In a surprise opening to Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance during Super Bowl LIX, Samuel L. Jackson went front and center dressed as Uncle Sam before introducing Lamar to the stage. In line with the theme of "The Great American Game," Jackson was dressed in full red, white and blue garb to introduce the act and then play a role within it.

Samuel L. Jackson joined Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 2025 half-time show performance. Here's what his role was and what it all really meant.

The term is a reference to a promise made to formerly enslaved Black Americans that was revoked after the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's assassination, according to NPR. The promise was made by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1865 and was meant to provide formerly enslaved Americans with land and resources for economic self-sufficiency.