Nicole R. Ascencio
Matthew Gonzalez
Discussion 102 (Friday 11-12)
October 16, 2016
Blackface Minstrelsy
Blackface minstrel shows were a style of entertainment that developed in the mid 19th century and consisted of comedy, dancing and music done by white performers often covered in dark, theatrical makeup or “blackface” for the purpose of playing the role of African Americans.
Blackface minstrel shows evolved from several American traditions, but mostly from the traveling circus and freak shows. As time passed, the plays focused less on opening burlesque acts and centralizes on comic skits. Although the structure of minstrel shows changed over time, the vivid images of blackface and racism unfortunately did not. The stereotypes performed by the white characters of blackface minstrels not only played a significant role in cementing racist attitudes nationwide, but also, in later appropriation of African American culture. Perhaps the most enduring aspect of the blackface minstrel was that the performance shaped America’s introduction of African American culture, no matter how false and racist its view was.
The minstrel show began in the early 1830s and by 1848, blackface minstrel shows spread across the nation and even across the Atlantic to Europe and Great Britain. One group, the Virginia Minstrels, was so popular that imitators rapidly emerged and many other groups came about thus, forming a new branch of American musical theatre. In the United States, the minstrel introduced blackface to the world stage. Using cork or leather shoe polish to blacken their skin and exaggerated their lips and eyes, early white performers donned blackface and wore tattered rags as clothing to pass as black.
Josephine Baker in Blackface
As minstrel shows were fading out of American theatre in the twenties, blackface performers became common acts on vaudeville stages. These entertainers kept the familiar songs, dances, and imitation black dialect as they progressed to vaudeville. Eventually, the performances finally died out in the United States in the 1960s and ended the prominence of blackface makeup in performance in the nation due to a change of attitude about racial stereotypes. Although some performances continued past the sixties in other countries, such as televised sensation, The Black and White Minstrel Show in Great Britain.
The Black and White Minstrel Show
Considering the prevalence of racial appropriation as performance of identity in Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen, Clare and Irene pass themselves as white at times by distancing themselves from black culture. In the novel, Larsen utilizes passing by having characters assume a particular identity at times for personal benefit. Minstrel shows and Larsen’s work raise the question of whether identity can be anything other than a performance. In presenting an image of oneself to the public, there is only the stage. Minstrels and Larsen do just that by bringing out the performativity of race rather than the authenticity of that race. Performance creates a more strict dichotomy between racial categories by presenting blackness or whiteness as racial identities to be assumed by perpetuating the superficial elements of race and the idea that race can be assumed by anyone that can pass for that identity.
Questions to Consider:
- To what extent does Larsen simplify racial identity and expression in Passing?
- How does theatre make statements about constructs such as racial differences and how might their statement affect society?
Works Cited
Cotton and Chick Watts Blackface Minstrel Show Comedy. Perf. Cotton and Chick Watts. Cotton and Chick Watts Blackface Minstrel Show Comedy. Kit Parker Films, 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_swtbIi2F0>.
Huffman, Shea J. "The History And Legacy Of Minstrel Shows." All Day. All Day, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://allday.com/post/2391-the-history-and-legacy-of-minstrel-shows/>.
Watkins, Mel A. "Black Minstrelsy." PBS. PBS, 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/sfeature/sf_minstrelsy_5.html>.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online, The Editors of. "Minstrel Show." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/art/minstrel-show>.
CHNM. "The Minstrel Show." The Minstrel Show. CHNM, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <https://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/jackson/minstrel/minstrel.html>.
Brooks, Ken. "Cotton Watts: The Last Blackface." Cotton Watts: The Last Blackface. Blogspot, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://cottonwatts.blogspot.com/>.
Digital Images Cited
Entertainer Josephine Baker Performing in Blackface. Digital image. Getty Images. N.p., 1 Jan. 1950. Web. 16 Oct. 2017. <http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/entertainer-josephine-baker-performs-in-blackface-in-imitation-of-picture-id517354528>.
Dawson, Andy. Was The Black & White Minstrel Show the Most Racist TV Programme Ever? Digital image. Mirror.co.uk. Mirror.co.uk, 23 July 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. <http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2077346.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/The-Black-and-White-Minstrel-Show.png>.
Wow. Those pictures were painful to look at. Thank you so much for bringing up this topic and for covering it as well as you did. With racism and belittlement of black culture as grotesque as it was in this era — as evidence by minstrel shows — it is no surprise that Clare in the novel felt such enormous pressure to pass. In Passing, Irene remarks at a dance party that you rarely find whites who want to pass as blacks, likely because of offensive cultural attitudes toward black people perpetuated by art forms like minstrel shows. These gross characterizations of black people and racial minorities persist to this day but in different forms and it's a shame to know that this country has not deviated far enough from its shameful past.
ReplyDeleteThis post emphasizes how pervasive and explicit racist sentiments and stereotypes were during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The depictions of African Americans in these minstrel shows not only furthered grotesque and inaccurate stereotypes, but also trivialized the hardships that African Americans faced by reducing them to one dimensional caricatures without any depth of emotion or character. White performers' use of blackface and their portrayals of black culture exploited African Americans as mere sources of entertainment. This post also contains a compelling discussion of the performance of racial identity in Passing. It's interesting to see how performance of race carries different ramifications depending on the identity of the performer; a white performer assuming blackface was a source of entertainment during the time period, whereas a African American passing as white faced dangerous consequences.
