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 …

These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hypersexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, known as the “Father of Minstrelsy,” …

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 …

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 …

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 …