Black cats

The black cat is a felid whose fur is uniformly black.
It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats. The black color is of obvious benefit to a cat hunting at night.
In Western history, black cats have often been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens: in other cultures, they are considered to be good omens. Black cats have been found to have lower odds of adoption in American shelters compared to other colors (except brown).^[1]

Historical associations

Witchcraft and superstition

Historically, black cats were symbolically associated with witchcraft and evil. In Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, cats are compared to serpents, coiled on a hearth. The cat was worshipped in Egypt and to kill one was considered a capital crime. When an Egyptian family's cat died, the cat was mummified and the family went into mourning. Romans, also, considered the cat sacred and introduced the animal into Europe. In Europe, apart in Italy or Spain, a black cat crossing one's path is considered good luck; however they were also seen by the church as associated with witches. Black cats (and sometimes, other animals of the same colour, or even white cats) were sometimes suspected of being the familiars of witches. By the 17th Century, however, the cat began to be associated with witchcraft and its luck turned from good to bad in many areas around the world. The black cat was still usually seen as good luck; however, in the British Colonies in North America and parts of Europe (e.g. Spain), which saw witch hunts, the association with witches caused them to be considered as bad luck.
In Scotland, a strange black cat on your porch is a sign of upcoming prosperity. In Ireland,when a black cat crosses your path in the moonlight, it means there is going to be an epidemic illness. In Italy hundreds of years ago, it was believed that if a black cat lay on the bed of a sick person, that person would die. Many years ago in England, fishermen's wives kept black cats in their homes while their husbands went away to sea in their fishing boats. They believed that the black cats would prevent danger from occurring to their husbands while they were away. Superstitions centering around the black cat are some of the most widely known and popular superstitions.
In places which saw few witch hunts, black cats retained their status as good luck, and are still considered as such in Britain and Ireland.
However in Romanian and Indian culture, especially in the historical region of Moldavia in Romania and everywhere in India, one of the strongest superstitions still feared by many people is that black cats crossing their path represents bad luck, despite the fact that these regions were never affected by witch hunts or anti-paganism. An identical superstition survives also in Central Europe, such as the Czech Republic.

Anarcho-Syndicalism

Since the 1880s, the color black has been associated with anarchism. The black cat, in an alert, fighting stance was later adopted as an anarchist symbol.
More specifically, the black cat — often called the "sab cat" or "sabo-tabby"^[2] — is associated with anarcho-syndicalism, a branch of anarchism that focuses on workers' rights. See wildcat strike.
In testimony before the court in a 1918 trial of Industrial Workers of the World leaders, Ralph Chaplin, who is generally credited with creating the IWW's black cat symbol, stated that the black cat "was commonly used by the boys as representing the idea of sabotage. The idea being to frighten the employer by the mention of the name sabotage, or by putting a black cat somewhere around. You know if you saw a black cat go across your path you would think, if you were superstitious, you are going to have a little bad luck. The idea of sabotage is to use a little black cat on the boss."