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HISTORICAL CASE STUDY: BLACKFACE
Actresses Shirley Temple (in blackface) and Hannah Washington (right) in the 1935 film 'The Littlest Rebel.' (History).
"BLACKFACE," A TERM MINTED during the mid-19th century, was one of the earliest forms of racism in the United States. In minstrel shows, white performers darkened their skin with polish and cork, wore tattered clothing and exaggerated their features to be perceived as stereotypically “black.” According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, the first minstrel shows mimicked the African American demographic, caricaturing them as lazy, ignorant, superstitious and cowardly.
Wm. H. West's Big Minstrel Jubilee Theatrical Poster (Library of Congress).
DWANDALYN REECE, AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CURATOR OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE IN WASHINTON, TELLS CBS NEWS, "IT'S STILL PAINFUL TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS, AND I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF WHITE AMERICANS WHO FEEL THE SAME WAY. THOSE IMAGES ARE TIED TO A LEGACY OF OPPRESSION, SLAVERY, OBJECTIFYING AND DEVALUING PEOPLE."
TYPICALLY THE ONLY DEPICTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE white audiences witnessed, Minstrel shows, due to their inexpensive ticket cost, enticed large audiences and promoted demeaning stereotypes and generalizations, confirming notions of white superiority in society. Jump Jim Crow, “rural dancing fool with tattered clothing” found commonly in performances, paved the way for discriminatory laws, such as the Jim Crow Law, enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States (History). This rendered the African American community powerless.
"ALL OF THESE CARICATURES WERE TAKING ELEMENTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MAKING THEM OBJECTS FOR RIDICULE, HUMOR AND ENTERTAINMENT" - DWANDALYN REECE
Jump Jim Crow (African American Civil Rights).
A sign in Montgomery, Alabama, showing separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites (African American Civil Rights).
"I THINK IT'S THE POWER DYNAMIC YOU TALK ABOUT WITH APPROPRIATING PEOPLE'S IMAGES. AND IT'S WHEN YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT AND TO OPPRESS, IT'S VERY DIFFERENT THAN A CULTURAL EXCHANGE" - DWANDALYN REECE
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