ReplyDeleteYour discussion of the history of blackface in American entertainment is very interesting! I love the parallel you make between blackface on the stage and performative racial identity in Passing. This post reminds me of a Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies class I took last semester, where we spent a lot of time discussing the history of appropriation of Black culture in film. An example of this can be found in the musical film Singin' in the Rain, in which Black culture, in the form of dance, is appropriated by the White characters in the film. So even when racial appropriation is not as blatant as blackface, it's important to note that its presence can be felt so strongly all throughout the history of American entertainment and even today.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between "passing" and blackface is really fascinating. The white actors pretending to be black get away with outlandish, lazy caricatures, while Clare Kendry is endlessly delivering an intricate performance as a white woman.
ReplyDeleteThese blackface performances make it possible to see why it took so long for Clare to be found out. If her husband's only experience with black people was through unrealistic minstrel shows, his image of what a black person actually acts like would be divorced from the reality.
Firstly, I was startled that minstrel shows continued even up until the 1960s! It wasn't until the civil rights movement that people really began to see just how racist these shows were. The satirical humiliation of one race for a pleasure of another is never entertainment.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I think that it is great that you wrote about this topic, especially since we were talking about "performance" in class. In Larsen, the three female characters tries to pass off as white for social benefits. Recently, there has been controversy over Rachel Dolezal, an ex-NAACP leader, who is white, but identifies as black. I am curious as to what the class makes of her story.
This is such an important topic, and even more so because for some reason blackface is still an issue that occurs in college campuses. I found it very interesting how racism shapes the formation and support for such minstrel shows, and is in turn shaped by such shows. These performances drew on racist stereotypes, and also served to perpetuate them further. This is especially relevant in Passing, when considering John Bellew's disparaging, degrading, and disgusted attitude towards blackness.
ReplyDeleteThis subject is incredibly interesting. There was a huge debate about black face and customs when I was attending junior college 4 years ago. However, to bring this subject back to Passing, there was a line in Passing that I found incredibly thought provoking. "Not on our side, Hugh. It's easy for a Negro to 'pass' for white. But I don't think it would be so simple for a white person to 'pass' for coloured" (118). I find this passage to be very relevant to black face. However, it is still not a very easy question to answer: Why is it easier for a black person to 'pass' for white than a white person 'passing' for black? What does it mean when a white person passes for a coloured person? Is it always racist? If so, then is it racist for a coloured person to 'pass' for white? Or should each individual be able to chose what cultural passing they desire?
ReplyDeleteThis subject is incredibly interesting. There was a huge debate about black face and customs when I was attending junior college 4 years ago. However, to bring this subject back to Passing, there was a line in Passing that I found incredibly thought provoking. "Not on our side, Hugh. It's easy for a Negro to 'pass' for white. But I don't think it would be so simple for a white person to 'pass' for coloured" (118). I find this passage to be very relevant to black face. However, it is still not a very easy question to answer: Why is it easier for a black person to 'pass' for white than a white person 'passing' for black? What does it mean when a white person passes for a coloured person? Is it always racist? If so, then is it racist for a coloured person to 'pass' for white? Or should each individual be able to chose what cultural passing they desire?
ReplyDeleteThe section in Passing in which Hugh and Irene discuss that it is difficult for a white person to "pass" as colored relates back to your post. This argument is extremely complicated but it is interesting to note that colored people attempt to "pass" as white in order to have a shot at a richer life, free of discrimination, such as Clare attempted to do in Passing. However, when a white person attempts to "pass" as colored, they normally have hostile reasons to, such as with blackface. Blackface is a way for white people to portray colored people as they saw them, not as they were. This is a different kind of passing that definitely has a negative connotation and that definitely does not work.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Nicole! I think this is a very important topic to consider when looking at Modernist texts from the Harlem Renaissance and even on through our American culture today. I was shocked to discover that these horribly racist shows continued on up until the 1960s, and that they were such a worldwide sensation. It was really interesting to see how you connected this back to Passing, since both the characters in the novel and these actors both put on a 'mask' of a different race. However, these attempts at capturing the essence of the opposite race are fundamentally different since Irene and Clare 'pass' in order to maintain their safety and way of life, while minstrel performers attempted to 'pass' to mock and degrade a race they had no respect for. The reason cultural appropriation is so harmful is because those white people were still in a position of power over blacks (socially, economically) so it furthered the racist attitudes towards them instead of lightheartedly celebrating a culture (as many people who accidentally appropriate may be attempting to do).
ReplyDeleteThis is, in many way, an appalling practice and form of entertainment which can be difficult for us to talk about today, so I am glad that you have brought it to light for our discussions. They was you have tied these performances into what we are reading in class is very apt and certainly dramatizizes the idea of performing identities but in a constructive way- allowing us to have some more perspective.
ReplyDelete