbad, who died at 20 years old, just two months after she passed.
So the Virginia man teamed up with Rikki’s Refuge, a sanctuary where he volunteered, and created National Black Cat Appreciation Day in 2011. Morris chose the day of June’s passing, August 17, in her memory, and that first year marked it by holding a fundraiser for Rikki’s Refuge.
Morris was delighted by black cats as well. He often posted about Norman and Batman, his own melanistic miniature panthers, advocated for the adoption of black felines, and painted whimsical scenes of cats, which were auctioned to raise money for Rikki’s.
(Above, clockwise from top left: Batman, Wayne Morris, Norman, Batman again, and one of Morris’s paintings.)
Wayne Morris died in 2022, but the day he founded has continued to grow in popularity. In the 14 years since its inaugural celebration, National Black Cat Appreciation Day has spread via fundraisers for shelters across the country, as well as sites within the online catosphere, like this one.
Morris was motivated beyond honoring his sister and raising money for his favorite rescue. Black cats — also affectionately known as voids — have suffered unfortunate reputational damage over the centuries.
Melanistic felines are actually considered good luck in Japan, China and most of Asia, where they can be found in temples and their likenesses are used as maneki neko, the ubiquitous “lucky cats” in homes and businesses. (Black maneki neko are said to ward off evil spirits, diseases and people with bad intentions, while the golden cat statues are associated with wealth and the white neko are thought to bring good health.)
But in much of the western world they’re associated with bad luck, “evil” forces in folklore, and they’ve been invoked in outbursts of moral panic over things like witchcraft.
A black cat — or a statue of one — was said to be involved in Satanic rituals in Spain by Konrad van Marburg, an inquisitor known for his brutal zealotry. While the effect of that accusation has been exaggerated for years in internet discussions and posts (Pope Gregory IX’s papal bull dealt with a small area of Germany and did not declare that black cats were Satanic), it naturally comes up in superstitions about the animals.
A 2020 study of 8,000 adoptions found black cats were less likely to be adopted and more likely to be euthanized. That study and others found there was “scant evidence” for the dramatic margins suggested by anecdotal accounts circulating online and in some publications, but confirmed the problem is real. Research also suggests that negative perceptions of black cats isn’t correlated to religious preferences, but is tied to general belief in the supernatural.
Interestingly, additional research has hinted at a decidedly more modern and petty reason people may hesitate to adopt black cats: they think voids are more difficult to photograph, which is an issue for people who want to show their pets off online. (We’ve written about that particular hang-up before, and noted it’s possible to take beautiful photographs of voids by being mindful of factors like lighting and contrast between fur color and the background.)
Regardless, the combined effect of the superstitions and negative associations has harmed black-coated felines, and National Black Cat Appreciation Day is also an attempt to push back and show people that black cats are just, well, cats.
Pain In The Bud 
I, of course, celebrate this glorious day with my beautiful Bella in the best way possible by praising her and treating her with extra crunchies, also remembering my beautiful Bets and her love. I have donated to Animal rescue Twickenham https://animalrescueandcare.org.uk/ ( I am a trustee) as we have black cats in our care – a glorious day – thanks to his Buddiness for rememembering this day and telling me about the great hero, Wayne Morris, that set it up. Wonderful!!!!
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There was a lot of incomplete or incorrect info about Morris out there as a result of different sites copying the same information, but I found Morris’s social media accounts, obituary, info from Rikki’s Refuge and media reports about his work, so this is probably the most complete story on the holiday and his role in it.
Of course Bella is one of the finest examples of melanistic house panther. She should be made a dame!
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LOVE. LOVE LOVE black cats.Wish i had one. Was not in the cards.
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I’d like one too. Maybe some day.
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Spunkmeyer says “Don’t matter what color your fur is! Its what is in your noggin that counts!”
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That’s the other side of it that I didn’t really get into. The studies found that people perceive black cats as less friendly, which is of course an irrational bias.
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Less friendly? Let me see. Cosmo.Jumps all over me when i lay down on couch. Sits on my chest and rubs his nose on my face. Spooky. Sits on my lap. If my cat were half as friendly i would be thrilled. But i will settle for him sleeping next to me few minutes a night or sleeping on armchair sofa next to my head.
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Spunkmeyer says that he KNOWS black cats are intelligent! They ARE cats, after all!
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At one time, I had two house panthers, Tinkerbelle and Little. Tinkerbelle was a registered Pet Partners therapy cat, and we enjoyed visiting many shut-ins, hospice patients, and assisted living facilities. Little was my home body, welcoming the cats I fostered for the humane society. I miss them both greatly, but they live on in my books.
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It takes a special, very tolerant cat to serve as a morale-booster in hospice and assisted living. I like the idea of using your own pets as characters in books.
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Yes. Clicked Mollies info. First cat i saw was Clarence.
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I LOVE IT!!!
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That is awesome! Spunkmeyer is MY morale booster!
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Hi Mollie. I just realised you are Mollie Hunt the writer. Saw your books at Thriftbooks. Need to get one of your books and hope i get to read it.
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Check out her blog (click her name), she adopted the cutest tripod kitten named Clarence. The little dude does not take a bad photo and he’s a great example of feline resilience.
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Just the other day I heard of someone who believes the old BS about black cats, groan. I think they’re gorgeous. We did seek out a black cat the first time we adopted. After that, we took in whoever showed up at the door, and were gifted by the Universal Cat Distribution Service with many black ones. Lots of this was before social media existed, and there are many joys to having cats besides posting them on social media. Besides, you don’t have to be an ace photographer to get fabulous pics of black cats.
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Exactly. It really is as simple as adding a little light at the right angle (or blocking light as needed), being mindful of the background and maybe a quick adjustment to shadows and highlights in the photo afterward.
Since photos of melanistic jaguars and leopards are usually professionally taken, they’re great examples of how to shoot black cats. One of my favorites is Shaaz Jung, who has taken stunning photos of melanistic leopards in India. There’s one photo of a leopard with a big battle scar on the right side of his face, pausing to lap at the edge of a pond at night, his image reflected in the water. It’s regal, beautiful and does great justice to how awesome these creatures are.
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Having a very sleek coat, Ramses photographs beautifully every single time – no matter the lighting. Now if I could only keep him still enough to snap the picture…
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Not only an homage for Ramses, but my Spirit Animal as well! Kudos – and many thanks. All felines are the bomb, but melanistic ones are the best – of course, I may be prejudiced. Having worked at cat shelters, I can attest that ginger cats are quickly adopted and black cats are the last to be adopted.
Stoopid hoomams dom’t know what they’re missimg. – Ramses
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Ramses is a very handsome fellow and pulls off the pantherine look quite well in photographs.
Sadly she passed away in 2021, but I knew the horror novelist Lisa Mannetti and, appropriately for a horror writer, she had two black cats and lived in a creepy old house. I was fortunate enough to interview her years ago and played with the two voids. This was at least four years before I adopted Bud, and it was one of the experiences that helped me understand I could be near cats and not have an allergic meltdown as long as there weren’t 10+ of them running around.
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I may have said this already but “Idiots one and all!!!” All cats are awesome!
Of course that is their choice but c’mon people!!! What is up with the fur color thing?
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I have always found black cats to be lucky. It’s horrendous, the mistreatment they have gotten from people believing that they are bad luck.
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