Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment.

Feb 2, 2019 · Blackface isn’t just about painting one’s skin darker or putting on a costume. It invokes a racist and painful history. The origins of blackface date back to the minstrel shows of mid-19th ...

These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hypersexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, known as the “Father of Minstrelsy,” developed the first popularly known blackface character, “Jim Crow” in 1830.

Oct 29, 2014 · From lynchings to mass incarceration, whites have utilized blackface (and the resulting dehumanization) as part of its moral and legal justification for violence.

Feb 13, 2019 · The portrayal of blackface–when people darken their skin with shoe polish, greasepaint or burnt cork and paint on enlarged lips and other exaggerated features—is steeped in centuries of racism.

Apr 29, 2021 · Understanding the often-forgotten medieval roots of blackface might help us to end old performance traditions and to create new ones. A book that explains what blackface is, why it occurred,...

In 19th-century America, a peculiar form of entertainment took the stage: white performers, faces smeared with dark makeup, grinning and dancing in exaggerated, hideous imitations of black people....

Throughout history, portrayals of characters in 'blackface' — with white people made up to caricature Black stereotypes — have been used in ways that demean, denigrate, and trivialize people of African descent.

Feb 7, 2019 · Civil rights organizations have pointed out for decades that blackface dehumanizes black people and reinforces racial stereotypes.

Feb 7, 2019 · Blackface in America just won’t go away — consistently showing up at stag parties, on frat row, in college musicals and elsewhere. But the persistence of blackface is unsurprising.