1 / 17

Blackface and Minstrel Shows

Blackface and Minstrel Shows. A 19 th Century American Theatre Tradition. What is a Minstrel Show?. a “curious phenomenon” g egan in the 1830s : working class white men dressing up as plantation slaves.

nitara
Download Presentation

Blackface and Minstrel Shows

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Blackface and Minstrel Shows A 19th Century American Theatre Tradition

  2. What is a Minstrel Show? • a “curious phenomenon” • gegan in the 1830s: • working class white men dressing up as plantation slaves. • imitated black musical and dance forms, combining savage parody of black Americans with genuine fondness for African American cultural forms. • By the Civil War the minstrel show had become world famous and “respectable.” • Late in his life Mark Twain fondly remembered the "old time nigger show" with its colorful comic “darkies” and its rousing songs and dances.

  3. Blackface • white performers would blacken their faces with burnt cork or greasepaint • outlandish costumes • performed songs and skits that mocked African Americans as lazy, buffoonish, dumb, superstitious and musical. • Some of the most famous songs in American history -- Dixie, Camptown Races, Oh Sussanah, My Old Kentucky Home -- began as minstrel songs.

  4. Caricatures • These three stock characters were among several that reappeared in minstrel shows throughout the nineteenth century. "Jim Crow" was the stereotypical carefree slave, "Mr. Tambo" a joyous musician, and "Zip Coon" a free black attempting to "put on airs" or rise above his station. The parody in minstrel shows was often savage.

  5. “Jim Crow”

  6. Blackface in Popular Culture montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C45g3YP7JOk&noredirect=1 historian on the effects of mistrelsy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ciHJvs9wPk&noredirect=1

  7. The Legacy of Blackface • old “Looney Tunes” cartoons • Buckwheat (The Little Rascals) • Amos ‘n Andy • Disney’s Song of the South • Aunt Jemima • Uncle Ben’s Rice • modern-day sketch comedy • Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (This film accuses black entertainment of exploiting African-American culture for the benefit of white audiences.)

  8. Making Sense of Jim’s Portrayal (#itscomplicated) • Does there seem to be a minstrel show influence in Jim and Huck’s dialogue? • What effect do the illustrations have on the story? • What have many readers found offensive about Jim? • What defense of Jim (and Twain) might we offer?

More Related