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.

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.

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....

Feb 5, 2019 · Blackface minstrelsy is considered by some to be the first uniquely American form of entertainment. White men would darken their faces to create caricatures of black people, including large...

Feb 11, 2019 · We discussed how blackface was initially a way for poor, marginalized Irish Americans to signify to other white people that they were just like them, and how the practice died out in the 1960s...

Feb 9, 2019 · In the past few years, most high-profile blackface incidents have largely been confined to college campuses, ill-advised Halloween costumes, and bizarre television sketches. But over the past...