This section requires expansion. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page.(June 2015)
The term was used in the speech "Message to the Grass Roots" (1963) by African-American activist Malcolm X, wherein he explains that during slavery, there were two kinds of slaves: "house Negroes", who worked in the master's house, and "field Negroes", who performed the manual labor outside. He characterizes the house Negro as having a better life than the field Negro, and thus being unwilling to leave the plantation and potentially more likely to support existing power structures that favor whites over blacks. Malcolm X identified with the field Negro.
The term is used against individuals, in critiques of attitudes within the African American community, and as a borrowed term for critiquing parallel situations. For example,as Natalie Pompilio reports in Legacy.com: 
"At the peak of comic Flip Wilson's popularity, some of his contemporaries criticized him for not doing enough to advance the cause of African-Americans. After all, his hit television program, The Flip Wilson Show, gave him access to millions of viewers each week in the heavily segregated America of the early 1970s. Yet his humor was lighthearted and apolitical. Richard Pryor even told Flip he was 'the NBC house Negro'."